CBS is staging an Alcatraz reunion.
Sam Neill has been added to the cast of the network's drama pilot The Ordained, reuniting with his co-star on the short-lived mystery drama Jorge Garcia, The Hollywood Reporter has learned. Additionally, Entourage alum Emmanuelle Chriqui has joined the cast of the legal thriller starring Boardwalk Empire's Charlie Cox.
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Ordained centers on Tom (Cox), the son of a Kennedy-esque family who leaves the priesthood and becomes a lawyer to prevent his politician sister from being assassinated.
Neill will play Michael Thomas Riley, Tom's dad who is best known as The Governor. He's a former three-term Governor of New York and failed candidate for president with political aspirations for his daughter, Packy. Chriqui will portray Sam, a writer who lives next door to Tom who is spontaneous and everything Tom isn't.
Journalist/author Lisa Takeuchi Cullen will pen the script for CBS Television Studios and will executive produce alongside Frank Marshall, Larry Shuman and A.B. Fischer. RJ Cutler will helm the pilot, with Robert Zotnowski on board as a co-EP. Private Practice's Audra McDonald co-stars.
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Neill played Emerson Hauser on Fox's Alcatraz, which also co-starred Garcia as a Dr. Diego Soto. His credits include Crusoe, The Tudors, Jurassic Park and The Piano. He's repped by ICM Partners.
Chriqui, who starred as Sloan on HBO's Entourage, will make her drama series regular debut with the role. Her credits include a recent arc on CBS' The Mentalist as well as voice roles in Tron: Uprising and Thundercats. She's repped by UTA, Brookside Artist Management and Bloom Hergott.
Email: Lesley.Goldberg@thr.com; Twitter: @Snoodit
