The Discovery Channel is taking a page from the History Channel’s book and is putting together its first ever scripted miniseries, Klondike. The project has been in the works for a few months and now the miniseries has added veteran actor Tim Roth to its ranks.
Roth has signed on to the miniseries as Charles Eugene Schultz, also known as “The Count.” According to TV Line, the English actor will put on a German accent for the role, which otherwise sounds fairly spooky, as The Count is described as the kind of guy who can easily be pushed into either arson or murder. Klondike is based on the book Gold Diggers: Striking It Rich in the Klondike and will follow two men hoping to strike it rich in the Yukon Territory. Once there, the two friends will encounter nasty weather, as well as some less-than-pleasant locals, The Count seemingly included.
Roth most recently starred in Fox’s Lie to Me on the small screen. Soon after, he attempted to put together an FX bank robbery series and was later confirmed for the straight-to-series David Cronenberg project, Knifeman. We’ll see if that latter series ever pans out, but until then, at least the Klondike miniseries should keep him busy.
Production on Klondike is set to begin this month, with Prison Break’s Paul Scheuring on board to write and executive produce and Ridley Scott, David W. Zucker, John Morayniss, Michael Rosenberg, Mike Frislev, and Chad Oakes also nabbing executive producer credits. If the miniseries does well on the network, we may be seeing more scripted fodder in the future. As long as this doesn’t interfere with Deadliest Catch, I’m all for it.
