The last few months have seen numerous, often quite exciting news reports announcing casting decisions for Amazon's upcoming TV series adaptation of Brubaker & Phillips' CRIMINAL. We wonder why the news has been trickling out -- perhaps because the decisions have been made piecemeal? maybe this is intended to increase excitement for the show? Perhaps only Dottie from THE FADE OUT would know for sure -- but it might be useful to capture these announcements in a single repository here, to be updated as needed.
Richard Jenkins (Dahmer: Monster) as IVAN, announced May 22: “Leo’s dad’s best friend, and has always been an uncle figure to him. He used to be a robber and criminal, but is now currently suffering from dementia. Leo is trying to care for him but realizes he’s more work than he can handle.”
Adrla Arjona (Hitman) as GRETA, announced May 28: “a sharp-tongued top-level car thief and driver and the widowed mother of Angie. Ever since her husband died in a bank job gone bad, Greta has been battling with herself about how to escape the only life she’s ever known – and the only place she’s ever thrived. The problem is, she’s good at this. She’s looking for a big score, a lump of money she can use like a gun to shoot her and Angie out of this life and into another one.”
Kadeem Hardison (A Different World!) as GNARLY, announced May 29: “an old friend of Leo and Ivan. Gnarly was his nickname as a boxer back in the 1970s and it’s all anyone calls him. He walks with a limp, an old one. Gnarly’s a local legend, and he can go from warm to fierce in a heartbeat. He commands respect, partly because he can inflict massive physical damage, even at his advanced age — and partly because he has the authority and gravitas to stop other men in their tracks.”
Charlie Hunnam (The Gentlemen!) as LEO, announced May 31: “A brilliant master thief who sees all the angles, and specializes in plans with no guns and no violence. Like a chess player, Leo thinks three moves ahead. Other crooks think he’s a coward, especially compared to his father Tommy, who went to jail for murdering the most feared man in the city, Teeg Lawless.”
Logan Browning (Dear White People) as JENNY ("Genuine Jen"), announced June 5: “an Internal Affairs detective with a dry sense of humor and an absurdly calm demeanor. She presents as an even-tempered woman who appears to be without a care in the world. Jenny is very smart; her father was a criminal and she loves her job — which gives her the right to question, harass, terrify and imprison cops all day long. Jenny was raised with Leo (Hunnam) as her playmate/buddy/blood brother for life.”
Pat Healy (left) & Taylor Selé as SEYMOUR and ROYAL ("Roy L.T."), announced June 6.
“A veteran thief and one-time part of Leo’s (Hunnam) dad’s crew, Seymour does what he has to stay alive and get rich while trying to survive in the criminal world.”
Royal is “the manager of Sebastian Hyde’s gambling club, and he is sharp-dressed and menacing. Royal is ruthless and will do whatever he needs to protect himself and move forward in the underworld.”
John Hawkes (True Detective: Night Country) as SEBASTIAN HYDE, announced June 7. Hyde is “a hard man who is six months out from a stroke, and now walks with a cane. Once the biggest shark in the shark tank, Hyde is now showing his humanity a bit — maybe a bit too much. The owner of a gambling club, the kind of man whose name is accompanied by fear, Hyde can be both amused by someone one minute, and a ruthless enforcer the next.”
Gus Halper (left), Aliyah Camacho, & Michael Mando as RICKY, ANGIE, and JEFF, announced June 10.
“[A]n unstable guy who likes booze, coke, and speed (and not within moderation), Ricky Lawless has known Leo since they were teenagers. Like Leo, he’s the son of a criminal — only his dad was the most-feared man in the city, Teeg Lawless.”
“Greta’s (Arjona) daughter[,] Angie is sharp, alert and maybe a little too adult for her age. Having lost her father at a young age, it is only she and her mom making their way through life. She has an idea of the kind of business her mom is in, no matter how much Greta tries to shield her.”
Jeff is “a plainclothes Vice detective who pretty much hates all of humanity, and he’s looking to make a score screwing over anyone and everyone that is in his way. The kind of bad cop who uses his badge to shove others around and get them to do his bidding.”
Marvin Jones III (left), Michael Xavier, & Dominic Burgess as CHESTER, TERRY, and DELRON, announced June 12.
Chester is “crime boss Sebastian Hyde’s (John Hawkes) fearsome chief enforcer. Much like a seven-foot-tall man becoming a basketball player whether he likes it or not, Chester was drafted into the criminal life for his size and fearsomeness. He’s no sadist, relying on his reputation and intelligence to get his way. He speaks softly most of the time, but the threat of sudden and deadly violence is always there.”
Terry is “another criminal, a good friend of Leo (Hunnam), a tough armed robber with a big heart, stepdad to Angie (Aliyah Camacho) and the love of Greta’s (Adria Arjona) life.”
Delron is “a large man with a large appetite and large emotions. Delron is facing a trial in the next few days, and he’s at the mercy of a few powers that be in the criminal organization he works for.”
Emilia Clarke (Game of Thrones) as MALLORY, announced July 10: “a slick and daring armed robber, as quick with a gun as she is with her wits. Part of a heist crew with Ricky Lawless (Halper), who she’s in a passionate Bonnie-and-Clyde-like affair with. Mallory is a woman on the edge, living on the wrong side of the law and hiding secrets that will bring her and her entire crew into the danger zone.”
Luke Evans as TRACY LAWLESS, announced July 11: “Tracy Lawless was pushed out of the outlaw life of his family (his father is the legendary Teeg Lawless and Ricky (Halper) is his little brother) at the age of 18 when a judge gave him a choice of prison or the military. In the Army, Tracy thrived, his wild outlaw instincts getting funneled into the strict discipline of the military. He was placed into the Special Forces and trained to be an expert in covert operations and guerilla warfare. But underneath it all, the Lawless blood still pumps in his heart.”
[UPDATE:] On September 27, Deadline announced eight more cast members:
- Garrett Hedlund (Tulsa King)
- Chris Diamantopoulos (The Boys in the Boat)
- Lawrence Kao (Walker: Independence)
- Kyle Bradley Davis (It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia)
- Aina Brei’yon (Dark Matter)
- Robert Lee Hart (Chicago PD)
- Katie Stevens (The Bold Type)
- John Pyper-Ferguson (Suits)
The roles these actors play were not included in the announcement, but we wonder if this implies that this first season adapts more the "Coward" and "Lawless."
Labels: Criminal
