After seven seasons spent playing troubled, addiction-fuelled writer Hank Moody on US cable drama Californication, David Duchovny is getting back into the investigative life, and making a return to broadcast TV: he’s now set to star in crime drama Aquarius.
Set in the 1960s, the series created by John McNamara will find Duchovny as an LAPD sergeant with a complicated family life who starts tracking a small-time criminal and aspiring cult leader who is preying on vulnerable young women. The wrongdoer in question turns out to be Charles Mansion, who will go on to be one of America’s most notorious figures.
While we might question the value of a hero whose white whale manages to get away with a raft of terrible crimes, the idea of digging into the Manson case from another angle certainly has some appeal. US network NBC has already commissioned a 13-episode first season that conforms to American TV’s new obsession with shorter seasons and limited runs.
The news means that the three main players from The X-Files – Duchovny, Gillian Anderson and creator Chris Carter – are all either back or headed to our screens, with Anderson starring in NBC series Crisis and Carter learning that his new mystery thriller The After has been officially picked up by Amazon.