Oscar Winner Helen Hunt Joins Blindspotting Series at Starz

The cast of Starz’ upcoming sequel series to the acclaimed dramedy Blindspotting is expanding with the addition of Oscar, Golden Globe and Emmy winner Helen Hunt (As Good As It Gets, Mad About You). The network’s announcement tweet can be viewed below!

Oh it’s just @helenhunt, nbd. The Oscar-winning actress joins the ensemble of #Blindspotting as the one and only, Rainey. pic.twitter.com/4MzjAoQn6m

— Blindspotting (@BlindspottingTV) December 2, 2020

“It is such an honor to have Helen Hunt in this series,” Rafael Casal, film co-writer and co-star and series co-writer and executive producer, said in a statement. “We became friends after she tweeted about her love of the film and we have long looked for a project to do together. She has been our first choice for the character Rainey since we dreamed this show up.”

The series will act as a sequel story to the film, picking up with Jasmine Cephas Jones’ Ashley, longtime partner and mother to Miles’ son, as she moves in with his mother and half-sister after he is sent to prison and struggles to find her footing in a city that she no longer recognizes and is going through an identity crisis. Hunt joins a cast that includes Cephas Jones reprising her role of Ashley as well as Benjamin Earl Turner, Atticus Woodward (Shameless), Jaylen Barron (Free Rein) and Candace Nicholas-Lippman (Good Trouble).

Click here to purchase the acclaimed source film!

Starring and co-written by Daveed Diggs and Rafael Casal, the film was set in a rapidly gentrifying Oakland, California and followed Collin (Diggs), on his last three days of probation and looking for a chance at a new start, but his fast-talking childhood best friend Miles (Casal) is a magnet for trouble. After witnessing a white police officer shooting an unarmed black civilian, Collin is left haunted and his friendship with Miles begins taking a downward spiral as things begin to escalate between the two.

Diggs and Casal, who are longtime friends and collaborators in real life, co-wrote the project in the mid-2000s, but due to frequent scheduling conflicts and a search for funding, the project was delayed for years before finally hitting theaters last year. The film opened to rave reviews from critics, currently maintaining a 94% approval rating from critics on review aggregate Rotten Tomatoes based on 160 reviews, who praised it for its fresh and timely take on the buddy comedy genre and for its powerful social commentary and Diggs’ performance.

The series will be written and executive produced by Casal and Diggs, with the former serving as showrunner and recurring star, alongside Jess Wu and Keith Calder of Snoot Entertainment (One Night in Miami), Emily Gerson Saines, Ken Lee and Tim Palen of Barnyard Projects.

(Photo Credit: Michael Loccisano/Getty Images)