After AMC’s Breaking Bad ended on such an incredibly high note, all eyes turned to creator Vince Gilligan, with many wondering if there was any hope of him ever masterminding a show that could match that drama (widely considered to be one of the finest TV shows of all time) in terms of critical acclaim and off-the-charts ratings. So, there’s a lot of attention being paid to Gilligan’s next project, CBS police drama Battle Creek, set to premiere this fall. Now, CBS has announced that the show recently snagged Josh Duhamel for a leading role.
Though Duhamel’s past acting credits, which include the Transformers franchise, New Year’s Eve and Life As We Know It, aren’t stellar, I can’t deny that the idea of watching the Hollywood star team up with Law & Order: SVU‘s Dean Winters (cast earlier this month) holds a certain appeal. I never would have matched the two, but I’m definitely looking forward to figuring out Gilligan’s reasons for doing so.
Duhamel will play FBI Special Agent Milton Chamberlain, a humble and tightly-laced agent who heads to the titular Michigan town to set up a satellite FBI office. There, he teams up with gruff detective Russ (Winters) in an attempt to clean up Battle Creek’s streets with extremely limited resources. The official plot synopsis states that:
Together, they must answer the question: Is cynicism, guile and deception enough to clean up the semi-mean streets of Battle Creek, Mich., in the face of a complete lack of resources? Or is the exact opposite — it takes naivete, trust and a boatload of resources — actually true?
That’s an oddly specific premise for a cop drama, but Gilligan, who also wrote the pilot, has almost certainly got a few tricks up his sleeve. Considering that Battle Creek partners him with House executive-producer David Shore, who’ll act as day-to-day showrunner, I’m expecting great things from this show.
Battle Creek also stars Janet McTeer as the town’s police commander, Kal Penn as Detective Fontanelle, Edward Fordham Jr. as Detective Aaron Funkhauser, and Aubrey Dollar as office manager Holly. X-Men: Days of Future Past helmer Bryan Singer is also executive-producing and will direct the first episode.
