SundanceTV announced James Purefoy will co-star with the previously announced Michael Kenneth Williams in the cabler’s original scripted series “Hap and Leonard.”
Picked up for six one-hour episodes, the “Hap and Leonard” examines race, class and friendship through the eyes of unlikely best friends Hap Collins (Purefoy) and Leonard Pine (Williams) in 1980s East Texas.
Hap spent time in prison for refusing to be drafted and serve in the Vietnam War. Now in his 30s, he works on a plantation picking roses with little financial means, but still has Leonard, his lifelong best friend and confidant. An openly gay black Vietnam war vet, Leonard struggles with anger issues and was raised by his homophobic uncle, causing him to lean on Hap for support in the non-progressive rural South of the 1980s.
“The Following” star also joins cast members Bill Sage (“Boardwalk Empire”) and Jimmi Simpson (“House of Cards”).
Popular on Variety
The show, hailing from Sundance Studios, is created by writing partners Jim Mickle and Nick Damici with Mickle also set to direct. Nick Shumaker and Jeremy Platt serve as exec producers, along with co-exec producers Joe Lansdale and Lowell Northrop, plus producer Linda Moran.
The series is set to bow in early 2016.
