Nathan Fillion

It’s a genre-bending Fox hourlong about seemingly ordinary people - a Nebraska landscaper, an abused new mother, an Iraq vet and his girlfriend, a young paroled convict and his rich-kid half-brother, an astrophysicist and his Lohan-y teen daughter, a trio of party girls, and many, many more - unexpectedly plucked from their lives by powerful and mysterious (and sadistic and malevolent?) forces to compete in a secret cross-country road race for a $32 million grand prize.

Some are in the race for the money. Some are in the race to find out what happened to their missing (kidnapped?) loved ones, who may (or may not) be waiting at the finish line.

Darkly funny, exciting and loaded with twists and intriguing characters, “Drive” reunites the great writer-director-producer Tim Minear (“The X-Files,” “Angel,” “Wonderfalls,” “The Inside”) and Nathan Fillion (“Serenity,” “Slither”), who previously collaborated to gratifying effect on “Firefly.”

The sprawling cast (42 carloads of characters leave the starting gate in Key West) includes also Amy Acker (“Angel,” “Alias”), Kristin Lehman (“Judging Amy,” “The Sentinel”), Dylan Baker (“Happiness,” the “Spider-Man” movies), Melanie Lynsky (“Heavenly Creatures,” “Two and a Half Men”), Taryn Manning (“Cold Mountain,” “Hustle & Flow”), Rochelle Aytes (“White Chicks”), Mircea Monroe (“Cellular”), Emma Stone (“The New Partridge Family”), Riley Smith (“Eight Legged Freaks,” “24”), Brian Bloom (“Smokin’ Aces”), Michael Hyatt (“The Wire”), Kevin Alejandro (“Sleeper Cell,” “Ugly Betty”), J.D. Pardo (“American Dreams”) and Charles Martin Smith (“American Graffiti,” “The Untouchables”).

As the “Alias,” “24” and “Lost” pilots did, the “Drive” opener generates fascinating questions aplenty - and will leave audiences hungering for answers long after its two-hour introduction concludes. (Happily, a third hour airs Monday.)