WGN AMERICA SECURES THE U.S. RIGHTS TO MUSE ENTERTAINMENT AND BACK ALLEY FILMS’ GRIPPING ORIGINAL SERIES ‘BELLEVUE,’ STARRING ACADEMY AWARD WINNER ANNA PAQUIN, PREMIERING EARLY 2018

Star Anna Paquin Executive Produces Original Series, Alongside Creators Jane Maggs and Adrienne Mitchell, with Janis Lundman, Michael Prupas, Morwyn Brebner and Jesse Prupas

 

Los Angeles, July 31, 2017 – WGN America announced today that it has acquired the U.S. rights to the compelling original drama series “Bellevue,” starring Academy® and Golden Globe® winner Anna Paquin (“True Blood,” “Roots”), who executive produces alongside creators/showrunners Jane Maggs (“The Offering”) and producer/director Adrienne Mitchell (“Bomb Girls,” “Durham County”). The eight-episode, one-hour drama is produced by Muse Entertainment and Back Alley Film Productions and also stars Shawn Doyle (“House of Cards,” “Fargo”) and Allen Leech (“Downton Abbey,” The Imitation Game). “Bellevue” will premiere in early 2018 on WGN America.

Welcome to “Bellevue” – a small town with big secrets. Twenty years ago   the murder of a young woman traumatized the community. Now the killer is back. Or is he? When a high school hockey star wrestling with his gender identity goes missing and all signs point to foul play, Detective Annie Ryder (Anna Paquin) must unravel all the pieces to this gripping mystery before her own life falls apart. As the case pulls her further away from her family, she is also confronted by a mysterious person from her past with disturbing answers and a terrifying need to get inside her head. Along the way, Annie must navigate a complicated relationship with her on again, off again ex, Eddie (Allen Leech) and her boss on the force, Police Chief Peter Welland (Shawn Doyle).

Award-winning actress Anna Paquin is best known for her seven-season starring role as Sookie Stackhouse in the hit series True Blood. Born in Canada and raised in New Zealand, Paquin began acting at the age of 11 with her breakout role in The Piano, which earned her an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, making her the second youngest winner in Oscar history. She has since had a successful career, boasting high profile roles in the X-Men film franchise, Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, The Courageous Heart of Irena Sendler, The Squid and The Whale, 25th Hour, Finding Forester, Almost Famous, Amistad, Buffalo Soldiers, A Walk on the Moon, Fly Away Home, Jane Eyre,  The Romantics, Margaret, Straight A’s, and History’s remake of Roots.  Paquin also stars in the upcoming CBC and Netflix mini-series Alias Grace.

Canadian actor Shawn Doyle has won two ACTRA awards for his performance in The Eleventh Hour and The Disappeared, a Gemini award for Eight Days to Live, and a Canadian Screen Award for John A: Birth of a Country. Other TV credits include the series Lost, CSI, Hannibal, Lie to Me, End Game, Republic of Doyle, Rookie Blue, 24, Desperate Housewives, Reign and Big Love. Doyle can also be seen in the CBC drama series This Life; the Syfy series The Expanse; and the upcoming Netflix series Frontier.

Allen Leech is an Irish stage, television and film actor best known for his role as chauffeur-turned-son-in-law Tom Branson on the Golden Globe and Emmy-winning historical drama Downton Abbey. Leech is a three-time SAG award winner and has appeared in television series The Tudors and Rome. He also starred in The Imitation Game opposite Benedict Cumberbatch and Keira Knightley, which was nominated for five Golden Globes and eight Academy Awards. Leech can also be seen in Jonathan Mostow’s The Hunter’s Prayer with Sam Worthington.

“Bellevue” is produced by Muse Entertainment and Back Alley Film Productions and is co-created by Jane Maggs and Adrienne Mitchell who is also the lead director. The other directors are April Mullen and Kim Nguyen.  The U.S. premiere of “Bellevue” follows the series’ lauded debut on Canada’s CBC.

 

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WGN America and Tribune Studios

WGN America, the flagship entertainment destination of Tribune Media Company (NYSE: TRCO), is a nationally distributed television network available in approximately 80 million homes via cable, satellite and telco.  The network features a strong slate of popular, first-run syndicated dramas, comedies and blockbuster movies celebrated by fans across the country.  Stay connected to WGN America on Twitter @wgnamerica.  For additional information, please visit www.wgnamerica.com.

 

Muse Entertainment Enterprises

Muse Entertainment is a world-class studio and one of Canada’s largest film and television production companies, with its development and production offices in Montreal, Los Angeles, Toronto and Vancouver. Muse productions have won critical acclaim, large audiences, over 100 international awards, including Emmy Awards, and over 300 award nominations. Muse produces a wide range of primetime comedy and dramatic series, miniseries, television movies, feature films, documentaries, factual entertainment, family programs and animation.  Please visit www.muse.ca for more information.

 

Back Alley Film Productions

Back Alley Film Productions Ltd, founded by Janis Lundman and Adrienne Mitchell, has been producing entertaining, award winning television for over 25 years. Past work includes the WWII drama series Bomb Girls, which won Outstanding Drama at the 2013 Gracie Awards in Los Angeles, and was selected as one of ten series for ITV3’s Decade of Great Drama. The series wrapped up with a two-hour MOW in 2014, winning the Canadian Screen Award for Best Dramatic Mini-series or TV Movie.  Back Alley’s other series include the critically acclaimed crime series Durham County, billed by the New York Times as “entirely addictive” as well as the series Played, Bliss, Straight Up and Drop the Beat. Back Alley has offices in Toronto and Montreal.  For more information visit: www.backalleyfilms.ca