Fans of Showtime's Weeds series are in for a treat, because Mary-Louise Parker has joined the cast of Mr. Mercedes, the DirecTV series adaptation of Stephen King's 2014 novel of the same name.
According to THR, Parker (R.I.P.D., Fried Green Tomatoes) will portray the recurring role of Janey Patterson, the younger sibling of the deceased Olivia Trelawney. Janey's character plays a key role in helping an ex-detective Bill Hodges (Brendan Gleeson) track down a relentless, boastful killer (played by Harry Treadaway, who replaced Anton Yelchin in the role after the actor's tragic death).
In addition to Parker, Gleeson, and Treadaway, the Mr. Mercedes cast also features Holland Taylor, Kelly Lynch, and Jharrel Jerome.
Adapted for the screen by David E. Kelley and directed by Jack Bender, the (planned ten-episode) Mr. Mercedes series is slated to premiere this autumn on DirecTV, DirecTV Now, and the AT&T U-verse.
Avid readers of King know that Mr. Mercedes is the first book in a detective trilogy that continued with 2015's Finders Keepers and concluded with End of Watch. There are currently no announcements regarding adaptations of the trilogy's lattermost two installments, but we'll keep Daily Dead readers updated on further details. For those unfamiliar with Mr. Mercedes, we have the book's official synopsis:
“In a mega-stakes, high-suspense race against time, three of the most unlikely and winning heroes Stephen King has ever created try to stop a lone killer from blowing up thousands.
In the frigid pre-dawn hours, in a distressed Midwestern city, hundreds of desperate unemployed folks are lined up for a spot at a job fair. Without warning, a lone driver plows through the crowd in a stolen Mercedes, running over the innocent, backing up, and charging again. Eight people are killed; fifteen are wounded. The killer escapes.
In another part of town, months later, a retired cop named Bill Hodges is still haunted by the unsolved crime. When he gets a crazed letter from someone who self-identifies as the “perk” and threatens an even more diabolical attack, Hodges wakes up from his depressed and vacant retirement, hell-bent on preventing another tragedy.
Brady Hartfield lives with his alcoholic mother in the house where he was born. He loved the feel of death under the wheels of the Mercedes, and he wants that rush again. Only Bill Hodges, with a couple of highly unlikely allies, can apprehend the killer before he strikes again. And they have no time to lose, because Brady’s next mission, if it succeeds, will kill or maim thousands.
Mr. Mercedes is a war between good and evil, from the master of suspense whose insight into the mind of this obsessed, insane killer is chilling and unforgettable.”
Mary-Louise Parker in R.I.P.D.:
Raised on a steady diet of R.L. Stine’s Goosebumps books and Are You Afraid of the Dark?, Derek has been fascinated with fear since he first saw ForeverWare being used on an episode of Eerie, Indiana.
When he’s not writing about horror as the Senior News Reporter for Daily Dead, Derek can be found daydreaming about the Santa Carla Boardwalk from The Lost Boys or reading Stephen King and Brian Keene novels.
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