The major roles have been cast for HBO’s pilot based on Tom Perrotta’s best selling 2011 novel The Leftovers, (Macmillan/St. Martin’s), according to the Hollywood Reporter. The novel, which examines what happens to those left behind after a rapture-like event, “The Sudden Departure,” is being adapted by Damon Lindelof, co-creator of the TV series Lost.

Stephen King was a fan of the book, reviewing it in the New York Times Book Review.

Justin Theroux will play the books main character, Kevin Garvey. Theroux has appeared in two films by David Lynch, Mulholland Drive, 2001 and Inland Empire, 2006. The public may know him best as Jennifer Aniston’s fiance.

Christopher Eccleston played Doctor Who for 13 episodes in 2005 and will play Matt Jamison, a reverend who, unable to believe that he was left behind, becomes a rapture denier and writes a newsletter revealing dark secrets about the Sudden Departed.

Two of Perrotta’s earlier novels Election (Penguin/Putnam) and Little Children (Macmillan/St. Martin’s) were made into successful movies.

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