The Descendants - Sundance Channel's next series has a showrunner

Bridget Carpenter, a major writer on Friday Night Lights & Parenthood, has boarded The Descendants as showrunner/exec producer. She'll work with Aaron Guzikowski (Contraband) & Sarah Condon (Bored to Death).

The show revolves around a sheriff struggling to keep his family together while simultaneously policing 2 clashing communities : the small town where he grew up and the neighboring Ramapo Mountains, home of the Ramapo Mountain Indians. After a tragedy and cover-up occurs involving the sheriff's wife, an unholy alliance is forged between the sheriff and a dangerous member of the tribe that will come back to haunt all involved.

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On the heels of the much-deserved success of the excellent Top of the Lake and the wonderful Rectify, The Descendants is another Sundance Channel original series, which received a straight-to-series six-episode order a few weeks ago. Like the 10-episode second season of Rectify, The Descendants will be on the air in 2014.