TV Series Based on Blake Shelton's 'God's Country' in the Works

A television series based on Blake Shelton's hit song "God's Country" is in the works at NBC, coming from Shelton, Las Vegas creator Gary Scott Thompson and Universal Television. Deadline reports that the upcoming show will be written by Thompson and executive produced by Shelton, Narvel Blackstock, who is Reba McEntire's ex-husband, and Laurie Pozmantier.

God's Country will tell the story of a Midwestern family that begins when the patriarch of a hardworking farm mysteriously dies in a car accident and his adult children discover that "he was keeping a devastating secret they could never have imagined." Shelton released "God's Country" in March 2019 and the song went on to become a hit, giving the 44-year-old another No. 1 and winning Single of the Year at the 2019 CMA Awards and the 2020 ACM Awards. It also earned Shelton a Grammy nomination for Best Country Solo Performance.

The song was written by Devin Dawson, Jordan Schmidt and Hardy and appears on Shelton's compilation album Fully Loaded: God's Country. Shelton first heard "God's Country" while working on his Oklahoma ranch and said in a behind-the-scenes video about the song that he was "shocked" by it.

"'God's Country' is a song that was sent to me by [producer] Scott Hendricks," Shelton recalled. "I was actually here in Oklahoma, on the ranch, and I'll never forget it. I was actually running a skid steer, and they sent it to me. I was shocked. I had to stop and just listen to this song because the song was talking to me about a place that I was in at that moment, which was a place in the middle of nowhere that meant something to me that probably nobody else could ever understand, what that is and what it is inside of me and what my connection is to the land."

"At that moment, I realized, 'I've gotta record this song,'" he continued. "And I think I even decided before I even recorded it, 'This has got to be the song that I put out next.'"

No further details about God's Country are currently available. In addition to creating, executive producing and writing Las Vegas, Thompson also co-wrote The Fast and the Furious and co-developed and executive produced Taxi Brooklyn. Shelton has served as a coach on NBC's reality singing competition The Voice for 18 seasons.