ABC is taking another stab at developing a paranormal drama. Variety reports that “The Returned,” from ABC Studios with Brillstein Entertainment Partners and Plan B, is a serialized drama that “Centers on a Midwestern town where the dead return to change the lives of those they left behind.” Aaron Zelman, whose credits include “The Killing” and “Damages,” will serve as scribe and exec producer on “Returned.” ABC recently tabled plans for a summer series, “Weird Desk,” based on two investigators probing cases with supernatural elements.

In other news, Deadline adds that Reel FX and Andrew Adamson’s Strange Weather have acquired screen rights to Monument 14, the first installment of a young adult novel trilogy by Emmy Laybourne that Brad Peyton will adapt to direct. The first novel is an unlikely jumping off point for a post-apocalyptic young adult trilogy. It’s best described as The Breakfast Club set after the apocalypse. “A group of teens are trapped together in a chain superstore and face the prospect of life, death and love and hate while the world as they know it ends right outside.” That book was published in June, and the followup, “Monument 14: Sky On Fire,” will be published next June by the Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group imprint Feiwell & Friends.