AMC has made considerable strides to being recognized as a wellspring of original entertainment, but even though it's recently begun adding more reality TV and talk shows to its schedule, you don't get to be a real mainstream network until you get some more cops and lawyers in the mix. So it's doubled down with two simultaneous pilot orders—one for the cop show Low Winter Sun, the other for an as-yet-untitled legal drama—to go with their zombies and meth dealers and '60s semiotics. Both are being prepped for possible debut in 2013, right around the time that AMC should also be looking into getting some doctors and maybe some singing competitions.
As previously reported, Low Winter Sun is an adaptation of the bleak British miniseries—now relocated to Detroit, for extra bleakness—about the murder of a cop by a fellow detective, who then gets dragged further into the criminal underworld. The lawyer project hails from Fisher King writer Richard LaGravenese and Justified's Tony Goldwyn and is described as "a legal thriller with major political, personal and ethical stakes. It centers on a District Attorney who uncovers new evidence that prompts the reinvestigation of a sensational murder case. The series is an exploration of personal morality." Will said investigation take up multiple seasons as those explorations of morality become more of a, say, holistic journey? Hard to tell from such a broad description, though both of these shows definitely seem to share a dispirited spirit with The Killing, suggesting either could be meant to replace that show—or even paired with it in its third season as part of AMC's Self-Preservation And Pensive Stares Sunday.