Syfy Developing Futuristic Prison Society Drama From ‘Dallas Buyers Club’ Writer

Syfy is developing 51st State, a one-hour drama series about a futuristic prison society, penned by Oscar-nominated Dallas Buyers Club co-writer Craig Borten. The project hails from Fox 21 TV Studios and Chernin Entertainment.

As 51st State unfolds, the United States, confronting a prison population stretched to the limit, purchases Greenland and converts it into a frontier prison colony with male and female convicts incarcerated together. Promised conditional freedom, the inmates are driven to the edge of their humanity when that promise is broken, along with others. Struggling to seize control and exact revenge, reluctant heroes emerge — but what exactly are they fighting for?

Chernin Entertainment’s Peter Chernin and Katherine Pope will executive produce with Borten.