LOS ANGELES and TORONTO – Entertainment One (eOne), along with Bell Media and Canadian director Brad Peyton today announced an eight-episode series order for a mystery drama titled Albedo.
The Canadian rights to the series will be owned by Bell Media in Canada, and in the U.S. by Wal-Mart’s ad-supported online video portal Vudu. The show has been development at Bell Media since 2016 and expected to begin pre-production this month. It is Canada Media Fund supported.
The show will mark a return to television for actress Evangeline Lilly (pictured), who will star and executive produce. Writing duo Max and Adam Reid serve as series creators and executive producers. Brad Peyton (Frontier, San Andreas) is also set to direct and executive produce the straight-to-series project that will be internationally distributed by eOne.
“One-hundred-fifty years in the future, detective Vivien Coleman is dispatched to the edge of our solar system to investigate a scientist’s mysterious death on board an isolated space station. She soon finds herself trapped and cut-off from Earth, along with the station’s small crew of brilliant scientists – all murder suspects – all harboring their own secrets… What begins as a classic murder mystery evolves into a fight for survival that may threaten the future of our species,” is how the press release summarizes the plot.
“We are very proud to be working with Vudu as they make their foray into content, alongside our longstanding partners at Bell. eOne is designed to create and deliver content everywhere and that includes helping new buyers into the space,” said Pete Micelli, eOne’s chief strategy officer, film and television.
“The opportunity to have Evangeline bring Vivien Coleman to life coupled with Brad Peyton’s fantastic vision for this series will create a truly epic experience for audiences around the world,” added Jocelyn Hamilton, eOne’s President – Canada, television.
“Partnering with eOne on this project ensures high-level international engagement, including this new collaboration with Vudu,” added Randy Lennox, president, Bell Media, in the release.
“Vudu is one of the fastest-growing video on-demand services, and providing exciting original and exclusive programming like Albedo at no cost to our customers is key to our continued growth,” added Julian Franco, Vudu. “New programming efforts like this will delight audiences and allow Vudu to offer a unique value proposition to brand partners and advertisers.”
Wal-Mart’s Vudu is an ad-supported, Internet-based home entertainment service that provides access to a library of movies, images, television shows, artwork, and/or other episodic content. Its services can be accessed through computers, mobile devices, and Internet-capable televisions, as well as proprietary devices manufactured by the company and third-party devices and is not available to viewers in Canada.
