Milo Ventimiglia to Star in Conman Drama for ABC

Lesley Goldberg
·3 min read
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This Is Us star Milo Ventimiglia is headed to ABC for his follow-up role.

With the Emmy-nominated drama heading toward its series finale, the three-time Emmy-nominated actor has signed on to star and exec produce ABC drama The Company You Keep, which has received a formal pilot order at the Disney-backed broadcast network.

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The ABC pilot is based on the Korean format My Fellow Citizens and will see the man behind Jack Pearson play a conman in the drama from writer Julia Cohen (The Royals, A Million Little Things). Here’s ABC’s formal description of the potential show: “A night of passion leads to love between con-man Charlie (Ventimiglia) and undercover CIA officer Emma, who are unknowingly on a collision course professionally. While Charlie ramps up the ‘family business’ so he can get out for good, Emma’s closing in on the vengeful criminal who holds Charlie’s family debts in-hand — forcing them to reckon with the lies they’ve told so they can save themselves and their families from disastrous consequences.”

Cohen will pen the script and exec produce alongside Ventimiglia and his DiVide Pictures partner Russ Cundiff. Jon M. Chu (Crazy Rich Asians) and Todd Harthan will also exec produce alongside Caitlin Foito and Lindsay Goffman. DiVide’s Deanna Harris produces. The Company You Keep hails from Disney’s 20th Television, where DiVide and Chu’s Electric Somewhere are both based with overall deals.

The project keeps Ventimiglia in the Disney fold after his six-season run starring on 20th Television’s This Is Us.

Canadian writer Cohen was Mark Schwan’s No. 2 on E!’s The Royals and counts The CW’s Riverdale and ABC’s Quantico among her credits. She currently co-created and exec produces the new Degrassi series for HBO Max. She’s with A3 Artists Agency, Vanguard Artists and Johnson Shapiro.

Ventimiglia, who also reunites with the Gilmore Girls creators on the new season of Amazon’s Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, is with Verve, Management 360 and McKuin Frankel. He and Cundiff launched DiVide in 2004. The production company is also with Verve and McKuin Frankel.

Stars and writers from This Is Us are in high demand this pilot season. Co-star Justin Hartley is also starring in and exec producing the CBS drama pilot The Never Game from This Is Us’ Kein Olin; writers Casey Johnson and David Windsor are readying a single-camera comedy for ABC called Not Dead Yet, while fellow scribe Kay Oyegun has a therapy drama in the works for the Disney-backed network. (Keep track of all the latest pilot season news with THR’s handy guide here.)

All told, ABC now has six drama pilots in contention for the 2022-23 broadcast season, including a spinoff of The Rookie and revival of L.A. Law. With a proven star and fan favorite in Ventimiglia attached, The Company You Keep now rockets up to become the network’s front-runner on the drama side.

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