National Geographic has today given a series order to the original drama The Hot Zone based on the book of the same name by Richard Preston. The announcement was made ahead of the network's upfront presentation to advertisers.
The drama recounts the terrifying true story of the origin of the Ebola virus, a highly infectious deadly virus from the central African rain forest, and its first arrival on U.S. soil. In 1989, when this killer suddenly appeared in chimpanzees in a scientific lab in the suburbs of Washington D.C., there was no known cure. A heroic U.S. Army veterinarian working with a secret military SWAT team put herself in mortal peril when she tried to head off the outbreak before it spread to the human population.
Ridley Scott, Lynda Obst, Kelly Souders, Brian Peterson and Jeff Vintar serve as executive producers. Fox 21 Television Studios, Scott Free Productions and Lynda Obst Productions produce.
