Series creator Joshua Safran initially wanted a " straightforward action show " different from his past work , which included the soapy dramas '' Gossip Girl '' and '' Smash '' . He revealed that he wanted to do something with a law enforcement theme such as a political thriller about the NYPD after the September 11 attacks . He based protagonist Alex Parrish , whose complex family history haunts her throughout the series , on a relative of his ; Safran wove his own struggle to understand his family member into Alex 's desire to learn the truth about her father . Safran said , " I have a family member who either is a pathological liar or has been involved with a government agency my whole life . I 've always struggled with knowing that I would never know the truth , because there is no real such thing as the truth with regard to somebody who may or may not be telling the truth . That struggle informed the character of Alex. " He called the series a sexy romance and a political thriller , adding " It 's like , what would '' Die Hard '' be if '' Die Hard '' was weekly and was also a soap . " Safran offered the series to ABC . On September 17 , 2014 , the network announced that it had bought the concept for a drama series from ABC Studios and Safran and produced by Mark Gordon , describing it as " '' Grey 's Anatomy '' meets '' Homeland . '' " ABC ordered a pilot on January 23 , 2015 , for the 2015 – 16 television season . The series was picked up from the pilot , with an initial order of 13 episodes for the 2015 network television season . Good ratings led ABC to pick up '' Quantico '' for a full season in October with an additional six episodes ( increasing the episode count to 19 ) , with an option for more . In November , the season was extended to 22 episodes . In March 2016 , ABC announced that it had renewed '' Quantico '' for a second season , also consisting of 22 episodes
September 11 attacks
September 11 attacks
Quantico (TV series)