Captain Cook's Extraordinary Atlas

[Geekyfanboy]

Casting news for Captain Cook's Extraordinary Atlas

Posted Jun 16th 2008 3:43PM by Allison Waldman

ABC has cast some familiar television faces in an ambitious family-oriented pilot called Captain Cook's Extraordinary Atlas. The West Wing's Janel Moloney and Patrick Breen, will play the adopted parents of Gwen Malloy, the star of Captain Cook's Extraordinary Atlas. Jodelle Ferland, a 13-year-old veteran has landed the Gwen role, and the show will revolve around her. Ferland is a vet, having appeared in features like Tideland, a Terry Gilliam film, Dark Angel and The Collector. On TV, she was in Stephen King's Kingdom Hospital.

Captain Cook's Extraordinary Atlas is being talked up as a Harry Potter meets Pan's Labyrinth, although the plot also has elements of Nim's Island in there, if you ask me. Gwen is an adventurous kid who discovers a magic atlas. The atlas is the key to a secret world beneath our own reality.

Tom Wheeler penned the pilot and Tommy Schlamme -- an Emmy winner for The West Wing! -- is directing. Nathan Gamble, from the TV series Runaway, has been cast, as well, playing Gwen's younger brother.

So, Harry Potter, Pan's Labyrinth, Nim's Island. What is this really all about? Here's a more detailed description: Quirky Gwen Malloy isn't like most 13-year-old girls: she yearns for something more in life. And after she finds Captain Cook's Extraordinary Atlas, she is certainly going to get what she wished for. The Atlas will lead Gwen on many adventures, to a variety of strange lands-some wonderful, some terrifying. Thankfully, she doesn't always have to go alone. Her only real comrade in arms turns out to be an Indiana Jonesish rogue named Bishop, who has grudgingly vowed to help Gwen stay out of trouble-both in this world and the other one. But keeping her adventures a secret from her family may prove harder than anticipated as deep mysteries surrounding her roots and her future open up before her.

This all sounds interesting and if it turns out as well as it sounds, ABC could plug it into the midseason, like January 2009.