CBS is basically crime drama central, and has been the home of some immensely popular detective procedurals over the past few decades, with franchises like CSI and NCIS becoming long-running television staples. Now the network is beginning development on another such potential hit with some very experienced pedigree behind it. CBS has put Cascadia in development, a crime drama that comes from NCIS: Los Angeles' Eric Christian Olsen and Frank Military.
Eric Christian Olsen has co-starred as Detective Marty Deeks on NCIS: Los Angeles since Season 1, while Frank Military joined the drama in Season 2. Cascadia, which comes from Olsen's Cloud 9 Productions and CBS Television Studios (where he is under a deal), will be co-written and executive produced by Olsen, Military and Pierce Brown, and the series already has a killer setup that sounds certain to appeal to many fans of CBS' programming.
According to Deadline, the show will focus on a female FBI agent who specializes in tracking down psychopathic killers. However, when she goes back to her Pacific Northwest hometown, she finds a "terrifying new breed of serial murders" which might bring a very dark secret in her family's past to light. I don't know about you, but I'm already getting visions of moody, dreary crime scenes and haunting shots of the woods, which will, of course, be filled with creepy murderers and tons of secrets of its own that will need investigating. I'm in!
While the, currently unnamed, lead character of Cascadia sounds like she's going to be going up against a formidable foe (or foes), she's also clearly trying to keep her family's secret safe. In my opinion, there's nothing quite like a protagonist who's under the gun to solve a big, dangerous mystery but also has to make sure that mystery doesn't expose something shameful about herself or her loved ones. It sounds like Cascadia could be a fair bit darker than NCIS: Los Angeles or most of the other crime dramas currently on the network. And, that's a very good thing for fans.
As many fans of procedurals probably know by now, Criminal Minds will be leaving the air in 2020, a short 10 episodes after its mid-season debut. When Season 15 of the drama draws to a close, lovers of the dark, foreboding and sinister cases that were featured on the series will have to look elsewhere after the explosive finale. If you're unaware, the whole point of Criminal Minds is following around an elite FBI team that tries to catch the country's sickest "criminal minds" before they maim, torture, terrify and kill again.
Cascadia sounds like it will be staying in one location for the bulk of its action, but, aside from that, it sounds a lot like it could be a wonderful Criminal Minds substitute, right? No wonder CBS jumped on this idea.
Since Cascadia is still in the very early stages, there's no word yet on casting, much less whether or not we'll actually see it on the small screen or when. But, be sure to stay tuned to CinemaBlend, and we'll keep you updated on all things Cascadia as news becomes available. In the meantime, you can catch Eric Christian Olsen and Frank Military's work on NCIS: Los Angeles every Sunday at 9 p.m. EST on CBS.
