Lifetime orders Clan of the Cave Bear pilot

US cable net Lifetime has ordered a The Clan of the Cave Bear pilot.

The show will be based on the eponymous Jean M. Auel’s best-selling novel, which is part of the Earth’s Children series.

It will be produced by Fox 21, Lionsgate, Ron Howard’s Imagine Television and Allison Shearmur Productions. Howard (A Beautiful Mind) will executive produce alongside Brian Grazer (24) and Allison Shearmur (The Hunger Games: Catching Fire). Linda Woolverton (Maleficent) will pen the pilot.

The book series is set 25,000 years ago at a time when Neanderthals shared the Earth with the first early modern humans. If taken to series, the TV adaptation will roll out in 2015.

Rob Sharenow, executive VP and general manager of Lifetime said: “With the visionary creative team of Ron Howard, Linda Woolverton, Brian Grazer, Alli Shearmur, Jean M. Auel and Francie Calfo behind it, this project has it all – epic storytelling, great characters and a unique world that’s never been explored on television before.”