One of the lesser talked about pickups from The CW for the fall 2014 season is The Messengers, which plays to the science fiction angle but keeps things in a grounded way by all appearances, at least for the start. You can see shades of The Event in this, which could be its undoing if it doesn’t provide enough of a hook early enough, but The CW is getting a little bit out there with the first images from the pilot and an extensive synopsis of what the series is about. No pilot trailer is available yet, which is what will be better used to judge it.
The series stars Shantel VanSanten, Jon Fletcher, Sofia Black-D’Elia, JD Pardo, Joel Courtney, Anna Diop and Diogo Morgado.
The Messengers comes from CBS TV Studios and film produced Basil Iwanyk of the Clash of the Titans films. This new series has some interesting talent with Teen Wolf writer Eoghan O’Donnell while Ted Humphrey of The Good Wife is on as a supervising producer.
Plot concept: In the white-hot sun of the New Mexico desert, scientist Vera Ivanov watches in fascination as a mysterious object plummets to Earth and explodes in a blinding flash, sending out a shock wave that briefly stops her heart. But Vera is not the only one affected by the blast: she is instantly and mysteriously connected to four other strangers, who also collapse only to miraculously comeback to life hours later. Erin, a young mother desperate to protect her 7-year-old daughter from an abusive ex-husband; Peter, a troubled high school student who finally lashes out to end the constant bullying he can no longer endure; Raul, a federal agent looking to escape his undercover assignment in a violent Mexican drug cartel; and Joshua, Jr., a charismatic second-generation televangelist following in his father’s footsteps – all awaken after the pulse with powers they can barely believe, from inexplicable strength to the ability to heal others. Most mysterious of all is the figure known only as The Man, who offers Vera the one thing she wants most in life – to be reunited with her kidnapped son – if she will help him with one morally complicated task. That task puts Vera on a collision course with nurse Rose Arvale who, after a seemingly random act of violence left her in a coma for seven years, suddenly begins to stir. As Joshua, Jr. prophesizes, the wheels of Revelation have begun to turn, and this group of strangers might be the only hope for preventing the impending Rapture…or causing it.
