30 Rock's Alec Baldwin is heading back to the small screen. Deadline is reporting that the actor will star in a new HBO series, and it is being written by Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned author Wells Tower. Baldwin is also executive producing the Universal Television project with Cary Brokaw.
Baldwin will finally get to be the mayor of New York City on the currently untitled series as Joe Byrne, "a billionaire real estate developer philanthropist, and celebrated socialite/tabloid fixture, who is unexpectedly rocketed into NYC politics when tragedy strikes the incumbent mayor and he is drafted to replace him." The hour-long drama will explore "celebrity and the political landscape in New York City," and although it will be dark, Deadline says it won't be as "pitch black" as Netflix's House of Cards. The site believes the goal is "to most consistently hit the tone of the lightest and most entertaining episodes of The Sopranos."
Alec Baldwin on his new TV series and Joe Byrne character (WARNING: House of Cards Season 2 spoiler ahead):
Cary and I were going to do this together nine years ago, but I got detoured by Lorne Michaels and Tina Fey into 30 Rock…The character is a philanthropist, a big businessman and well-known tabloid fixture in New York. He’s Trump without the baggage, Bloomberg but a Democrat, George Soros if he was in real estate, a left-leaning Democrat who is also a businessman who understands the reality of how the city has to be run to create the right climate for the business community. He’s drafted for this run because the alternative would be catastrophe. We’ve seen from shows like Kevin Spacey’s House Of Cards that you can go anywhere creatively. He throws Kate Mara’s character in front of a subway train and you think, what the hell is going on? You can create these Shakespearean character arcs, and pull the curtain back on how New York City is actually run and how political careers are made and lost in the city.
The series will be shot in New York City (probably sometime in September) and Alec Baldwin and company are trying to figure out which big name director they want to film the pilot. Are you interested in checking out Baldwin's new TV show, and who do want to see behind the camera for the pilot?
Warren Beatty's Howard Hughes flick starring Alec Baldwin is scheduled to be released on May 21, 2015, and the actor can also be seen in Cameron Crowe's ALOHA on May 29, 2015.