Chris Carter Modeling Amazon’s ‘The After’ With 99-Episode Goal
The “X-Files” creator told reporters Saturday during summer TCA that he based the sci-fi series on “Dante’s Inferno.”
The X-Files creator is modeling his latest sci-fi drama, which currently has an eight-episode order, with a bold 99-episode plan. You heard that right: 99episodes.
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Carter, who took a lengthy break following the wrap-up ofThe X-Files on Fox (he spent his time off reading, watching The Shield and The Wire, “climing mountains,” surfing), made his declaration Saturday afternoon during Amazon’s summer Television Critics Association press tour session, saying that he based the mystery-focused The After on Dante’s Inferno, which has 99 cantos in its story. “I’m using that as my model,” he revealed.
Premiering in early 2015, The After will receive a slower rollout than say, Transparent, which debuts its entire 10 episodes at once in late September. Carter says his series will be released in four two-hour installments.
“Amazon is going to show these an episode at a time,” he said, “which I think is really good for this type of show. The audience likes to tease the clues out.”
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Carter hinted that there would likely be some additional opportunities to utilize transmedia platforms like Twitter to help supplement the content. “Now, there are really interesting opportunities with technology to tease these clues out,” he said.
The After is loosely described as a post-apocalyptic drama centered on eight strangers who must work together in order to survive in a violent, unpredictable new world with the date of March 7 serving as a common thread that ties them together.
Carter, who was resistant to labels like “science fiction” and “post-apocalyptic,” maintained that The After will have “a good mix” of drama “from the group dynamic and from the supernatural, if you will. I’ve always resisted the science fiction label but there’s a significant number of science fiction in this.”
When asked about the likelihood of members of the core group, which stars French actressLouise Monot (her character was modeled after Melanie Laurent), Sharon Lawrence, Aldis Hodge, Adrian Pasdar, Arielle Kebbel, Jamie Kennedy, Andrew Howard, Jaina Lee Ortiz and Sam Littlefield, getting killed off over the course of the series, Carter remained mum. But Hodge joked: “All I know is I better not die first!”
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