While we’re still trying to get over the fact thatCary Fukunagais no longer directing histwo-partStephen Kingadaptation ofIt, theBeasts of No NationandTrue Detectivefilmmaker has now turned his attention back to the small screen, and casting appears to be heating up. Fukunaga is directing and executive producing the eight-part TNT seriesThe Alienist, which takes place in late 1800s New York City and revolves around the search for a serial killer by then-police commissioner Theodore Roosevelt, a doctor and a reporter, and nowThe Wrapreports that actorGarrett Hedlundis in early negotiations to take the lead.
TNT made a whopping $5 million-per-episode agreement for the series in an effort to revitalize its original drama programming by bringing more edgy and glossy material to the network, and landing Hedlund in addition to Fukunaga would certainly up the prestige factor of the show even further. Fukunaga famously helmed every episode ofTrue Detective’s first season but it’s unclear how many episodes he’ll be directing ofThe Alienist. His work onTrue Detectivewas no doubt taxing, but boy did it result in some damn fine television.
In between franchise plays likeTron: Legacyand the unfairly deridedPan, Hedlund has kept things interesting with notable turns in films likeInside Llewyn DavisandOn the Road. He most recently shot a role inSteven Soderbergh’s ambitious HBO projectMosaicoppositeSharon Stone, and he stars inAng Lee’s cutting-edge Iraq War satireBilly Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk, which opens this fall.
DrivescribeHossein Aminipenned the script forThe Alienistbased on the bestselling novel of the same name by authorCaleb Carr, withEric Rothalso executive producing. I’ve gotta be honest—a TV series about Theodore Roosevelt searching for a serial killer, directed by Cary Fukunaga and starring Garrett Hedlund, sounds like an incredible thing that I must have right now. So here’s hoping Hedlund’s deal goes through.
