Desperate Housewives alum Eva Longoria continues to build an impressive body of work as producer, with news that she will co-produce Zone of Silence, alongside actor Eric Winter (Witches Of East End), and Jason Blum – the producer behind the Paranormal Activity, Insidious and The Purge movie franchises, as well as the award-winning The Normal Heart. The drama – set for NBC – will focus on a geographical area known locally as the Mapimi Silent Zone in Mexico.
The desert area, located near the Bolson de Mapimi in Durango, includes part of the Mapimi Biosphere Reserve, and is home to a local myth about a land-locked Bermuda Triangle, of sorts. Legend has it that no type of communication – radio signal or otherwise – can penetrate the area, though many locals remain sceptical.
The modern version of the myth stems from an incident in 1970, during which the U.S military apparently launched an Athena test missile from Utah toward the White Sands Missile Range, but had to recover it – and the small amount of radioactive element it contained – from the Mapimi area when it inexplicably fell to the ground there. Since that time, people (mostly visitors) have reported unexplained lights in the sky, communication issues, and strange beings. A previous report from the 1930s, by a Mexican pilot, seems to lend some credibility to the idea of communication loss, though few incidents were recorded in the period between then and 1970.
The premise of Zone Of Silence, written by Rashad Raisani (Burn Notice), will focus on the sudden, fictional disappearance of a group of ICE agents – an event that leads to a task force being sent in to investigate. As their search deepens, science and mythology will clash in each episode, against a backdrop of a larger story. There is no indication yet as to when this project might head into production, but with a commitment from NBC, casting announcements could surface soon.