Limitless
CBS
Premieres: Sept. 22
Airs: Tuesdays at 10pm
Who’s In It? Jake McDorman, Jennifer Carpenter, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, Hill Harper, Bradley Cooper.
Picking up after the events of the 2011 film starring Cooper (who co-executive produces), Limitless stars McDorman (Greek, Shameless) as Brian Finch, an amiable slacker with a desperately ill dad, whose former bandmate introduces him to NZT, a mysterious drug that allows its takers to use every last brain cell.
In short order, Brian’s newfound talents and seeming ability to take NZT without its deadly side effects attract the attention of both the FBI, who hope to use him to crack their toughest cases, and longtime NZT user Sen. Edward Morra (Cooper, reprising his film role), now a presidential hopeful
“The MacGuffin that drives the series is the NZT, and because it is a pill that can be given to anybody, we can acknowledge everything that happened in the movie and accept it and occasionally even deal with it,” says the series’ writer/co-executive producer Craig Sweeny (Medium, Elementary). “But we’re telling a story about another corner of that same universe. The movie doesn’t deal with the moral repercussions of the drug.”
“Brian’s intentions are much more selfless than Eddie’s were,” says McDorman, who adds considerable comic flair to the serious goings-on, “and to see Eddie now running for president with these ambiguous plans for some kid who just wants to help his dad is the really cool difference between the vibe of the movie and the vibe of the show. Because if you’re on NZT for a long time, it has to mutate your morality. I feel like eventually it would be like an alien species visiting Earth and thinking, ‘What are these underdeveloped ants?’”
Limitless airs Tuesdays at 10/9CT beginning Sept. 22 on CBS.
