Nellie Andreeva

EXCLUSIVE: A&E Network has greenlighted for production Stephen King’s Bag of Bones, a two-night, four-hour mini-series starring Pierce Brosnan. Annabeth Gish will co-star in the project, based on Stephen King’s bestselling novel. Kelly Rowland also is expected to join the cast of the mini, from Sony Pictures Television, which will premiere on A&E in the fourth quarter of 2011. Mick Garris will direct from a script by Matt Venne. Filming is scheduled to begin next month in Nova Scotia, Canada.

Bag of Bones centers on bestselling novelist Mike Noonan (Brosnan), who is unable to stop grieving after the sudden death of his wife Jo (Gish). A dream inspires him to return to the couple’s lakeside retreat in western Maine where he becomes involved in a custody battle between the daughter of an attractive young widow and the child’s enormously wealthy grandfather, the mysterious ghostly visitations, the ever-escalating nightmares and the realization that his late wife still has something to tell him.

Bag of Bones is executive produced by Mark Sennett for Mark Sennet Entertainment, Mick Garris for Nice Guy Prods., Stewart Mackinnon for Headline Pictures and Craig Sheftell. Brian Gary and David Davoli are the co-executive producers. Garris, Sennett and Venne had been working on a Bag of Bones adaptation for several years, originally as a feature and then as a mini.

This is the second high-profile miniseries fronted by a movie star to be greenlighted at a A&E Network over the past couple of months. A&E’s sibling History in May picked up The Hatfields and McCoys, starring Oscar winner Kevin Costner. CAA-repped Brosnan is already in business with Sony Pictures TV on an international private investigator series project from veteran ER writer-producer Jack Orman. Gish is with Innovative and Thruline.

TV Editor Nellie Andreeva - tip her here.