Saidah Arrika Ekulona Frankenstein

‘The Haunting of Hill House’s Saidah Arrika Ekulona is the first actor cast in CBS’ pilot ‘Frankenstein’ a modern-day cop show take on Mary Shelley’s classic monster story.  This show focuses on Escher, a San Francisco homicide detective, who mysteriously returns to life and into the lives of his friends and coworkers, six months after being killed in the line of duty.  Ekulona will portray Escher’s boss, Captain Mills, “who is in charge at a crime scene and everywhere she goes. Intelligent, decisive, tough but not without compassion or humor.”  She is obviously thrown for a loop when Escher returns from the dead.

After his return, Escher and his wife “realize he isn’t the same person he used to be, they zero in on the strange man behind his resurrection: Dr. Victor Frankenstein.”  This pilot comes from Jason Tracey, who previously crafted the long-running series ‘Elementary’.

In addition, it was announced that Uta Briesewitz will direct the pilot.  Briesewitz was nominated for an Emmy for helming an episode of HBO’s ‘Hung’.  She also served as director of photography on that series.  Briesewitz’s TV resumé is pretty extensive, as she has directed episodes of ‘Weeds’, ‘Jane the Virgin’, ‘The 100’, ‘Fear the Walking Dead’, ‘Lethal Weapon’, ‘Iron Fist’, ‘Black Sails’, ‘Jessica Jones’, ‘The Defenders’, ‘This is Us’, ‘Altered Carbon’, ‘Westworld’, and ‘Stranger Things’.  Not only has she worked on numerous shows, but in various genres, which should be an advantage, as CBS’ ‘Frankenstein’ sounds as though it straddles different genres itself.

In addition to having a role on ‘The Haunting of Hill House’, Ekulona had recurring roles on ‘General Hospital’, ‘Impastor’, ‘Kevin Can Wait’, and ‘Bull’.  She has also made appearances on ‘Sex and the City’, ‘Law & Order’, ‘Royal Pains’, ‘Blue Bloods’, ‘Nurse Jackie’, ‘Shameless’, ‘Glee’, ‘The 100’, ‘NCIS’, and ‘Bones’.

Check back for updates on this pilot, to see how it develops and whether or not it gets picked up to series.

Source: Deadline