AMC has cast Sam Neill (Jurassic Park) in the lead role in the upcoming dramatic series, The Son, based on Philipp Meyer’s novel. Meyer’s involved as he show’s writer and will be an executive producer along with Lee Shipman, Brian McGreevy, and Kevin Murphy (Murphy is also the showrunner). In addition to Neill, the confirmed cast includes Fargo standout Zahn McClarnon, Henry Garrett, Paola Nunez, and Sydney Lucas.
“This is an incredibly talented cast, led by the remarkable Sam Neill, and we can’t wait to see them embody these characters and give life to this unforgettable story,” stated Joel Stillerman, president of original programming and development for AMC and SundanceTV. Filming’s expected to begin this summer in Austin, Texas, with AMC targeting a 2017 premiere for the 10 one-hour episode season one.
Details on The Son, courtesy of AMC: The series is a multi-generational epic telling of the story of America’s birth as a superpower through the bloody rise and fall of one Texas family. Sam Neill will portray Eli, the charismatic patriarch of the McCullough family. As a child, he was kidnapped and raised among the Comanche Native American tribe and applies the brutal Comanche worldview to his business dealings. He was born on the day Texas became an independent Republic, earning the nickname “First Son of Texas” and is a relic of the Wild West, uneasy with the inexorable taming of Texas and the uncertain future of his legacy.
Henry Garrett is Pete McCullough, the eldest son of Eli. He grew up in Eli’s shadow and struggles to make his impossible father proud while still forging his own identity. Zahn McClarnon portrays Toshaway, a Comanche war chief who captures young Eli and becomes his father figure. Paola Nunez will play Maria Garcia, whose family is the last of the wealthy Spanish aristocracy in South Texas. She is college educated and a woman ahead of her time. Tony-nominated actress Sydney Lucas, rounds out the cast in the role of Jeannie McCullough, the strong-willed tomboy daughter of Pete. Despite coming up in a male-dominated world, she rejects her fate of existing solely to marry well and bear children.
