Don Johnson has locked down the lead role in ABC‘s pilot “Boom,” Variety has learned. He is also set to exec produce the drama.
The drama centers on the biggest oil discovery in American history, which has triggered a geopolitical shift and an economic boom in North Dakota — the greatest since the American Gold Rush in 1849. Set in a modern-day “Wild West,” the potential series tracks the pilgrimage of a young, ambitious couple, seeking a better life, to the oil fields of the Bakken, where they come across roughnecks, grifters, oil barons, criminals and fellow prospectors.
Johnson will play Hap, the smart, tough, patriarchal figure of an oil town in North Dakota.
Scott Michael Foster (“Chasing Life,” “Once Upon a Time”), Rebecca Rittenhouse (“Red Band Society”) and India De Beaufort (“Chicago P.D.,” “Jane by Design”) will co-star.
The project hails from ABC Signature Studios and writers Rodes Fishburne and Josh Pate, who will also exec produce with Tony Krantz. Jonas Pate will direct the pilot.
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Johnson is repped by CAA.
