Best-selling crime novel "The Alienist" will be heading into the small screen late this year, which was announced by Turner Network Television (TNT) during the Television Critics Association's winter press tour on Saturday. Much to the delight of fans it will star Hollywood A-lister Dakota Fanning.

In the series, Fanning will portray the role of Sara Howard, a headstrong secretary on the Police Headquarters staff whose goal is to become the first female police detective in the Big Apple, ET Online reported. She will be joined by actors Daniel Bruhl from "Captain America: Civil War," who will star as forensic psychologist Dr. Laszlo Kreizler, and Luke Evans from "The Girl on the Train," who will play reporter John Moore.

Since it is an adaptation of the novel "The Alienist," the series will be a psychological thriller and set in a gritty 1896 New York City, where vast wealth and extreme poverty are in existence, Hollywood Reporter reported. Due to gruesome murders of boy prostitutes that grips the city, newly appointed police commissioner Theodore Roosevelt calls upon criminal psychologist, also known as alienist Dr. Kreizler, reporter Moore, and Roosevelt's secretary Howard.

The series will follow the three of them as they investigate a series of brutal murders in New York. Sources added that the TV series will be directed and executively produced by BAFTA-nominated director Jakob Verbruggen.

Meanwhile, book author Caleb Carr is also joining TNT's television adaptation of his best-selling novel, Variety has learned. He will have an important role of being the consulting producer. He is delighted that Paramount Television, Anonymous Content and TNT have decided to join forces and bring "The Alienist" to life. Based on the material Carr read, he is positive that the drama series will be a faithful and exciting one.