Secrets & Lies Adaptation Ordered to Series by ABC

According to The Hollywood Reporter, ABC has become the latest network to bypass the traditional broadcast pilot season by giving a straight-to-series order to Secrets & Lies, an adaptation of an upcoming Australian crime drama. The series, which was given a 10-episode order and is currently looking for leads and a showrunner, tells the story of a man who becomes the prime suspect in a murder of a young boy when he’s the one who finds the body. Off the Map star Martin Henderson will be playing the lead role in the Australian version of the show, which is set to bow sometime next year.

There’s no word yet on how ABC will be using Secrets & Lies – it’s early enough in the season to where 10 episodes could feasibly be completed in time for a spring or early summer bow, should the network’s midseason schedule fail to take shape. However, if the network has the confidence in the concept and the series producer Aaron Kaplan to order it sight unseen, there’s a good chance that it’ll find a slot on the network’s fall 2014 schedule.

Secrets & Lies joins a recently onslaught of series ordered without going through development, as networks continue to look for ways to make pilot season more efficient. At FOX, 13-episode Hieroglyph joins an untitled Tina Fey comedy and Batman prequel Gotham on the 2014-2015 schedule, while CBS has given early nods to cop drama Battle Creek and summer sci-fi entry Extant, the latter of which will star Oscar winner Halle Berry.

Does Secrets & Lies sound like something that would fit in at ABC? Who do you think should play the lead role in the American version of the show? Should the network use the show for midseason/summer or would they be better off holding it for next fall?