It’s been a good long while since we checked in with FOX’s twisty upcoming mystery-drama Wayward Pines, but consider the mystery officially out of the box. We’ve all taken a knee on M. Night Shyamalan’s film career, but does the newest full trailer for Wayward Pines feel original enough to escape the Twin Peaks comparisons?

Premiering May 14 and starring Matt DillonEmpire star Terrence Howard, Juliette Lewis, Captain America villain Toby Jones, Carla Gugino and Oscar-winner Melissa Leo, Wayward Pines is based on the novel by Blake Crouch and written for TV by Chad Hodge. Shyamalan’s small-screen debut follows Secret Service agent Ethan Burke (Dillon) as he travels to Wayward Pines, Idaho on a mission to find two missing federal agents.

So reads the official FOX synopsis for the series:

Secret Service Agent ETHAN BURKE (Academy Award nominee Matt Dillon, “Crash,” “City of Ghosts”) drives to the bucolic town of Wayward Pines, ID, searching for two missing federal agents. Ethan is the logical choice for the mission. He’s one of the best Secret Service agents in the Seattle office. He’s also the man who knew missing agent KATE HEWSON (Carla Gugino, “Watchmen,” “Entourage”) better than anyone. They were partners. They were more than that. Their relationship nearly destroyed Ethan’s marriage.

Everything changes when a truck slams into his car…and he wakes up in the Wayward Pines Hospital, with the intense and unpredictable NURSE PAM (Academy Award and Emmy Award winner Melissa Leo, “The Fighter,” “Treme”) at his bedside. It soon appears that Pam may be more interested in harming than healing. She and Ethan grow into deadly rivals, and her role in the town proves much deeper than anyone realizes.

As the mysteries within the town pile up and clash with his own version of recent events, Ethan starts to question his own sanity. He is confronted by the mysterious and charismatic DR. JENKINS (Emmy Award nominee Toby Jones, “The Girl,” the “Harry Potter” franchise, “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy”), the psychiatrist who treats him at Wayward Pines Hospital. As he begins to meet some of the local residents, including toymaker HAROLD BALLINGER (Reed Diamond, “24,” “Much Ado About Nothing”), Ethan forms a bond with BEVERLY (Academy Award and Emmy Award nominee Juliette Lewis, “Hysterical Blindness,” “Cape Fear”), a bartender who doesn’t mince words and is as wary of Wayward Pines as he is.

Back home in Seattle, Ethan’s wife, THERESA BURKE (Shannyn Sossamon, “40 Days and 40 Nights,” “How to Make It in America”), a former Secret Service Agent trainee, gets a call from Ethan’s boss, ADAM HASSLER (Tim Griffin, “Prime Suspect”). He informs her that early testing shows Ethan was never in the car that was recovered on the side of the road outside of Wayward Pines. They’re still investigating. But this isn’t enough for Theresa. Along with their teenage son, BEN (Charlie Tahan, “The Harvest,” “Charlie St. Cloud”), Theresa sets out on her own search for Ethan.

Meanwhile, Ethan is challenged at every turn by the town’s die-hard residents and especially the town’s sheriff, SHERIFF ARNOLD POPE (Academy Award nominee Terrence Howard, “Crash,” “Hustle & Flow”), who takes offense at a Secret Service agent showing up on his turf and telling him what to do. Ethan believes Pope is out of his mind, and visa versa. Ethan’s continuing investigation only turns up more and more questions, and each one leads him to the most important question of all: What’s wrong with Wayward Pines?

Glimpse the mystery of Wayward Pines for yourself in the trailer above, as well as the poster below, and prepare yourself for the May 14 debut! Or, alternately, just wait until 2016.

M Night Shyamalan Wayward Pines FOX Poster
FOX
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