‘Wizard of Oz’ Series ‘Emerald City’ Revived at NBC

April 15, 2015 12:37pm PT by Lesley Goldberg

With David Schulner replacing Josh Friedman as showrunner on the straight to series drama.

NBC is taking another trip down the yellow brick road.

The network has revived drama Emerald City, The Hollywood Reporter has learned.

David Schulner is attached write, exec produce and serve as showrunner on the 10-episode drama, which hails from Universal Television, where he's under an overall deal.

Here's the logline for the new take: In the blink of a tornado’s eye, 20-year-old Dorothy Gale and her K9 police dog are transported to another world, one far removed from our own — a mystical land of competing kingdoms, lethal warriors, dark magic and a bloody battle for supremacy. This is the fabled Land of Oz in a way you’ve never seen before, where wicked witches don’t stay dead for long and a young girl becomes a headstrong warrior who holds the fate of kingdoms in her hands.

Emerald City originally was picked up straight to series in January 2014 (along with The Slap) with a 10-episode order with Josh Friedman (Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles) attached to pen the script alongside Matt Arnold (Siberia).

The network opted not to move forward with the project after NBC and producers could not agree on a shared vision for the show. Studio Universal TV shopped the series to other potential suitors. (NBC originally marketed the series (see photo above) at Comic-Con last year, with a goal of getting it on the air in 2015 despite the fact that it had yet to begin casting yet.)

Read More NBC Drops Limited Series 'Emerald City'

The original take was described as a "dramatic and modern reimagining" of L. Frank Baum's Wizard of Oz book series and focused on a headstrong 20-year-old Dorothy Gale, who is unwittingly sent to Oz, where she finds herself at the center of an epic and bloody battle. 

The deal brings Schulner back into the NBC fold after overseeing Dracula, which also was ordered straight to series, as well as Ironside and Do No Harm.

Emerald City becomes the first straight-to-series project to be revived. In a bid to compete with cable and streaming services, broadcast networks have increasingly handed out hefty commitments to land buzzy fare.

For NBC, Emerald City becomes its fourth straight-to-series order for the 2015-16 broadcast season — on par with last season. It joins Eva Longoria's Telenovela, Craig T. Nelson's Coach revival and Jennifer Lopez drama Shades of Blue.

Keep up with all the renewals, cancelations and new series orders with THR's handy Scorecard.

Email: Lesley.Goldberg@THR.com
Twitter: @Snoodit