Milo Ventimiglia is not taking any time off after wrapping his acclaimed run as Jack Pearson on NBC’s This Is Us. He stars in a new ABC pilot, The Company You Keep, which secured a series order on Monday, reports Deadline. This means the show will reach the air and is expected to debut in 2023.
The Company You Keep is based on a Korean series called My Fellow Citizens. Ventimiglia stars as con man Charlie, who falls in love with undercover CIA officer Emma, played by Catherine Haena Kim (FBI, Good Trouble). After a night of passion, they find themselves on a collision course because of their work. Charlie wants to get out of the “family business,” while Emma is close to finding out who holds Charlie’s family debts. They have both lied to themselves, but their efforts to save their families could lead to disaster.
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William Fichtner, Tim Chiou, Freda Foh Shen, James Saito, Sarah Wayne Callies, Felisha Terrell and Polly Draper also have key roles. Julia Cohen and Phil Klemmer serve as showrunners and executive producers. Other executive producers include Ventimiglia and Russ Cundiff of DiVide Pictures; Jon M. Chu and Caitlin Foito for Electric Somewhere; Todd Harthan; and Lindsay Goffman. Deanna Harris is a producer. Cohen wrote the pilot, which Ben Younger directed. It is a 20th Television production.
The Company You Keep was the last “second cycle” pilot ABC had left to pick up. The move was expected, as the writers’ room was already hard at work. Klemmer (Legends of Tomorrow, Chuck) was also brought in as co-showrunner recently.
Earlier this month, ABC picked up another drama, Will Trent (working title), which could also debut in 2023. This show stars Ramon Rodriquez (The Affair, Iron First) as Special Agent Will Trent of the Georgia Bureau of Investigations. Will survived a difficult childhood in Atlanta, growing up in the foster care system, and is now hoping to use his unique point of view to help solve crimes in Georgia. It is based on the books by Karin Slaughter and is expected to be a procedural with stand-alone episodes. Sources told Deadline the creators wanted to focus on serialized cases, but ABC pushed for a more traditional network format. Liz Heldens (The Dropout) wrote the pilot.
Ventimiglia recently finished playing Jack Pearson on This Is Us, a role that earned him three Emmy nominations and two Screen Actors Guild Awards. He also guest-starred on The Marvelous Mrs. Maiselย and played Jess Mariano in Gilmore Girls. He starred on the big screen in The Art of Racing in the Rain in 2019.
