Alfre Woodard has spent the last few TV seasons popping up on HBO’s True Blood as the overly-spiritual Ruby Jean Reynolds, but now the actress has signed on for BBC American and Cineflix Studio’s Copper, a period drama set in the 1860s in New York City.
Woodard’s casting follows the renewal of Copper for a second season. Instead of ten episodes this time around, audiences will get 13. If you are unfamiliar with the series, Copper takes a look at life at the Five Points and follows Detective Kevin Corcoran (Tom Weston-Jones) as he solves mysteries and deals with crooks and criminals. In Season 2, the country will be nearing the Lincoln assassination, and with the shifting political landscape, life will change for both Irish immigrants and African Americans, just as life in the Five Points may be becoming more corrupt.
Woodard is joining the cast to play Hattie Lemaster, a woman looking for a new life and hoping to find it in the Five Points. Hattie is a former slave who isn’t particularly used to life in a big city. Woodard joins the previously announced Eamonn Walker, who will take on the role of Frederick Douglass in the new season, as well as Andrew Howard, Lee Tergesen, and Donal Logue in Season 2. Returning cast members include Weston-Jones and Franka Potente, among others.
Copper previously announced a return date and will premiere its second season on BBC America on Sunday, June 23 at 10 p.m. ET.
