Starz Sets Return Date for Kelsey Grammer Starrer 'Boss'

Starz

Kelsey Grammer in "Boss"

Starz has announced a return date for its Kelsey Grammer political drama Boss.

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Season 2 will kick off Friday, Aug. 17 and feature Grammer's beleaguered mayor of Chicago upping his medication as he fights back the physical symptoms of his fatal illness.

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The vicious character whacked his former chief of staff during the freshman drama's run, will also feature a handful of new faces. Glee's Jonathan Groff joins Boss as a new series regular, playing Ian Todd, an ambitious young adviser to Kane, while Nip/Tuck's Sanaa Lathan will play Alderman Ross' (James Vincent Meredith) politically-savvy chief of staff.

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Rapper T.I. will guest star as Trey, a former gangbanger with an eye on a career at City Hall.

Creator Farhad Safinia told THR following the Season 1 finale that the second year will maintain the same tone as the show's first, despite soft ratings. "We're not changing the tone in terms of the work we're striving for with the show," he said. "We have to do justice to the central character we've created. He's facing this end run and if we don't do that in some way then we've dropped the ball on this character. Tonally, I think we've hit the right notes and I'd like to keep going in that way."

Grammer picked up a Golden Globe for his turn.

E-mail: Lesley.Goldberg@thr.com; Twitter: @Snoodit