CBS has handed a series order to BrainDead, a comic political thriller from Robert and Michelle King, the husband-and-wife team behind The Good Wife.
Set in Washington, the series follows Laurel Healy, a young Capitol Hill staffer who takes a job in her brother’s senate office and slowly realises that something very strange is happening to the people around her. A growing number of politicians and staffers, on both sides of the aisle, are having their brains eaten by alien bugs, which helps explain the rancour and dysfunction gripping Congress.
Mary Elizabeth Winstead leads the cast as Laurel, with Aaron Tveit and Tony Shalhoub also among the ensemble. The Kings blend screwball comedy and science fiction with the kind of sharp political satire that ran through The Good Wife.