Emmy and Tony winner John Leguizamo has been tapped to star alongside Taron Egerton in Apple‘s upcoming drama series Firebug, from Apple Studios and creator Dennis Lehane. Additionally, Emmy-nominated and BAFTA-winning director Kari Skogland (The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, The Handmaid’s Tale) will direct and serve as executive producer.
Written by Lehane and loosely inspired by true events, Firebug will follow a troubled detective and an enigmatic arson investigator (Egerton) as they pursue the trails of two serial arsonists.
Leguizamo with play Esposito, a former policeman with a lot of bad habits and a lot of good instincts.
Previously announced Jurnee Smollett also stars.
In addition to starring, Egerton will serve as executive producer alongside Richard Plepler through Eden Productions, Dan Friedkin and Bradley Thomas through Imperative Entertainment and Kary Antholis.
Firebug is the latest project hailing from Apple Studios and produced by Imperative Entertainment, joining Black Bird, Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon and the recently announced The Wager, an adaptation of David Grann’s new book being developed by Sikelia Productions.
Leguizamo is host and executive producer of MSNBC’s hit travel show, Leguizamo Does America, which is currently in production on its second season. He recently starred in Amazon series The Power, alongside Toni Collette, in Showtime’s five-part drama series Waco: The Aftermath, and in Mark Mylod’s horror comedy The Menu. Leguizamo stars in the independent film Bob Trevino Likes It, which recently premiered at SXSW, winning the SXSW Grand Jury Award and the Audience Award in the Narrative Feature category. He also stars as federal agent Gordon Rogers in the sci-fi-political miniseries The Green Veil which he produced alongside director Aram Rappaport. Upcoming, he hosts the PBS documentary series American Historia: The Untold History of Latinos, a project he co-created with director Ben De Jesus. He’ll also be seen in the upcoming thriller feature Tin Soldier, opposite Robert Di Niro, Jamie Foxx, and Rita Ora. Leguizamo is repped by Mosaic, UTA and Jackoway Tyerman Wertheimer Austen Mandelbaum Morris & Klein.
Skogland most recently served as executive producer and director of all 6 episodes of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier for Marvel, starring Anthony Mackie and Sebastian Stan for Disney+. She is currently attached to direct the upcoming epic feature film Cleopatra, with Gal Gadot and recently completed production directing the Wind River Rising, the sequel to the 2017 crime drama Wind River. Shealso won several awards for her work as director on acclaimed Hulu series The Handmaid’s Tale and is recognized for the pilot episodes of AMC’s NOS4A2 starring Zachary Quinto, and the pilot of Starz’s The Rook. Skogland also is CEO of production company Mad Rabbit. Skogland is repped by Adriana Alberghetti, Hanna Davis and Scott Seidel at WME, Adam Schulman and Rosalie Swedlin at Anonymous Content, and Barry Littman at Hansen, Jacobson, Teller.
