Indira Varma To Star In ABC Drama Pilot From Hank Steinberg & 50 Cent
Indira Varma (Game of Thrones) has been cast as the female lead opposite Nicholas Pinnock in ABC’s legal/family drama pilot from Hank Steinberg, Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson, Doug Robinson and Alison Greenspan. Also executive producing is Isaac Wright, Jr., who was once wrongfully convicted as drug kingpin but got his conviction overturned while in prison and became a licensed attorney.
Written by Steinberg and directed by George Tillman Jr., the untitled fictional project is a serialized legal and family drama that centers on Aaron (Pinnock), a prisoner who becomes a lawyer, litigating cases for other inmates while fighting to overturn his own life sentence for a crime he didn’t commit. His quest for freedom is driven by his desperate desire to get back to the family he loves and reclaim the life that was stolen from him. The show also will, through the window of his ferocious struggle and his complicated relationship with a progressive female prison warden, Kate (Varma), examine the flaws and challenges in our penal and legal systems.
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Varma’s Kate is a self-made woman. Confident, tough, progressive but pragmatic, Kate is the warden of the Pennsylvania prison where Aaron is incarcerated. She’s a hard-charger with aspirations to reform the prison system and advance her own career in the process. She shares two kids with her wife, Anya. Anya’s running for Attorney General and Kate’s championing of Aaron will put them into conflict.
Steinberg, Tillman, Jackson and his G-Unit Film & Television production company and Wright Jr. executive produce the pilot adaptation alongside Robinson and Greenspan via Doug Robinson Productions. Sony TV, where the company is based, co-produces with ABC Studios.
Best known for her role as Ellaria Sand on HBO’s Game of Thrones, Varma recently starred in Netflix original film Close opposite Noomi Rapace. Her upcoming credits include Amazon’s Carnival Row and the feature Official Secrets opposite Keira Knightley, which premiered at Sundance earlier this year. She’s repped by Gersh, Dalzell & Beresford Ltd and Principal Entertainment LA.
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