FOX has found its director for drama pilot Fringe, from executive producers J.J. Abrams, Alex Kurtzman, and Roberto Orci, in the form of Journeyman helmer Alex Graves.
Graves will direct the two-hour pilot and come aboard the project as an executive producer. He wraps his work on Journeyman next month.
While I was secretly hoping Abrams would have time post-Star Trek to direct the two-hour pilot for Fringe (you can read my advance review of the pilot script here), I do have to say that Graves is a good choice. Journeyman (and before that, The Nine) had a distinct style to its pilot episode that could meld nicely with the intrigues, explosions, and bruised character interactions of Fringe, which charts the investigation of various paranormal phenomena by a female FBI agent, a mentally unstable scientist, and his estranged son.
Production is set to begin in February on Fringe's $10 million pilot. The project--from Warner Bros. Television and Bad Robot--has already received a series commitment from FOX and writers Orci and Kurtzman turned in a script for the pilot before the WGA strike began.
Stay tuned.
Does this mean that Journeyman is dead then? I hope not. I think Alex Graves could be a good fit for Fringe but I would hate it if this killed Journeyman. I don't think NBC is really invested in the show and this could give them an excuse to kill it for good.