FOX 2012 Midseason Premiere: Alcatraz

Though it won't be premiering on the network until midseason, the J.J. Abrams produced Alcatraz is easily one of the most anticipated new shows Fox is premiering this year, and not just among fans of the other show he's already producing on the network, Fringe. Like anything else Abrams works on the details are hard to come by right now, but we do know the show stars Sons of Anarchy's Sarah Jones as a San Francisco cop assigned to investigate a murder, only to learn that the primary suspect is a former Alcatraz inmate who has been dead for decades. Lost fans will be thrilled to see Jorge Garcia, a.k.a. Hurley, make his TV comeback, and the show also stars familiar faces like Jackie Brown's Robert Forster, ER's and Bend it Like Beckham's Parminder Nagra, and of course Jurassic Park's Sam Neill.

Alcatraz will be airing on Mondays at 9 p.m., getting a great lead-in from House; you can tell Fox is eager to develop this into the kind of hit that Fringe never quite became. With the Abrams production credit and the female investigator lead it does sound a good bit like Fringe, but maybe with a mythology (and possible time-travel!) that will suck in more viewers the way Lost was able to early on. Below you can see the official synopsis for Alcatraz, and in the gallery below that the first images from the pilot. We'll have to wait a while to see it, but it looks like the wait will be worthwhile.

For the full Fox 2011-2012 primetime lineup, click HERE.

Check out our review of Alcatraz here.

To learn more about Alcatraz follow the show on Twitter.

From executive producer J.J. Abrams (FRINGE, “Lost,” “Star Trek” and the upcoming “Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol” and “Super 8”) and writer and executive producer Elizabeth Sarnoff (“Lost,” “Deadwood”) comes ALCATRAZ, the chilling new thriller centered on America’s most infamous prison and one-time home to the nation’s most notorious murderers, rapists, kidnappers, thieves and arsonists. When San Francisco Police Department DET. REBECCA MADSEN (Sarah Jones, “Sons of Anarchy”) is assigned to a grisly homicide case, a fingerprint leads her to a shocking suspect: JACK SYLVANE (guest star Jeffrey Pierce, “The Nine”), a former Alcatraz inmate who died decades ago.

Given her family history – both her grandfather and surrogate uncle, RAY ARCHER (Robert Forster, “Jackie Brown”), were guards at the prison – Madsen’s interest is immediately piqued, and once the enigmatic, knows-everything-but-tells-nothing government agent EMERSON HAUSER (Sam Neill, “Jurassic Park”) tries to impede her investigation, she’s doggedly committed. Madsen turns to Alcatraz expert and comic book enthusiast, DR. DIEGO “DOC” SOTO (Jorge Garcia, “Lost”), to piece together the inexplicable sequence of events. The twosome discovers that Sylvane is not only alive, but he’s loose on the streets of San Francisco, leaving bodies in his wake. And strangely, he hasn’t aged a day since he was in Alcatraz, when the prison was ruled by the iron-fisted WARDEN EDWIN JAMES (Jonny Coyne, “Undercovers”) and the merciless ASSOCIATE WARDEN E.B. TILLER (Jason Butler Harner, “The Changeling”). Madsen and Soto reluctantly team with Agent Hauser and his technician, LUCY BANERJEE (Parminder Nagra, “ER”), to stop Sylvane’s vengeful killing spree.

By delving into Alcatraz history, government cover-ups and Rebecca’s own heritage, the team will ultimately discover that Sylvane is only a small part of a much larger, more sinister present-day threat. For while he may be the first, it quickly becomes clear that Sylvane won’t be the last prisoner to reappear from Alcatraz. Through the course of the investigation, Madsen and Soto will learn that Agent Hauser has known about the prison’s secret history and has been awaiting the prisoners’ return. Soto will witness his life’s work – the history of Alcatraz – come alive. Madsen will be forced to keep her supportive San Francisco cop fiancé, JIMMY DICKENS (Santiago Cabrera, “Heroes”), at arm’s length from the highly classified assignment as she sees everything she thought she knew about her family’s past shattered, all while fighting to keep the country safe from history’s most dangerous criminals.