Eliza Dushku, best known for her brilliant work on Joss Whedon’s Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Dollhouse, has now been cast in an upcoming pilot, The Saint.
Deadline report that Dushku is set to star opposite Adam Rayner (Hunted, Hawthorne) in the backdoor pilot – a standalone episode that can be broadcast even if it isn’t picked up to series – bringing a new take to the original series of novels by Leslie Charteris.
“It will follow the exploits of Simon Templar (Rayner), a brilliant criminal who uses his considerable illicit skills as a modern-day Robin Hood as he infuriates local law enforcement and woos Patricia Holm (Dushku), his on-again, off-again romance.”
Roger Moore starred in an earlier adaptation back in the ’60s, which saw Moore play the role soon to be filled by Rayner, running for over a hundred episodes, and now Moore is set to serve as co-producer on the project.
Simon West (Con Air) will be taking the helm for the pilot, directing from a script by Jesse Alexander.
Alexander (Alias, Lost, Heroes) will be serving as showrunner, and with such excellent credits to his name, it will be interesting to see him running the playbook for his own series.
Dushku is by far one of my favourite actresses of all time, and so I’m keeping my fingers tightly crossed that this will be a big success, and go on to get picked up to series. As of yet, there’s no network attached, but with Dushku, Rayner, West, and Alexander all on board, that will hopefully be changing soon.
She recently lent her voice as Selina Kyle / Catwoman in last year’s well-received Batman: Year One, and is set to star in next year’s graphic novel adaptation, The Scribbler, reuniting her with Michelle Trachtenberg, with the pair starring alongside Katie Cassidy, Sacha Grey, Kunal Nayyar, Garret Dillahunt, and Gina Gershon.
Production is set to begin on The Saint in LA, Toronto, and London on Monday. I can’t wait to see how this one turns out. More as we get it.
