For years, actor Jon Seda was an integral part of Dick Wolf's One Chicago lineup on NBC, having starred in both Chicago P.D. (his main home) and Chicago Justice after his Det. Antonio Dawson had already served as a recurring character on Chicago Fire. That era of his career ended in 2019 when the actor chose to step away, but Seda is already plotting his apocalyptic return to NBC with a brand new show.
Jon Seda has been tapped for a lead role in the NBC project La Brea, a high-concept drama that is currently in the pilot stages. He is joining the already cast Natalie Zea (Justified), Michael Raymond-James (Once Upon a Time), and Zyra Gorecki. (Coincidentally enough, perhaps, Gorecki's only role listed on IMDb is "Stuck Pedestrian" on Chicago Fire in 2016.)
La Brea starts off with a mysterious sinkhole suddenly opening up in Los Angeles. While tons of people are no doubt affected, the show will center on a mother (Natalie Zea) and son who are separated from the father (Michael Raymond-James) and daughter (Zyra Gorecki). Part of the family gets caught up in a now primitive-leaning world along with a group of random strangers, and everyone struggles not only to survive, but also to try and figure out what the hell happened, and how everyone can make it back home safely. I'm going to assume the won't be running into Bugs Bunny down there.
Within that madness, Jon Seda will be taking on the role of Dr. Benjamine Glass, according to Deadline. The character is a former Navy SEAL that knows how to command and conquer, although this isn't exactly a situation that comes up all the time for the U.S. military, so it'll be interesting to see how an outsider can help reverse a quasi-magical sinkhole.
That's quite a doozy of a plot, and La Brea comes from the brain of David Appelbaum, whose career was more attuned to CBS projects until last year when he wrote for and co-executive produced the short-lived drama The Enemy Within. Before that, he had similar writing and producing duties on shows such as The Mentalist, Wisdom of the Crowd and NCIS: New Orleans.
Though it's only being handled as a pilot right now, La Brea could very well make it to primetime proper if the story is handled with depth and precision. NBC has had some success in the otherworldly drama field thanks to Manifest, but a lot of the network's programming is still heavily invested in tried and true crime dramas, with Law & Order: SVU leading the pack with its recent three-year renewal taking it to a record-breaking Season 24.
Perhaps getting Jon Seda involved will bring in audiences that might not otherwise dive into sinkhole mysteries. After all, fans went kind of berserk whenever he went public with the decision to end his run on Chicago P.D. last spring. Without going into spoilers about what exactly went down, in case anyone reading is still catching up, Seda's Antonio Dawson made his exit from the squad, though he hadn't completely left the minds of his former coworkers. Thankfully, it was an amicable exit, and while it doesn't seem like Seda is planning on returning to the role anytime soon, perhaps landing a new job at NBC will be the first step to getting Dawson back on TV.
Stay tuned to see what will happen with La Brea on NBC, and be sure to check out our Winter and Spring TV premiere schedule to see all the awesome new and returning shows that are on the way.
