Alcatraz is an upcoming American television series filmed in Vancouver, BC, starring Sarah Jones and Jorge Garcia. Bad Robot Productions produced the pilot episode, which is based on a screenplay by Elizabeth Sarnoff, Steven Lilien and Bryan Wynbrandt. The series was officially picked up by Fox on May 10, 2011. It is currently planned as a midseason replacement to air on Mondays at 9 pm in January 2012. Pilot When San Francisco Police Department Det. Rebecca Madsen (Sarah Jones) is assigned to a grisly homicide case, a fingerprint leads her to Jack Sylvane (guest star Jeffrey Pierce), a former Alcatraz inmate who died decades ago. Given her family history—both her grandfather and surrogate uncle, Ray Archer (Robert Forster), were guards at the prison—Madsen's interest is immediately piqued, and once the enigmatic, knows-everything-but-tells-nothing government agent Emerson Hauser (Sam Neill) tries to impede her investigation, she is doggedly committed. Madsen turns to Alcatraz expert and comic book enthusiast, Dr. Diego "Doc" Soto (Jorge Garcia), to piece together the inexplicable sequence of events. The twosome discovers that Sylvane is not only alive, but he is loose on the streets of San Francisco, leaving bodies in his wake. And strangely, he has not aged a day since he was in Alcatraz, when the prison was ruled by the iron-fisted Warden Edwin James (Jonny Coyne) and the merciless Associate Warden E.B. Tiller (Jason Butler Harner). Madsen and Doc reluctantly team with Agent Hauser and his technician, Lucy Banerjee (Parminder Nagra), to stop Sylvane's vengeful killing spree. By delving into Alcatraz history, government cover-ups and Rebecca's own heritage, the team will ultimately discover that Sylvane is only a small part of a much larger, more sinister present-day threat. For while he may be the first, it quickly becomes clear that Sylvane will not be the last prisoner to reappear from Alcatraz. Through the course of the investigation, Madsen and Soto will learn that Agent Hauser has known about the prison's secret history and has been awaiting the prisoners' return. Soto will witness his life's work—the history of Alcatraz—come alive. Madsen will be forced to keep her supportive cop fiancé, Jimmy Dickens (Santiago Cabrera), at arm's length from the highly classified assignment as she sees everything she thought she knew about her family's past shattered, all while fighting to keep the country safe from history's most dangerous criminals Cast Main Sarah Jones as Rebecca Madsen, a San Francisco Police Department homicide detective Jorge Garcia as Dr. Diego “Doc” Soto, an Alcatraz expert and comic book enthusiast Sam Neill as Emerson Hauser, an enigmatic, knows-everything-but-tells-nothing government agent Parminder Nagra as Lucy Banerjee, Agent Hauser's technician Robert Forster as Ray Archer, Det. Madsen's surrogate uncle Santiago Cabrera as Jimmy Dickens, Det. Madsen's supportive cop fiancé Jonny Coyne as Edwin James, the iron-fisted warden of Alcatraz Jason Butler Harner as E.B. Tiller, the merciless associate warden Recurring Jeffrey Pierce as Jack Sylvane, a former Alcatraz inmate who supposedly died decades ago. Development Alcatraz is produced by Bonanza Productions Inc. in association with Bad Robot Productions and Warner Bros. Television. The series is executive-produced by J. J. Abrams, Bryan Burk and Elizabeth Sarnoff. Steven Lilien and Bryan Wynbrandt, both of Kyle XY fame, created the concept and Sarnoff was brought on later in the process. Sarnoff wrote the pilot along with Lilien and Wynbrandt. Danny Cannon directed and executive-produced the pilot. In September 2011, Jennifer Johnson became an executive producer and co-showrunner alongside Sarnoff. After Sarnoff stepped down in November 2011, Daniel Pyne joined Johnson as showrunner. Critical reception In June 2011, Alcatraz was one of eight honorees in the Most Exciting New Series category at the 1st Critics' Choice Television Awards, voted by journalists who had seen the pilots.