Chris Messina has found his first television role following his departure as a regular from the small screen comedy The Mindy Project. The actor has been tapped to co-star alongside headliner Amy Adams in the highly anticipated HBO drama Sharp Objects, and the two will come together under difficult circumstances while trying to solve mysterious murders.
Sharp Objects centers on reporter Camille Preaker (Amy Adams), who is fresh off her stay at a psychiatric hospital and is assigned a murder investigation in her hometown. The victims, two preteen girls, strike an emotional chord with Camille, who may be getting too close to the situation. Chris Messina joins the series as Detective Richard Willis, and Deadline tells us Willis and Preaker put their heads together to solve the mystery as well as unearth some other personal feelings along the way. For Adams and Messina, it will be their first collaborative project together since they played a couple in Julie & Julia. Quite different subject matter in that one.
For Chris Messina, this will be his third stint on an HBO series. The actor was first cast on the network all the way back in 2005 when he played Ted Fairwell on Six Feet Under, and he later jumped back to HBO in 2012 when he played often frustrated ACN President Reese Lansing on Aaron Sorkin's The Newsroom. Both characters, while they were given a fair amount of screentime, were not lead roles like Sharp Objects will be for Messina.
Of course, lead roles are not anything new for Chris Messina. The actor spent four seasons and change on The Mindy Project as the dutiful Danny, and has done a terrific job. With the series set to conclude next Tuesday on Hulu, he will make Sharp Objects his main small screen squeeze, but for how long?
Currently, Sharp Objects is set for 8 episodes, which would fall in line with the network's recent spark of limited series like Big Little Lies and The Young Pope. The series is based on the novel of the same name by Gone Girl writer Gillian Flynn. At the time the series was first announced, it was said Netflix was extremely interested in the project but lost out to HBO. There has been only one book for Sharp Objects, but limited source material has not stopped HBO from continuing to write for shows like The Leftovers, or even the more recent seasons of Game Of Thrones.
Amy Adams and Chris Messina sound like an awesome combination for HBO, who has has been pulling in more and more top tier talent with each successive series. No clues as to when Sharp Objects will come to HBO, but with the series currently being written, I think we can assume it will be a little bit longer before airtime. If you're jonesing for something new to watch right now we have a midseason premiere guide that's still a great resource for finding new shows, as well as a summer premiere schedule to remind you of all your favorite shows returning when it's warm out!
