Tradecraft: Legends Cast Shapes Up

Deadline reports that several actors have joined headliner Sean Bean in TNT's new spy pilot Legends. Legends, a long time in development, is based on the novel by Robert Littell and produced by TV spymaster Howard Gordon (Homeland, 24), along with Jeffrey Nachmanoff (Traitor) and Mark Bomback (Agent Zigzag). Bean stars as deep-cover secret agent Martin Odum, who possesses a unique ability (or curse) to lose himself completely in his "legends" (spy-talk for cover identities). Amber Valletta (sorely underused in Transporter 2) will play Odum's ex-wife and mother of his pre-teen child, Aiden (Lux Haney Jardine). Rob Mayes (John Dies at the End) will play Troy, "a former Special Ops guy with a 'mission-first mentality' who now works as a federal agent with the DCO." (I'm not sure what it stands for, but presumably the DCO is this show's CTU.) And Tina Majorino (Veronica Mars) will play Maggie, "the newest member of the DCO field support team." (Does that mean Odum will be perpetually ordering her to "open up a socket!" as 24's Jack Bauer used to love to yell over cell phones at Chloe?) Additionally, the trade blog also reports that Steve Harris (who worked with Gordon on Awake) his signed on to play Yates, "the director of the DCO Task Force who reinstates Martin to an undercover job." This is shaping up to be a really great cast, which just serves to make me even more excited about this show!