Before Michael Connelly was that guy with a bookshelf full of bestsellers and multiple TV spin-offs, he was just a kid fresh out of the University of Florida covering crime in Daytona Beach and later Fort Lauderdale, running from police scanners to murder scenes, scribbling down names and details while thinking maybe someday this would turn into something bigger. Well, it’s back to basics for the man as he’s going back to Florida for his next TV project — an untitled Florida Task Force drama in the works at the new Paramount Television Studios, all shiny and new following the merger with Skydance, CBS Studios, and everything else.

Connelly’s got an old hand with him, too, in the shape of Jim Leonard (Ray Donovan), who’s also running the show, and they’ve got Rick Jackson executive producing with them. Theresa Snider from Connelly’s Hieronymus Pictures (you can guess why it’s called that) is involved too, keeping that Bosch DNA baked into the process.

Is Taylor Sheridan Working on ‘Florida Task Force’?

Ballard Season 1 Interview | Maggie Q & Michael Connelly

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This show’s path has been a little messy, but in a way that makes sense in today’s TV world. It started at Skydance TV when Matt Thunell was running things, and after Skydance swallowed Paramount Global, the whole project rolled into the new Paramount Television Studios, which now also includes MTV Entertainment Studios/Showtime. Basically, it’s all under the same roof where Taylor Sheridan is making Yellowstone, 1923, Landman, and every other big modern western or A-list drama that Paramount+ hangs its hat on. Sheridan’s not attached to this, but you can feel the studio’s way of making things bleed into them: giving creators the resources to build worlds that can last.

And Connelly’s the man for it. His reporting years directly fed into the Bosch novels, which turned into Bosch, Bosch: Legacy, Ballard, and Netflix’s The Lincoln Lawyer. Leonard, meanwhile, has done his time in prestige TV (Dexter, Major Crimes) and theater, so he knows how to put together a character show with a bit of grit to it. Plus, the hook for this show is a slam dunk, as Florida in the ‘80s and ‘90s was pure chaos, full of crime stories stranger than fiction, and Connelly lived in the middle of it. So maybe it’ll be Bosch on South Beach, or perhaps the next big thing?