Cable channel Showtime is quietly at work on a new series about the personal lives of an Islamic terrorist cell in the United States, The Post has learned.
The series to be called "The Cell" will be told from the view points of a group of Euro pean and American con verts to Islam who are plotting terror attacks here.
Showtime says it realizes it is walking into a potential minefield by portraying terrorists sympathetically without pulling punches about their violent aims.
HBO's "The Sopranos" and "The Wire" have found success doing that with mobsters and drug dealers.
"We're trying to look into the minds of these [terrorists] and the issues driving them, beyond a black-and-white portrayal," says Showtime entertainment president Robert Greenblatt, who will decide next month whether to commit to a series.
"The leaders of the cell look like nice, normal people you would encounter in everyday life and never know were quietly putting together a power base," he says. "Our only hesitation was sensitivity to the subject matter, which was very scary. Several plot points have already come to pass."
