Mamie Gummer to Co-Star Opposite Rainn Wilson in CBS' 'Backstrom'

Mamie Gummer

Mamie Gummer is going from playing doctor to playing cop.

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The former Emily Owens M.D. star has landed the female lead in CBS' Hart Hanson drama pilot Backstrom, The Hollywood Reporter has learned.

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Based on the Swedish book series by criminologist/novelist Leif G.W. Persson, Backstrom centers on an overweight, offensive, irascible detective (The Office's Rainn Wilson) as he tries, and fails, to change his self-destructive behavior.

Gummer will play Nicole Graveley, an openly gay police detective who is saddened over her breakup with her longtime partner. Adept at suppressing her emotions, she's has been nicknamed "The Angel of Death" in the Portland media for having blown away three bad guys who fired on her. She's surprisingly close to the misanthropic Backstrom and understands him as well as anyone else in their unit.

The casting comes three months after the CW canceled freshman drama Emily Owens, on which Gummer had the lead role.

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Hanson will write and executive produce the pilot alongside Persson and Niclas Salomonsson. Mark Mylod will direct the 20th Television entry. Dennis Haysbert (24) and Kristoffer Polaha (Life Unexpected), Page Kennedy, Beatrice Rosen, Thomas Dekker (guest) and Camryn Manheim (guest) round out the cast, which also enlisted Body of Proof's Nicholas Bishop, Outsourced's Rizwan Manji and Nikita's Tiffany Hines for guest turns.

Gummer, whose credits include a starring turn on ABC's Off the Map and guest arcs on The Big C and The Good Wife, is repped by CAA and Anonymous Content.

Email: Lesley.Goldberg@thr.com; Twitter: @Snoodit