Sophia Bush of Chicago P.D. fame landed a lead role in the CBS medical TV drama pilot Good Sam, and now a Harry Potter alum is joining her. Jason Isaacs, known for playing Lucius Malfoy in the super successful film franchise, joins Bush in a role that should be very different from the nefarious wizard he played for Potter.
Jason Isaacs will tackle the role of a renowned surgeon by the name of Dr. Paul "Griff" Griffith, who Deadline reports falls into a coma despite his status as the "wizard with a scalpel" Chief of Cardiothoracic surgery. Arrogant due to his unparalleled brilliance in his field, he expects the best from his residents, including his daughter Sam, played by Sophia Bush.
When Griff eventually wakes from his coma after months, he discovers his daughter has replaced him as Chief of Surgery, and she will supervise him as he returns to his work as a surgeon. This will become more challenging to him than performing heart surgery. As for Sophia Bush's Sam, she'll have to try and manage her father, who never acknowledged her skills and is used to being in charge.
Sam has become his equal in their field, so if Good Sam scores a series order from CBS, viewers can probably expect their conflict to last for quite a while. Executive producing Good Sam are Katie Wech of Star and BH90210 and Jennie Snyder Urman of Jane the Virgin and The CW's Charmed reboot. Wech and Urman collaborated on Jane the Virgin, so they have experience producing a TV show together.
That said, Good Sam is currently only in the pilot stage of production, and there is no saying if it will receive a series order. Sophia Bush hasn't had the best luck with regular series gigs since leaving Chicago P.D. under complicated circumstances.
On the other hand, Jason Isaacs is a big name for reasons beyond the Harry Potter films (which he nearly turned down), as his Young Sam casting comes after he tackled a series regular role on Netflix's The OA. That show's cancellation left Isaacs "heartbroken," but clearly didn't sour him on television. He had a memorable run on Star Trek: Discovery as a character he's interested in playing again, despite how his character was written out.
Jason Isaacs is also an accomplished voice actor, with shows ranging from The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance to Star Wars Rebels to Avatar: The Last Airbender and Legend of Korra. He has a knack for playing villains, so it should be interesting to see if Young Sam's Griff has a soft side if the project is order to series.
The big question is whether Young Sam will come together enough as a solid enough pilot to earn that series order from CBS. Sophia Bush is an accomplished TV actress, even though she hasn't had the best luck with TV shows post-Chicago P.D. Jason Isaacs is a big name in both film and television, and the executive producers have worked on TV in the past.
For now, you can catch Jason Isaacs in episodes of The OA streaming on Netflix, since the Harry Potter films sadly are not available streaming. For more viewing options, check out our 2020 winter and spring premiere schedule.
