Despite the fact that last year's proposed NCIS spi-off 'RED' never made it to a series, the people at CBS know what a juggernaut the franchise is. It was created out of the hit series 'JAG' and later spun-off into a companion show NCIS:LA. The next incarnation of the show is NCIS: New Orleans which will, like RED, get a test-run as a two-parter during the current season of NCIS itself.
Now comes news, broken by Entertainment Weekly, of the first major piece of casting of Quantum Leaper Scott Bakula will be heading up the Louisiana branch of the franchise as Special Agent Pride who is described in series notes as person who "...needs to do what’s right and does it all with warmth, passion, strength and humor. He’s a unique federal agent working in one of this country’s most unique cities.”
The show, if it goes ahead, will look to draw on both the history of the various NCIS series to date and their remit to explore crimes involving (or connected to) the Amercian Navy, but also to explore the rich culture of New Orleans, famous for its food, music and party atmosphere - as well as being a major port. All elements that can come together to create a solid weekly drama.
Bakula himself has a proven track recored in musicals as well as film and television, appearing in othr shows ranging from Enterprise, Looking, the award-winning Behind the Candelabra and Men of a Certain Age.
UPDATE: Also added to the cast is The Shield/Sons of Anarchy's CCH Pounder and Dirty Sexy Money's Zoe McLellan. Pounder will play Doctor Wade, the eccentric but loyal Jefferson Parish Medical Examiner and an apparent Louisiana-born member on the team. McLellan will play Special Agent Brody, a Midwesterner who is looking for a fresh start in New Orleans after some recent personal dramas of her own.
If the NCIS episodes are successful, the full show would go into production for an Autumn 2014 place on the schedules...
