Robert De Niro To Star In Crime Drama Series ‘Bobby Meritorious’ In The Works At Paramount+ From Billy Ray

EXCLUSIVE: Robert De Niro is attached to star in a Billy Ray-penned crime drama series that is in the works at Paramount+.

The two-time Oscar winner will lead Bobby Meritorious, an original series that comes from Paramount Television Studios, with Preet Bharara, who was the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York between 2009 and 2017, as one of the exec producers.

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Paramount made the commitment to develop the project after winning out a competitive situation. As part of the deal, the company has optioned Bharara’s book Doing Justice: A Prosecutor’s Thoughts on Crime, Punishment, and the Rule of Law.

It marks De Niro’s second TV project to emerge in a matter of weeks after conspiracy thriller Zero Day, from Eric Newman, landed a limited series order at Netflix.

The series is set amid the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, which is a sovereign kingdom with seemingly unlimited power and scope. But now an informant in SDNY’s biggest case, Avery “The Sage” Accomando, played by De Niro, is poised to tear this storied institution apart. Only one man can stop him, a fabled ex-cop-turned prosecutor affectionately known as Bobby Meritorious. The battle between these two giants is a fight for justice itself.

Ray will write and exec produce. In television, Billy Ray is best known for writing and directing Showtime’s Jeff Daniels-fronted The Comey Rule, which was based on James Comey’s A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies, and Leadership. He also wrote and directed The Last Tycoon. On the film side, Ray is the writer behind Richard Jewell, Captain Phillips and 2012’s The Hunger Games.

De Niro will also exec produce alongside his producing partner Jane Rosenthal and Berry Welsh, who works at the pair’s Tribeca Productions. Peter Gethers will also exec produce alongside Preet Bharara.

Earlier this month, Netflix ordered Zero Day, which was De Niro’s first series regular television role. The series, from Eric Newman, Noah Oppenheim and Michael S. Schmidt, is being directed by Leslie Linka Glatter and asks how do we find truth in a world in crisis, one seemingly being torn apart by forces outside our control?

On the film side, upcoming pictures include Wise Guys for director Barry Levinson and Killers of the Flower Moon, which is his 10th collaboration with Martin Scorsese. De Niro also recently wrapped Tony Goldwyn’s upcoming feature Inappropriate Behavior, alongside Bobby Cannavale, Rose Byrne, Vera Farmiga, Rainn Wilson and Whoopi Goldberg.

Nominated for seven Academy Awards, De Niro has won two — Best Actor for Raging Bull and Best Supporting Actor for The Godfather Part II. He also has received several Emmy nominations, including Best Actor for his role as Bernie Madoff in HBO’s Wizard of Lies.

Ray and De Niro are repped by CAA, as are Rosenthal and Welsh.

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