AMC+ commissions new take on sci-fi drama Orphan Black from Boat Rocker

Orphan Black debuted on BBC America in the US and CTV Sci-Fi in Canada

A new iteration of Canadian sci-fi series Orphan Black has officially been greenlit by AMC Networks streamer AMC+.

Orphan Black: Echoes, produced and distributed by Canadian studio Boat Rocker, has been commissioned for a 10-episode first season, which is scheduled to premiere on AMC+ and AMC’s linear networks in 2023.

Anna Fishko (Pieces of Her, The Society) is the creator, writer, showrunner and executive producer with John Fawcett, who co-created the original series, serving as director and executive producer.

The green light comes almost five years after the initial version of the series ended. Airing on BBC America in the US and Bell Media’s CTV Sci-Fi in Canada, the show starred Tatiana Maslany as Sarah Manning, one of several genetically identical human clones. It ran for five seasons.

The new incarnation of the series, set in the near future, is described as taking a “deep dive into the exploration of the scientific manipulation of human existence.” It follows a group of women as they unravel the mystery of their identities.

David Fortier and Ivan Schneeberg, co-executive chairmen of Boat Rocker Media and co-chairmen of Boat Rocker Studios, are exec producers on the new series. Also executive producing for Boat Rocker are Katie O’Connell Marsh, Nick Nantell and Kerry Appleyard.

Boat Rocker manages content distribution and consumer product rights for Orphan Black.

In other news, AMC Networks is also fast-tracking development on Straight Man, a potential new series starring Bob Odenkirk with partners Sony Pictures’ Television TriStar TV and Gran Via.

Aaron Zelman and Paul Lieberstein, who are adapting the project from the novel of the same name by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Richard Russo, would serve as co-showrunners.

If greenlit the series will air in 2023 and would be Odenkirk’s third for AMC, following Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul. Zelman, Lieberstein, Odenkirk, Peter Farrelly, who is on board to direct, Richard Russo, Naomi Odenkirk and Marc Provissiero are executive producers.

Straight Man is a mid-life crisis tale set at Railton College, told in the first person by William Henry Devereaux Jr (Odenkirk), the unlikely chairman of the English department in a badly underfunded college in the Pennsylvania rust belt.