One year, almost to the day, after the Fringe series finale, it's been confirmed that Josh Jackson is headed back to television — and his revealing new role is guaranteed to get tongues wagging!
Showtime announced they've picked up The Affair, a provocative new drama that chronicles one dalliance as it tears apart two marriages.
Jackson stars as Cole, "a hard-edged cowboy who manages a ranch on the eastern tip of Long Island that has been in his family for generations." Ruth Wilson (Luther, Saving Mr. Banks) co-stars as his wife, Allison, who steps out on her husband with Noah (played by Dominic West), who is in turn married to Helen (Maura Tierney).
The Affair, which will be told separately from the male and female perspectives, demanded a cable home as the series will feature frank and unflinching depictions of sex.
Showtime also picked up Happyish, a dark comedy starring Philip Seymour Hoffman as a 42-year-old who finds himself utterly unhappy with everything in his life and sets out to "rebrand" his very existence.
This American Life contributor Shalom Auslander created the comedy and will write and executive produce with Hoffman.
"The Affair is a beautiful pilot," David Nevins, Showtime President of Entertainment, said in a statement: "It is an intense exploration of two marriages and the affair that disrupts them – with great acting and a very clever, deeply-observed script by the marvelously talented Sarah Treem.
As for Happyish, he said, "Shalom Auslander and Phillip Seymour Hoffman make for a formidable and unusual comedy team. The chance to get one of the truly great actors of our time into a such an incisive and current comedy was totally and completely irresistible."
Both shows were picked up for 10 episodes and have not yet been given premiere dates by Showtime.