The five best pilots that are being filmed right now and will debut thus autumn if picked up.

THE CORRECTIONS – Jonathan Franzen is onboard as writer/producer for the series based on his celebrated novel. Noah Baumbach is slated to direct, and the cast includes Ewan McGregor, Dianne Wiest, Chris Cooper, Greta Gerwig, Maggie Gyllenhaal, and Rhys Ifans. But most reassuring of all is that it’s being made by HBO, which should negate the need to dumb down and lessen the pressure for high-ratings straight from the first episode.

L.A. NOIR – A period crime drama based on John Buntin’s book, depicting the 1930s battle between Los Angeles Police Chief William Parker and mobster Mickey Cohen. Neal McDonough, Jon Bernthal (from The Walking Dead), Milo Ventimiglia (Heroes) and the excellent Simon Pegg are set to star. If you’ve played the video game of the same name, liked LA Confidential or any James Ellroy novels, then this could be your favourite new thing come autumn.

LAST RESORT – From the channel that gave us Lost comes another Hawaii-based series that could be just as out there. The crew of an American nuclear submarine, who refuse a suspicious order to fire their nuclear missiles, become fugitives and escape to a small island where they declare their independence as the world’s smallest nuclear-armed nation. From the creator of The Shield, it stars Robert Patrick (Terminator 2) and is directed by two-time Bond director Martin Campbell.

POWERS – A live-action adaptation of the award-winning graphic novel with Jason Patric playing one of the detectives assigned to investigate cases involving people with superhuman powers. Katee Sackhoff has said she wants the female lead, and a channel like FX could do this some justice. FX president John Landgraf has said he wants the tone to be like David Fincher’s Se7en and Zodiac.

ANTICHRIST – Supernatural series set amid the 2012 American Presidential election, which will be in full swing by the time the series starts. An astrophysics student learns he’s been chosen to defend the world against forces of evil. It’s from Roland Emmerich (Independence Day), so expect it to be big and loud. It stars veteran Martin Landau and newcomer Max Thieriot.

For Esquire magazine – click here for original PDF – fall preview