NBC, Homeland team prep for Waking Lions

US broadcaster NBC has kicked off the 2017-18 buying season by adding a pair of dramas to its slate, one coming from Homeland creator Gideon Raff and Keshet Studios.

The shows are Waking Lions – which is from Raff, Israel-based Keshet’s US studio arm and Universal Television – and Salvation, which is from Law & Order: SVU alum Warren Leight, director Paul Haggis (Crash) and Sony Pictures Television.

This comes hot on the heels of NBC hiring 20^th Century Fox Television’s Lisa Katz to fill the executive VP role Pearlena Igbokwe vacated when she was upped to president of Universal TV.

According to Deadline, Walking Lions is a pre-emptive buy, while Salvation has received a pilot production commitment.

Walking Lions is based on Ayelet Gundar-Goshen’s novel of the same name, which is a thriller. The story centres around a doctor who is blackmailed after knocking down and killing a man while driving home from work.

Raff, who co-created Homeland progenitor Prisoners of War and FX drama Tyrant, is executive producer along with Keshet Media Group chief exec Avi Nir, Keshet International CEO Alon Shtruzman, and Keshet Studios pair Peter Traugott and Rachel Kaplan.

NBC’s acquisition comes from Keshet Studios’ first-look deal with NBC and a coproduction pact with Universal TV, NBCUniversal’s scripted production arm.

Haggis will direct Salvation, in which New York’s Our Lady of Salvation becomes Brooklyn’s last viable trauma centre when a massive summer storm arrives.

Leight and Haggis are executive producers, with the former making his first series since scoring an overall deal with SPT earlier this summer.

NBC’s 2016-17 dramas include the SPT-produced Timeless and The Blacklist: Redemption, plus in-house produced efforts such as Chicago Justice and Taken.

The new shows were announced at NBC’s TCA summer press tour event yesterday.