I’ve learned that Amazon has given a pilot order to Mad Dogs, based on the British black comedy/thriller series. The original show’s creator, Cris Cole, wrote the adaptation and is executive producing with The Shield creator Shawn Ryan for Sony Pictures TV, where Ryan is under an overall deal. Emmy winner Charles McDougall is set to direct. The project was originally set up at FX as a potential limited series last year. The U.S. version follows the reunion of four fortysomething guys who head to Belize to visit their old school friend, when things take an unexpected and dark turn. (Check out a trailer for the UK version below.) British production company Left Bank, which is behind the original series, is co-producing with Sony.

Mad Dog premiered in 2011 and aired for four seasons (a total of 14 episodes) on Sky1. Sony TV previously did a pilot for Amazon based on the feature Zombieland. Mad Dogs joins a growing roster of comedy and drama pilots from Amazon’s third pilot season that include The Cosmopolitans, Hand Of God, Red Oaks, Hysteria, Cocked, Point Of Honor, Salem Rogers: Model Of The Year 1998, Down Dog, The Outlaws and Really.