[Warning: General spoilers ahead.]
Seven years ago, the Canadian series Coroner followed the story of a widowed single mother coming back from the kind of grief that rearranges your cells. It was a heady deep dive into surviving a soul-altering loss set against a procedural formula. Based on the novels of M.R. Hall, the series was adapted by Morwyn Brebner, who was co-showrunner on the series alongside Adrienne Mitchell. It ran four seasons on CBC, later airing in the US on the CW. I wrote about the entire run over at The Televixen.
I’m so excited that another Brebner adaptation is back on our screens again this Friday night with Anna Pigeon, premiering on USA Network Friday in the US and streaming Saturday on Crave in Canada. The US/Canadian co-production has been on my radar since it was announced last year, specifically because of Brebner, and because it was seeded throughout with Canadians (y’all know how I am about that), and would be filmed in Calgary.
Headlined by Chicago P.D.’s Tracy Spiridakos (also Canadian!), who plays the titular Anna, the drama series shares some of the same set up as Coroner. This time, Brebner adapts Nevada Barr’s mystery novel series about a park ranger in Glacier National Park who’s been adrift after a loss that will be explained over the season (I presume).
The park offers both solitude and solace in abundance, with companionship when and where Anna chooses and on her terms. But she’s restless again and already planning her next hop when a colleague and friend is killed in the park and the party line about how and by whom doesn’t sit well with her.
She starts to investigate, unraveling the initial thread of conspiracy inside the park that has her throwing down a dangerous gauntlet and reconsidering her plans. Since the first season is ten episodes, she’ll have some room to maneuver exactly what that means.
Brebner wrote the premiere, and I love having her voice back on my TV (she also wrote for the upcoming Canadian Netflix series Crew Girl, from Killjoys writer Vivian Lin). The pilot was directed by Lea Thompson, who’s been building a solid repertoire, most recently directing for Will Trent and her Hallmark Channel series The Chicken Sisters (BTW, not sure whether that’s returning, but I’m guessing it is not since it ended a year ago).
The supporting regular cast includes Ronnie Rowe, Jr., who I adore, and who most recently banked five seasons of Star Trek: Discovery and a handful of TV movies. Here, he’s Frederick Stanton, an FBI agent who knows Anna from the before times and is an investigative ally. BSG’s Tricia Helfer plays Anna’s sister, Molly, who’s still in New York and calls her on the daily to question her life choices.
The deeply Canadian cast includes Paulina Alexis from Reservation Dogs as Anna’s mentee, Zoey Bear Child; Kim Coates (pick something) as a monied local who thinks himself above the law; and in future episodes, look for Wynonna Earp herself, Melanie Scrofano, as Bethany Lopez, the wife of park ranger Manny Lopez (Manuel Rodriguez-Saenz). The rest of the cast is rounded out by Cooper Levy (Overcompensating), Jordan Sledz (Heartland), Ryan Northcott (Tribal), Crystle Lightning (Three Pines), and Nikki Hallow (High School).
The series took a minute to get from greenlight in May 2025 to air, but I get it. It’s the first series for Versant Media since taking control of USA (and Syfy) and it’s the first tentpole title to premiere for Canadian co-pro Crave since its runaway global hit, Heated Rivalry. (Yaga is the next one and it just got the SDCC treatment).
Aside from the callbacks to Coroner, the series is also a thematic cousin to Joe Pickett, the Paramount+ two-season series about a rural game warden pulled into solving human crimes, and the Netflix procedural-in-a-park Untamed, set in Yosemite. The Eric Bana series has already been renewed but will shift to Hawaii for Season 2. I inhaled the first season’s six episodes in two days, and if Anna Pigeon was a streaming series, I’d have easily kept clicking next. It’s kind of refreshing that it’s going to roll out linearly.
Friday night has long been the domain of network procedural dramas. It’s nice to have USA throw its hat in the mix while they’re in rerun mode. Anna Pigeon premieres Friday, August 7th, at 10 pm ET/9c on USA Network and streaming Saturday on USANetwork.com and Fandango.in the US. It streams Saturdays on Crave at 6 am ET in Canada beginning August 8th.
Here are a couple of sneak peeks.
Photos and videos courtesy of Versant.
