A&E’s ‘Those Who Kill’ Executive Producers Downplay Serial Killer Aspect

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A&E's "Those Who Kill" star James D'Arcy and executive producer Brian Grazer at 2014 Television Critics Association winter press tour (Getty Images)

Producers for A&E’s upcoming drama, “Those Who Kill,” know that plenty of shows about criminal profilers have come before theirs.

But they maintain that their upcoming series, based on a Danish show, will avoid falling into familiar patterns.

Thursday at the Television Critics Association’s winter press tour, Executive Producer Glen Morgan acknowledged the risk, but assured those assembled that “we’re trying our very best to steer clear of that.”

“The serial killer aspect is a very big component to it, but I don’t feel like that’s the driving force,” Executive Producer Brian Grazer added.

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The series, which debuts in March, follows rookie police detective Catherine Jensen (Chloe Sevigny). To try to get into the minds of the serial killers she tracks, Jensen enlists the help of brilliant but disturbed forensic psychiatrist Thomas Schaffer (James D’Arcy).

Both characters have skeletons in their closets and use their relationship to discover secrets about their pasts.

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The producers said the series will focus on detective Jensen’s “two narratives to live and work out,” between the horrors she encounters at work and her own demons as a survivor of childhood abuse.

“Our show really is trying to be about the victims,” Morgan said.

Morgan added that “Those Who Kill” tries to focus instead on the ramifications of violence, beyond simple justice and into the deep psychological issues victims and survivors must face.

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