Fox orders Runner, a series that will be like Traffic but for guns

Fox chairman Kevin Reilly may be trying to kill off pilot season at his network, but he’s still ordering new series. The network has picked up Runner, a drama described as being “to guns what Traffic was to drugs,” written by playwright Michael Cooney (Identity) and produced by Peter Horton (Grey’s Anatomy). Centering on the illegal arms trade, the series follows Lauren Marks, a woman who “learns her husband is not the person she believed him to be,” and subsequently embarks on “a truth-seeking journey that entrenches her in a U.S./Mexican war over weapons and terrorism.” There’s certainly some Traffic in there—and it’s not the first series of the 2014 development season to invoke that film—but also a little of The Bridge and Lord Of War. Though not a formal series order, Fox will provide “further investment toward series production this summer,” furthering Reilly’s ambition of developing and debuting shows year-round, instead of in one huge glut.