When it comes to figuring out why spy series MacGyver is getting a TV reboot, your guess is as good as mine, but today brings some news about what it’s going to look like, in the form of two cast additions.
Addison Timlin, known best for Californication but most familiar to this writer as the love interest for Anton Yelchin in Stephen Sommers’ under-appreciated Odd Thomas, has boarded the CBS project in the lead female role. She’s playing Mickey, an app developer who’s aggressively progressive in her political views but harbors a soft spot for Lucas Till’s MacGyver. Meanwhile, Michelle Krusiec (Hawaii Five-O) will play Agent Croix, who works for the Department of Homeland Security and is sister to a character named Lincoln (George Eads).
In case this is the first you’re hearing of the TV series, Till (X-Men: First Class) is set to take over Richard Dean Anderson’s iconic role as Angus MacGyver, the characteristically crafty man of danger who, in what’s seemingly a prequel to the original show, gets recruited into a clandestine organization while in his mid-twenties.
The pilot is co-written by Paul Downs Colaizzo and Brett Mahoney, with David Von Ancken directing. Oddly enough, The Conjuring director James Wan is among the exec-producers, teaming with the original’s creator, Lee David Zlotoff, and executive producer, Henry Winkler.
Timlin has been on the back-burner in Hollywood for some time now, getting a lot of supporting roles in mid-level pics (That Awkward Moment, Best Man Down) and some bigger ones in stuff that hasn’t quite blown up (ABC’s Zero Hour, The Town That Dreaded Sundown). Her casting in MacGyver comes at a great time, though – the actress has the lead role in Fallen, another YA adaptation (about an angel-human romance) that has potential to break big. Krusiec, meanwhile, is in the indie The Invitation and recurs on Hawaii Five-O, making her a known commodity for CBS.
MacGyver will either get a full series order or disappear back into development hell once CBS execs get eyes on that aforementioned pilot. We’ll keep you posted.
