Announced by Deadline, Star Trek star Kate Mulgrew (Star Trek: Voyager, Orange Is the New Black) has begun filming for upcoming Irish TV drama The Yank from Blue Lights producer Two Cities Television for Irish pubcaster RTÉ. The series is produced for RTÉ in partnership with Comisiún na Meán, Fís Eireann/Screen Ireland, and uFund; in association with ITV Studios, who acts as series distributor outside the Republic of Ireland.
Set on Ireland’s west coast in Galway, via Deadline, seasoned NYPD detective Nora Savage (Mulgrew) takes a leave of absence following a traumatic event and moves to her family home in the emerald isle. However, despite expectation and hope for a change of pace, Nora is pulled into a murder investigation involving a female climate activist.
From RTÉ:
“As she goes head-to-head with a ruthless environmental magnate, putting those closest to her at risk, she is forced to confront her personal demons head on. As the investigation builds to a tense and savage climax, it pushes Nora and the squad into a thrilling hunt for the killer.”
Additional starring cast, listed by Deadline, includes Cillian O’Sullivan (Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, Daredevil: Born Again), John Connors (Love/Hate, Cardboard Gangsters), Jack Rowan (Born to Kill, A Town Called Malice) and India Mullen (Normal People, Red Rock). Mulgrew stars opposite Irish actor Colm Meaney (The Snapper, Layer Cake)
The Yank is writer and Galway City Museum Director Eithne Verling’s first television drama script – Notably, the concept was created specifically for Mulgrew after the two met by chance while the actress was on holiday in Galway. RTÉ highlighted the real life location of Conamara, which serves as the central setting of the series, for its heritage and beauty. Following themes of power play, control, fanaticism, and deception, the series also explores Verling’s past 12 years of work with the Galway City Museum by exploring Traveller (Indigenous Irish) culture.
From Deadline, Mulgrew said on the series:
“The Yank was borne out of my love for Ireland, and the luck and perspicacity I have enjoyed when it came to knowing who will matter to me both emotionally and creatively. That person is Eithne Verling, and the character we contrived is Nora Savage – a woman very like myself, had I been slashed with grief, blessed with raw courage and born a natural hunter of that which destroys. The Yank is the intriguing and unexpected story of a woman who has nothing to lose, and her obsessive attraction to what lies beneath.”
mxdwn reported prior on Mulgrew’s work with Star Trek, most recently her continued work as her character Kathryn Janeway in the animated series Star Trek: Prodigy.
The Yank, per Deadline, is a co-production between Keeper Pictures, AS I AM Productions, and STV Studios-backed Two Cities (known for BBC’s Northern Ireland cop drama Blue Lights), commissioned by Head of Drama at RTÉ David Crean (Storyland, Smother). For executive producers; Kate McColgan (The Heist Before Christmas, These Sacred Vows) EPs for Screen Ireland and Crean & Dermot Horan (Director of Acquisitions and Co-productions; The Dry, Kin) for RTÉ. Credited directors are Christine Molloy (Rose’s War, Helen) and Joe Lawler (Rose Plays Julie, Further Beyond), with Director of Photography James Mather (Lockout, Frank).