10 Things to Know About About Gracepoint, the Broadchurch Remake

Updated on 10/2/2014 at 6:05 AM

If you're a fan of Broadchurch, you're probably either really excited or really bummed that Fox is adapting the British mystery series into an American show. Either way, you might be curious about how closely Gracepoint, which premieres this week, will follow the original's playbook. The producers and cast — including David Tennant, who is reprising his role as the detective for the American show — turned up to talk about Gracepoint during Fox's Summer TCA presentation. In addition to discussing some details about the 10-episode season, the producers head-on addressed how different the show will be from Broadchurch. Here are the answers to what you're all wondering.

Gracepoint will be different than Broadchurch. Though that may sound obvious, producer Dan Futterman talked specifically about the changes they're making: "We all talked about how to transplant this show into America," he said. "The first order of business was don't screw up what works, because it was fantastic. We didn't want to break what was working, but we also wanted to raise this show in a different country. We have 10 episodes as opposed to eight, so we start to veer from the story line. So we introduce new characters, new suspects — the notion of Anna's character being too close to the town, being both too familiar, and also frightened of anyone who might have committed this crime is still a part of the show."
The pilot is almost a shot-for-shot remake of Broadchurch. Producer Caroline Bernstein explained why they decided to keep the show true to form for the first episode: "We did consider different starting places, different ideas for the first episode, and we kept coming back to the first episode of Broadchurch," she said. "The way that the story was told was so well done. Why would we contort ourselves to figure out a different way, when that was the smartest, most compelling way to launch this particular story? It really diverges in pretty significant ways from the original. But in particular in that first episode, it felt like the smartest, best launching pad. We didn't want to try to fix something that we all thought was excellent."
The story will begin to veer in episode three. "It's going to start to change very rapidly," said Futterman. "I think by the third and fourth episodes, you see very, very brief detours. We deviated as much as we wanted to and as much as we could while still trying to keep this story that has a beginning and now a different ending."
Tennant's character isn't exactly the same. When asked about how Tennant felt playing the same character in a different series, he said, "They feel very different to me, but obviously they both look quite like me and they have similar heights. They feel different because of the circumstances of everyone around them. The spine of the story is the same, and the spines of the characters are the same, but there's very different flesh on the bones."
There will be new characters, and smaller roles will be expanded. "The show starts to diverge in some interesting ways," said Bernstein. "You'll meet new characters along the way, new suspects. There will be characters that you recognize from Broadchurch, who have a much greater role on our show."

Tennant wasn't contractually obligated to do Gracepoint. Tennant shot down rumors that he had to be in Gracepoint because of his contract for Broadchurch, but he did joke that he would sign on to do a world tour of the show.
There will be a different killer. "I don't want you to rule anybody out," said Futterman.
Even Tennant isn't safe. "If the writing keeps being as good as it's been so far, I'll keep turning up," said Tennant. "If I make it to the end of Gracepoint season one, who knows?"
We will definitely find out who the killer is. Producers confirmed that unlike shows like The Killing, audiences will definitely find out who the killer is by the end of the first season.
There's a chance there will be a second season. Futterman confirmed hope for a season two, saying, "We end in a very different place, which is both exciting for the first season and for what could be a great second season as well."

The series is set to premiere on Oct. 2, and you can watch the trailer now!