Marley Shelton stars in Lifetime’s The Lottery

The year is 2025 and the world is in a state of desperation and panic, as women have stopped giving birth in the new conspiracy thriller series The Lottery. Marley Shelton stars in Lifetime’s The Lottery, premiering Sunday, July 20 at 10pm ET/PT, as Dr. Alison Lennon — the doctor responsible for giving the world some new hope.

It’s beenMarley Shelton in Lifetime's The Lottery five years since a baby has been born. Maternity wings are empty. Kindergarten classes have ended. The global fertility crisis has devastated the most fundamental dream of having a family. And as the possibility of human extinction looms, one scientist — Dr. Alison Lennon (Shelton) — has made a medical breakthrough, fertilizing at least 100 embryos.

“But all sorts of power struggles and agendas to take over the project ensue — it’s one of those interesting dramas/thrillers where half of the government are good guys and half of the government are bad guys and you don’t know who is on what side — and there are all sorts of secret agendas and my character is sort of caught up in it all,” Shelton tells us.

The government is quick to intervene, Dr. Lennon is kicked off the project, and the president (an Obama look-and talk-alike) determines that in order to instill hope in this sort of disenfranchised, chaotic society, a lottery will occur to determine the surrogate mothers.

“We still don’t know if we Marley Shelton in The Lotteryactually can produce a human with these fertilized embryos, so I continue to track down the egg donors who specifically supplied the ones that were fertilized. I try to find out who they are and that’s where the pilot takes off,” Shelton says. “Even though it’s futuristic and there’s a thriller aspect that makes it wildly entertaining, the series is also very topical and an interesting subject matter in terms of fertility and the ethics of fertility and where our world is headed with emerging technology. When I read the pilot, I thought, ‘Wow, this really has the potential to be so interesting on so many levels.’”

We couldn’t agree more, especially since it’s penned by Timothy J. Sexton and loosely based on his Oscar-nominated Children of Men screenplay.

When does The Lottery air on Lifetime?

The Lottery airs Mondays at 10pm ET/PT beginning July 20.

Were you born on July 20??


If so enter the official the  Lifetime “The Lottery” sweepstakes where you can win $10,000.