Back in 2006, Image Comics had published the 4 issue comic book series ‘O.C.T.: Occult Crimes Taskforce’ and it was hoped to be made into a feature film but somewhere along the line, the project got dropped. Now it looks like ‘O.C.T.’ has gained renewed interest as THR is reporting that Rosario Dawson (‘Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief’, ‘Grindhouse’, ‘Gemini Division’) is teaming up with Gale Anne Hurd (executive producer of ‘The Walking Dead’) to bring the comic series to the small screen.

The comic series was created by Dawson and David Atchison and was meant to be used as a star vehicle for her. The script will be written by Jorge Zamacona who seems very comfortable in the police procedural genre as he produced and/or written on such shows as ‘Witchblade’, ‘The Unusuals’, ‘Millenium’, ‘Homicide: Life on the Streets’ and ‘Wanted.’ Atchison will also serve as producer alongside Hurd who is quite knowledgeable about bringing graphic novels to life as evidenced by the success of the show ‘The Walking Dead.’ Ford Gilmore and the comic series’ illustratior, Tony Shasteen, will also be on board as producers.

The one hour scripted drama will focus on Sophia Ortiz, a new member of a covert police unit called the Occult Crimes Taskforce (O.C.T.) that was established after the Civil War to make New York City streets safe from practitioners of black magic, demons from other dimensions, unholy creatures of the night and all other supernatural menaces.  At the heart of the story will be the “ongoing struggle between the O.C.T. detectives and the organized demon-force attempting to take over Manhattan.” In the comic mini-series, “The OCT precinct is located near the inter-dimesional ‘Extant’ portal, in an area of Manhattan referred to as the ‘Otherground’. Due to the Otherground’s proximity to the Extant’s center, it is a haven for supernatural activity…” Although still in the early stages, Dawson is still being considered to play the role of Ortiz as originally planned.

‘O.C.T.’ sounds like it would be a great addition to the A&E line up but I can’t help but think it has a bit of a ‘Torchwood’ feel to it.   There is a precinct that is located near a center of supernatural activity (similar to Torchwood’s rift) and a new member, Sophia Ortiz, joins a covert police unit (similar to Gwen joining the Torchwood team).  And instead of alien technology that is threatening to take over Cardiff, this group will deal with the supernatural that is threatening to take over Manhattan. Regardless, I am hoping that this project gets off the ground quickly and will be on air by next season.