Joe Carnahan To Helm Anne Rice CBS Pilot 'Angel Times'

Joe Carnahan is straight killing it right now. He's completed filming on his latest movie, Stretch, turned in a screenplay he co-wrote for Mark Millar's Nemesis, and directed not one, but two recent TV pilots including NBC's The Blacklist, one of the season's biggest early hits. If that's not enough, he's now attached to direct the first episode of a potential CBS drama called Angel Times based on a series of novels by popular author Anne Rice. The show will follow a cold-blooded assassin in modern-day New Orleans who attempts to find redemption for his evil life by traveling back in time.Deadline broke the news of the project, which is named after the first book in Rice's The Songs of the Seraphim series. The pilot is being written by Josh Harto and Liz Garcia.

Here's a more detailed description:

It's the present day.  Toby O'Dare—aka Lucky the Fox—is a contract killer of underground fame on assignment to kill once again.  He's a soulless soul, a dead man walking.  His nightmarish world of lone and lethal missions is disrupted when a mysterious stranger, a seraph, offers him a chance to save rather than destroy lives. O'Dare, who long ago dreamt of being a priest, seizes his chance. Now he is carried back through the ages to thirteenth-century England, to dark realms where accusations of ritual murder have been made against Jews, where children suddenly die or disappear.  In this primitive setting, O'Dare begins his perilous quest for salvation, a journey of danger and flight, loyalty and betrayal, selflessness and love.

Since the new TV season just started, the timing suggests this could turn into a pilot for the upcoming season or maybe even next season. Meaning even if it gets picked up, audience won't see it for a year at the earliest. Still, Carnahan's hand and the rich story – blending crime drama, fantasy and horror – make this something I'm now interested in. What about you?