Fox’s new primetime series Prodigal Son is set to premiere on September 23, 2019. The drama features Michael Sheen, hot off his starring role in Good Omens, and Tom Payne, a season nine casualty of The Walking Dead.
Michael Sheen stars as a convicted serial killer named Dr. Martin Whitly. Tom Payne plays Dr. Whitly’s conflicted son, Malcolm. The cast also includes Bellamy Young as Jessica Whitly, Lou Diamond Phillips as Gil Arroyo, and Halston Sage as Ainsley Whitly.
Aurora Perrineau plays Dani Powell, Frank Harts is JT Tarmel, and Keiko Agena plays Edrisa Tanaka.
Prodigal Son comes from Berlanti Productions, Warner Bros. Television, and Fox Entertainment. Chris Fedak and Sam Sklaver guide the series as showrunners and writers. Fedak and Sklaver also executive produce along with Greg Berlanti and Sarah Schechter. The first episode was directed by Lee Toland Krieger (Riverdale).
Season one will air on Mondays at 9pm ET/PT.
The Plot:
Fox describes the series as a crime show with a twist. The tone’s also different from the standard crime drama, with the show aiming for a “darkly comedic tone.”
The season one description: “Malcolm Bright (Payne) has a gift. He knows how killers think and how their minds work. Why? Back in the 1990s, his father was one of the worst, a notorious serial killer called ‘The Surgeon.’ So it makes sense Bright is the best criminal psychologist around; murder is the family business.
He will use his twisted genius to help the NYPD solve crimes and stop killers, all while dealing with a manipulative mother, annoyingly normal sister, a homicidal father still looking to bond with his prodigal son, and his own constantly evolving neuroses.
Meet the happy family. Dr. Martin Whitly (Sheen) is intelligent, wealthy, charismatic and also happens to be a predatory sociopath who killed at least 23 people. Bright’s mother, Jessica Whitly (Young), an elegant and WASPy New Yorker, wields sarcasm like a samurai sword and has an opinion on every aspect of Bright’s life.
Perhaps Bright’s only ally is his sister, Ainsley Whitley (Sage), a TV journalist who wishes her brother would “take a break from murder” and have a normal life.
Unfortunately for his sister, the only way Bright feels normal is by solving cases with the help of his longtime mentor, NYPD Detective Gil Arroyo (Phillips). Arroyo’s one of the best detectives around, and he expects no less from his team – Detective Dani Powell (Perrineau), a headstrong no-nonsense cop who quickly becomes impressed with Bright’s work; and Detective JT Tarmel (Harts), a born-and-bred New Yorker who questions whether Bright is a psychopath himself.
So much for normal.”
