‘Dirk Gently’: ‘Compton’s Neil Brown Jr., Richard Schiff & More Join BBC America Series
By: Denise Petski
Date: May 24, 2016
Source: DeadlineBBC America has added cast to Dirk Gently, BBC America’s eight-episode series based on the cult Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency novels by Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy author Douglas Adams. Filming got underway today in Vancouver, with premiere slated for the fall.
Written by Max Landis, Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency is a comedic thriller that follows the bizarre adventures of eccentric “holistic” detective Dirk Gently (Samuel Barnett) and his reluctant assistant Todd (Elijah Wood), as they wend their way through one big, seemingly insane mystery a season, crossing unlikely paths with a bevy of wild and sometimes dangerous characters, each episode landing them a few random steps closer to uncovering the truth. Hannah Marks also stars as Todd’s sister Amanda.
Joining the cast are Neil Brown Jr. (Straight Outta Compton) as Estevez and Richard Schiff (The West Wing) as Zimmerfield, missing person’s detectives operating increasingly off book as they follow the trail of a complex and mystifying case. Jade Eshete (Shades of Blue) plays Farah Black, the athletic, self-doubting, bad-ass, hyper competent but utterly anxious Security Officer to a billionaire; Falling Skies’ alum Mpho Koaho is Ken, a nerdy, friendly-faced tech trapped in increasingly difficult and bloody circumstances; Fiona Dourif (When We Rise) portrays Bart Curlish, the terrifying, homicidal, deranged, fearless and nearly invincible self-identified “Holistic Assassin”; Michael Eklund (The Call II) is Martin, violent ring leader of the Rowdy 3 with an inexplicable sensitive side; Medium alum Miguel Sandoval plays Colonel Scott Riggins, beleaguered CIA head of a defunct secret bureau investigating the paranormal; Dustin Milligan (Schitt’s Creek) is Sergeant Hugo Friedkin, Riggin’s subordinate, unpredictable, wildly ambitious and dangerous moron; and Aaron Douglas (Battlestar Galactica) portrays Gordon Rimmer, an enigmatic loser with an impressive series of horrible secrets. Additional casting will be announced.
Dirk Gently is co-produced by AMC Studios, Ideate Media and comic book publisher IDW Entertainment with Circle of Confusion producing. Executive producers are Landis, who wrote the script for Ideate and IDW; Ideate’s Arvind Ethan David and Zainir Aminullah; IDW’s Ted Adams and David Ozer; and David Alpert and Rick Jacobs from Circle of Confusion.
Brown played DJ Yella in Oscar-nominated Straight Outta Compton and will next be seen in feature Sandcastle. He’s repped by Don Buchwald & Associates and David Dean Management.