At one time, the television adaptation of Caleb Carr‘s bestselling thriller “The Alienist” was going to be directed by Cary Fukunaga, with Garrett Hedlund starring. But the busy filmmaker bowed out of the director’s chair, staying on to executive-produce, and Hedlund left as well. But the project is pressing forward, and has two intriguing actors to lead the series.
Daniel Brühl and Luke Evans will star in the drama set in 1896 New York City, where a string of brutal, gruesome murders of young male prostitutes indicates that a serial killer may be at large. Brühl will take the role of the brilliant and eccentric Dr. Laszlo Kreizler, whose emphasis on the then-untested fields of psychology and forensics makes him both revered and an outsider. Evans will play John Moore, a close friend of Kreizler’s and police commissioner Theodore Roosevelt, who assists in the investigation that will test everyone’s will and emotional stamina.
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The source material is great stuff, and there are still some big roles to be cast, including first female police officer Sara Howard, sibling science nerds Marcus and Lucius Isaacson, Kriezler’s servant and housekeeper Cyrus Montrose and Mary Palmer, and the young Stevie Taggart. Brühl and Evans are a strong indication that this is going to have a great ensemble. But again, the big question is how this intensely violent and bloody material will work on TNT.
Jakob Verbruggen (“Black Mirror,” “House Of Cards“) will helm the series, with cameras rolling early in 2017. Hopefully we’ll see the first episodes before the year is out. [THR]