For the record, I never thought that Law and Order: Los Angeles, or LOLA as fans and industry insiders have been labeling it, was a good idea. Not only because the brand has been synonymous with New York for 20 years, but because CBS’ NCIS franchise beat NBC to the West Coast, rendering the move just a tad too late. Then again, I’ve never been a fan of Dick Wolf’s beloved series, so I’m not the kind of guy who’d get excited over the prospect of the franchises’ westward expansion. Those of you out there that are fans will be happy to know that the venerable showrunner/creator, along with the Peacock, have secured a leading actor for their latest spin-off today.
Deadline reports that Skeet Ulrich will topline the new drama. The former Jericho star is the first actor tapped for the new installment, which had cast a wide net for its five regular roles. He’ll play Detective Rex Winters, a handsome, rugged former Marine with the intuition of a natural cop and a scandalous back story that involves an affair with his former partner that led to a divorce.
According to the series’ breakdown, LOLA follows closely the template of the other Law & Order series with two detectives, Winters and thirtysomething TJ Jaruszalski at the center, joined by a captain, a prosecutor, and his assistant. No other roles have been filled at this point, but now that Skeet is on board, expect a horde of LOLA casting information to start pouring in.
Ulrich is an acceptable candidate for the job and exactly the kind of actor who networks usually approach for a gig like this: out of work and cheap to employ. He’s never had much luck on the big screen (his biggest roles were second or third string parts in Scream and As Good As It Gets), but has done some of his best work on TV with Jericho. He most recently appeared on CSI:NY for a three episode arc and had a small role in last December’s Armored – making Law and Order: Los Angeles the biggest and best thing that’s happened to him in years.
Source: Deadline
