TNT has given the greenlight to two new drama series: “Good Behavior” and “Animal Kingdom,” Variety has learned.
“Good Behavior,” starring Michelle Dockery and Juan Diego Botto, hails from exec producer and showrunner Chad Hodge (“Wayward Pines”). The “Downton Abbey” star plays the title character in the show based on Blake Crouch’s Letty Dobesh novels.
The show will tell the story of Dobesh, a thief and a con artist fresh out of prison whose life is always one wrong turn and bad decision away from implosion — just how she likes it. However, when she overhears a hitman being hired to kill a man’s wife, she sets out to derail the job, launching her on a collision course with the killer and thereby entangling them in a dangerous and seductive relationship. Marty Adelstein and Becky Clements will also serve as exec producers, in addition to Crouch and Hodge, who won’t be returning to Fox’s “Wayward Pines,” which was renewed for a second season yesterday.
“Animal Kingdom” stars Ellen Barkin, Scott Speedman, Shawn Hatosy, Ben Robson, Jake Weary, Finn Cole and Daniella Alonso. Based on the 2010 Australian film of the same name, the series hails from John Wells Productions and Warner Horizon Television. Exec producers are Wells, Jonathan Lisco, Andrew Stearn, David Michod and Liz Watts.
The series centers on 17-year-old Joshua “J” Cody (Cole), who moves in with his freewheeling relatives in their Southern California beach town after his mother dies of a heroin overdose. Headed by boot-tough matriarch Janine “Smurf” Cody (Barkin) and her right-hand man Baz (Speedman), who runs the business and calls the shots, the clan also consists of Pope (Hatosy), the oldest and most dangerous of the Cody boys; Craig (Robson), the tough and fearless middle son; and Deran (Weary), the troubled, suspicious baby of the family.
“‘Good Behavior’ and ‘Animal Kingdom’ are muscular, distinct dramas that will define the new direction of TNT,” said Sarah Aubrey, TNT’s executive vice president of original programming. “We believe audiences will love watching Michelle Dockery trade in her manners for the life of a sexy, complex ex-con in ‘Good Behavior’ and Ellen Barkin and Scott Speedman command an unruly family of criminals and adrenaline junkies in ‘Animal Kingdom.'”
Both series landed 10-episode orders, and are set to debut in 2016.
