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Kings (U.S. TV series)
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Kings is an upcoming television drama series airing on NBC and Citytv, based on the King David story.
series is set in the modern day metropolis of Shiloh, a city under siege where the fighting has gone on for too long and cost far too many lives. When David Shepherd (Christopher Egan), a brave young soldier, rescues the King's (Ian McShane) son from enemy territory, he sets events in motion that will finally bring peace.
Suddenly, David is thrust into the limelight, earning the affections of women, including the King's daughter.
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Encyclopedia
Kings is an upcoming television drama series airing on NBC and Citytv, based on the King David story.
Plot synopsis
The series is set in the modern day metropolis of Shiloh, a city under siege where the fighting has gone on for too long and cost far too many lives. When David Shepherd (Christopher Egan), a brave young soldier, rescues the King's (Ian McShane) son from enemy territory, he sets events in motion that will finally bring peace.
Suddenly, David is thrust into the limelight, earning the affections of women, including the King's daughter. When he's promoted to captain, he becomes the reluctant poster boy for hope. But for David, the line between his allies and enemies will blur as the power players in the kingdom go to great lengths to see him fall and there's no telling who will win.
Development
On November 5, 2007, NBC ordered the two-hour pilot of Kings; the last pilot NBC ordered before the 2007 Writer's Strike. Michael Green (Heroes, Everwood) penned the script and Francis Lawrence (I Am Legend) was set to direct. When Green pitched the series to NBC, he told them, "I want to take one of the classic stories that no one has ever retold and find a way to re-conceive it while still being faithful to the original material but at the same time exploring the themes, modernizing it in every way." NBC officially ordered the show to series on May 19, 2008. Green has already planned out the entire first season, which will consist of thirteen episodes.
The series is currently being filmed partially at the Apthorp building in New York City, on Broadway between 78th and 79th streets, the Brooklyn Museum, on Eastern Parkway and Washington Avenue, as well as in and around the The Capitale Building in Downtown New York City on Grand Street and Elizabeth Street, and soundstages in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. The script for the 1st episode, Goliath, was leaked some time ago.
Casting
The role for King Silas was originally written for Ian McShane, but Green thought that it would be unlikely to get him to play the lead. McShane was sent the script and enjoyed it, and was very open to returning to television after the critically acclaimed HBO series Deadwood. Two or three-hundred actors auditioned for David Shepherd, but producers came across Chris Egan, "who was a real find," stated Lawrence, and cast him immediately. Sebastian Stan, Susanna Thompson, and Allison Miller were then sequentially cast in their roles. On October 17, 2008, Brian Cox was reported to be joining the series in a recurring role, playing a rival to King Silas. On October 23, 2008, Entertainment Weekly reported that Macaulay Culkin was tapped to play a multi-episode arc in the series, playing King Silas's nephew, who was exiled for mysterious reasons. Miguel Ferrer (Crossing Jordan), Michael Stahl-David (The Black Donnellys), and Leslie Bibb (Crossing Jordan) were also booked for multi-episode arcs.
Reception
An early review of Green's pilot script called the show "bold, bizarre, fun.". NBC pre-released the first four episodes of the series to critics and garnered rather positive reviews. Edward Douglas of ComingSoon.Net stated that "the writing is sharp and the acting is excellent, as Green has assembled a cast that's almost unprecedented for a television show. Ian McShane is as riveting in the role of King Silas as he was as Al Swearengen, giving the sort of loquacious speeches that he's great at giving." Brian Ford Sullivan of TheFutonCritic commented that "Kings is ultimately a show you're either going to dismiss as silly and pretentious or fall in love with because of its silliness and pretentiousness. I find myself in the latter category because I'm always a sucker for swing-for-fences serialized shows like this, especially when it looks (more on this in a second) and feels unlike anything on television right now."
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