EXCLUSIVE: Westworld Former graduates Denise Thé and Desa Larkin-Boutté are working again on The escape, the series adaptation of the young adult novel by Lamar Giles, produced by Don Cheadle, which is in development at Sony Pictures TV.

Thé was hired to write the series adaptation and produce it through her company Third Rail Productions as part of her deal with Sony Pictures Television, and Larkin-Boutté was brought in as co-writer.

The near-future horror drama explores what would happen if the world descended into chaos and you and your family were forced to work at one of the world’s most famous resorts – with some of the world’s richest and most powerful people as guests. Unbeknownst to the staff, the resort has sold shares in an oasis at the end of the world in order to have the best of the best at the end of days. What they didn’t count on, however, is a group of teenagers and how far they would go to find out the truth and save themselves.

Cheadle and his producing partner Karyn Smith-Forge will serve as executive producers through Cheadle’s Radical Act.

Thé recently launched her production company Third Rail with veteran TV writers and producers Melissa Scrivner Love and Amanda Segel and signed a first-look deal with Sony TV. She was an executive producer and writer on the HBO series Westworld on seasons 3 and 4 from 2020 to 2022. Larkin-Boutté was Thé’s assistant/writer on Westworld where she and Thé co-wrote the penultimate episode of the series, “Metanoia.” Larkin-Boutté’s other works include Better call Saul And The walking dead.

Giles is repped by UTA and Jamie Weiss Chilton at Andrea Brown Literary; Cheadle is repped by UTA; Thé is repped by CAA and Felker Toczek Suddleson; Larkin-Boutté is repped by Dustin Alpern and Conrad Sun at SunDust Management.