The Alienist: Sean Astin Cast as Theodore Roosevelt in TNT Crime Series

TNT’s television adaptation of Caleb Carr’s quasi-historical 1994 crime novel The Alienist continues to build an intriguingly impressive cast. With last fall’s procurement of its two high-profile primary stars in the duo of Daniel Bruhl and Luke Evans, the upcoming crime series has cast another crucial role, specifically a reform-minded police overseer and would-be trust-busting, soft-speaking-big-stick-carrying, 26^th president of the United States Theodore Roosevelt.

It is being reported (via THR) that Sean Astin will board The Alienist to play the role of Theodore Roosevelt. In the context of the New York, 1896-set series, Astin’s Roosevelt manifests as the recently-appointed commissioner of the NYPD, protecting the crime and corruption-filled, poverty-stricken, yet industrially-lucrative metropolis. However, an escalating murder spree aimed at boy prostitutes forces Roosevelt to turn to unconventional help in Dr. Laszlo Kreizler (Bruhl), a criminal psychologist whose special focus on mental pathologies classifies him as an “alienist.” Kreizler teams with a New York Times reporter named John Moore (Evans), peeling back dark layers of clues leading to the elusive killer. Amidst their oil-and-water partnership, the Alienist and the Reporter will utilize nascent forensic techniques, charting new territory in criminal investigation. The duo will be joined by Dakota Fanning, who plays Sara Howard, a police secretary with ambitions to one day become the NYPD’s first female detective.       

Sean Astin has fielded his share of classic film roles in decades past from his emotionally powerful role as Samwise Gamgee in Peter Jackson’s 2001-2003 The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, playing the embattled title character in the 1993 uber-inspirational sports film favorite Rudy and, of course, as a child actor, leading the titular young group of subterranean treasure hunters in the iconic 1985 adventure film The Goonies. He’s also a mainstay on television, known for fielding an array of voice roles and appearing on series’ such as The Strain, Con Man and will have a major part in the upcoming second season of Netflix's surprise smash Stranger Things.

Daniel Bruhl comes off his role as Zemo in Captain America: Civil War, German drama Alone in Berlin and will appear in 2017 sci-fi film The God Particle. His co-star in former dragon slayer of The Hobbit Trilogy Luke Evans also has a full plate of projects, coming off the uber-lucrative Furious 7 and The Girl on the Train, soon to appear as legendary Disney douche Gaston in the live-action Beauty and the Beast and as Wonder Woman creator William Marston in the provocative historical biopic Professor Marston & the Wonder Women.

While the existence of The Alienist television adaptation first manifested last year with news that True Detective visionary Cary Fukunaga was tapped as director, he has since exited the project. However, stepping into that spot is Jakob Verbruggen, whose small screen episodic work was seen on the most recent season of celebrated anthology series Black Mirror along with entries for House of Cards, London Spy, The Bridge and The Fall.

The Alienist is slated for a premiere in late 2017 on TNT. Production is slated to begin "in early 2017" in Budapest.