Deadline is reporting that CBS drama pilot Alive (previously known as Frankenstein) has cast Ryan Phillippe (Shooter), Arrow alum Katrina Law, and Mad Men‘s Aaron Staton.
From Jason Tracey (Elementary), Alive follows a homicide detective who is mysteriously brought back to life after being killed in the line of duty. With the detective not the same person as he was before death, he seeks answers from the man who brought him back to life – Dr. Victor Frankenstein.
If ordered, the series would be the second Frankenstein-inspired procedural to hit broadcast television in recent years following FOX’s Second Chance, which starred Robert Kazinsky.
Phillippe is set as Detective Mark Escher, who reappears six months after being presumed dead following an attack in his home. Once he returns, though, Mark’s generally sunny disposition is replaced with something darker. Law will play Mark’s wife Elizabeth, a medical examiner desperately seeking answers as to what exactly happened to her husband. Station portrays Dr. Victor Frankenstein, the man who can give Mark answers as to what happened to him in the past and, most importantly, what happens next.
In addition to his role on the USA drama, Phillippe’s television credits include Secrets & Lies, Drunk History, and Brooklyn Nine-Nine; Law has appeared on Spartacus, The Oath, and Training Day; and Staton has been seen on Girlfriends’ Guide to Divorce, Narcos: Mexico, and Ray Donovan.
Alive is part of a drama pilot slate for CBS that include X-Files-esque Evil; medical drama Under the Bridge, which stars Once Upon a Time alum Jennifer Morrison; NSA drama Surveillance; backdoor FBI spinoff FBI: Most Wanted; cop drama Tommy, starring Edie Falco; legal drama Courthouse, which just added Marg Helgenberger; and The Republic of Sarah, centering on a New Hampshire town trying to become an independent nation.
