2015 has been a good year for Vincent D’Onofrio, with starring turns in Marvel’s Daredevil and Jurassic World (pictured above). And in 2016, D’Onofrio is stepping into an updated take on the Oz novels by L Frank Baum.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, D’Onofrio is set to play the Wizard of Oz in NBC’s Emerald City, the ten episode limited event series that was canceled and then uncanceled by the network. D’Onofrio’s incarnation of the Wizard is described as “the enigmatic leader of Emerald City.,,a man of science in a world of magic, he rules through inspiration, fear and a tenuous accord with the grand witches.”
Because Emerald City is only ten episodes long, D’Onofrio should be available to return to Daredevil as Wilson Fisk if the series returns for a third season. It’s not clear if D’Onofrio will be in the second season of Daredevil, or how large a role he will play if he is back on the show.
Emerald City was original conceived by Josh Friedman and Matt Arnold before they parted ways with NBC. David Schulner (Dracula) and Shaun Cassidy are the new producers of Emerald City, and they seem to have set up the show using Game of Thrones as the template. According to the network’s description, Emerald City features “competing kingdoms, lethal warriors, dark magic and a bloody battle for supremacy.”
True Detective co-star Adria Arjona is playing Dorothy Gale, and her Toto will be a K-9 police dog. Both Dorothy and Toto will find themselves transported to Oz at the beginning of the series.
Emerald City will likely premiere on NBC in 2016.
