Emmy award-winning Noah Hawley, the mastermind writer behind FX television hits Fargo and Legion, is making his move into feature film directing. Staying within the Fox family, the news has broke that he has signed on to direct two films for Fox Searchlight, including sci-fi film Pale Blue Dot with Reese Witherspoon. The other film is the historical crime-thriller Buried Bodies.

Pale Blue Dot follows a female astronaut (Witherspoon) who, after returning from a space expedition, is unable to reconnect with earth culture. Before Witherspoon was cast, Natalie Portman had been considered for the role.

Buried Bodies is a script based on the 1970s Lake Pleasant Bodies Case. The story involved two attorneys named Frank Armani and Francis Belge. When working with their client Robert Garrow, who at the time was on trial for murder, he revealed to them the location of the bodies of two additional missing girls. Without contacting the police, the two lawyers verified the identities of the two bodies, one of which was a classmate of one of the lawyer’s daughter.

Hawley is a prolific writer, who has met with great success in television in recent years, but has also proven his skill in his literary endeavors. He has published five novels: A Conspiracy of Tall Men, Other People’s Weddings, The Punch, The Good Father, and Before the Fall. The latter book has been optioned and is currently being adapted for a feature film by Sony Pictures. Prior to Fargo and Legion, Hawley wrote for the Fox TV series Bones. He is also set to direct sci-fi film Man Alive for Twentieth Century Fox.