Jorge Garcia (who played lovable Hugo "Hurley" Reyes on Lost) is the first person cast on JJ Abrams and Elizabeth Sarnoff's latest TV project,
Alcatraz. According to
Deadline, the show concern a group of prisoners from Alcatraz who disappeared 30 years ago and have now reappeared in the present day. The time-travelling inmates are then hunted by FBI Agents determined to know what happened to them. Garcia is playing the tailor-made role of Dr Diego Soto, a "hippy geek" whose expertise as an Alcatraz historian comes in handy with the authorities. Sarnoff will serve as showrunner if the series is picked up (having also written the final version of the pilot), with Abrams and Bryan Burk as executive-producers. Filming on Alcatraz begins in
January 2011, with the hope that Fox will commission it for next autumn. Considering the uncertain future of JJ Abrams's other Fox series, Fringe, which is being moved to the "Friday night death slot" next year, is Alcatraz being developed with a view to replace Fringe if its ratings continue to drift around the 4 million mark?