Giancarlo Esposito is set to take over Andre Braugher’s role in Netflix’s upcoming series “The Residence.”
Braugher, who passed away in December, filmed several scenes in his starring role as White House Chief Usher. A.B. Wynter before production on the series halted during the summer’s double strike. Those scenes will now be reshot with Esposito stepping into Braugher’s lead role when filming resumes opposite “Orange Is the New Black” star Uzo Aduba.
“I couldn’t be prouder and more honored to be stepping into Shondaland’s ‘The Residence’ for someone that I loved and respected and cherished in Andre Braugher,” Esposito said in a statement. “To be afforded the opportunity to create in his honor with this incredible team extends the depth and breadth of his legacy through all of us who loved him so dearly.”
Esposito joins the cast of the murder-mystery series alongside Al Franken, who plays Senator Aaron Filkins, a senior senator from Washington state, Andrew Friedman, who plays Director of the National Park Police Irv Samuelson, and Julian McMahon, who plays as Stephen Roos, the prime minister of Australia.
With four episodes of the eight-episode order filmed before the labor dispute, production on “The Residence” was slated to resume on Jan. 2, though was delayed following Braugher’s death.
The official logline for “The Residence” is as follows: “132 rooms. 157 suspects. One dead body. One wildly eccentric detective. One disastrous State Dinner. ‘The Residence’ is a screwball whodunnit set in the upstairs, downstairs, and backstairs of the White House, among the eclectic staff of the world’s most famous mansion.”
Based on Kate Andersen Brower’s book “The Residence: Inside the Private World of the White House,” the series will be showrun and executive produced by Paul William Davies (“Scandal,” “For the People”), with Shonda Rhimes and Betsy Beers also serving as EPs.
