Johnny Sequoyah as Bo, Jake McLaughlin as Tate on 'Believe'
Correction appended, Oct. 23 *
So, you liked Gravity, did you? Then does NBC have a deal for you!
With Alfonso Cuaron’s space-adventure epic dominating the box-office (and generating some Oscar buzz), NBC must be thrilled to have his new television drama, Believe. Cuaron co-wrote* and directed the pilot—geek-auteur J.J. Abrams is one of the series executive producers. Which makes it a pretty good bet that we’ll see promos that make clear the show comes from the directors of Gravity and Star Trek.
Awards season will help the Peacock push the new Believe— about a girl with supernatural powers and her connection to a wrongfully convicted (and now escaped) death-row inmate — especially if Cuaron makes the media rounds with some newly acquired gold-plated hardware.
As Jennifer Salke, NBC’s entertainment president, told TheWrap, “We’re going to maximize his connection to the show. He’s very attached to the show. It’s his idea.”
Believe does not yet have a premiere date, but it seems likely the network might find one that capitalizes on award-show heat. Add in the fact that Cuaron and Abrams are the nerd equivalent of Superman and Batman and expect the the NBC hype machine go into overdrive as the premiere date approaches.
* CORRECTION: The original version of this story stated that Alfonso Cuaron co-wrote the Believe pilot with his son Jonas. In fact, it was written with Mark Friedman.