Peter Krause is gearing up for his next TV comeback.
The actor, known for leading roles on “Six Feet Under” and “Parenthood” and eight seasons on the ABC drama series “9-1-1,” will return to network television this fall on “Line of Fire” — a family drama mixing crime procedural elements and an elaborate central mystery. Krause presides over the proceedings as Mike Hollingsworth, a secret service officer whose family of law enforcement agents becomes the target of an elusive assassin.
“What drew me to this show was the script,” Krause said during NBCUniversal’s backlot pass studio day Monday, crediting CAA agents Peter Levine and Jamie Feldman for encouraging him to pursue the show. “I had a virtual meeting with (creator) Joshua Safran and it made very clear to me that we would be able to work well together.”
“Line of Fire” marks Krause’s first on-screen role since leaving “9-1-1,” the first responder drama he co-headlined with Angela Bassett first at Fox and later on ABC. His firehouse captain Bobby Nash was killed off in Season 8 in a massive shakeup for the series and its fandom.
Now Krause gets to mix his experience in the action-packed drama with his expertise in nuanced family dramas for this NBC show.
“The show works in so many different ways. It’s suspenseful. There’s action thriller elements. There is crime solving by crime solvers, and there’s also a lot of family dynamics to explore,” Krause said.
The show was loosely inspired by the life experiences of Today show host and executive producer Jenna Bush Hager’s childhood, growing up with a protective service detail.
“One of the things that we did was to bring on Steve, a former secret service man that I admire and adore, as a consultant to work with Josh and the writers so that there’s real authenticity to it,” Bush Hager said. “Josh has created something that I’m so proud to be part of, and then obviously we have two of the greatest living actors.”
And don’t expect the series to be an all-out commentary on the current political climate, as the family is focused on getting their jobs done, while tuning out the noise around them.
“We talk about ‘The West Wing’ a lot. We talk about ‘The Diplomat’ … in this idea of talking around the world of politics, but not being a show about politics,” creator Joshua Safran said. “These people who do this job do this job regardless of what state the country is at any given time or who is in charge.”
“Line of Fire” stars Krause, Hope Davis, Kat Cunning, Tommy O’Brien, Taylor Bloom and Charlie Barnett. Creator and showrunner Joshua Safran executive produces with Jenna Bush Hager and Ben Spector. Director Rebecca Thomas also executive produced the pilot. It is produced by Universal Television.
The series premieres Sept. 21 on NBC and streams the next day on Peacock.
