‘Chicago Fire’ and ‘Law & Order: LA’ Alums Joins New Dick Wolf Project

Dick Wolf has another show on the way. Deadline reports that Wolf’s new project is a thriller podcast titled Dark Woods, which centers around the “suspicious death of a young park volunteer in the California Redwood Forest.” Law & Order: LA alum Corey Stoll and Chicago Fire alum Monica Raymund are part of a scripted podcast drama series from Dick Wolf’s Wolf Entertainment. This marks Wolf’s project in the scripted podcast world. In 2019, he launched Hunted, starring Parker Posey and Brandon Scott.

Stoll starred as Detective Tomas Jaruszalski in Law & Order: LA. Raymund starred as Gabriela Dawson Casey in Chicago Fire. The two recorded the new series remotely.

The new scripted podcast series launches on Nov. 8. It begins with the discovery of a young volunteer’s body in the middle of the California redwoods. Two estranged ex-spouses must put aside their issues to uncover the truth. The investigation reveals a surprising twist impacted by illegal marijuana grow sites, which uncovers a larger crime organization.

The series is written by David Pergolini and directed by Takashi Doscher. Dick Wolf and Elliot Wolf are executive producers. The series is produced by Wolf Entertainment and Endeavor Content in conjunction with Waverunner Studios.

Elliot Wolf told Deadline the project was birthed out of his fascination with the way state parks are policed. “These parks aren’t under local jurisdiction, it’s federal land so it’s federal employees policing them and we thought that was a really interesting premise for a show,” he said.

Wolf notes that the audio was key in producing in order to make it believable without a visual component. “The goal was to make this as an immersive experience as possible and to make it feel as real-life as possible. The actual sound design is largely recorded sounds in the forest. When you hear a coffee mug being picked up, it’s an actual coffee mug,” he said.

There are plans to adapt the series for film or television. “We want to tell a great story as a podcast. That’s first and foremost and we want to reach listeners everywhere,” he adds. “If those stories resonate all the better and we’re definitely looking to exercise that IP in any capacity that we can.”