Kevin Costner ‘National Parks’ Drama Gets ABC Pilot Order, Anthony Hemingway to Direct

ABC has given a pilot order to the drama “National Parks,” which hails from Kevin Costner.

The project was first announced as being in development at ABC in Dec. 2019.  Anthony Hemingway is now attached to executive produce and direct the pilot via Anthony Hemingway Productions.

“Our partners at ABC, 20th Television and A+E Studios have given me a great environment to step out of my comfort zone and deliver something special,” Costner said.

Per the series official logline, while the national parks are known for their sweeping, beautiful landscapes, there is also a darker, more sinister side to these parks that attract a vast array of criminal activity. “National Parks” will follow the small group of elite NPS agents as they solve these crimes while protecting these national treasures.

Costner is a co-writer on the series along with Aaron Helbing and Jon Baird, with all three also executive producing. The show will mark Costner’s first television writing credit. Helbing will serve as showrunner in addition to co-writing. He was most recently the showrunner on the History drama “Knightfall.” His other TV credits include “The Flash,” “Black Sails,” and “Spartacus.”

Costner will executive produce under his Territory Pictures Entertainment banner along with Rod Lake, Ivan Cohen, and Ken Halsband. Barry Jossen and Tana Jamieson of A+E Studios will also executive produce. 20th Television will produce in association with A+E Studios

In addition to his storied film career, Costner currently stars in and executive produces the Paramount Network drama series “Yellowstone.” The show continued to be a massive ratings draw for the cabler in its third season, with the Season 3 finale pulling in a massive 5.2 million viewers.

He is repped by WME. Helbing is repped by Hirsch Wallerstein Hayum Matlof + Fishman. Hemingway is repped by WME, Gotham Group and attorney Tom Hoberman.

“National Parks” marks the sixth ABC pilot pickup in the past few days. On Friday, the broadcaster announced five other pilot orders: comedies “Maggie,” a “Wonder Years” reboot, and a Regina Hicks multi-cam; and the dramas “Queens” and “Epic.”

Just like last year, the pandemic has upended the traditional pilot season at the broadcast networks, with most of the networks still working through the shows they had ordered to pilot last year. ABC still has the comedies “Work Wife” and “Adopted” in contention, along with the drama “Triage.” It was announced in November that ABC had given a series pickup to an untitled multi-cam comedy starring Alec Baldwin and Kelsey Grammer that hails from “Modern Family” co-creator Chris Lloyd and executive producer Vali Chandrasekaran.