Sam Neill has been cast as the lead for an upcoming AMC offering set to land in 2017. (No, it doesn’t involve dinosaurs. We understand the instinct to ask.) The Jurassic Park star is a go for The Son, which is billed by the cable network as “a multi-generational epic telling of the story of America’s birth as a superpower through the bloody rise and fall of one Texas family.”
The drama will be based on Philipp Meyer’s book of the same name and will include Meyer, Lee Shipman, Brian McGreevy, and showrunner Kevin Murphy writing/executive producing the project. Neill’s not only the cast member that’s been sorted out, either. Henry Garrett, Paola Nunez, Sydney Lucas, and Zahn McClarnon (Hanzee from Fargo!) are also along for the ride. Neill’s role on the series is described as such:
Neill will portray Eli, the charismatic patriarch of the McCullough family. As a child, he was kidnapped and raised among the Comanche Native American tribe and applies the brutal Comanche worldview to his business dealings. He was born on the day Texas became an independent Republic, earning the nickname “First Son of Texas” and is a relic of the Wild West, uneasy with the inexorable taming of Texas and the uncertain future of his legacy.
Always nice to see “charismatic” written into the description. That always adds an extra element of sparkle.
Neill’s certainly no stranger to appearing on television. He’s made his presence felt on The Tudors, Peaky Blinders, and even the Fox curiosity Alcatraz. It’ll be a bit of a wait to see him in this new role, with a premiere date eyed for 2017 and production not starting until June of this year.
(Via Deadline)
