Vikings, Taken actor Clive Standen books new NBC drama pilot
Now, Standen is taking on another big TV challenge in the NBC drama pilot Council of Dads — which, we presume, is not about a group of guys talking about their dad-bods or what fantasy-football league they find the most entertaining. This is a series that is actually inspired by the bestselling memoir by Bruce Feiler, and it will revolve around a man named Scott Perry who struggles when he gets a terminal diagnosis right at the time where his life is heading in an exciting direction. His wife (played by former The Walking Dead actress Sarah Wayne Callies) is pregnant, and he needs to find a way to tackle the challenges that lie before him to be the best person and (hopefully) father that he can be. Maybe this is where the council comes into play?
According to a report from Variety, Standen is going to play a friend of Scott’s named Anthony Lavelle, a chef who apparently “wears his heart on his sleeve.” There is no official word on the actor playing Scott as of yet, but the cast does also include Agents of SHIELD alum J. August Richards.
Is it exciting to see Standen with a new TV role? Absolutely. Also, it’s going to be interesting to see him in a role where he is not either killing someone, threatening to kill someone, or being surrounded by people who could kill someone. What can we say? We’ve come to know him for roles of the violent persuasion, and this seems to be more in line with NBC’s family-drama pedigree that includes This Is Us and before that Parenthood. This network does these heart-tugging dramas better than anyone and that suggests that Council of Dads could be around for a while … if it gets off the ground. It is coming from Doubt creators Joan Rater and Tony Phelan — if you want a fun fact about that show, it’s that two of its stars in Katherine Heigl and Dule Hill are now working together on Suits … which wraps up its latest season on Wednesday before coming back for the final season in June.
Now, the wait begins
You know about the pilot — you also know that Standen is in it! As is often the case with these sort of shows, everything slows to a crawl before it starts to speed up. Come May, you’ll know whether or not Council of Dads is picked up, how many episodes it is, and the rest of the cast. The one thing that we worry about though is that if this show gets picked up then our dreams of Rollo spin-off could be dashed. We have been pushing for a Rollo spin-off for years and with Vikings creator Michael Hirst revealing that he’s working on one, we have been beyond excited that the viking gods have heard our plea and were putting something together for Rollo. Depending on if Standen’s new show gets picked up, what the episode order is and where he’s shooting we could still get our Rollo spin-off. Standen doesn’t need any time off, right?
Are you equally excited to see Council of Dads, provided that it gets that anticipated series pickup? Be sure to share now in the comments. (Photo: NBC.)