Matthew Goode to star in the pilot for sci-fi series Roadside Picnic

Last Updated on July 31, 2021

Matthew Goode is on tap to helm the sci-fi adventure of a lifetime in the pilot for WGN America's Roadside Picnic, based on the 1972 Russian novel of the same name by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky. The story was previously adapted into the 1979 Andrei Tarkovsky movie STALKER, but hasn't been heard from since. 

Goode, who appeared in recent horror gem STOKER and held roles in both The Good Wife and Downton Abbey, is the perfect person to bring this "alien saga" to life, because he can switch between charming warmth and bone-chilling creepiness in the blink of an eye.

Roadside Picnic explores a near-future world where aliens have come and gone, leaving humankind to explore the wondrous and dangerous mysteries left behind. The story also explores the social ramifications of their visit, as seen through the eyes of Red (Goode), a veteran “stalker” who has made it his mission to illegally venture into the once inhabited zone and scavenge the abandoned remains of the alien culture.

Red is described as an “enigmatic, blue-collar contradiction” who can be quietly intelligent one moment and utterly ruthless the next. Red has a loving relationship with his wife Guta and his daughter Marie — who is shunned because she is a child of the “Zone,” the site of a long-ago extraterrestrial visitation. Red used to be a “Stalker” — one of the brave souls willing to risk their lives by illegally entering the Zone to sell what they find on the black market. Red, recently out of prison, finds his troubles are just beginning.

The pilot was written by Jack Paglen (TRANSCENDENCE) and will be directed by Alan Taylor (TERMINATOR: GENISYS, Game of Thrones).