James Gandolfini going to a 'Big Dead Place' with HBO

James Gandolfini is developing a new project with HBO, and he'll be involved both behind and possibly in front of the camera.

"The Sopranos" star will executive produce a drama called "Big Dead Place," which has the rather novel setting of the McMurdo Station research outpost in Antarctica, Deadline reports. The show is based on a memoir by Nicholas Johnson about his time spent working for the U.S. Antarctic Program.

Gandolfini is also likely to star in the pilot, which will chronicle how the people stationed at McMurdo deal with being so far removed from the rest of civilization.

"Breaking Bad" writer-producer Peter Gould (who also wrote "Too Big to Fail" for HBO) will pen the pilot and executive produce with Gandolfini. Jimmy Miller ("Bad Teacher," "The Life and Times of Tim"), Nancy Sanders, Mark Armstrong and Brian Swibel will also serve as exec producers.

If "Big Dead Place" goes through, it would be Gandolfini's first series role since "The Sopranos" ended in 2007. He also starred in HBO's movie "Cinema Verite" earlier this year.