Susan Heyward Cast As Deena Pilgrim In Sony’s ‘Powers’ TV Adaptation

The cast for the Powers TV series from Sony Pictures TV is starting to take shape with the announcement that Susan Heyward will take the female lead role of detective Deena Pilgrim. The other lead role of Christian Walker has yet to be announced.

The series is being produced for distribution via Sony Playstation consoles, and is based on the Icon comic series of the same name by Brian Michael Bendis and Michael Avon Oeming. Powers tells the story of two detectives assigned to investigate superpower-related crimes.

Heyward may be familiar to fans of the following; The Following, where she played an acolyte of James Purefoy's charismatic murderer, and 30 Rock, where she had a memorable guest role as Grizz's fiancée, Feyoncé. She also has extensive theater credits, and recently appeared on Broadway opposite Cicely Tyson in The Trip To Wonderful.

English actor Lucy Punch was previously cast as Pilgrim opposite Jason Patric's Walker when FX held the rights to the series, but their version never made it past pilot. The Sony version of the show has already received a full series order.

Heyward is the latest black actor to be cast in a role that was white in the original comics, following the likes of Idris Elba as Heimdall, Michael B. Jordan as the Human Torch, Michael Clarke Duncan as Kingpin, and Kerry Washington as Alicia Masters. As Deena Pilgrim's race has no bearing on the story, and as white characters are already pretty well represented in the media, it's always great to see non-white actors considered for such roles, and especially great to see them actually cast. Of course, we look forward to the day when we don't feel a compulsion to bring this up, but we're probably not there yet.

Two other cast members have also been announced. Adam Godley, perhaps best known as Elliot Schwartz on Breaking Bad, has joined the cast as Powers bureau head Captain Cross, while The Killing's Max Fowler will play the son of Christian Walker's murdered partner.

Powers is the first original TV production for the Sony Playstation network. The first episode is expected to air free to Playstation owners in December, with nine subsequent episodes only available to PlayStation Plus subscribers. The pilot is written by Charlie Huston and will be directed by David Slade.