EXCLUSIVE: Lana Parrilla (Once Upon a Time, The Lincoln Lawyer) has joined the cast of the USA Network series The Rainmaker, based on the bestselling John Grisham novel of the same name.
From writer and executive producer Michael Seitzman, the Lionsgate and Blumhouse series follows Rudy Baylor (Milo Callaghan) who, fresh out of law school, goes head-to-head with courtroom lion Leo Drummond (John Slattery) and his law school girlfriend Sarah Plankmore (Madison Iseman). Rudy, along with his boss and her disheveled paralegal, uncover two connected conspiracies surrounding the mysterious death of their client’s son.
In a series regular role, Parrilla will play brash, ballsy street lawyer Jocelyn “Bruiser” Stone who heads her disgraced father, J. Lyman Stone’s strip-mall law firm.
In the novel, Rudy is hired by the elder Stone, a glorified ambulance chaser nicknamed Bruiser, as an associate at his law firm. Mickey Rourke played J. Lyman Stone in Francis Ford Coppola’s big-screen adaptation of the novel released in 1997.
The Rainmaker received a series order by the NBCUniversal cable network in June, capping a six-year journey by Seitzman to bring the book to TV. Seitzman and Jason Richman wrote the pilot script, with Seitzman serving as writer on the series. The two are executive producing with Grisham, Jason Blum and David Gernert.
Parrilla most recently starred in Netflix’s sci-fi action film Atlas opposite Jennifer Lopez. Before that, she recurred in Season 2 of The Lincoln Lawyer—Netflix’s TV adaptation of the Michael Connelly novel of the same name—as Lisa Trammell, a chef accused of murder. She is perhaps best known for her years as royalty in ABC’s Once Upon a Time in the role of The Evil Queen. Additional TV credits include CBS’ Why Women Kill and Swingtown, NBC’s Boomtown, FOX’s 24 and ABC’s Spin City.
Up next, she will star in the action thriller Bad Day at the Office alongside John Hannah and Radha Mitchell. Parrilla is currently shooting the indie film Dime Detective.
She is repped by IAG, Untitled Entertainment and Goodman Genow.