EXCLUSIVE: NBC is developing a drama series starring Jon Huertas (This Is Us, Generation Kill) who will executive produce alongside The Rookie and The Recruit creator Alexi Hawley.
Former Arrow co-showrunner Wendy Mericle is writing the untitled project inspired by the novel Fire with Fire by bestselling author Candice Fox. It comes from Lionsgate Television, where Hawley is under an overall deal, and Universal Television, a division of Universal Studio Group.
Huertas and Mericle executive produce alongside Hawley, though Perfectman Pictures and Sherry Marsh (Pose, Vikings) for Marsh Entertainment. Perfectman’s Rachel Abarbanell will co-executive produce.
This is Huertas’ return to acting following a two-year break while focusing on directing and to NBC where he starred on their smash hit series This Is Us in the series regular role of Miguel Rivas.
The official logline reads, When a pair of grieving parents hijack an LAPD forensics lab and threaten to start destroying evidence until the police find their missing daughter, an unlikely partnership between grizzled undercover cop Enrique Arroyo (Huertas) and rookie flame-out Lynette Lamb is forged as they race to solve this cold case before the situation explodes.
If the show goes to series, Huertas will be one of the growing number of Latino leads currently on TV alongside George Lopez in NBC’s Lopez vs. Lopez, Ramon Rodriguez on ABC’s Will Trent, Manuel Garcia Rulfo in Netflix’s The Lincoln Lawyer, Eugenio Derbez in Apple’s Acapulco and Diego Luna in the Disney+ series Star Wars: Andor.
Huertas is best known for his roles in HBO’s Generation Kill, ABC’s Castle and the Emmy Award-winning series This Is Us. Huertas is developing the show with his longtime manager, Sherry Marsh, and bringing it to his longtime collaborator, Hawley. He is repped by CAA, Marsh Entertainment and Meyer & Downs
Hawley has an overall deal with Lionsgate Television and is working with the studio on the hit series The Rookie, its spinoff in development at ABC and The Recruit at Netflix. He also has the drama The Envoy in development at Hulu. He is repped by The Shuman Company and Hansen, Jacobson, Teller, Hoberman.
Mericle was a co-executive producer on So Help Me Todd for CBS. Before that, she was co-showrunner/executive producer on Willow for Disney+ while under an overall deal at Lucasfilm and ABC Studios. Previously, she was showrunner/executive producer of Arrow for The CW, where she worked for six seasons. She is repped by CAA, Literate Management and Hansen, Jacobson, Teller, Hoberman.
Marsh is executive producer of FX’s Peabody Award-winning drama Pose and the international hit Vikings, Vikings: Valhalla and ITV/MGM+’s The Winter King. She is repped by DLA Piper.
