Martin Donovan is set to co-star opposite Matthew Goode in WGN America’s alien saga pilot Roadside Picnic, based on the famous novel by top Soviet/Russian science fiction writers Arkady and Boris Strugatsky.

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Written by Transcendence scribe Jack Paglen, with Alan Taylor attached to direct and Neal Moritz producing, 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.

Donovan will play Dr. Vanlentine Pillman, head of a government institute that studies and attempts to maintain control over six zones where the aliens made earthly contact.

Donovan recurs on DC’s Legends of Tomorrow and Freeform’s upcoming series Beyond, and he recently wrapped principal photography on the indy Rememory, directed and co-written by Mark Palansky. He’s repped by Don Buchwald & Associates and Gary Goddard & Associates.