Nellie Andreeva

Lost co-star Terry O’Quinn is returning to ABC with a lead role in Marc Cherry’s drama pilot Hallelujah. Once again, he will play a mysterious character, but this time, it looks like he is a baddie. Hallelujah is set in the town of Hallelujah, Tenn., which is being torn apart by the forces of good and evil and whose fortunes change when a stranger comes to town, bringing justice, peace and possibly restoring faith. O’Quinn will play Del, a local millionaire who virtually owns the town. Described as a latter-day J.R. Ewing, Del donates heavily to the local church and various charities, but under his upstanding persona is a corrupt bully who will resort to any means to get his way.

This development season, O’Quinn was originally attached to star with fellow Lost co-star Michael Emerson in the J.J. Abrams-produced action drama Odd Jobs, from writers Josh Appelbaum and Andre Nemec. After the project didn’t go to pilot at NBC, both Emerson and O’Quinn were heavily pursued for other pilots. Emerson picked another Abrams-produced show, CBS’ Person of Interest, while O’Quinn settled on Hallelujah. O’Quinn’s role as John Locke on Lost earned him 3 Emmy nominations and one win in 2007.

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