Weruche Opia has joined the cast of ABC’s one-hour drama pilot RJ Decker, created by Elementary’s Rob Doherty and starring Scott Speedman. The pilot is based on Carl Hiaasen’s 1987 crime satire Double Whammy. If the project moves forward to series, Opia is expected to be elevated to a series regular.
Speedman leads as RJ Decker, a disgraced newspaper photographer and ex-con who reinvents himself as a private investigator in the wild and unpredictable world of South Florida. Navigating cases that swing from strange to downright surreal, Decker teams up with his journalist ex, her detective wife, and a mysterious woman from his past whose true motives remain unclear.
Opia will portray Shay Bennett, the shrewd and unpredictable daughter of a powerful — and deeply corrupt — state senator.
Doherty penned the pilot and executive produces alongside director Paul McGuigan, Carl Beverly, Sarah Timberman, and Carl Hiaasen. The pilot is being developed under 20th Television.
Opia is best known for her acclaimed turn as Terry in Michaela Coel’s I May Destroy You, a performance that earned her a BAFTA nomination and a Film Independent Spirit Award for Best Ensemble Cast. She recently wrapped production on Ladies First for Netflix, opposite Sacha Baron Cohen and Rosamund Pike, and will soon appear in Amazon’s Quarter Life as Riz Ahmed’s agent. Earlier this year, she portrayed Coretta Scott King in Genius: MLK/X for Hulu and starred in the BBC limited series The Jetty as investigative journalist Riz.