Oscar-winning stage and screen actor F. Murray Abraham, two-time Tony winner Cherry Jones, and Tony-winning and Oscar-nominated actor Sophie Okonedo have joined Tony nominee Alessandro Nivola in the television adaptation of Lucy Kirkwood’s play Chimerica, according to Deadline. As previously reported, Chimerica is being adapted into a four-part TV series for Britain’s Channel 4.
Winner of the 2014 Olivier Award for Best New Play as well as the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, Chimerica tells the story of an American photojournalist (Nivola) who witnessed the events of Tiananmen Square in 1989, and who, 23 years later, sets out to find the subject of his most famous photograph.
Abraham was recently seen Off-Broadway in the New Group's production of David Rabe's Good for Otto. Among a number of stage and screen roles, he has starred in Homeland, The Grand Budapest Hotel, It's Only a Play, and Angels in America on Broadway. Abraham is an Oscar winner for his performance in the 1985 film Amadeus.
Jones is a two-time Tony winner for her performances in John Patrick Shanley's Doubt and Augustus and Ruth Goetz's The Heiress. As well as starring roles in the television series Transparent and 24, Jones was recently seen Off-Broadway in WP Theater's production of Dear Elizabeth by Sarah Ruhl.
Okonedo is a Tony winner for her role in the 2014 production of A Raisin in the Sun. Her screen credits include Hotel Rwanda, for which she earned an Oscar nomination, and a starring role in the BBC series Undercover. She was recently seen in the West End in Edward Albee’s The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia?, as well as on Broadway in a Tony-nominated turn in The Crucible.
According to Deadline, Terry Chen (Jessica Jones) and Ty Simpkins (Jurassic World) have also joined the cast of Chimerica.
The TV series, adapted by British producer Colin Callender, will reportedly delve more deeply into the current issue of fake news. Playwright Kirkwood is also attached as an executive producer.
Chimerica received its world premiere at London's Almeida Theatre in 2013 and transferred to the West End's Harold Pinter Theatre that same year.
Watch highlights from Kirkwood's Tony-nominated play The Children, recently seen on Broadway:
