ABC Developing Military Procedural ‘Devil’s Ranch’ From ‘Will Trent’ Scribe Rebecca Murga; Heidi Cole McAdams Set As Showrunner

EXCLUSIVE: ABC is developing Devil’s Ranch, a one-hour military procedural from Will Trent‘s Rebecca Murga.

ABC preemptively acquired off a pitch from Murga, who is writing. Heidi Cole McAdams (Death and Other Details) is set as showrunner. The drama follows a group of ex-military personnel who operate a ranch on the Texas-Mexico border by day and conduct various missions across the globe by night.

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20th Television is the studio. McAdams will exec produce alongside Trevor Engelson for Underground, with Underground’s Diego Rey serving as co-executive producer.

A military veteran who’s completed two tours in Afghanistan, Murga has history with ABC and 20th, as a writer on the last two seasons of their popular police procedural Will Trent. She’s also written on Apple TV+’s sports drama Swagger and has set up a coming-of-age ROTC drama at Amazon, which Spike Lee will direct and exec produce. That series is set in the world of a rigorous ROTC military program at a major university, where students from all different walks of life push themselves to limits they never thought possible. Murga writes alongside Jalysa Conway (9-1-1: Lone Star) and will also exec produce.

McAdams is best known as the co-creator, executive producer, and co-showrunner of the Hulu mystery series Death and Other Details, starring Violett Beane and Mandy Patinkin. She has developed TV projects under her overall deal with 20th Television (formerly ABC Signature) since 2020, including projects set up at Disney+, Hulu, ABC Network, Freeform, Fox, and Onyx Collective. Prior to her development pact, she was known for her writing on Stumptown, The 100, Intelligence, and State of Affairs. Before she became a writer, McAdams worked in development for Michael Seitzman’s Pictures and the Mark Gordon Company.

Murga is represented by Gersh and Underground. McAdams is repped by UTA and Jeff Hynick at Jackoway Austen Tyerman.

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