Boardwalk Empire and The Sopranos star Steve Buscemi will lend his considerable acting chops to the new TBS anthology comedy Miracle Workers, taking over for Owen Wilson after he dropped out of the series. Miracle Workers stars Daniel Radcliffe as a low-level angel who must work a miracle in order to save humanity from destruction while God is off ignoring his responsibilities to focus on his hobbies.
The fanciful Miracle Workers, from legendary SNL producer Lorne Michaels, was given a straight-to-series order by TBS and will run for seven episodes beginning in 2018. Man Seeking Woman creator Simon Rich penned the book What In God's Name, upon which Miracle Workers is based. Rich will executive produce along with Michaels, Radcliffe, and Andrew Singer. Wilson was originally listed as an executive producer as well.
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TVLine reports that Buscemi has now joined the cast of Miracle Workers as God, the role Owen Wilson was originally set to play. TVLine reports that Wilson leaving the series was his decision, though this has not been confirmed by TBS.
Buscemi is widely regarded as one of the best and most versatile character actors in Hollywood. He made his first major impression working with the Coen Brothers in their early classics Miller's Crossing and Barton Fink, and was also memorable for Quentin Tarantino in his first two features Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction. Buscemi began appearing in blockbusters, often adding edgy comic relief, in the late-'90s action films Con Air and Armageddon.
On the classic HBO series The Sopranos, Buscemi played Tony Blundetto, the hapless and ultimately doomed cousin of James Gandolfini's Tony Soprano. Buscemi scored possibly his greatest role to date in the HBO series Boardwalk Empire, playing the criminal kingpin Nucky Thompson. Equally at home in comedy and drama, Buscemi has long been a favorite of independent filmmakers for his quirky manner and unconventional appearance, creating memorable roles in films like Ghost World, Living In Oblivion and Things to Do In Denver When You're Dead. His comedic skills perhaps shone most brightly in his numerous appearances as slightly delusional PI Lenny Wosniak on the TV series 30 Rock, while his ability to play sympathetic, tragically doomed characters came to the fore most prominently on Louis C.K.'s experimental web series Horace and Pete.
Miracle Workers sounds like it will give Buscemi a chance to work his very considerable comedic skills in a juicy role, playing an absentee God who is more concerned about his hobbies than what's going on with his creations down on earth. Buscemi also has a role in the Amazon sci-fi series Philip K. Dick's Electric Dreams.
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Source: TVLine