According to Deadline, Michael Chiklis will star in the first episode of the straight-to-series Fox crime anthology drama Accused. Based on an International Emmy-wining British series, the American version was picked up for Fox’s 2022-23 season and is from the minds of key people behind two of the most successful drama series in the last 20 years, 24 executive producers Howard Gordon and Alex Gansa, and House creator and executive producer David Shore. Already tapped to direct Chiklis for the premiere episode is another Michael, Six Feet Under’s Michael Cuesta.
Gordon, Gansa, and Shore are all under overall deals at Sony Pictures TV, which means Sony owns any ideas they create while under contract with the entertainment company, meaning they cannot shop ideas around to other studios. Thus, Sony Pictures will co-produce Accused with Fox Entertainment per the contracts. Accused also marks the first series order for Gordon and Gansa’s production company with former CBS Entertainment chief Glenn Geller.
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Accused is based on the BBC’s BAFTA-winning crime anthology examining the defendant’s point of view, and the Fox version wants to keep the original’s format. The creators hope that by looking at the defendant’s point of view, viewers can gain empathy for how an ordinary person got caught up in an extraordinary situation, ultimately revealing how one wrong turn leads to another until it’s too late to turn back.
“Accused is about crime and punishment, but it’s definitely not a procedural,” Gordon and Gansa told Deadline. “For years we’ve been living on the seismically-active fault lines of race, gender, income inequality, social-media FOMO, and fake news. Accused is our chance to work through and hold up a mirror to the interesting times we’re living in right now, with characters that break your heart. There’s nothing more pressure-filled and character-defining than someone who commits a crime.”
Chiklis will play Dr. Scott Corbett, a successful brain surgeon with a seemingly perfect family. He faces the limits of unconditional love when he discovers his teenage son may be planning a violent attack at school.
Michael Chiklis Will Play Dr. Scott Corbett
Fox
Chiklis will play Dr. Scott Corbett, a successful brain surgeon with a seemingly perfect family. According to Deadline, the character “faces the limits of unconditional love when he discovers his teenage son may be planning a violent attack at school.”
Chiklis is best known for playing one of the most vicious cops on The Shield, and for playing The Thing in Tim Story’s 2005 Fantastic Four film. He also appeared in the season of American Horror Story: Freak Show as circus strongman Dell Toledo. The role shocked fans of the franchise, and even the actors themselves.
“Michael Chiklis and Michael Cuesta, teamed with Howard Gordon, Alex Gansa, and David Shore, make a powerful combination for Accused,” said Michael Thorn, President of Entertainment, Fox Entertainment. “They each are synonymous with high-stakes television, engaging drama, and compelling performances, striking the perfect tone required for a series of this caliber.”
“We are thrilled to have Michael leading our first episode. He was the first actor we thought of when casting Accused,” said Dawn Steinberg, EVP Worldwide Talent & Casting, Sony Pictures Television. “He’s been a valued member of our Sony family since The Shield and we couldn’t be happier to be working with him again.”
