Even as Hannibal is getting into incredibly interesting territory with its Red Dragon storyline, fans know that our time with the show is temporary, since it was canceled by NBC recently. Thankfully, we won’t have to wait long to see Will Graham, er, Hugh Dancy back on another series, as he’s already been tapped as one of the leads on the upcoming Hulu drama The Way, from Parenthood creator Jason Katims.
A drama that focuses on how a controversial faith-based movement affects the lives of its characters, The Way will put Hugh Dancy in charge of the central movement. As the charisma-oozing Cal Roberts, Dancy will presumably give a layered performance as a man fighting his own personal demons while trying to also quell the demons of those around him, all while trying to take his group to the next level.
Each episode of The Way will give a comprehensive look at how the characters balance their daily lives with the ones that they want for themselves. According to THR, one particular interaction will involve Cal inserting himself into a knotty relationship between two of his congregation’s members, Sarah (Michelle Monaghan) and her combative husband Eddie (Aaron Paul).
I like that Dancy is going from a character who followed and partly dedicated his life to an obsession with Hannibal, who wasn’t quite a leader of men but still amassed captivated followers nonetheless, to someone who will be taking on the leadership role. He’s definitely got the chops to pull it off, even if he doesn’t spend a quarter of each episode waist-deep in dream sequences involving antlered entities. And there’s something quite delightful about the prospect of heavily dramatic scenes between Dancy, Monaghan and Paul.
This will be the British actor's third American series, following his starring gig in Hannibal and a recurring role on Showtime’s The Big C. Beyond that, Dancy has been a part of miniseries such as Elizabeth I and Deadline Gallipoli. His big screen work in recent years has seen him go from Martha Marcy May Marlene to Our Idiot Brother to a voice role in Legends of Oz: Dorothy’s Return. Hopefully we can add a Hannibal feature to that list in the future.
Developed by Katims and Parenthood writer/producer Jessica Goldberg, The Way is a rare detour into drama for Hulu, which has built up a sizeable library of comedies including The Hotwives of Orlando, Deadbeat and most recently Difficult People. Their other upcoming high-profile drama is the Stephen King adaptation 11/22/63, which stars James Franco and has J.J. Abrams as an executive producer.
The Way, which was given a 10-episode straight-to-series order, will begin production this fall in New York, with a plan for release in the early part of 2016.
