TV Pilots 2022: All of the New Network Shows in the Works
We’re nearing the end of the 2021-2022 season, and networks are already looking ahead to next year. Therefore, so are we. Welcome to pilot season.
The ones below may not all make it to series, while some that aren’t on this list — such as those still being shopped around — may end up part of the primetime lineup. But we are starting to get information on the comedies and dramas that could be coming to ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC, and The CW, including sequels to classic shows and movies.
Here, a breakdown of all the pilots in the works for the 2022-2023 season. Be sure to keep checking back for updates. (W=writer, EP=executive producer, P=producer, SP=supervising producer, D=director)
ABC
Avalon (Drama) *Ordered Straight to Series*
Cast: TBA
W: David E. Kelley
EP: David E. Kelley, Michael Connelly, Ross Fineman, Barry Jossen, Tana Jamieson
Synopsis: Based on a short story by Michael Connelly, the series takes place in the main city of Avalon on Catalina Island, where LA Sheriff Department Detective Nicole “Nic” Searcy heads up a small office. Catalina has a local population that serves more than 1 million tourists a year, and each day when the ferries arrive, hundreds of potential new stories enter the island. Detective Searcy is pulled into a career-defining mystery that will challenge everything she knows about herself and the island.
The Company You Keep (Drama)
Cast: Milo Ventimiglia, Catherine Haena Kim
W: Julia Cohen
EP: Julia Cohen, Milo Ventimiglia, Jon M. Chu, Todd Harthan, Caitlin Foito, Russ Cundiff, Lindsay Goffman
P: Deanna Harris
Synopsis: A night of passion leads to love between con-man Charlie and undercover CIA officer Emma, who are unknowingly on a collision course professionally. While Charlie ramps up the “family business” so he can get out for good, Emma’s closing in on the vengeful criminal who holds Charlie’s family debts in-hand — forcing them to reckon with the lies they’ve told so they can save themselves and their families from disastrous consequences. Based on the Korean format My Fellow Citizens.
Josep (Comedy)
Cast: Jo Koy, Rory O’Malley, Mia Katigbak, Kimee Balmilero, Tess Paras, Jason Rogel
W: Steve Joe
EP: Steve Joe, Jo Koy, Jake Kasdan, Melvin Mar, Joe Meloche, Randall Park, Michael Golamco, Hieu Ho
Synopsis: A recently divorced Filipino American nurse attempts to navigate dating, fatherhood and a very Filipino mother who loves to “help.”
L.A. Law (Drama)
Cast: Blair Underwood, Corbin Bernsen, Toks Olagundoye, Hari Nef, Ian Duff, John Harlan Kim, Kacey Rohl, Juliana Harkavy
W: Marc Guggenheim, Ubah Mohamed
EP: Marc Guggenheim, Ubah Mohamed, Dayna Bochco, Jesse Bochco, Blair Underwood, Anthony Hemingway
D: Anthony Hemingway
Synopsis: The venerable law firm of McKenzie Brackman reinvents itself as a litigation firm specializing in only the most high profile, boundary pushing and incendiary cases. Blair Underwood reprises his role as attorney Jonathan Rollins, who has gone from idealistic to more conservative as he clashes with millennial JJ Freeman to decide the best path forward for the firm to effect political and legal change.
Not Dead Yet (Comedy)
Cast: Gina Rodriguez, Josh Banday, Jessica St. Clair, Mary Elizabeth Ellis, Angela Gibbs, Rick Glassman
W: Casey Johnson, David Windsor
EP: Casey Johnson, David Windsor, McG, Mary Viola, Corey Marsh
Synopsis: Broke and newly single, Nell Stevens — a self-described disaster — works to restart the life and career she left behind 10 years ago. When she lands the only job she can find — writing obituaries — Nell starts getting life advice from an unlikely source. Adapted from Confessions of a 40-something F**k Up by Alexandra Potter.
The Son-in-Law (Comedy)
Cast: Chris Sullivan, Reema Sampat, Anupam Kher, Evangeline Young, Robert Bailey Jr.
W: Ajay Saghal
EP: Ajay Saghal, Jake Kasdan, Melvin Mar
Synopsis: A salt of the earth man finds himself seeking the approval of his new fiancée’s sophisticated parents, even as he is a difficult to impress father-in-law to his daughter’s longtime boyfriend.
Phillip Faraone/Getty Images
Untitled Newspaper Drama (Drama)
Cast: Hilary Swank, Jeff Perry
W: Tom McCarthy
EP: Tom McCarthy, Bert Salke, Melissa Wells, Hilary Swank, Kyle Hopkins, Ryan Binkley
D: Tom McCarthy
Synopsis: A star journalist moves to Alaska for a fresh start after a career-killing misstep and finds redemption personally and professionally joining a daily metro newspaper in Anchorage.
Untitled The Rookie Spinoff (Drama)
Cast: Niecy Nash, Kat Foster, Felix Solis
W: Alexi Hawley, Terence Paul Winter
EP: Alexi Hawley, Terence Paul Winter, Mark Gordon
Synopsis: Simone Clark is a force of nature, the living embodiment of a dream deferred – and the oldest rookie in the FBI Academy.
Untitled Therapy Drama (Drama)
Cast: TBA
W: Kay Oyegun
EP: Kay Oyegun
Synopsis: Five therapists in Philadelphia find unique ways to solve problems in their patients’ lives while grappling with their own. Ellen Roman, the owner of the practice and a brilliant therapist, has her life shockingly turned upside down when she begins working with a sociopathic patient who may hold the key to the disappearance of her sister five years earlier.
Will Trent (Drama)
Cast: Ramón Rodríguez, Erika Christensen, Jake McLaughlin, Iantha Richardson
W: Liz Heldens, Dan Thomsen
EP: Liz Heldens, Dan Thomsen, Karin Slaughter
Synopsis: Based on Karin Slaughter’s New York Times best-selling Will Trent series, Special Agent Will Trent of the Georgia Bureau of Investigations was abandoned at birth and endured a harsh coming-of-age in Atlanta’s overwhelmed foster care system. But now, determined to use his unique point of view to make sure no one feels as abandoned as he was, Will Trent has the highest clearance rate in the GBI.
CBS
Cal Fire (Drama)
Cast: Max Thieriot, Billy Burke, Kevin Alejandro, Diane Farr, Jordan Calloway, Stephanie Arcila, Jules Latimer
W: Tony Phelan, Joan Rater
EP: Tony Phelan, Joan Rater, Max Thieriot, Jerry Bruckheimer, Jonathan Littman, KristieAnne Reid
Synopsis: Seeking redemption and a shortened prison sentence, young convict Bode Donovan joins a firefighting program that returns him to his small Northern California hometown, where he and other inmates work alongside elite firefighters to extinguish massive blazes across the region.
Early Edition (Drama)
Cast: Alice Eve, Charles Michael Davis, Jay Ali, Fiona Rene
W: Melissa Glenn
EP: Melissa Glenn, DeVon Franklin, Bob Brush
Synopsis: An ambitious but uncompromising journalist starts receiving tomorrow’s newspaper today and finds herself in the complicated business of changing the news instead of reporting it.
East New York (Drama)
Cast: Amanda Warren, Jimmy Smits, Ruben Santiago Hudson, Richard Kind, Lavel Schley, Olivia Luccardi
W: William Finkelstein, Mike Flynn
EP: William Finkelstein, Mike Flynn, Mike Robin, Christine Holder, Mark Holder
Synopsis: Regina Haywood is the newly promoted police captain of East New York, an impoverished, working-class neighborhood at the eastern edge of Brooklyn. She leads a diverse group of officers and detectives, some of whom are reluctant to deploy her creative methods of serving and protecting during the midst of social upheaval and the early seeds of gentrification.
The Hug Machine (Comedy)
Cast: Malcolm Barrett, Michaela Conlin, Allison Guinn
W: Sam Laybourne
EP: Sam Laybourne, Jorma Taccone, Andy Samberg, Akiva Schaffer, Ali Bell
D: Jorma Taccone
Synopsis: A dad gets a second chance to save both his marriage and his flailing rock career when his band unintentionally finds success in the raucous, cutthroat world of children’s music. Jorma Taccone of the Lonely Island will direct this family comedy with musical elements.
Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images
The Never Game (Drama)
Cast: Justin Hartley
W: Michael Cooney
EP: Michael Cooney, Justin Hartley, Ken Olin
D: Ken Olin
Synopsis: Lone-wolf survivalist Colter Shaw roams the country as a “reward seeker,” using his expert tracking skills to help private citizens and law enforcement to solve all manner of mysteries while contending with his own fractured family.
Rust Belt News (Comedy)
Cast: TBA
W: Matt Warburton
EP: Matt Warburton, Leslie Morgenstein, Gina Girolamo
Synopsis: A comedy about a small Ohio town where the local newspaper goes out of business, leaving the ambitious, angsty reporters of the high school newspaper as the only people left to report on scandals, dig up corruption and generally polish the rust off this rust-belt community.
Sober Companion (Comedy)
Cast: TBA
W: Gracie Glassmeyer, David Rosenthal
EP: Gracie Glassmeyer, David Rosenthal, Jennie Snyder Urman, Joanna Klein
Synopsis: Eliza, a hot-mess alcoholic who owns a bar with her uncle in New Orleans, is forced to get her life together when the court appoints her an exhaustingly upbeat sober companion with whom she has to live 24/7.
True Lies (Drama)
Cast: Steve Howey, Ginger Gonzaga, Omar Miller, Erica Hernandez, Mike O’Gorman
W: Matt Nix
EP: Matt Nix, James Cameron, Mary Viola, Rae Sanchini
D: Anthony Hemingway
Synopsis: Shocked to discover that her bland and unremarkable computer consultant husband is a skilled international spy, an unfulfilled suburban housewife is propelled into a life of danger and adventure when she’s recruited to work alongside him to save the world as they try to revitalize their passionless marriage. Based on the 1994 James Cameron movie.
Unplanned in Akron (Comedy)
Cast: Cree Cicchino, Connor Kalopsis, Katy Mixon, Christopher Gorham
W: Schuyler Helford
EP: Emily Wilson, Samie Falvey, Erik Feig, Chris Mills, Chris Emerson
Co-EP: Schuyler Helford
Synopsis: Two teenagers navigate parenthood in the best way they know how. With a little help from their friends and parents, they learn that mistakes in life don’t have to derail your life — and that no matter what age you are, taking care of a child is no joke. Sometimes, you just gotta laugh (or cry) your way through it.
Untitled Mother/Son Legal Drama (Drama)
Cast: Marcia Gay Harden, Skylar Astin
W: Scott Prendergast
EP: Scott Prendergast, Phil McGraw, Jay McGraw, Julia Eisenman
Synopsis: Despite their opposing personalities, a talented but directionless P.I. who is the black sheep of his family begrudgingly agrees to work as the in-house investigator for his overbearing mother, a successful attorney reeling from the recent dissolution of her marriage.
FOX
Accused (Drama) *Ordered Straight to Series*
Cast: TBA
W: Howard Gordon, Alex Gansa, David Shore
EP: Howard Gordon, Alex Gansa, David Shore, Glenn Geller, Erin Gunn, Jacob Cohen-Holmes, Jimmy McGovern, Sita Williams, Roxy Spencer
Synopsis: Based on the BBC’s BAFTA-winning crime anthology, where each episode opens in a courtroom on the accused without knowing their crime or how they ended up on trial, the drama is told from the defendant’s point of view. In Accused, viewers discover how an ordinary person got caught up in an extraordinary situation, ultimately revealing how one wrong turn leads to another, until it’s too late to turn back.
Santiago Felipe/Getty Images
Grimsburg (Comedy) *Ordered Straight to Series*
Cast: Jon Hamm
W: Catlan McClelland, Matthew Schlissel
EP: Jon Hamm, Gail Berman, Hend Baghdady, Connie Tavel, Chadd Gindin
Co-EP: Catlan McClelland, Matthew Schlissel
Synopsis: Marvin Flute may be the greatest detective ever to catch a cannibal clown or correctly identify a mid-century modern armoire. But there’s one mystery he still can’t crack — his family. Now that he’s back in Grimsburg, a town where everyone has a secret or three, Flute will follow every lead he’s got to redeem himself with the ex-wife he never stopped loving, even if it means hanging out with the son he never bothered to get to know.
NBC
Blank Slate (Drama)
Cast: Matt Passmore, Floriana Lima, Abhi Sinha
W: Dean Georgaris
EP: Dean Georgaris, John Fox, John Davis
Synopsis: Special Agent Alexander McCoy is a legend in law enforcement, the agent we all hope is out there, the agent we’d all like to be. The only issue is … he doesn’t actually exist. He’s a ghost, a phantom. So what happens when a man claiming to be Alexander McCoy walks through the door with all of his skills and knowledge, but with an agenda nobody will see coming.
Found (Drama)
Cast: Shanola Hampton, Mark-Paul Gosselaar
W: Nkechi Okoro Carroll
EP: Nkechi Okoro Carroll, Greg Berlanti, Sarah Schechter, David Madden, Lindsay Dunn
Synopsis: In any given year, more than 600,000 people are reported missing in the U.S. More than half that number are people of color that the country seems to forget about. A public relations specialist — who was once herself one of those forgotten ones — and her crisis management team now make sure there is always someone looking out for the forgotten missing people. But unbeknownst to anyone, this everyday hero is hiding a chilling secret of her own.
Hungry (Comedy)
Cast: Ariel Winter, Valerie Bertinelli, Anna Akana, Alex Brightman, Ashley Kelly, Jay Klaitz, Rory O’Malley, Christian Magby
W: Suzanne Martin
EP: Suzanne Martin, Sean Hayes, Todd Milliner, Scooter Braun, Scott Manson, James Shin
Synopsis: Friends who belong to a food issues group help each other as they look for love, success and the perfect thing in the fridge that’s going to make it all better.
The Irrational (Drama)
Cast: TBA
W: Arika Mittman
EP: Arika Mittman Sam Baum, Mark Goffman
Synopsis: Based on author Dan Ariely’s best-selling novel Predictably Irrational, a world-renowned professor of behavioral science lends his expertise to an array of high-stakes cases involving governments, law enforcement, and corporations with his unique and unexpected approach to understanding human behavior.
Lopez vs. Lopez (Comedy)
Cast: George Lopez, Mayan Lopez, Selenis Leyva, Brice Gonzalez, Matt Shively
W: Debby Wolfe
EP: Debby Wolfe, Bruce Helford, George Lopez, Katie Newman, Michael Rotenberg
P: Mayan Lopez
Synopsis: A working-class family comedy about dysfunction, reconnection and all the pain and joy in between.
Quantum Leap (Drama) *Ordered to Series*
Cast: Raymond Lee, Ernie Hudson, Caitlin Bassett, Nanrisa Lee, Mason Alexander Park
W: Steven Lilien, Bryan Wynbrandt
EP: Steven Lilien, Bryan Wynbrandt, Don Bellisario, Deborah Pratt, Martin Gero
Synopsis: It’s been 30 years since Dr. Sam Beckett stepped into the Quantum Leap accelerator and vanished. Now a new team has been assembled to restart the project in the hopes of understanding the mysteries behind the machine and the man who created it.
Unbroken (Drama)
Cast: Scott Bakula, Anna Wood, Amanda Payton, Delon de Metz, Oluniké Adeliyi, Cress Williams, Shian Tomlinson
W: Shaun Cassidy
EP: Shaun Cassidy
Synopsis: Three dynastic ranch families on the central coast of California make love and war in a passionate struggle to survive, ultimately setting the stage for a group of fiercely determined young women to win big for all at the National Championship of Rodeo.
Untitled Mike Daniels Drama (Drama)
Cast: Ben Rappaport, Alexandra Chando, Peter Gadiot, Kim Matula
W: Mike Daniels
EP: Mike Daniels, David Janollari, Rob Golenberg, Alon Aranya, Robert Alberdingk Thijm, Norbert ter Hall, Stephanie Laing
SP: Chris Markey
D: Stephanie Laing
Synopsis: Based on the Dutch series A’dam – E.V.A., it chronicles the epic love and lives of two complete strangers whose multiple run-ins begin to defy coincidence and lead both to believe in fate. This show breaks the mold by pairing a serialized, stand-up-and-cheer romantic comedy with the wildly diverse and often unexpected human stories of anyone who finds themselves six degrees from Adam and Eva.
The CW
Gotham Knights (Drama)
Cast: Fallon Smythe, Tyler DiChiara, Oscar Morgan, Olivia Rose Keegan, Navia Robinson, Misha Collins
W: Chad Fiveash, James Stoteraux, Natalie Abrams
EP: Chad Fiveash, James Stoteraux, Greg Berlanti, Sarah Schechter, David Madden, Danny Cannon (Pilot Only)
Co-EP: Natalie Abrams
D: Danny Cannon (Pilot Only)
Synopsis: In the wake of Bruce Wayne’s murder, his rebellious adopted son forges an unlikely alliance with the children of Batman’s enemies when they are all framed for killing the Caped Crusader. And as the city’s most wanted criminals, this renegade band of misfits must fight to clear their names. But in a Gotham with no Dark Knight to protect it, the city descends into the most dangerous it’s ever been. However, hope comes from the most unexpected of places as this team of mismatched fugitives will become its next generation of saviors known as the Gotham Knights.
Walker: Independence (Drama)
Cast: Matt Barr, Katherine McNamara, Philemon Chambers, Lawrence Kao, Greg Hovanessian, Justin Johnson Cortez
W: Seamus Fahey, Anna Fricke
EP: Seamus Fahey, Anna Fricke, Jared Padalecki, Dan Lin, Lindsey Liberatore, Laura Terry
Synopsis: A Walker origin story set in the late 1800s that follows Abby Walker, an affluent Bostonian whose husband is murdered before her eyes while on their journey out West. On her quest for revenge, Abby crosses paths with Hoyt Rawlins, a lovable rogue in search of purpose. Abby and Hoyt’s journey takes them to Independence, Texas, where they encounter diverse, eclectic residents running from their own troubled pasts and chasing their dreams. Our newfound family will struggle with the changing world around them, while becoming agents of change themselves in a town where nothing is what it seems.
The Winchesters (Drama)
Cast: Jensen Ackles (narrator), Nida Khurshid, Jojo Fleites, Meg Donnelly, Drake Rodger
W: Robbie Thompson
EP: Robbie Thompson, Jensen Ackles, Danneel Ackles
Synopsis: Before Sam and Dean, there was John and Mary. Told from the perspective of narrator Dean Winchester (Jensen Ackles), The Winchesters is the epic, untold love story of how John met Mary and how they put it all on the line to not only save their love, but the entire world. Prequel to the long-running hit series Supernatural.
