Shawn Ryan isn’t usually known for going too far out of the box with his programming. Rather, his body of work is that of procedural shows that for the large part have an edge to them that makes them, well, good. His newest venture with ABC, however, would struggle to be classified as procedural, or contained within a box of any kind. According to Deadline, Ryan has teamed up with feature writer Karl Gajdusek (Dead Like Me) for a pilot called Last Resort.
“Last Resort is described as a big swing and massive in scope. It is a thriller set in the near future when the country is very fractured and revolves around the crew of a U.S. nuclear submarine who become hunted after ignoring an order to shoot nuclear missiles. They escape to a NATO listening outpost where they publicly declare themselves to be the world's smallest nuclear nation with 24 nuclear warheads. The show will explore the society the fugitives create, the natives they meet and how what they've done affects the group and its unity.”
While ABC is reportedly only committed to a pilot at this stage, Ryan’s pedigree as well as the originality of the idea will give the show a fairly strong chance to air.