Greg Berlanti (co-creator/executive producer of Arrow) spent eight years trying to secure the rights to The Tomorrow People, and finally acquired them from from FremantleMedia. He then called Julie Plec (co-creator/executive producer of The Vampire Diaries) and asked her to produce the US version. The pair had been good friends from college and were both fans of the show. The pilot episode was written by Phil Klemmer (Political Animals, Chuck), who is also an executive producer on the series.