Assassin Drama Pilot ‘Protection’ Set at NBC From ‘Gossip Girl’ Boss Josh Safran and Jenna Bush Hager

NBC has given a pilot order to “Protection,” a drama series written by Josh Safran. Jenna Bush Hager and Ben Spector executive produce the project along with Safran. Universal Television is the studio.

The official logline for “Protection” reads, “When a U.S. Marshal falls in the line of duty, a seemingly cut-and-dry case turns into a deadly conspiracy as a family of law enforcement agents become the target of a mysterious assassin. Bridging personal differences and crossing professional boundaries, the Thornhill family must use the expertise from a lifetime of protecting civilians and politicians to protect one another and bring the killer to justice … even if it means betraying their sworn code.”

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Safran is best known for his work on “Gossip Girl”; he joined the famed CW teen drama as a writer and consulting producer in Season 1 and rose to become showrunner and executive producer in the final two seasons, then created and executive produced the HBO Max revival that aired for two seasons from 2021 to 2023. He was also the creator and showrunner of “Quantico,” the conspiracy thriller that aired on ABC for three seasons from 2015 to 2018. Safran’s other credits as a writer include NBC’s “Smash,” Netflix’s “Soundtrack” and the 2014 film “Endless Love.”

Bush Hager, daughter of former president George W. Bush, is best known for her work with NBC News. Currently a co-host of “Today,” she first joined the network in 2009. She has also written multiple books and has an imprint at Penguin Random House called Thousand Voices Books.

Spector previously served as president of TV and film at Eva Longoria’s production company before becoming Bush Hager’s producing partner when she entered a first-look deal at Universal Television in 2022.