'Orphan Black' Follow-Up Series in Development at AMC

Producer Temple Street Productions is in the early stages on a new show set in the same world as the BBC America cult series.


The Clone Club may be getting some new members.


A new series set in the world of Orphan Black is in the works at AMC.


The show, which sources stress is at the very beginning stages of development, is not a sequel or reboot of the BBC America cult series, which ran from 2013 to 2017 and starred Tatiana Maslany as a woman who discovers she has multiple clones. Instead, the series would be set in the same world as Orphan Black but tell a different story with characters.


Orphan Black producer Temple Street Productions is on board and will meet with writers to flesh out the idea.


Also of note: The show is set up at AMC, not sister channel BBC America. Both are now under the purview of former BBC America head Sarah Barnett, who in November was upped to president entertainment networks at AMC Networks.


The two networks will simulcast season two of Killing Eve, which was a ratings breakout and awards magnet for BBC America in 2018. In announcing the move, Barnett said she hoped it would help bring the series to "an even broader array of viewers and fans." AMC has about 10 million more subscribers than BBC America and last year averaged more than three times as many primetime viewers.


AMC and BBC America also announced Monday that they will simulcast British import A Discovery of Witches following Killing Eve's April 7 premiere. The drama has already streamed on AMC Networks-owned Sundance Now and Shudder.


AMC is also on the hunt for more new programming as flagship The Walking Dead has suffered heavy ratings declines the past two seasons — though it's still by far the top-rated entertainment series on ad-supported cable — and will say goodbye to Into the Badlands and The Son in 2019.


AMC's scripted roster currently includes The Walking Dead and spinoff Fear the Walking Dead, Better Call Saul, The Terror, Preacher, Lodge 49, Humans and McMafia, along with the forthcoming NOS4A2 and anthology Dispatches From Elsewhere. It has also opened a writers room for 61st Street, a drama from Michael B. Jordan and Peter Moffat (The Night Of) under the network's script-to-series development model.