Early in 2022, CBS began handing out pilot orders to the projects on their plate to prepare for the 2021-22 development seasons.
Amongst their drama orders were a reboot of Early Edition, Max Thieriot’s Cal Fire (which was eventually renamed to Fire Country), True Lies, and a then-untitled mother and son legal drama from Dr. Phil, which has since then been renamed to So Help Me Todd.
In February, East New York became one of the drama projects that received a pilot order from the network.
A few months later, just three of these were given series orders: Fire Country, So Help Me Todd, and East New York.
Now, we’re here to tell you everything you need to know about the upcoming drama from CBS, East New York!
Who’s in charge?
Executive producers William Finkelstein (Law & Order, NYPD Blue) and Mike Flynn (Big Sky) are at the helm of the project as writers and executive producers.
Joining them in an executive producer capacity are Christine Holder and Mark Holder from Wonder Street (EPs on Self Made: Inspired By The Life of Madam C.J Walker), as well as Skyemac Productions’ Andrew Maher and Michael M. Robin; the latter is also slated as the pilot episode’s director!
Warner Bros. Television is the studio behind the production.
What’s East New York about?
East New York is not just the title, but also the general setting of the series – an impoverished, ‘working class neighborhood at the eastern edge of Brooklyn’.
It follows Regina Haywood, the newly promoted deputy inspector in East New York, who is now in charge of a large, diverse group of officers and detectives.
Things are difficult enough as it is in their neighborhood; they’re on the precipice of gentrification, which has brought about a lot of social change and tension.
Amidst all of that, Regina must also battle the resistance of her colleagues against her more creative ways of serving and protecting the people.
Who will we see?
Between the pilot and series orders, many announcements were made to round out the casting for the new CBS drama series.
First amongst these was for the character of Regina Haywood – Amanda Warren (The Purge, The Leftovers) was tapped for the role of the former street cop who takes her new job very seriously.
Then Ruben Santiago Hudson, Richard Kind, Lavel Schley and Olivia Luccardi were cast as well.
Hudson is set to play Marvin Sandeford, a street cop who knows East New York like the back of his hand; Kind will play Captain Stan Yenko, who hides his insecurities behind a mask of being sociable; Schley will play Andre Bentley, a well-to-do patrol officer trainee who joins the force simply because he wasn’t supposed to; and Luccardi will play Brandy Quinlan, another patrol officer who basically grew up on the streets and is constantly driven to prove herself.
Finally, the team welcomed Jimmy Smits in the role of Chief John Suarez, who oversees Regina and the rest of the team; Kevin Rankin as Tommy Killian, a detective who still has to learn the ropes with gender relations; and Elizabeth Rodriguez as Crystal Morales, a detective who keeps things close to the chest.
Make sure you catch East New York when it premieres on October 02, 2022!