Joseph Gordon-Levitt to play Johnny Carson in biopic series King Of Late Night

Joseph Gordon-Levitt has been tapped to play Johnny Carson in a forthcoming biopic series titled King Of Late Night. Penned by veteran TV writer David Milch (NYPD Blue) and directed by Jay Roach (Bombshell), the show is set to follow the divide between the longtime TV host’s work and off-screen life throughout his career.

After Carson’s time serving in the U.S. Navy during WWII, he began his comedy career in radio before making the jump to television. He eventually replaced Jack Paar on The Tonight Show, which he ended up hosting for 30 years from 1962 to 1992. His personal life was shaken up a little more frequently; Carson was married a total of four times before his death in 2005. Given the time range potentially being covered here, is the makeup artist from The Eyes Of Tammy Faye available?

As reported by Deadline, King Of Late Night is now on the marketplace after Milch began developing it five years ago. The series is a coproduction between wiip and Anonymous Productions, and Gordon-Levitt, Milch, and Roach will also serve as executive producers.

After stepping back from showbiz for a few years to focus on being a dad, Gordon-Levitt has recently returned to our screens with a full slate of projects. In 2020, he appeared in Netflix’s action flick Project Power and Aaron Sorkin awards player The Trial Of The Chicago 7. Last year, he wrote, directed, and starred in the heartfelt Apple TV+ series Mr. Corman, which also marked the onetime 3rd Rock From The Sun actor’s first significant return to television in his adult career.

He’s currently in Showtime’s Super Pumped, playing Uber co-founder Travis Kalanick. Beyond being in his prestige TV era, Gordon-Levitt will also be voicing Jiminy Cricket in Robert Zemeckis’ forthcoming live-action adaptation of Pinocchio for Disney+.