Graham Yost – creator of the hugely popular FX drama Justified – has received a script commitment from Fox for an adaptation of Australian political thriller The Code. The project will reunite Yost with his Justified executive producers Michael Dinner and Fred Golan, with Dinner on board to direct the pilot, should the network give it a greenlight from the script stage.
The original, Australian show The Code is an award-winning series, currently consisting of one six episode season. Created by Shelley Birse, The Code has been renewed for a second season to arrive in 2016. It begins with a mysterious accident in an isolated location, which sets in motion a chain of intriguing events for a range of characters across multiple storylines. These narrative threads incorporate journalism, hacking, science and a widespread, high-reaching conspiracy. The script will be written by Yost and Golan.
The cast of the original show included small screen icon Lucy Lawless, though at this early stage, casting choices for this adapted version are not yet known. The main characters are brothers Ned and Jesse – a journalist and a hacker, respectively – which presents exactly the kind of dynamic that Graham Yost and his team excelled at for six years of Justified.
In that show, the lead character of Raylan Givens (Timothy Olyphant) enjoys a sibling-style relationship with local villain Boyd Crowder (Walton Goggins), which gives rise to much of the action in the show. That type of dynamic, coupled with a complex, large-scale conspiracy, bodes well for this Yost/Golan scripted project.
While a greenlight is not technically guaranteed, it is reported that Fox has attached a significant penalty to their script commitment, so the odds of pilot production are greatly increased. Anything beyond that is open to speculation, but we should hear more about The Code early in 2016.
