Alan Cumming to Star in CBS Pilot Based on James Patterson Novel

Network also orders NSA whistleblower drama from “The Good Wife” alum Craig Turk

Alan Cumming
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CBS has picked up two new drama pilots, TheWrap has learned.

The first comes from former “Royal Pains” producer Michael Rauch as well as Secret Hideout’s Alex Kurtzman and Heather Kadin. Alan Cumming is attached to act in the pilot as well as executive produce.

Formerly titled “Dr. Death,” the pilot “Killer Instinct” follows a former CIA operative who has since built a “normal” life as a gifted professor and writer is pulled back into his old life when the NYPD needs his help to stop a serial killer on the loose.

The project is based on a soon-to-be-published novel by best-seller James Patterson, who will also serve as executive producer alongside Bill Robinson and Leopoldo Gout.

The network has also ordered a pilot from “The Good Wife” alum Craig Turk and CBS Television Studios.

Titled “Perfect Citizen,” the drama follows the former General Counsel for the NSA embarks on a new career at a storied law firm in Boston after his involvement as a whistleblower in an international scandal. He must face the reality that while half the country thinks he’s our greatest patriot, the other half thinks he’s a traitor.

The two projects join CBS’s previously ordered drama pilot “Mission Control,” which will follow the next generation of NASA astronauts and scientists who must juggle both their personal and professional lives during a critical mission with no margin for error.

On the comedy side, the network has “Me, Myself and I” from writer and executive producer Dan Kopelman, as well as “9J, 9K, AND 9L,” which will star and be co-written by “Royal Pains” star Mark Feuerstein.

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