Former Ironside star Blair Underwood is getting back into the TV drama game, agreeing to star in Reese Witherspoon’s new (and still untitled) legal show for ABC. Underwood will play James, the sharp-tongued boss (and sometimes-lover) of series protagonist Gemma, “a ruthless divorce attorney” whose life comes apart when her sister moves back to town.
Underwood is the first person to join the cast; Witherspoon is apparently only set to executive produce, even though seeing her as a cold-hearted and ambitious legal eagle sounds like exactly the Legally Blonde and Election crossover we’ve all been secretly waiting to see. The series is being penned by Meaghan Oppenheimer, the writer behind last year’s stalled Zac Efron vehicle We Are Your Friends.
Underwood currently appears as a recurring guest star on ABC’s own Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D.; he made his name back on L.A. Law in the ’80s and early ’90s, before spending the subsequent years showing up as a one-or-two-season ringer on a wide variety of shows (including NBC’s failed Lost-alike The Event, and a riveting turn as prickly fighter pilot Alex on HBO’s In Treatment.)