AMC has announced earlier today that it had given the green light for a new anthology drama series (a la American Horror Story) based on Dan Simmons’ bestselling novel The Terror. The 10-episode one-hour series has an expected premiere date of 2017 and will be produced Scott Free, Emjag Productions and Entertainment 360 in association with AMC Studios.

The Terror will be written by David Kajganich (The Invasion, Blood Creek, True Story, IT), who’ll also serve as co-showrunner with Soo Hugh (The Killing, The Whispers). Ridley Scott will also executive-produce.

Set in 1847, the anthology series (and the book) centers on a Royal Naval expedition crew looking for the Northwest Passage in the arctic when they are attacked by a soul-devouring monster that stalks their ship all the while the crew is faced with starvation, scurvy, mutiny and cannibalism.

The story is a fictionalized account of Captain Sir John Franklin's lost expedition of HMS Erebus and HMS Terror, with the characters based on almost all the actual members of Franklin’s crew. The Terror was nominated for the British Fantasy Award in 2008. In an official press release, David Kajganich stated:

“Dan’s novel is that rare combination of fascinating actual history, ground-breaking genre storytelling, and the complex character work of literature. The chance to launch a series that will incorporate all of these elements going forward, and with a team of this caliber, is extraordinary.”

With Soo Hugh adding, “As a long-time fan of Dan Simmons, the opportunity to join this project is a dream come true. We look forward to bringing this story to life for the passionate AMC audience.”

About bringing an anthology series on the cable channel that already airs a couple of successful genre series, such as The Walking Dead, Fear the Walking Dead and soon Preacher, Joel Stillerman, president of original programming and development for AMC and SundanceTV, said:

“We’ve been focused on developing this incredible story for television with these great partners for a couple of years, and we think it provides rich dramatic material but also an opportunity to explore the anthology format, which is something we’re extremely interested in and offers some unique possibilities. Originality is still something that gets our attention every day, and the very unique mixing of historical non-fiction with a gripping and imaginative science fiction overlay in Dan’s novel is something that we hadn’t seen before. That, combined with an exceptional team behind the project made this something we really wanted to bring to air on AMC.”

Are you excited about Dan Simmons’ novel The Terror coming to AMC as a new anthology series?

(via AMC)