Nellie Andreeva

EXCLUSIVE: Meet television’s Mitchell McDeere. Josh Lucas is in final negotiations to play the lead in NBC’s midseason drama The Firm, marking his first major TV series gig. The series, based on the hit Paramount feature starring Tom Cruise as McDeere and on John Grisham’s best-selling novel, picks up the story 10 years after the events of the film and novel. As a young associate, McDeere brought down a prestigious Memphis law firm, which operated as a front for the Chicago mob — and his life was never the same. After a difficult decade, which included a stay in the Federal Witness Protection program, Mitch and his family now emerge from isolation to reclaim their lives and their future — only to find that past dangers are still lurking and new threats are everywhere. The Firm is produced by Entertainment One in association with Sony Pictures TV Networks and Paramount Pictures, with Grisham, Lukas Reiter, John Morayniss, Michael Rosenberg and Noreen Halpern executive producing. Lucas has been heavily pursued for series in the past few years but had largely stayed away before he responded to the script for The Firm. The WME-repped actor was most recently seen in the feature adaptation of another best-selling novel about an attorney, The Lincoln Lawyer. He  just wrapped Medalian and will next be seen in Clint Eastwood’s J. Edgar, in which he plays Charles Lindbergh, and Red Dog.

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