When he’s not busy delivering rallying speeches about the importance of family in the Fast and Furious series, you’ll likely find action veteran Vin Diesel working to establish a handful of other franchises beyond the realm of street-racing and ten second cars.
Between them, Riddick, xXx and The Last Witch Hunter all hold varying degrees of cult status among Diesel’s legions of fans, but for his latest creative venture, the actor will be calling upon his producing experience from Fast and Furious. That’s because, as Variety reveals, Vin Diesel is now attached to develop a new procedural drama over at NBC known as First Responders.
Details remain few and far between at such an early stage, but we understand Diesel is on board to produce the hour-long drama via his One Race Television banner. It’s also a new collaboration with Universal Television, where the actor holds a first-look deal thanks to his remarkable contribution to the Fast and Furious franchise – seven films in, the high-octane series only continues to rake in the big bucks at the box office.
As for First Responders, the official synopsis reveals a white-knuckle story – one penned by Jesse Stern of Call of Duty fame – that centers on “young veterans struggling to reintegrate into society, while heroically saving civilian lives along the way. The elite team is the best Search and Rescue operation in the country, and is run by husband-and-wife duo, Doc and Lil Pierce, whose Southern California coastal base provides a sense of community and surrogate family for their ex-military staff. While Doc and Lil can save anyone else’s life in the darkest times, they have been unable to find their own son and will stop at nothing to solve the mystery of his disappearance and bring him back home.”
First Responders is currently in active development, with a premiere expected in 2017. Diesel, meanwhile, can next be seen in xXx: The Return of Xander Cage come January, before reprising his role as Dominic Toretto in time for Fast 8 on April 14, 2017.
