WGN America Adapting DC Comics' 'Scalped'

WGN America Adapting DC Comics' 'Scalped' (Exclusive)

by Lesley Goldberg

"Banshee's" Doug Jung will adapt the crime noir drama set on a Native American reservation.

WGN America is looking to DC Comics as it bolsters its development slate.

The cable network, which will bow its first original scripted series on Sunday, has put in development an adaptation of Scalped from DC Entertainment's Vertigo imprint, The Hollywood Reporter has learned.

Scapled is described as a crime noir set on a Native American reservation. Banshee's Doug Jung will pen t he script and executive produce the Warner Horizon Television drama.

The comic launched in 2007 as a monthly and ran for 60 issues, ending in 2012. Jason Aaron penned the comic, which was illustrated by R.M. Guera. The series focused on the Oglala Lakota inhabitants in the fictional Prairie Rose Indian Reservation in South Dakota as they grapple with organized crime, poverty, drug and alcohol addiction and local politics while trying to preserve their cultural identity. The plot was partially inspired by Native American activist Leonard Peltier, who was arrested for the slaying of two FBI agents on a reservation shootout in 1975.

The Scalped series is highly regarded within the comics industry and a critical darling. It ranks as one of the longest-running series in comics history with a non-white protagonist and largely non-white cast. The series was named one of Comic Book Resources' Comics You Should Own and was "a deeply flawed masterpiece."

For WGN America, Scalped joins a rapidly growing development slate that also includes Radiant Doors, from Gaumont and Justin Lin; period drama Shadow Land and more. WGN America, which recently landed syndicated repeats of CBS' Elementary, will bow its first scripted drama on Sunday with witch trials entry Salem. The cable network next has atomic bomb drama Manhattan and a 10 Commandments miniseries.

Scalped becomes the latest DC Comics entry to be developed for TV. It joins The Flash (The CW); Constantine (NBC); iZombie (The CW); Hourman (The CW); Preacher (AMC); and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (Fox), among others including Fox's Batman prequel Gotham, which tells the story of Commissioner Jim Gordon.

Jung, whose credits also include Dark Blue and Big Love, is repped by UTA, Circle of Confusion and Hansen Jacobson.