Kimrie Lewis and Isaiah Dòdó-Williams are among five to be cast opposite Anthony Anderson in the upcoming ABC comedy pilot Public Defenders.
Erika Henningsen, Arturo Castro, and Natasha Lopez will also star in the single-camera series as series regulars.
The show follows four public defenders who are in debt due to their student loans, as they work together to protect their clients from going to jail. Anderson will play Marshall, the tough but caring boss who is determined to turn his team into the best defense attorneys in the business.
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Randall Einhorn is directed the Public Defenders pilot and Eddie Quintana is penning its script. As well as Liz Astrof will serve as the showrunner.
Henningsen will play Catherine. New to the public defender’s office, Catherine is smart and pragmatic and passionate about justice, even though she hasn’t actually taken a case to trial yet. She fights for what’s right, no matter how small the injustice. And she always puts her clients first. Sure, that doesn’t leave her much time for a personal life, but she’s working on it.
Castro will play Efren, the smartest, most charismatic lawyer in the public defender’s office. At least, that’s what he’d tell you. Over-confident, Efren wants to rack up as much trial experience as possible, so he can become the next Johnnie Cochran. But underneath his arrogance is a lawyer who cares deeply about his clients and fights hard to keep them out of jail.
Lewis will play Bethany. As the office manager, it’s up to Bethany to hold everything together. She does it with kindness or harshness, with no in-between. She can be a loyal ally or a ticking time bomb, depending on the situation. Five months pregnant, Bethany intends to work right up to her delivery because she doesn’t trust anyone else to do her job as well as she does.
Lopez will play Lindsay who brings street smarts and fashion sense to the public defender’s office. She’s a fiercely competitive lawyer who doesn’t back down from a good fight, even if it means chipping a nail. While her clients get to see her compassion and hard work, her co-workers are left to deal with her intensity and brutal honesty.
Dòdó-Williams will play Ray, a brilliant legal mind with the confidence of a pimple-faced pre-teen on picture day. He may have graduated from a top-tier law school, but he’s still the perpetual underdog. Despite his lack of self-confidence, he loves his job as a public defender and adores his co-workers. But outside of court, Ray is a mess, second-guessing himself and frequently making his life harder than it needs to be.
Anderson, Quintana, Einhorn, and Astrof will also executive produce the show. They will do so along with McG, Mary Viola, Corey Marsh, and E. Brian Dobbins.
Astrof, a veteran comedy writer and producer, has The Last Happy Couple in contention at ABC for midseason, in addition to her duties on Public Defenders. She previously served as a key writer-producer on 2 Broke Girls and was a co-executive producer on The Conners.
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With its talented cast and creative team, Public Defenders is poised to be a hit for ABC. Stay tuned for more updates on this exciting new show.
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