French Actor Jean Reno Heads to TV in Paris-based Cop Drama 'Le Grand'

PARIS - Legendary French actor Jean Reno will head to the small screen to play a cop in new series Le Grand from Emmy-winning showrunner Rene Balcer. Lagardere's Atlantique Productions will produce eight hour-long episodes of the first drama series shot in English entirely on location in Paris.

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SevenOne International will handle distribution for the character-driven crime series featuring Reno as a pitiless elite cop who stops at nothing to solve mysterious murder cases. The role marks Reno’s first foray into a leading role on a TV series after a long career in film with more than 70 titles under his belt including The Big Blue, Leon: the Professional, La Femme Nikita, Mission: Impossible, Pink Panther and The Da Vinci Code.

Reno plays police detective Joachim “Jo” Legrand, known as Le Grand whose adventures will use Paris as a centerpiece of the on-screen action. Each of Le Grand’s cases is tied to an iconic location in the French capital, from Notre Dame to the Catacombs to the Opera. The series was created by Balcer in collaboration with Franck Ollivier and Malina Detcheva.

Balcer is known for his Emmy-winning work as executive producer on Law & Order and showrunner of spinoff series Law & Order: Criminal Intent and the short-lived Law & Order: Los Angeles.

“Combining the massive screen presence of a feature film star such as Jean Reno and the writing skills of one of America’s most successful showrunner is a truly amazing opportunity and yet another example of the potential and the range of international productions,” Atlantique CEO Klaus Zimmermann said. Atlantique is also behind ambitious international series Borgia and Transporter.