See a Sneak Peek of Mr. Mercedes
Debi Moore
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The first teaser for “Mr. Mercedes,” a 10-episode adaptation of Stephen King’s popular novel, which airs on the AT&T Audience Network beginning in August, has arrived courtesy of USA Today along with a few comments from exec producer David E. Kelley and some new photos.
Brendan Gleeson stars in “Mr. Mercedes” as Bill Hodges, a detective way past his prime who gets his groove back when the psychopathic killer (Harry Treadaway) from a high-profile cold case re-emerges to mock the old man. Hodges is still bothered by the one case he couldn’t solve, a tragedy where innocents waiting to get into a job fair were maimed and murdered by a man in a clown mask who mowed them down in a stolen Mercedes. But that cop’s life is in the rear-view mirror, and much of Hodges’ sedentary existence since then revolves around beer and highly caloric food.
Old wounds are reopened when Hodges begins receiving strange letters, videos, and emails with a wicked smiley face from the “Mercedes Killer,” aka Brady Hartsfield (Treadaway), a computer store clerk who has an incestuous relationship with his mother (Kelly Lynch) and holds down a second job as an ice cream vendor to keep an eye on Hodges and his associates.
“People will come to ‘Mr. Mercedes’ for the thrills that Stephen King so readily offers and they will stay for the richness and characters,” says Kelley (“Big Little Lies”). “It’s the story that waits for us all,” he adds. Finding meaning in life “is a quest early on and only intensifies as we get older, and it definitely does for Bill Hodges.”
“Obviously that character is very much a monster, but one we’re able to feel for, and that’s no easy trick,” Kelley says of Treadaway’s Brady. “You see how he got there, and in a way that makes him more terrifying. You’re not able to dismiss him as just an aberrant example of human life.”
Gleeson was able to keep his signature Irish accent as Hodges, and it adds to the character’s texture and backstory. Kelley says. “There’s a fundamental humanity to Hodges in the book, and it just oozes out of Brendan on the screen.”
As for any changes to King’s 2014 novel, Kelley assures readers, “We’re not going to mess with Stephen King too much. He knows what he’s doing.”
The show also co-stars Jharrel Jerome, Mary-Louise Parker, Justine Lupe, Scott Lawrence, Ann Cusack, Robert Stanton, Holland Taylor, and Breeda Wool. Look for it on August 9th on Audience Network, available to DirecTV subscribers.
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