Dakota Fanning (American Pastoral) is set to star in TNT's THE ALIENIST, the eagerly anticipated series based on the Anthony Award-winning New York Times bestseller by Caleb Carr. Playing Sara Howard, a headstrong secretary at Police Headquarters, Fanning joins recently cast Daniel Brühl (Rush, Inglorious Bastards, Captain America: Civil War), who stars as forensic psychologist Dr. Laszlo Kreizler, and Luke Evans (The Girl on The Train, The Hobbit trilogy), who will play reporter John Moore. The series will follow the three of them as they investigate a series of brutal murders in New York during the Gilded Age.
Slated to premiere in late 2017 on TNT, a division of Turner, The Alienist will be directed and executive-produced by BAFTA-nominated director Jakob Verbruggen (Black Mirror). The series is a co-production of Paramount Television and Turner's Studio T. Emmy(R) winner Cary Fukunaga (True Detective), Academy Award(R) winner Eric Roth (Forrest Gump), Oscar(R) nominee Hossein Amini (Drive) and
Anonymous Content's Steve Golin and Rosalie Swedlin all serve as executive producers. Production will begin in early 2017 in Budapest.
Based on the international best-selling novel by Caleb Carr, The Alienist is a psychological thriller set in the Gilded Age of
New York City in 1896, a city of vast wealth, extreme poverty and technological innovation. When a series of haunting, gruesome murders of boy prostitutes grips the city, newly appointed police commissioner Theodore Roosevelt calls upon criminal psychologist (aka alienist) Dr. Laszlo Kreizler (Brühl) and newspaper reporter
John Moore (Evans) to conduct the investigation in secret. They are aided by a makeshift crew of singular characters, among them the intrepid Sara Howard, a young secretary on Roosevelt's staff who is determined to become the first female police detective in
New York City. Using the emerging disciplines of psychology and early forensic investigation techniques, this band of social
OUTSIDERS tracks down one of
New York City's first serial killers.
Fanning's character, the primly dressed but beautiful Sara Howard, is the first woman hired by the New York Police Department and she is determined to become the first female police detective in
New York City. Self-possessed and intelligent, Sarah grew up as an only child who was doted on by her father. She not only "shakes hands like a man," but considers herself just as competent - if not more so - than any of the men on the force. Well-bred and well-spoken, Sara has a keen interest in crime-solving and is immediately intrigued by the case being investigated by Kreizler and Moore.
Fanning can currently be seen in the critically acclaimed, 1960s-set feature film American Pastoral, directed by and co-starring
Ewan McGregor. Her recent credits include The Benefactor, with
Richard Gere; The Runaways, with
Kristen Stewart; Night Moves, with
Jesse Eisenberg and
Peter Sarsgaard; The Last of Robin Hood, with
Susan Sarandon; and the blockbuster Twilight saga. She began her career as a child actress, turning in memorable performances in I Am Sam, opposite
Sean Penn, and
Steven Spielberg's War of the Worlds, both of which earned her Critics Choice Awards. Her other credits include The Secret Life of Bees, Man on Fire, Charlotte's Web and Coraline, in which she provided
THE VOICE for the title character. In 2017, she will be seen in Please Stand By and Brimstone, followed in 2018 by roles in The Bell Jar and Ocean's Eight.
Photo Credit: Walter McBride / WM Photos
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