Former Friday Night Lights star Taylor Kitsch is set to star in and produce a new HBO drama about a drug dealer rendered comatose by his own product. More than simply an extension of the Reagan-era “Just Say No!” anti-drug campaign, the new drama is reportedly a family/drug drama hybrid with a metaphysical angle, one that will make for a potentially intriguing new series that welcomes Kitsch back to the premium network a few years after he co-starred in True Detective season 2 as doomed police officer Paul Woodrugh.
Though Kitsch is still best known for his portrayal of hard-luck high school football star Tim Riggins on NBC’s Friday Night Lights, he recently earned praise for his portrayal of cult leader David Koresh in Paramount Network’s Branch Davidian limited series, Waco. Though his role in True Detective came years earlier, his performance as Koresh put the actor firmly back in familiar dramatic territory, following a foray into action-heavy feature films with Battleship, John Carter, and Savages.
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As reported by Deadline, Kitsch is now set to take another lead role on TV, albeit in what will presumably be an ongoing series in HBO’s as-yet-untitled drama. The series is created by former Sons of Anarchy writer John Barcheski, and will be co-written by Robert Munic (Star, Empire).
A synopsis sees the series take a two-pronged approach to its central narrative after a bad batch of his own product leaves Chris Klug (Kitsch) in a “temporary vegetative state.” The circumstances that led to Klug’s condition prove to be deliberate, as he was, in fact, betrayed by an individual close to him. The series intends to unravel the mystery of who wanted Klug dead through flashbacks, all while the character navigates what is referred to as his “present-day purgatory.”
In all, it sounds like a potentially compelling dramatic conceit, one that certainly bares traces of Barcheski’s time on Sons of Anarchy, and will perhaps blend that hard-edge soap operatic element with something more abstract, though whether or not the show intends to go that route with its depiction of its main character’s vegetative state remains to be seen. At the very least, it will be nice to have Kitsch back on television and in a lead role no less.
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Screen Rant will have more details for you on Taylor Kitsch’s HBO series as they are made available.
Source: Deadline