When The X-Files creator Chris Carter first detailed his next project, The After, he said it would be "more fun" if its plot details were "kept a mystery." The first trailer for its hour-long pilot does an excellent job of maintaining that mystery. It shows a panicked crowd in downtown Los Angeles dealing with the effects of some unseen disaster that causes windows to crack, helicopters to crash into each other, and people to plead with police officers to help them get home to their families. Carter, not yet elaborating on exactly happens to cause such panic, says the show "explores human frailty, possibility, terror, and the triumph of the human spirit," following the unspecified catastrophe.

An hour-long pilot of The After was ordered last October by Amazon Studios. The result will appear online later this year — alongside pilots for detective show Bosch and an LA period drama — to allow users of Amazon's Lovefilm or Prime Instant Video to once again vote for their favorites. If The After is successful, it'll presumably be picked up for an entire series, and we'll work out exactly what it is that has people so spooked.