Sci-Fi Bulletin: Exploring the Universes of SF, Fantasy, Horror and Spy-fi!

Cult failed pilot Babylon Fields is, rather appropriately, getting a new lease of life, courtesy of NBC, a report at Deadline suggests.

The drama created by Michael Cuesta, Gerald Cuesta and Michael Atkinson follows the inhabitants of Babylon, New York, as their friends and relatives return from the dead, apparently stronger than ever before, leading to suspicions that this could be a further step in human evolution. It was filmed by CBS/20th Century Fox in 2007 with Ray Stevenson, Kathy Baker and Amber Tamblyn, but wasn’t picked up for either the fall 2007 or mid-season 2008 listings. (That version can still be found online.)

According to 20th Century TV’s Dana Walden, “Having an opportunity to remake Babylon Fields, which will be part of our new overall with Michael [Cuesta], is kind of a dream come true. Jennifer Salke deserves a tremendous amount of credit here. She worked with us on the original and led the charge to bring Babylon Fields back to life on NBC.”

Babylon Fields won’t have a clear shot at this genre audience – in addition to obvious competition from The Walking Dead, ABC has Resurrection, based on Jason Mott’s book; A & E are remaking Les Revenants, the French series; and BBC America will be airing the second season of the BBC Three drama In the Flesh.