TCA: A&E Announces Several Scripted Projects

Western-themed 'Longmire' set to debut in summer 2012

By R. Thomas Umstead, Multichannel News -- Broadcasting & Cable, 1/13/2012 4:32:37 PM

Complete Coverage: TCA Winter Press Tour 2012

A&E is developing a takeoff on the 1960's Psycho film as well as a show on serial killers, the network announced Friday during the Television Critics Association tour Friday.

Bates Motel, produced by Universal Television, will serve as a prequel to the popular Alfred Hitchcock thriller and will focus on Norman Bates' childhood through his teen years, according to the network.

Those Who Kill, based on the best selling work of Elsebeth Egholm, focuses on a police detective and a forensic psychiatrist who track down serial killers, said the network officials.

In addition, the network announce it will launch its new western-themed series Longmire this summer. The 10-episode series, based on the Walt Longmire Mystery novels by best-selling author Craig Johnson, stars Robert Taylor (The Matrix) as a no-nonsense sheriff of a Wyoming county. Longmire also stars Katee Sackhoff (Battlestar Galactica), Lou Diamond Phillips (Numb3rs), Bailey Chase (Damages), Cassidy Freeman (Smallville) and newcomer Adam Bartley.