Gale Anne Hurd, who's best known as an executive producer on AMC's "The Walking Dead" franchise, was attracted to her new show, USA Network's "Falling Water," because it's different for her.
"What I love is that we’re not dealing with aliens or monsters," Hurd told Business Insider recently of "Falling Water," which premieres Thursday at 10 p.m. EST. "We’re not dealing with zombies or time travel, or any of that. So in essence, it’s a contemporary show that deals with something we all do, which is dream. And the power of those dreams."
"Falling Water" follows three strangers — played by Will Yun Lee, Lizzie Brochere, and David Ajala — who are somehow connected to one another. Each one is having strange dreams and will soon find out that they're experiencing separate parts of the same dream.
"I’ve never done anything quite as grounded as this," Hurd said. "And yet, because our dreams are not bound by the rules of the waking world, we can go to fantastical places, because that’s what happens in our dreams. But, at the end of the day, we wake up, and we’re back in the real world."
For viewers who have a tough time connecting to genre shows, Hurd believes there's enough realism in "Falling Water" to make it relatable.
"We have deja vu experiences all the time where — wait a minute, wait a minute — I’ve done this before," she explained. "I’ve seen this room before. I’ve had this conversation with someone I’ve never even met, but I know I’ve had this conversation before. So we all have various degrees of that, and let’s face it, we all dream. So what if we could harness those dreams, and what happens if someone else can enter our dream? How will that change us? And how will that change the world?"
And while Hurd enjoys the departure from the zombie apocalypse of "The Walking Dead," she says both series start with the same goal.
"In both shows, we are entering a different world through our characters, and we need to understand the rules of that world," Hurd explained. "Rick Grimes was searching for his family, searching to reconnect and to understand the rules of the zombie apocalypse. Well, in this case, our characters are all seeking something, and they can only find the answers to what they’re seeking in their dreams. So it’s important, because we have three characters that we have the opportunity to get to know each one of them very, very well."
Watch the first 10 minutes of the "Falling Water" premiere below:
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