It’s been a year since we first reported on HBO’s adaptation of Tom Perrotta’s 2011 novel THE LEFTOVERS, but today brings news that the apocalypse drama is finally beginning to move forward. Landing the lead role of Kevin Garvey, chief of police, is the excellent Justin Theroux, who is best known for his role in David Lynch’s 2001 head-wrecker MULHOLLAND DRIVE (and is strongly rumoured to be playing Doctor Strange in the upcoming Marvel movie). Garvey is the story’s principle protagonist, a family man struggling to hold things together after a Rapture-like event sees millions vanish from the Earth in the blink of an eye. 

As previously reported, THE LEFTOVERS will mark Damon Lindelof’s return to television for the first time since LOST finished its six-year run in 2010. Lindelof will take the role of showrunner. Perrotta himself will also produce and co-write.

It’s important to note that the show is still technically only at the pilot stage, but with such heavyweight talent and HBO signing the cheques, we can’t see it not getting a 13-episode order.

For more info, here’s the novel’s Official Synopsis:

What if—whoosh, right now, with no explanation—a number of us simply vanished?  Would some of us collapse? Would others of us go on, one foot in front of the other, as we did before the world turned upside down?

That’s what the bewildered citizens of Mapleton, who lost many of their neighbors, friends and lovers in the event known as the Sudden Departure, have to figure out. Because nothing has been the same since it happened—not marriages, not friendships, not even the relationships between parents and children.

Kevin Garvey, Mapleton’s new mayor, wants to speed up the healing process, to bring a sense of renewed hope and purpose to his traumatized community. Kevin’s own family has fallen apart in the wake of the disaster: his wife, Laurie, has left to join the Guilty Remnant, a homegrown cult whose members take a vow of silence; his son, Tom, is gone, too, dropping out of college to follow a sketchy prophet named Holy Wayne.  Only Kevin’s teenaged daughter, Jill, remains, and she’s definitely not the sweet “A” student she used to be. Kevin wants to help her, but he’s distracted by his growing relationship with Nora Durst, a woman who lost her entire family on October 14th and is still reeling from the tragedy, even as she struggles to move beyond it and make a new start.

With heart, intelligence and a rare ability to illuminate the struggles inherent in ordinary lives, Tom Perrotta has written a startling, thought-provoking novel about love, connection and loss.

Expect to see THE LEFTOVERS on screen in 2014. But if you can’t wait that long and like the sound of it, pick up the book by clicking the cover below:

Source: Deadline

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