With a television adaptation in the works for indie favorite, Narc, an upcoming time travel series for TNT currently titled Fix-It Men and the still-waiting-to-be-released action/comedy Stretch on the docket, it’s obvious director favorite, Joe Carnahan has a lot of plates to spin. So many in fact, that Carnahan has no time to take on the duties of showrunner for the Katherine Heigl starring, NBC espionage series, State of Affairs, for which he wrote and directed the pilot. Now, with writer’s rooms open around Hollywood, NBC has locked in a showrunner for the high profile series:

The network has confirmed to Nerdist that former Criminal Minds head honcho Edward Allen Bernero has been tapped to take the lead as showrunner on the series with Carnahan remaining on in an executive producer capacity.

Most recently, Bernero had been hired to create a television adaptation for Marvel’s Punisher on Fox. This was right around the same time Marvel Studios began toying the idea of making television series that would tie back into the MCU. So, while there’s nothing official, it’s probably safe to assume the project has been put on an indefinite hold until it can either move to a more appropriate network, or until Marvel decides to make a new movie for the character as Frank Castle is an IP back under their control.

As for Carnahan, Fix-It Men is in the early stages of development while the director’s reportedly in the middle of working on the outline for Narc. At the moment, only producing studio Paramount TV is attached to the project with no airing networks currently determined.

What do you guys think of the latest hire on State of Affairs? Let us know in the comments below!