Kevin Costner’s National Parks crime drama receives ABC pilot order

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

Back in the before times, ABC got the ball rolling on a one-hour drama series set in the world of America's National Parks that was to be written and executive produced by Kevin Costner, but then…well, everything went to shit. It seems that ABC has given the project a second chance as they've now given a pilot order to National Parks.

"While the national parks are known for their sweeping, beautiful landscapes, there is also a darker, more sinister side to these parks that attract a vast array of criminal activity," reads the official logline. "'National Parks' will follow the small group of elite NPS agents as they solve these crimes while protecting these national treasures." Anthony Hemingway (American Crime Story) is now attached to direct the pilot and will also executive produce National Parks alongside Aaron Helbing and Jon Baird, who also wrote the series with Kevin Costner. Helbing, best known for Spartacus, Black Sails, The Flash, and Knightfall, will also serve as showrunner on National Parks. In a statement, Kevin Costner said, "Our partners at ABC, 20th Television and A+E Studios have given me a great environment to step out of my comfort zone and deliver something special."

Kevin Costner doesn't dabble in television all that often, and his biggest venture into the medium thus far has been Yellowstone, a Paramount Network series that follows "the Dutton family, led by John Dutton (Costner), who controls the largest contiguous ranch in the United States. The ranch is under constant attack by those it borders—land developers, an Indian reservation, and United States of America's first National Park. It is an intense study of a violent world far from media scrutiny, where land grabs earn developers billions, and politicians are bought and sold by the world's largest oil and lumber corporations. Where unsolved murders are not news, they are a consequence of living in the new frontier. It is the best and worst of the United States as seen through the eyes of a family that represents both." The third season of the series wrapped up last summer and has already been renewed for a fourth.