Amazon has ordered a supernatural thriller series called The Rig, which sounds like it draws some inspiration from the works of John Carpenter and Stephen King. Set to be directed by John Strickland from scripts by Meg Salter, Matthew Jacobs Morgan, and series creator David Macpherson, the six-part series will be set
onboard the Kishorn Bravo oil rig, stationed off the Scottish coast in the dangerous waters of the North Sea. When the crew is due to return to the mainland, a mysterious and all-enveloping fog rolls through and they find themselves cut off from all communication with the shore and the outside world. As they endeavor to discover what’s driving this force, bonds are broken, allegiances formed and generational fault lines exposed.
Coming from Wild Mercury Productions, The Rig will film in Scotland next year. Strickland will be executive producing the show with Derek Wax. Suzanne Reid serves as producer.
Amazon's Georgia Brown said,
The Rig is a brilliant story, expertly told, in the most dramatic of settings. It asks searching questions about nature and the environment, about what it takes to survive and to be human, which feels very pertinent to the world we are living in now. We're delighted to add this to our growing roster of UK made Amazon Original shows."
Wax added that The Rig is
a character-driven, epic thriller, full of heart-grabbing action and bold, original ideas, and we are delighted to be working with Amazon Prime Video in bringing it to life. David Macpherson captures life on a North Sea oil rig with extraordinary authenticity and it's been exciting to work with him, director John Strickland and our creative team in realizing the scale and vision of this world."
This sort of sounds like a mix of Stephen King's The Mist and the John Carpenter films THE FOG and THE THING. And if it's nearly as cool as any of those, The Rig will be something to look forward to.