True Blood’s Tara, Rutina Wesley has been cast as one of the four leads in ABC’s period female-cop procedural drama pilot Broad Squad, written by Bess Wohl and directed by Coky Giedroyc.
The series centers around a fictionalized account of the graduating class of Boston’s first female patrol officers in 1978, the project centers on four newly minted cops — Eileen, Molly (Charlotte Spencer), Lisa (Cody Horn) and Joanne (Wesley) — who arrived at a tumultuous time in the city’s history and have to navigate rival neighborhoods as well as the conflicting attitudes toward them from everyone.
Rutina will play Joanne, one of the four women. Guarded, professional and private about her personal life (largely because she’s gay), the character has high standards — mostly because she feels that it’s necessary. As a black woman, she knows she has to work harder and be better than everyone in the department. Raised in a tough Boston neighborhood, she’s seen her share of violence. But she’s worked hard to get where she is, going after her convictions, her strength challenged by the realities of the political landscape.
The role was scripted for an African-American and comes as diverse casting has been a major trend among the broadcast networks this pilot season.
Rutina is also cast in a recurring role in Hannibal that we reported about earlier which you can read about here.
source: hollywoodreporter.com
