Damon Lindelof brings Tom Perrotta's 'Leftovers' to HBO

Damon Lindelof is taking on his first TV project since the end of "Lost," and like that show the new one deals with people affected by a strange event.

Lindelof has a pilot deal with HBO to adapt Tom Perrotta's novel "The Leftovers," about how a family deals with the aftermath of being left on Earth when others are taken up in the Rapture. Perrotta ("Election," "Little Children") is co-writing the script.

"The Leftovers" centers on Kevin Garvey and his family, who have wildly different reactions to the Rapture. He wants to continue living as normal a life as possible, but his wife has joined a cult, his son is following a "prophet"/con man and his daughter has withdrawn. Other characters struggle with the notion that this rapture didn't go according to their interpretation of the Bible -- not everyone who disappeared was a Christian, or even necessarily a good person.

The project will be Lindelof's first TV script since "Lost" ended in 2010. In the past couple years he's been concentrating on movies, writing or co-writing the screenplays for "Cowboys and Aliens," "Prometheus" and "Star Trek Into Darkness." He's also co-writing and producing the super-secret "Tomorrowland," which is due in 2014.