Deputy: What You Need to Know About Stephen Dorff’s New Series

With FOX launching its post football season Thursday night lineup tonight with the premiere of the new series Deputy, we asked our resident pilots expert Jean Maxime Renault (who previously reviewed the show's pilot script) to give us the lowdown on what to expect from Deputy.

After premiering only one new drama this past fall — the competent Prodigal Son — Fox is taking its strategy to the next level this month with an all-new Thursday line-up, replacing NFL games with scripted shows. The network’s goal is to appeal to a more masculine, middle American conservative viewership. To that end. Thursday nights will see the return of Tim Allen's Last Man Standing, followed by the new comedy Outmatched with Jason Biggs and the cop drama Deputy at 9. Will it work? Deputy has 13 episodes to convince the crowd.

Here's what you need to know about the series before diving in: 

A Modern-Day Western

Fox’s ambition for Deputy is for it to be a cop drama that blends the spirit of a classic Western with a modern attitude and gritty authenticity. Producers emphasize this is NOT a procedural with a "case of the week" that gets solved by episode’s end. Instead it's more of an ensemble piece about office politics and power with a good dose of action in between. It's written by Will Beal, who worked on Castle and the short-lived TV adaptation of Training Day, and executive produced by David Ayer — who also directed the first two episodes. Ayer wrote the screenplay for the original Fast & Furious, S.W.A.T., Fury, and Suicide Squad (which he also directed). 

Designated Sheriff

In a somewhat similar set-up as Kiefer Sutherland's Designated Survivor, Stephen Dorff stars as Sheriff’s Deputy Bill Hollister, a reckless man in his fifties who never plays by the rules. So much that the LA County Sheriff's office is working to get him phased out of the service because he’s at the top of the department’s inevitable-lawsuit list. But when the sitting Sheriff suffers a heart attack and dies, it turns out Bill is next in line and ends up becoming Sheriff himself — to everyone's surprise and worry, including his own. 

Who's Who in the Cast

Stephen Dorff as Bill Hollister

Enjoying a career resurgence following a major recurring role on FOX's musical drama Star and overwhelming positive notice for his starring role opposite Mahershala Ali in the third installment of HBO's True Detective, Dorff was a major get for Fox and the producers of Deputy. In the lead role of Bill Hollister, he leads a skilled team of complicated and ambitious professionals who won't rest until justice is served. 

Yara Martinez as Paula Reyes

Best known for her roles as Kelly in Hollywood Heights and as Dr. Luisa Alver on Jane the Virgin, Martinez is playing another doctor in Deputy, Dr Paula Reyes, Head Trauma Surgeon at LA General, and Bill Hollister’s wife

Brian Van Holt as Deputy Cade Ward

Familiar to audiences from his role as Bobby Cobb in Cougartown, Brian Van Holt plays Deputy Cade Ward, a former Marine who served in Afghanistan and is eight years sober. He’s tough, with a well developed sense of gallows humor.

Bex Taylor-Klaus as Deputy Breanna Bishop 

Taylor-Klaus, who identifies as non-binary, is best known for their role as Bullet in the third season of The Killing. As Deputy Breanna Bishop, Taylor-Klaus is the smartly dressed, sarcastic, “quietly badass” driver in charge of newly appointed Sheriff Hollister’s security detail. 

Shane Paul McGhie as Deputy Joseph Blair

McGhie has been busy over the past couple of years, appearing in recurring roles in three series: OWN’s Greenleaf, Netflix’s Unbelievable, and Sacred Lies on Facebook Watch. In Deputy, he plays Deputy Joseph Blair, a bright-eyed young man and the son of Hollister’s fallen former partner. 

Mark Moses as Jerry London

Best known for his villainous roles on Desperate Housewives and Mad Men, Moses plays Bill's nemesis Jerry London, an overbearing bureaucrat who's a “political apex predator," openly contemptuous of Hollister and itching to drive him off the force. 

Danielle Moné Truitt as Deputy Charlie Minnick

Truitt's previously credits include roles in Snowfall, Mulaney and the lead role in BET's Rebel. As Deputy Charlie Minnick, she plays a former school teacher turned Field Training Officer in the sheriff's office. 

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Jean-Maxime Renault is a TV addict based in Paris who writes about television and movies on AlloCiné (aka "the French IMDB"). In 2015 he created Season Zero, a website about television development and pilot season, which is now a part of Primetimer. Follow him on Twitter @SeasonZeroCom