Cartoon Network announced today that Tower Prep, the live-action mystery series created by comics and animation writer Paul Dini, will debut on Oct. 19.

The one-hour drama centers on Ian Archer (Drew Van Acker), a rebellious teen who awakens one morning to find himself at a mysterious academy for students with special abilities. Cut off from outside contact and unable to get answers from the school's faculty, Ian forms a secret group with his classmates Gabe Lexington Forrest (Ryan Pinkston), CJ Ward (Elise Gatien) and Suki Sato (Dyana Liu) in hopes of discovering the secrets of Tower Prep.

Each student has a special ability: Ian can see events a split-second before they happen; CJ can analyze a person like a computer; Gabe can convince people to do anything he wants; and Suki can imitate the voice of anyone she hears.

The pilot was written by Dini (Batman: The Animated Series, Ultimate Spider-Man) and directed by Terry McDonough (Breaking Bad). Glen Morgan (The X-Files) and Bill O'Dowd (Zoey 101) are executive producers.

"I thought about incidents when I was a kid," Dini said during the Tower Prep presentation at Comic-Con International. "I went to a prep school, and I leaned back on my feelings of what it was like at the time – the strangeness and the alienation. The first year was absolutely ghastly, and I always wrote those things down and thought, 'You know, I'm going to use that some day and put it in the realm of fantasy.' So that was one of the first things we talked about, and they thought it sounded very interesting for a series. As time went on and we did the development, we realized we needed some very special people to bring this to life. So Glen Morgan came on with his brother Darin from The X-Files and they have made the show their own and made it unique and wonderful. I couldn't be happier with the result."

Tower Prep will air Tuesdays at 8 p.m. EST/PST on Cartoon Network.