Though an intensely loyal fanbase existed for the freshman series Pitch, that group was just too small for Fox to renew the drama, and it was canceled after one season. While those fans are surely sad to see it go, maybe they'll have some comfort to discovering that some Pitch actors are already landing on their feet. Mark-Paul Gosselaar already has another Fox project lined up, but it doesn't have much in common with baseball. The Saved by the Bell vet has signed on as a lead in the genre-heavy The Passage, which will find the actor combating a vampire apocalypse.
Mark-Paul Gosselaar is set to star in the new pilot The Passage, which is being dubbed as a "character-driven thriller" set in the middle of a post-apocalyptic journey. The story is told in two distinct timelines: the present, where the planet has become overrun with once-human monsters known as "virals" who drink blood; and in flashbacks, which tell how the virals came to exist. Per The Hollywood Reporter, the central character is a 10-year-old girl named Amy, who not only has the psychic ability to communicate with the virals, but she may just hold the key to saving the human race.
For The Passage, Mark-Paul Gosselaar will play FBI agent Brad Wolgast, who is charged with bringing a young Amy to Project Noah, a government medical research facility that -- surprise-surprise -- is ultimately responsible for creating vampires. Project Noah tested a drug on 12 death row inmates that turned them into lethal killing machines, in an effort to make counterterrorism weapons, you see. However, the drug also has the unintended side effect of unlocking psychic abilities in the test subjects, which they quickly use to manipulate their caretakers. Project Noah decides that they need to experiment on children --for their less-developed brains -- and thus Wolgast is assigned to escort Amy to them. Wolgast isn't down with child abduction, though, and soon goes on the run with Amy, an army constantly on their tail. How's that for a pilot synopsis?
Fans may also be pleased to know that Mark-Paul Gosselaar isn't the only Pitch star joining The Passage. Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. vet BJ Britt (who played Will Baker on Pitch) joins the vampire thriller as Peter, a weary young man who works to make the tough calls and save the human race from the virals. The Passage also stars Saniyya Sidney (Hidden Figures), Genesis Rodriguez (Time After Time), Brianne Howey (Scream Queens), and Jennifer Ferrin (Hell on Wheels). The pilot has some big names on the creative side, too, with Liz Heldens (Friday Night Lights) writing the pilot, and Matt Reeves (Dawn of the Planet of the Apes) executive producing alongside Ridley Scott and David W. Zucker.
The Passage was given a pilot order back in January but has been subsequently pushed to possibly a midseason bow. The pilot is expected to begin filming in Atlanta this month. While waiting to hear more from what we can expect, check out our summer premiere schedule for all the shows that are definitely hitting the air soon.
