According to Deadline, Rosario Dawson (Rent, Luke Cage, Briarpatch) has officially signed on to star opposite Oscar nominee Michael Keaton (Birdman) in Hulu‘s forthcoming limited series Dopesick. She is set to portray the role of a tough DEA agent named Bridget Meyer, who is being described as someone who fights to curtail the use of OxyContin. She will also be joining previously confirmed cast members Golden Globe nominees Kaitlyn Dever (Booksmart), Golden Globe nominee Peter Sarsgaard (Shattered Glass), and Will Poulter (The Maze Runner, Midsommar) along with Hamilton star Philippa Soo, John Hoogenakker, and Jake McDornan.
Her other notable film credits include Josie and the Pussycats, Sin City, Men in Black II, Seven Pounds, The Captive, and Zombieland: Double Tap. Dawson’s most recent TV project was USA Network’s Briarpatch which was cancelled after one season. She is also expected to debut as the live-action Ahsoka Tano in the upcoming second season of The Mandalorian which is set to return later this month.
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Dopesick, an ambitious, harrowing, and compelling look into the epicenter of America’s struggle with Opioid addiction, takes viewers from a distressed Virginia mining community, to the hallways of the DEA, and to the opulence of “one-percenter” Big Pharma Manhattan. The unsparing yet deeply human portraits of the various affected families and their intersecting stories hold up a mirror to where America is right now while shining a hopeful light on the heroes battling the worst drug epidemic in American history.
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After 13 years, Keaton returns to television as Samuel Finnix, an old-school doctor who approaches his practice with kindness and compassion, but finds himself embroiled in Big Pharma’s deadly secret. Dever will play Betsy, a proud female coal miner and a patient of Keaton’s Dr. Finnix. They have a close relationship that is tested with the release of the new painkiller OxyContin. While Peter Sarsgaard (Shattered Glass, The Batman) will play Rick Mountcastle, an Assistant U.S. Attorney prosecuting the Purdue Pharma case.
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Dopesick is written by Danny Strong and directed by Barry Levinson. Executive producers for Dopesick include Strong, John Goldwyn (Dexter), Levinson, Warren Littlefield (The Handmaid’s Tale, Fargo, The Old Man), Beth Macy (Dopesick), and Karen Rosenfelt (Twilight). Dopesick is a production of FOX 21 Television Studios.
The limited series is set to premiere in 2021.
(Photo by Cindy Ord/Getty Images)
