'Sons of Anarchy' Alum Jimmy Smits Leading New NBC Show 'Bluff City Law'

Former Sons of Anarchy and The West Wing star Jimmy Smits is returning to television in NBC's new legal drama pilot Bluff City Law.

Smits will star as legendary lawyer Elijah Strait, who runs a law firm in Memphis that handles controversial and landmark civil rights cases. Elijah works with his brilliant daughter, Sydney Keller, despite their complicated relationship out of the office.

Sydney will be played by Grey's Anatomy alum Caitlin McGee.

Bluff City Law will be written by Dean Geograris (The Brave), reports Variety. Executive producers are Georgaris, David Janollari and Michael Aguilar. The series is a Universal Television production with David Janollari Entertainment.

Smits is best known for his roles on L.A. Law, NYPD Blue and The West Wing. He recently appeared in Fox's 24: Legacy and Brooklyn Nine-Nine, and ABC's How To Get Away With Murder. He also starred in Netflix's short-lived The Get Down and played Nero Padilla in 38 episodes of FX's Sons of Anarchy.

The veteran actor also played Senator Bail Organa, the adoptive father of Princess Leia, in Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones, Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. He won a Golden Globe in 1996 for NYPD Blue and an Emmy winner for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama for L.A. Law in 1990.

Smits was recently seen on the big screen in 2017's Who We Are Now with Julianne Nicholson and Zachary Quinto.

This is not the only legal drama pilot in the works at NBC. Billions star Malin Akerman will star in Prism, a series about a murder trial told through the perspective of a different person involved in each episode. Each episode will unveil different facts and truths, leading the audience to question if the right person is on trial. The cast also includes Mykelti Williamson and Ramon Rodriguez, and it was written by Daniel Barnz.

NBC also granted a straight-to-series order for a new Law & Order spin-off from Dick Wolf titled Law & Order: Hate Crimes. The series will follow New York's Hate Crimes Task Force, which works with the Special Victims Unit and their detectives. The cast has not been announced yet.

Fargo's Allison Tolman will also star in the police drama Emergence from Michele Fazekas and Tara Butters. Tolman plays a sheriff who investigates the life of a mysterious child who survived an accident and has no memory of what happened.

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