'Inland' TV Series Being Adapted By Drew Goddard For ABC Signature

Drew Goddard is returning to TV for his next project. The Bad Times at the El Royale director is adapting an Inland TV series based on The Tiger's Wife author Téa Obreht's bestselling Western epic novel. Inland will be one of the first projects for Goddard under his massive four-year overall deal with ABC Studios and its cable-streaming division ABC Signature.Deadline reports that Goddard is developing an Inland TV series adaptation for ABC Signature, a cable and streaming division of Disney TV Studios. Though Goddard was originally signed by 20th Century Fox TV, his deal migrated to ABC Studios following the Disney-Fox merger.Inland is set in the lawless lands of the Arizona Territory in 1893 and follows the intersecting storylines of two characters: Nora, a frontierswoman awaiting the return of her husband and sons; and Lurie, a former outlaw who is literally haunted by ghosts. It's an epic Western with a supernatural twist that seems right up Goddard's alley — the creator got his start working on Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel before helming his breakout 2012 hit The Cabin in the Woods.

Here is the synopsis for Inland (via GoodReads):

In the lawless, drought-ridden lands of the Arizona Territory in 1893, two extraordinary lives collide. Nora is an unflinching frontierswoman awaiting the return of the men in her life–her husband, who has gone in search of water for the parched household, and her elder sons, who have vanished after an explosive argument. Nora is biding her time with her youngest son, who is convinced that a mysterious beast is stalking the land around their home.

Lurie is a former outlaw and a man haunted by ghosts. He sees lost souls who want something from him, and he finds reprieve from their longing in an unexpected relationship that inspires a momentous expedition across the West. The way in which Nora's and Lurie's stories intertwine is the surprise and suspense of this brilliant novel.

Inland was published this year and was author Téa Obreht's follow-up to her bestselling 2010 novel The Tiger's Wife, which won the 2011 Orange Prize for Fiction and earned her a place on The New Yorker's list of 20 best American fiction writers under 40.

No cast or release date has yet been set for Inland.