Tim Rothis set to replaceIan McShanein the Australian Paramount+ drama series,Last King of the Cross. McShane, who playedDeadwoodantagonist Al Swearengen on HBO, has dropped out due to health issues, according toDeadline.
Originally cast for the role in March, McShane “withdrew due to health concerns.” Producer,Mark Fennessy, addressed McShane’s exit, stating, “It’s unfortunate that Ian is unable to join us, and we wish him a speedy recovery. We are truly delighted that the super brilliant Tim Roth joins our cast as Ezra and cannot wait to see him breathe life into yet another unforgettable character.”
The part of the “wily and much-celebrated” Ezra Shipman is being taken up by Roth who is known for his work with writer and director,Quentin Tarantino,in films likeReservoir Dogs,Pulp Fiction,andThe Hateful Eight. The character, Shipman, is a successful and feared underworld boss of a nightclub in Sydney’s King’s Cross, who is coming to terms with the end of his legacy, which is where John Ibrahim (Lincoln Younes) and his brother Sam come in.
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Deadlinedescribes the new drama series as, “an operatic story of two brothers, Sam and John Ibrahim, who organize the street but lose each other in their ascent to power.” Roth will play the antagonistic, the “most powerful and most feared man in Sydney”, who takes Ibrahim as his successor.
Filming ofLast King of the Crossis currently underway in Sydney. It is produced by Helium Pictures and written and directed byKieran Darcy-Smith. Roth and Younes will be joined byTess Haubrich(Spiderhead,Alien: Covenant),Callan Mulvey(300: Rise of an Empire,Captain America: The Winter Soldier),Claude Jabbour(Stateless,On the Ropes),Maria Tran(Tracer,Echo 8),Matt Nable(Riddick,Arrow),Damian Walshe-Howling(Underbelly,The Reef).
Read the official synopsis forLast King of the Crossbelow:
Inspired by John Ibrahim’s best-selling autobiography,Last King of The Crossis an operatic story of two brothers, Sam and John Ibrahim who organize the street but lose each other in their ascent to power. The drama tracks John Ibrahim’s rise from a poverty-stricken immigrant with no education, no money, and no prospects, to Australia’s most infamous nightclub mogul in Sydney’s Kings Cross – a mini-Atlantic City, barely half a mile long with every form of criminality on offer.
