“Stalker,” based on the Los Angeles Police Department’s Threat Management Unit, premieres at 10 p.m. tonight on CBS.
The drama was created by Kevin Williamson, the creator of “Dawson’s Creek” and the screenwriter for three of the four films of the “Scream” franchise. He said “Stalker” is “a story that I’ve been wanting to tell for a really, really long time.”
Williamson said he first became aware of the unit that investigates stalking incidents and threats to city officials in 1998 because of what he described as an “overzealous fan.”
Through his research, Williamson learned it was created in response to the 1989 murder of actress Rebecca Schaeffer and thought “this would make a really good idea for a unique twist on a cop show.”
Williamson learned of CBS’ interest in creating a new procedural from Warner Bros. Television, which produces “The Vampire Diaries,” which he helped develop, and the Fox psychotic serial killer drama he created, “The Following.”
Williamson then met with CBS Entertainment Chairman Nina Tassler, who had “been wanting to do something in this world for a really long time,” Williamson said.
“We’ve been dying to be in business with Kevin Williamson,” Tassler told City News Service. “When he came in to pitch that show he said, ‘This is a CBS show.”’
Tassler described “Stalker” as being “very on-brand for us.”
“We knew it would work with ‘Criminal Minds,” which airs at 9 p.m. Wednesdays, and “tested through the roof,” Tassler said.
Williamson described “Stalker’ as “eerie,” “creepy” and “suspenseful like a thriller” with “sort of a ‘what lurks in the dark’ quality.”
“Stalker” stars Maggie Q as the head of the unit and Dylan McDermott as recent transfer to it from the New York Police Department’s homicide division, who has come to Los Angeles to change his life.
The cast also includes Victor Rasuk and Mariana Klaveno as detectives and Elisabeth Rohm, who portrayed Assistant District Attorney Serena Southerlyn on “Law & Order” for four seasons, as a prosecutor.
McDermott, who portrayed a rogue FBI agent in the CBS drama “Hostages” which aired during the first half of the 2013-14 season, said he wasn’t thinking of doing a series for this season.
“I was making a movie in Europe and I got a call from Peter Roth, president of Warner Bros. Television,” McDermott said during the Television Critics Association Summer Press Tour. “He said, ‘I really want you to read this script.’ As soon as I read it, I was immediately intrigued by it.”
McDermott said he was attracted to the series by the subject matter, by the character he plays and by the opportunity to work with Maggie Q and Williamson — “one of the best writers on television,” he said.
Williamson said one of his goals for the series is “for people to understand the various elements of stalking.”
“We look at it as the guy in the closet and the people staring through the door or in a crawl space,” Williamson said.
“There’s so many ways that a person is stalked. It really comes down to are you instilling fear in the other person? Is someone changing their life because of you? Is someone driving to work a different way because they think they’re being followed?
“We have different sort of emotional arcs that we’re telling on a weekly basis with all our guest stars and how our characters interact with them and how they grow and learn. Every week is different depending on our theme and our element of stalking.”
