Locke & Linus Team Up For New J.J. Abrams Show

NBC has confirmed it has picked up the rights for a new J.J. Abrams show—described as a comedic drama—starring Lost‘s Terry O’Quinn (Locke) and Michael Emerson (Linus) as ex-black-ops agents, with the working title Odd Jobs.

According to NY Mag’s Vulture, NBC (home to Abrams’ new drama Undercover) won the pilot, despite “strong interest” from both Fox and ABC (which aired Lost). To be produced by Abrams’ Bad Robot, the project has also recruited Alias writers Josh Appelbaum and Andre Nemec.

The idea of an Emerson and O’Quinn reunion was first kicked around when the pair—who had wowed Lost fans with their impressive acting range—were doing publicity for the final season of the show that first brought them together. They half-joked in interviews that during their downtime on the Lost set, they would brainstorm on TV pitches. In May, Emerson told Access Hollywood, “We’ve been joking for a long time about what we ought to do together when this is all over—stuff like we were gonna do a play on the front porch of the old actors home, you know that kind of thing—just jokes,” adding, “We were close and we had many days where it was he and I working together and those days were great working days, some of the best of my career.”

After NBC confirmed the news yesterday, Emerson released another statement to AH, saying, “I’m absolutely delighted to be given the chance to work with Terry [O’Quinn] once again, and we’re all very excited to get started.”

NBC Commits To J.J. Abrams Pilot Starring ‘Lost’s’ Michael Emerson & Terry O’Quinn [OMG]
NBC Picks Up J.J. Abrams’ Linus & Locke Show [Vulture]
J.J. Abrams Is Now Pitching the New Locke–Ben Linus Show [Vulture]