Hayley Atwell, star of ABC’s Marvel drama series Agent Carter, has been tapped as the lead of another ABC drama project, legal drama Conviction, where Atwell’s character coincidentally is also named Carter. (That will likely change.) The Mark Gordon Co. is producing with ABC Studios.

Agent Carter, now in its second cycle, is drawing pretty modest ratings and does not look likely for a Season 3 pickup. In case of a series order for Conviction and an improbable renewal of the Marvel drama, ABC sources indicate there is a scenario in which she could possibly do both shows, potentially both as limited runs. But Atwell’s casting as the lead of a new project by the same network and studio indicate that Agent Carter is probably going away, and they want to keep its star on its roster of leading ladies.

Co-created by Liz Friedman (Marvel’s Jessica Jones), who wrote the script, and Liz Friedlander (The Following), who will direct the pilot, Conviction tells the story of Carter Morrison (Atwell), the brilliant but ne’er-do-well daughter of a former President, who is blackmailed into taking a job as the head of Los Angeles’ newly created Conviction Integrity Unit. She, along with her team of lawyers, investigators and forensic experts, work together to examine cases where there’s credible suspicion that the wrong person may have been convicted of a crime.

Mark Gordon and Nick Pepper of The Mark Gordon Co., which is a lead studio on the project, also executive produce.

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