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Chris Carter's mysterious AMC show is a thriller about Area 51

Chris Carter's mysterious AMC show is a thriller about Area 51

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Along with his Amazon show The After, we knew that X-Files mastermind Chris Carter was also working on a project for AMC. It turns out it's going to cover some familiar ground for fans of his earlier work: Area 51. Today the network announced that the series — currently in development — is an adaptation of Annie Jacobson's Area 51: An Uncensored History of America's Top Secret Military Base. A New York Times best-seller, the book is an extensive look at the mysterious military outpost, drawing upon interviews with numerous individuals that have worked at the facility. AMC's not providing much more information beyond that, describing the tentatively-titled Area 51 show as "A contemporary conspiracy thriller revealing the true story behind the infamous Area 51, America's most mysterious military installation."

AMC is getting into comedy

It's one of several projects AMC called out, in a slate focused predominantly on comedy — a shift for the network behind Mad Men and Breaking Bad. It's ordered a pilot for a comedy called We Hate Paul Revere, focusing on two friends that are struggling for recognition in Colonial Boston, and is also developing projects with the team of Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, The Daily Show's Wyatt Cenac, and several others.

That said, there's a quite a bit for more serious-minded television fans to appreciate as well. AMC noted that it's developing a pilot with Ridley Scott's production company based on the life of Jet Propulsion Laboratory co-founder Jim Parsons, and has optioned the rights to sci-fi author Brian Aldiss' Somewhere East of Life. Being in development is a long way from making it to series, of course, but AMC has several shows ready to debut this year in the meantime — including the 1980s drama Halt and Catch Fire and the long-awaited Breaking Bad spin-off Better Call Saul.