MGM+’s ‘Emperor of Ocean Park’ Series Casts Grantham Coleman In Lead Role, Tiffany Mack & Paulina Lule Also Star

Peter White
·3 min read
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EXCLUSIVE: Emperor of Ocean Park, MGM+’s series adaptation of Stephen L. Carter’s best-selling novel, has found its lead.

The series, which comes from John Wells and Sherman Payne, has cast Grantham Coleman as Talcott Garland.

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Set in the worlds of politics, Ivy League academia, and the beaches of Martha’s Vineyard, the series centers on Talcott Garland, an Ivy League law professor whose quiet life is shattered when his father, Judge Oliver Garland, dies of an apparent heart attack. The nature of the judge’s death is questioned by Tal’s sister, Mariah, a former journalist and inveterate conspiracy theorist, who believes that the judge, a failed Black nominee to the Supreme Court, met with foul play.

Tiffany Mack & Paulina Lule (Courtesy of Di Harvell / Molly Pan)
Tiffany Mack & Paulina Lule (Courtesy of Di Harvell / Molly Pan)

Tiffany Mack plays Mariah Denton and Paulina Lule plays Kimmer Madison Garland, Tal’s wife, a high-powered lawyer on the verge of being appointed a federal judgeship who sometimes neglects the feelings of those around her, including her husband.

It is a major role for Coleman, who can be seen in Paramount+’s Taylor Sheridan series Bass Reeves, where he plays Edwin Jones. His dance card also includes Netflix’s George C. Wolfe drama Rustin, starring alongside Colman Domingo, who plays gay civil rights activist Bayard Rustin. He is also a main character in the third season of Starz’s crime drama Power Book III: Raising Kanan.

Elsewhere, he has starred in the Oscar-nominated Netflix feature Bardo from filmmaker
Alejandro G. Iñárritu, alongside Kristen Stewart in Benedict Andrews’ drama Seberg and in the acclaimed Sundance pic Black Bear with Aubrey Plaza, as well as Hulu’s miniseries 11.22.63, based on the novel by Stephen King, and FX’s The Americans. He has also appeared regularly in the theater, on Broadway opposite Daniel Craig and Ruth Negga in Sam Gold’s Macbeth and as Martin Luther King Jr. in The Great Society opposite Succession’s Brian Cox.

He is repped by IAG, Inspire Entertainment, and Jackaway, Austen, et al.

Mack starred in the third season of Marvel’s Netflix series Jessica Jones, as the female lead in Sundance TV’s Hap and Leonard and has appeared in series such as CBS’ Timeless and SEAL Team and The CW’s iZombie. She is repped by Sugar23 and Gersh.

Lule has appeared in series such as Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D, The Good Place, NCIS, For The People and Scandal as well as features including Marvelous and The Black Hole and Honey Boy. She is repped by Identity Agency Group and The Priluck Company.

Shameless writer Sherman Payne serves as showrunner with Damian Marcano (Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty) is set to direct multiple episodes. It is produced by John Wells Productions and Warner Bros. Television.

John Wells, Sherman Payne, Damian Marcano, Shukree Tilghman, and JWP’s Erin Jontow will serve as executive producers.

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