While the cast list for the revived Veronica Mars series has mostly consisted of returning veterans and the odd new face, creator Rob Thomas has scored a big name to play a recurring role. JK Simmons will show up for a number of the eight-episode miniseries.
The show will see the return of Veronica (Kristen Bell), who has a new mystery to solve when someone starts offing spring break tourists in her home town of Neptune. After Mars Investigations is hired by the parents of one of the victims to find their son’s killer, Veronica is drawn into an epic mystery that pits the enclave’s wealthy elites, who would rather put an end to the month-long bacchanalia, against a working class that relies on the cash influx that comes with being the West Coast’s answer to Daytona Beach.
Simmons will play Clyde Prickett, an ex-con who served 10 years for racketeering, and was smart enough to be the first guy in Chino to offer protection to Neptune’s richest real estate developer, Big Dick Casablancas (David Starzyk), on Big Dick’s first day in prison. Now a free man, Clyde works as Big Dick’s fixer. He’s the smarter and more dangerous of the pair, and he has a network of fellow ex-cons he can count on to keep his own hands clean.
In addition to Bell, the returning regulars include Enrico Colantoni and Jason Dohring, with Patton Oswalt as one of the new recruits. The show will kick off on US streaming service Hulu next year. Simmons will be back for another season of TV drama Counterpart next year and has reunited with director Jason Reitman for political drama The Front Runner, which just opened in the States and will arrive in UK cinemas on 11 January.
Keep up to date with all the latest movie news, click here to subscribe to Empire on Great Magazines and have the latest issue delivered to your door every month.