‘Walking Dead’ Alum Emily Kinney Joins ABC Pilot ‘Conviction’

Shawn Ashmore also on board for legal drama starring Hayley Atwell

Emily Kinney (Showtime)
Showtime

“The Walking Dead” alum Emily Kinney has joined the cast of ABC’s legal drama pilot “Conviction.”

Hayley Atwell stars in the pilot, and Shawn Ashmore also recently joined the cast.

Mark Gordon and Nick Pepper will executive produce the pilot with co-creators Liz Friedman and Liz Friedlander. Friedman wrote and Friedlander will direct the pilot.

The project is a co-production between the Mark Gordon Co. and ABC Studios, and Entertainment One (eOne) will handle international rights.

The series tells the story of Carter Morrison (Atwell), the brilliant but ne’er-do-well daughter of a former president, who is blackmailed into taking a job as the head of Los Angeles’ newly created Conviction Integrity Unit.

She and her team of lawyers, investigators and forensic experts work together to examine cases where there’s credible suspicion that the wrong person may have been convicted of a crime.

Kinney will play Tess Thompson, the paralegal for the Unit team, who is extremely bright but comes across as a bit naive – and occasionally, an underlying dark sadness emerges. Tess used to work for the Innocence Project but decided to work for CIU because she thinks she can make a bigger impact working more cases from inside the system. She is a true believer in the cause of wrongful convictions … for reasons that she keeps secret.

Kinney is best known for her role as Beth on AMC’s “The Walking Dead.” She’s since recurred and guest starred on shows including “Masters of Sex” and “The Flash.” She’s represented by Paradigm and Anonymous Content.

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