ABC has put an adaptation of Isabella Maldonado’s 2024 thriller A Forgotten Kill into development, with Justin Hartley attached to executive produce through his overall deal at 20th Television. The drama is being built around Dani Vega, the ex-Army Ranger turned FBI agent whose past is not done with her.
For Hartley, the project adds another series to a television portfolio that already includes Tracker, where he stars and executive produces on CBS. His involvement is drawing attention because the network is developing the new drama while he remains tied to a hit show in its third season, and because the adaptation would extend his producing reach well beyond the role that made him a weekly network presence.
Diana Son is writing and executive producing the project, while Ken Olin is set to executive produce and direct. Maldonado will also executive produce, a fitting role for a writer whose law enforcement background has long been part of the appeal of her books. She spent over two decades on the force, became the first Latina to reach captain in her department and later served as commander of Special Investigations and Forensics before becoming a bestselling author.
The series centers on Dani Vega, a Nuyorican from the Lower East Side who specializes in breaking codes and spotting patterns while working with NYPD Detective Mark Flint on a task force. What gives the character her charge is the family tragedy she carries into the job, a wound that threatens to pull her career and life apart just as the case around her tightens. That darker thread is part of why the novel, the second in Maldonado’s FBI Special Agent Daniela Vega series, landed between A Killer’s Game in 2023 and A Killer’s Code in 2025.
ABC has not ordered the show, and that is the real next step. The project is only in development for now, but with Hartley, Son, Olin and Maldonado all attached, it has enough talent behind it to move quickly if the network decides the Daniela Vega franchise belongs on air.
