With Bryan Singer on board to call the shots for the launch episode, the new cop drama Battle Creek has been busy building its cast. Executive producers Vince Gilligan and David Shore are adding Josh Duhamel to an ensemble that already features Dean Winters.
Battle Creek is set in the titular, troubled Michigan town. Hit by hard economic times, it’s a festering sore of crime and other social issues. A team formed by Winters’ tough-nosed, pessimistic detective Russ Agnew and Duhamel’s optimistic FBI agent Milton Chamberlain are charged with cleaning up the streets, but that's no easy task when their resources are severely limited and their worldviews clash at every turn.
Fortunately, they are getting some help, in the shape of Kal Penn, Janet McTeer, Edward Fordham Jr. and Aubrey Dollar. Birthed from a spec script Gilligan wrote in 2002 that sat on a shelf until his success with Breaking Bad, the show will have Shore running the day-to-day operations while Gilligan is busy with Better Call Saul.
Duhamel, who is a veteran of slightly less high-profile TV such as Las Vegas, was last seen on the big screen in weepy romance Safe Haven and indie comedy drama thriller Scenic Route. Battle Creek will start shooting this summer for an autumn airdate, kicking off an initial 13-episode order from US network CBS.