AMC Greenlights Anthology Series from Jason Segel

AMC has greenlit a new original anthology series, Dispatches From Elsewhere, created by and starring Jason Segel, which is one of several new projects unveiled at AMC Networks’ TCA presentation.

Dispatches From Elsewhere is about a group of ordinary people who stumble onto a puzzle hiding just behind the veil of everyday life. They will come to find that the mystery winds far deeper than they ever imagined. The hour-long anthology series will include viewer engagement elements across multiple media platforms.

AMC has set premiere dates for the global thriller The Little Drummer Girl, based on John le Carré’s best-selling book of the same name, and AMC Visionaries: Eli Roth’s History of Horror, for late-night fright fans. The six-part miniseries The Little Drummer Girl is launching this November. AMC Visionaries: Eli Roth’s History of Horror premieres on October 14.

The network also renewed a slate of popular series. Better Call Saul and Fear the Walking Dead are now set for their fifth seasons, while McMafia will head into its second season.

Sundance Now, AMC Networks’ direct-to-consumer SVOD service, is expanding its content offerings to include podcasts, beginning with its first-ever scripted podcast, Exeter. Created by Ronnie Gunter (Lighter) and starring Jeanne Tripplehorn (Big Love, Grey Gardens) and Ray McKinnon (Rectify, Sons of Anarchy, Deadwood), Exeter will premiere on the service in September. The crime mystery follows a veteran detective, Colleen Clayton, as she is forced to reconcile the errors of a past case when a woman she convicted of murder is exonerated after ten years in prison. The six-episode podcast series will be further brought to life with dynamic captioning—also known as “kinetic typography”—a process by which words and phrases in the character’s dialogue are animated to underscore emotion and heighten tension. This marks the first time this process has been utilized for a scripted dramatic podcast.

Sundance Now has also lined up Dead Lucky, starring Rachel Griffiths (Six Feet Under) and Yoson An (Grace, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Sword of Destiny); 54 Hours, based on a true story of an armed bank robbery gone awry in 1988; and the fourth season of The Bureau, a French-language spy thriller. The psychological thriller The Cry, based on Helen Fitzgerald’s best-selling book of the same name, is coming to the streaming service. It stars Jenna Coleman (Victoria, Doctor Who) and Ewen Leslie (Top of the Lake: China Girl). Cheat, produced by Harry and Jack Williams (The Missing, Liar), joins the roster as well.

SundanceTV’s upcoming highlights include the October 25 launch of Deutschland 86, and the docuseries Jonestown: Terror in the Jungle, debuting with a two-night special event starting November 17.