Cinemax pairs up with CSI’s Petersen

Former CSI star William Petersen has secured his return to television after US premium pay-TV network Cinemax ordered a pilot for a new crime drama.

Hurt People, produced by GK-TV, sees Petersen play a veteran hitman forced to work for the crime family that killed his wife and ordered to hunt down his estranged daughter as she searches for her mother’s killers.

The show is written by Peter Macmanus. Petersen, Macmanus and Cynthia Chvatal will exec produce alongside Craig Cegielski, Graham King and Tim Headington from GK-TV.

Speaking about Petersen’s involvement in the project, GK-TV president Cegielski told C21: “It’s a departure from the character we would associate with William Petersen. It harks back to his days in film.

“It’s a series that captures the world in an authentic way and doesn’t get caught up in clichés. It’s a fresh, unique take on the genre.” Cegielski said the series was being plotted as seven 13-episode series.

He added: “It’s very much created in a similar process to CSI – a young, unknown writer that had a fantastic idea. We haven’t even scratched the surface of the complexity of the characters.”

Shooting is expected to begin this summer for a January launch. Petersen spent nine years on the Las Vegas version of CSI before leaving the series in 2010.

Other projects in development at GK-TV include Port Royal, a pirate period drama coproduced with Gale Ann Hurd’s Valhalla Entertainment (The Walking Dead) for cable network FX; and Dreamland, the Johnny Depp-produced series about the founder of The Hollywood Reporter, which is at Lifetime TV.