Anna Pigeon | Features | Broadcast

This crime procedural was not only among the first shows to be confirmed on USA Network’s inaugural slate following its Versant move, it’s also the first time that the channel has co-commissioned with Canada’s Bell Media.

The journey to get the project onto screen, however, was far from straightforward.

“It was a long and winding road to bring Anna Pigeon to life,” says Brett Burlock, executive producer at Cineflix, “informed by unbridled passion, doggedness and some serendipitous timing.”

The 10-part series is based on Nevada Barr’s Anna Pigeon novels, whose rights were held by director Lea Thompson. “Lea was approached a few years ago by exec producer Todd Berger, who brought Cineflix into the project, which really took flight with the creative involvement of showrunner Morwyn Brebner, with whom we had previously worked on Coroner,” Burlock says.

The authenticity of lead character Anna Pigeon, played by Chicago PD star Tracy Spiridakos, immediately appealed to Brebner, as did the story around her career shift to become a crime-solving park ranger after a devastating loss.

Around the same time, USA Network was looking to reignite its character-driven, blue-sky procedural brand, under Michael Sluchan, who had developed the Anna Pigeon novels some 20 years before at NBC.

“The project really took flight with the creative involvement of showrunner Morwyn Brebner, with whom we had previously worked on Coroner”
Brett Burlock

His knowledge of the IP helped to propel the show forward, with a cast that includes Paulina Alexis (Reservation Dogs) and Ronnie Rowe (Star Trek: Discovery) then being assembled, alongside Brebner showrunning and Lea Thompson (Resident Alien) directing.

But having sold the show as being “a blue-sky series set in a gorgeous national park”, as Burlock puts it, the challenge then became finding a location that delivered. After many discussions and some intrepid scouting in the dead of winter, a location in the Canadian state of Alberta was found.

“We were fortunate enough to find a backlot abutting a park that had glorious backdrops, including a fast-running river, a lush, verdant forest and a number of pre-existing structures, including log cabins and a charming gazebo,” says Burlock. “Along with spectacular mountain locations within a short drive of the backlot, we found an embarrassment of visual riches to accompany that abundant blue sky.”

Burlock describes Spiridakos as “a wickedly talented actor”, but admits that the crew were not sure what to expect “once we were actually outside shooting in the elements with Anna riding a horse, climbing a tree or wrestling a bad guy to the forest floor”.

But the Cineflix exec says she brought “a fiery combination of intelligence, physicality, humour and sexiness to the decidedly modern character of Anna Pigeon that audiences will definitely fall hard for”.

The vast vistas and storylines that revolve around Pigeon’s crime-solving will engage audiences, Burlock says, while the combination of each episode delivering a standalone mystery coupled with “a strong serial spine” across the season will entice returning viewers, adds Tom Misselbrook, senior vice-president of scripted development at Cineflix Rights.

“We’re not in city streets or interrogation rooms. We’re in a vast wilderness that becomes a character in its own right. It’s a procedural you can drop into – but once you’re in, you have to keep watching.”