Since actor David Tennant stepped away from the dimension-jumping tendencies of “Doctor Who,” you might assume those sorts of existential dilemmas had come to an end, especially since he’d taken a role in the BBC‘s police procedural “Broadchurch.” Well, after a massively successful first series run in the U.K. and on BBC America, it seems just the opposite, as the actor has agreed to next play two separate versions of the same character.
Deadline reports Tennant will reprise his role as lead police investigator in the U.S. remake of “Broadchurch,” set to air in 2014 on Fox, only this time he’ll sport an American accent and solve crimes within an American town. The show also plans to follow a similar plotline to the original, throwing Tennant’s character into the unsolved case of a young boy’s possible suicide—one which leads to nationwide media coverage and a sprawling police investigation. Exec producers Dan Futterman and Maya Epstein will also serve as co-showrunners for the update, and shall presumably attempt to explore just how more unnecessary a U.S. adaptation could get.
Now that his feature film career is on hold for the near future, director Steven Soderbergh is all about the long haul of television: first, it was a 12-hour take on John Barth‘s “The Sot-Weed Factor,” and recently, he’s replaced that project with the 10-episode series “The Knick” for Cinemax. Starring Clive Owen and set in 1900s New York, the hospital drama has garnered a new member—Grainger Hines. The “Hell on Wheels” actor will play shipping magnate Captain August Robertson, who invested his fortune in the hospital and placed his daughter Cornelia (Julia Rylance) on the Board of Directors. A predictable change of tone for Soderbergh, Hines is used to period garb from his role on the AMC western, and we’re looking forward to seeing what other names join him as “The Knick” nears production. [Deadline]
Speaking of westerns, the man behind “Deadwood” is striking up another series entitled “The Money” over at HBO, and he’s just landed actors Andrea Riseborough and Nathan Lane to help populate it. Like his most recent, ill-fated HBO effort “Luck,” the show will concern wealth and corruption—this time spreading through American mogul James Castman (played by Brendan Gleeson), who looks to expand his media empire and control his family. The two new actors will play contrasting members of the press, with Riseborough as an editor at a top N.Y. newspaper and Lane as a low-level reporter heading toward the unemployment line and desperate to get a scoop. The show is a pilot for now, but let’s hope HBO sticks with it to see how this great cast plays out. [Deadline]
You might have forgotten, but during the summer, Amazon was eying a TV show called “Mozart in the Jungle” from Jason Schwartzman and Roman Coppola about the lurid behind-the-curtain classical music scene in New York. And now, it’s getting a go-ahead for a pilot. “Many shows are in a single world; ‘Mozart in the Jungle’ is an unusual show in that there are two worlds fused together,” Coppola said. “On one side is the high-level skill and sophistication that comes with classical music, and at the same time it’s a story that includes people rising up from the bottom, trying to make it in the big world. I love the sense of contrast, the high and the low, the refined and the more base—I hope audiences will love it, too.” Also getting the greenlight from the shopping-site-turned-network: football comedy “The Outlaws” and dark family comedy “Transparent” from Jill Soloway (“Six Feet Under,” “United States of Tara“). [THR]
Lastly, Colin Hanks has joined the FX limited series, small-screen adaptation of the Coen Brothers‘ “Fargo.” Focusing on a new “true story” crime with a bona fide “Minnesota nice” vibe, the actor will play “Duluth Police Deputy Gus Grimly, a single dad who must choose between his own personal safety and his duty as a policeman when he comes face-to-face with a killer.” Martin Freeman and Billy Bob Thornton round out the cast thus far, with the series to air next spring. [Deadline]