The Whites: Ethan Hawke to star in crime mystery series for Showtime

Variety reports that Ethan Hawke – who will be seen playing the villain in director Scott Derrickson’s Joe Hill adaptation The Black Phone (read our review HERE) when it reaches theatres on June 24th – has signed on to star in and executive produce a limited series called The Whites for Showtime. The crime mystery show will be based on a novel by Richard Price, which can be purchased at THIS LINK.

The Whites gets its title from the idea that every detective is haunted by their White Whale, the perpetrator who got away because the justice system failed. Hawke is taking on the role of

Billy Graves, once a rising star in his department and former member of a group of well-respected cops called the “Wild Geese,” walks away from NYPD Homicide and joins the Nightwatch division, where his cases end when he clocks out— but his past comes calling when a seemingly straightforward murder case involving a White Whale unfolds, threatening his career, enduring friendships, and family.

Here’s the description of Price’s novel:

Back in the 1990s, when Billy Graves worked in the South Bronx as part of an anti-crime unit known as the Wild Geese, he made headlines by accidentally shooting a ten-year-old boy while stopping an angel-dusted berserker in the street. Branded as a cowboy, Billy spent years in one dead-end posting after another. Now in his early forties, he is a sergeant in Manhattan Night Watch, a team of detectives that responds to all felonies from Wall Street to Harlem between one a.m. and eight a.m.

Billy’s work is mostly routine, but when Night Watch is called to the four a.m. fatal slashing of a man in Penn Station, his investigation moves beyond the usual handoff to the day shift. And when he discovers that the victim was once a suspect in an unsolved murder―a brutal case with connections to the former members of the Wild Geese―the bad old days are back in Billy’s life with a vengeance.

The Whites will be the second limited series Hawke has starred in for Showtime. The previous was The Good Lord Bird, which he created himself.

How does The Whites sound to you? Have you read Price’s novel? Share your thoughts on this one by leaving a comment below.