SUMMER THRILLER
A desperate mother (Paula Patton, “Precious,” 2009) races to save her daughter in a new episode of “Somewhere Between,” airing Tuesday
When tragedy strikes, it’s easy to look back and think we could have done better. Reliving the past can be painful, but for one woman, a second chance could make all the difference in ABC’s new summer thriller.
Paula Patton (“Precious,” 2009) stars as San Francisco news producer Laura Price, who faces every mother ’s worst night mare when her daughter is murdered in “Somewhere Between,” airing Tuesday, Aug. 1, on the alphabet network and Global. In a supernatural twist of fate, Price finds herself reliving the week before the murder, and scrambles to find a way to prevent it over and over again.
The suspenseful thriller premiered on the network Monday, July 24. As the series began, Price was assisting the police with an investigation into a recent string of murders when the serial killer targeted her daughter. Seemingly given a second chance to stop the homicide, she struggles to find a connection between herself and the killer. Price soon realizes that changing her daughter’s fate could require making an ultimate sacrifice.
This isn’t Patton’s first gig for ABC. In 2015, she starred in the pilot for “Runner,” a drama about a woman drawn into the world of cartels and the illegal gun trade between the U.S. and Mexico. Unfortunately for Patton, ABC passed on the series, but she’s landed a second chance to headline a TV series with “Somewhere Between.” So far, her acting career has been focused on the big screen. Patton has had memorable roles in such hit films as “Idlewild” (2006), “Déja Vu,” (2006), “Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol,” (2 011) and “Warcraft ” (2016).
“Somewhere Between” co-stars Devon Sawa as cop-tur ned-pr ivate investigator Nico Jackson. Fans of CW’s now-defunct spy drama “Nikita” may recognize Saw a as Owen Elliott, but the Canadian actor has been acting since he was a child. As a young actor, he landed a role in the sports comedy “Little Giants” (1994), and later got his big break when he appeared in “Casper” (1995) opposite Christina Ricci (“The Addams Family,” 1991), with whom he reunited in “Now and Then” (1995). He also had a leading role in the popular 2000 horror f lick “Final Destination.”
J. R. Bourne (“Star gate: SG1”) portrays Price’s husband, district attorney Tom Price, who’s described as “sensitive yet powerful.” Bourne is best known to television audiences from his roles as Martouf in the science-fiction television series “Stargate: SG1” and Chris Argent in MTV’s “Teen Wolf.” Other TV credits include “Revenge” and “Fringe.” He’s also won two Best Supporting Actor Vancouver Film Critics Circle Awards for “On the Corner” (2003) and “Ever y thing ’s Gone Green” (2007).
Newcomer Aria Birch plays Laura and Tom’s daughter, Serena, a bighearted child who views everyone as a new friend.
“Somewhere Between’s” guest stars include Catherine Barroll (“Emily Owens, M.D.”), Imogen Tear (“The Magicians”), Noel Johansen (“The Age of Adaline,”2015), Samantha Ferris (“The Tall Man,” 2012), Daniel Bacon (“The BFG,” 2016) and Michael St. John Smith (“I, Robot,” 2004).
Patton and many other members of the cast had to relocate to Vancouver, Canada, for filming. Bringing production north keeps costs low for TV networks, which often broadcast lower-cost series during the summer months. However, low costs and a shorter-than-average season just mean ABC will have to keep the plot concise, which writer Stephen Tolkin is poised to do. A writer, director and composer, Tolkin has worked on such television series as “Brothers & Sisters,” “Taxi Brooklyn” and “Legend of the Seeker,” along with a bevy of TV movies.
There’s a lot riding on “Somewhere Between,” which serves as a replacement for the cancelled prime-time soap opera “Mistresses.” The new thriller is an adaptation of the 2014 South Korean SBS mystery drama “God’s Gift: 14 Days.” The Korean version of the series was a huge hit and earned a number of accolades, including a 2014 SBS Drama Award, so it wasn’t all that surprising when ABC announced a 10-episode straight-to-season order in 2016.
The ABC drama is just one new series based on a Korean format, which seem to be increasingly popular with American networks lately. This spring, writer David Shore (“NYPD Blue”) and actor Daniel Dae Kim (“Hawaii Five-0”) signed on to executive produce “The Good Doctor” for ABC, a medical drama based on the Korean series of the same name. Kim has also joined forces with Alexi Hawley (“Castle”) and Ben Silverman (“Jane the Virgin ”) to executive produce the new CBS project “Exhibit A,” based on the South Korean series “My Lawyer, Mr. Jo.”