Teyonah Parris has been given a lead role in the forthcoming CBS pilot Murder, which will give a true crime tilt to the crime show genre.
The series will be shot like a true crime documentary, shifting between the perspectives of the criminals, the victims and the cops. Each case will see the audience being in a position to judge who they think is innocent or guilty for themselves.
Parris will play Detective Ayana Lake who is rising quickly through the ranks of the NYPD. She has a sharp brain and works through careful analysis of the crimes and evidence. She’ll play off against her parter Detective Jack Garrity, who is much more intuitive and holistic in his approach.
Murder will be written by Amanda Green, who has also worked on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and Lethal Weapon. Interestingly the latter has a similar dynamic between the two leads, though the contrast between Damon Wayans’ Roger Murtaugh and Clayne Crawford’s Martin Riggs is pretty extreme.
Parris last appeared as Pamela Rose in TV series Empire and also played Missy Vaughn in Survivor’s Remorse. As well as Murder, she also has a part in the forthcoming drama If Beale Street Could Talk, which also stars Regina King, Michael Beach, Emily Rios, Pedro Pascal, Dave Franco and Ed Skrein.
Variety reports no word on any airing date, but we’ll keep you posted.
James Wray
James has worked for Monsters and Critics since it started back in 2003. He oversees the business and technical side of things. You can contact or follow him on Twitter.