Josh Duhamel to Co-Star in Vince Gilligan/David Shore’s ‘Battle Creek’

CBS’ Vince Gilligan/David Shore drama Battle Creek has cast its second leading man.

Josh Duhamel will star as an FBI agent opposite Law & Order: SVU’s Dean Winters, The Hollywood Reporter has learned.

The drama centers on Winters’ Russ, a detective, and Milton (Duhamel), an FBI agent — two men with very different worldviews who are teamed up. Together, they must answer the question: Is cynicism, guile and deception enough to clean up the semi-mean streets of Battle Creek, Mich., in the face of a complete lack of resources? Or is the exact opposite — it takes naivete, trust and a boatload of resources — actually true?

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FBI Special Agent Milton Chamberlain is a clean-cut and humble FBI agent. He’s a sincere nice guy who may be a bit naive but is always a winner and the universe loves him. He heads from Detroit to Battle Creek to set up a satellite FBI office.

For Duhamel, the role brings the actor back to primetime following his five-season run on NBC’s Las Vegas and guest turns on Crossing Jordan. The actor’s TV credits also include his Daytime Emmy-winning role as Leo on ABC’s All My Children and voice work in Fanboy and Chum Chum as well as Jake and the Never Land Pirates. On the feature side, his credits include Transformers, Win a Date With Tad Hamilton, When in Rome and The Lego Movie. He’s repped by ICM Partners, John Carrabino Management and Hansen Jacobson. The gig comes more than a year after Duhamel developed a primetime soap opera for ABC.

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Duhamel joins a cast that includes Winters, Janet McTeer as the commander of the Battle Creek Police Department; Kal Penn as Detective Fontanelle; Edward Fordham Jr. (Key and Peele) as Detective Aaron Funkhauser; and Aubrey Dollar (Women’s Murder Club, Point Pleasant) as Holly, the office manager and a love interest for Russ.

Gilligan penned the initial script, with House‘s Shore set to serve as showrunner. They will executive produce the Sony Pictures Television and CBS Television Studios drama alongside Breaking Bad‘s Mark Johnson. Bryan Singer will executive produce and direct the pilot.

Email: Lesley.Goldberg@THR.com
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