Lifetime Greenlights Conspiracy Thriller ‘The Lottery’

Lifetime has picked up Timothy J. Sexton’s (Children of Men) dystopian conspiracy thriller, The Lottery to series, giving the series a 10-episode commitment.

The Lottery is described as a “conspiracy thriller set in a dystopian future.” The world is thrown into chaos with the human race nearing extinction when women stop having children. A scientific breakthrough results in the successful fertilization of 100 embryos; leading to a national lottery to determine who will be the surrogates. As conflict, control and mystery over this important experiment unfold, government interests and power begin to dominate one of the most personal and basic elements of humanity — the right to have a family.

“‘The Lottery’ is one of the most provocative and original concepts we’ve ever seen,” said Rob Sharenow, Executive Vice President and General Manager of Lifetime. “Tim Sexton’s unique dystopian thriller represents an exciting new direction for Lifetime and continues cable’s position on the leading edge of bold, high-quality scripted drama.”

The Lottery is Lifetime’s second scripted series pickup this year.  Last week it ordered 10 episodes of A+E Studios’ Un-Real, which goes behind-the-scenes of a hit competition dating show and is led by a young staffer (Shiri Appleby, Roswell) whose sole job is to manipulate her relationships with and among the contestants to get the vital dramatic and outrageous footage the program’s producers demand.

The Lottery stars Marley Shelton (Eleventh Hour) as Dr. Alison Lennon, the brilliant fertility specialist whose scientific breakthrough may have life-and-death consequences; Michael Graziadei (The Young and the Restless) as Kyle, a recovering alcoholic and single father of one of the last children born in the country; David Alpay (The Vampire Diaries) as James, Alison’s colleague and lab assistant; and Martin Donovan (Homeland) as Darius Hayes, a calculating government official willing to use any strategy to achieve what he believes is the greater good.

The Lottery was written by Timothy J. Sexton (Children of Men, Walkout, Live from Baghdad, Boycott, For Love or Country: The Arturo Sandoval Story), who also serves as executive producer with Dawn Olmstead (Prison Break, Tru Calling).  Danny Cannon (CSI, Nikita) directed and executive produced the pilot, which is from Grady Girl Productions in association with Warner Horizon Television.