‘Friday Night Lights’ alum Kyle Chandler joins Showtime’s ‘The Vatican’

Fans of Kyle Chandler, you can commence your celebration immediately. The Emmy-winner has just booked his potential return to series TV, and it is on a network that knows a thing or two right now about putting out top-notch television: Showtime.

We have learned that Chandler will be joining the pilot “The Vatican” at the network, and his character of Cardinal Thomas Duffy will be someone who stirs up all sorts of trouble within the Catholic Church. He will have many followers who see him as the way of the future for the isntitution, whereas some others are going to be uneasy and even frightened by some of his progressive leanings. While this series has been in development for some time, it seems especially timely now given the shocking resignation of Pope Benedict XVI earlier this week.

This move marks a reunion of sorts for Chandler, who previously worked with Showtime president David Nevins on “Friday Night Lights” years ago. What came as a surprise to us was that Nevins, at least according to The Hollywood Reporter, was intrigued by the idea of casting the actor in a promising pilot a few years ago called “Homeland.” The role of Nicholas Brody eventually ended up going to Damian Lewis, and this is now one of the hottest dramas on TV.

If “The Vatican” ends up getting the stamp of approval from the network (which is a strong possibility with the talent involved), it will likely be ordered to series for 2014. With “Dexter” possibly ending after eight seasons, it is almost guaranteed that the network will have a spot open for it.

What do you think about this news? If you want to read some more scoop pertaining to “Dexter,” you can do so over at the link here.

Photo: Showtime