Nelson DeMille asks fans for casting suggestions for upcoming John Corey TV series
Garden City author Nelson DeMille has asked fans for their casting suggestions for an ABC TV series based on his John Corey novels. Credit: Chris Ware
Nelson DeMille’s fans have spoken. In his email newsletter last month, the Garden City author announced that his bestselling John Corey novels, including “Plum Island” and “The Lion’s Game,” had been optioned for a television series on ABC. Since the title role — a pugnacious NYPD homicide detective — has not yet been cast, DeMille asked fans for their suggestions.
“Holy mackerel!” the author wrote in this month’s newsletter. “I got hundreds of suggestions and they were all over the board, including Robert Taylor and Brad Dexter, who are not available because they’re dead.”
The most frequently named actors, DeMille said, were Massapequa native Alec Baldwin, Jim Caviezel, Aaron Eckhart, John Travolta, Donnie Wahlberg, Michael Weatherly and Bruce Willis.
Among the other names floated by fans were Ben Affleck, Don Cheadle, Bryan Cranston, Aaron Eckhart, Harrison Ford, Jon Hamm, Dwayne Johnson, Matthew McConaughey, Chris Pratt, Tom Selleck, Wesley Snipes and Billy Bob Thornton.
DeMille said that Baldwin and Willis have told him they like the John Corey character, and that Eckhart “once expressed an interest.” The author says Baldwin, Willis and Eckhart are his top choices for the role and that he passed all suggestions along to producers.
But wait: The casting game isn’t over yet, readers. DeMille asked fans to cast Corey’s female partner, who may or may not be Kate Mayfield, his FBI agent wife from the novels. “Who do you think would be a tough, but sexy and smart lady to stand up to John Corey and keep him focused and out of trouble?” DeMille wrote. Stay tuned.
