Nellie Andreeva

EXCLUSIVE: With Homeland, based on an Israeli series, enjoying critical and commercial success, series executive producer Howard Gordon is taking on adapting another international format. Gordon and fellow Homeland executive producer Alex Cary have teamed for Ritter, a character-driven legal drama inspired by the 2009 Icelandic series Réttur. The project has landed at NBC with significant penalty.

Written by Cary, Ritter, described as “Jerry McGuire in a law firm,” centers on a seasoned lawyer with an unorthodox approach who demonstrates his personal contempt for the law by using it as a blunt instrument. Gordon’s pod, Teakwood Lane, is producing with 20th Century Fox TV, where both Gordon and Cary are under deals. The two will executive produce with Teakwood Lane’s head of TV Hugh Fitzpatrick, as well as Rob Golenberg and Alon Aranya of Scripted World.

This marks Teakwood Lane’s second sale at NBC this season, along with a premium script deal for a high-concept drama written-executive produced by Josh Friedman. Before Homeland, Cary worked on the Fox/20th TV drama Lie To Me, rising from a story editor to an executive producer/co-showrunner within one season. This also marks the second sale this season for Golenberg and Aranya, who have Betrayal, a serialized drama based on the 2011 Dutch series Overspel, at ABC with David Zabel writing/exec producing. They’re also behind ABC’s midseason drama series Red Widow, also based on a Dutch format. Cary and Gordon are with WME.

Here is a trailer for the original series’ second season. It’s in Icelandic but gives a feel for the central character:

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