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HBO’s The Undoing Limited Series Adds Donald Sutherland To Its Cast
HBO’s upcoming limited series The Undoing is shaping up to be an impressive event, as Donald Sutherland has joined the cast alongside star Nicole Kidman and Hugh Grant. Kidman has been involved in the series from the start, as she’ll not only star in the psychological thriller but she’s credited as an executive producer as well. With Kidman attached to a high-profile HBO event series, it wasn’t too surprising for the project attract some top-notch talent, which it continues to do with news of Sutherland joining the cast.
The series will be an HBO reunion of sorts, as it brings Kidman back together with Big Little Lies writer David E. Kelley. In fact, this will mark the third collaboration between the two, since Big Little Lies season 2, for which both Kidman and Kelley returned, wrapped production earlier this summer. This time, though, the pair will team for an adaptation of the Jean Hanz Korelitz book You Should Have Known, with Susanne Bier (The Night Manager) directing.
As reported by Deadline, Sutherland has joined the cast in the role of Franklin Renner, the father of Kidman’s character Grace. Franklin is a former financier who must help shield his daughter and grandchildren from the fallout of some horrific revelations about Grace’s husband (Grant), who’s gone missing just as his wife’s first book is about to be published. Complicating matters further is a suspicious death, to which there is growing concern Grace’s husband is connected. It all adds up to what sounds like a dark thriller that blends aspects of not only Kidman’s Emmy-winning turn in Big Little Lies, but also this summer’s HBO adaptation of Gillian Flynn’s Sharp Objects.
Just how big a role Sutherland will have in the series remains to be seen, but given the specifics of the character description, it stands to reason he’ll have a fairly prominent role alongside Kidman. The Undoing will also mark the actor’s second major role in a limited series, after his memorable turn in FX’s Getty family drama Trust, in which he played a delightfully wicked J. Paul Getty.
With its growing cast of stars, The Undoing points to the power of the limited series to attract big-name talent. Though one has to wonder how this too will reshape the television landscape. Thought the deep pockets of HBO can compete with the likes of Netflix and Amazon in terms of bringing such series to fruition, it may become increasingly difficult for smaller networks to do the same. At any rate, The Undoing sounds as though it will make for the kind of event series HBO may well be looking to make more of.
