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Keanu Reeves Lands His First Major Television Role

Keanu Reeves has linked up with two other Hollywood superstars to take part in his first major television role in 'Devil in the White City.'

Cover Image Source: GettyImages | Picture by Sam Santos

Keanu Reeves has landed his first major role on television with the show Devil in the White City. Hulu made the announcement during its presentation at the Television Critics Association's summer tour, as per media reports. Hollywood star Leonardo DiCaprio and his frequent collaborator, filmmaker Martin Scorsese, will produce the project. The series marks Reeves' first major role on American television, reported Screenrant.



 

The series is based on Erik Larson's 2003 non-fiction novel of the same name, which delved into the stories of Daniel Burnham, architect of the iconic 1893's World's Fair, and serial killer H.H. Holmes who lured his victims to his elaborately constructed Murder Castle. The Devil in the White City scored largely favorable reviews upon its release and quickly became a New York Times bestseller and earned a number of awards.



 

The book’s synopsis describes it as a “mesmerizing, murderous tale of the spectacle that transformed America and set it on course for the 20th century.” It continues: “The Chicago World’s Fair of 1893 was one of the great wonders of the world. This is the extraordinary story of its realization, and of two men whose fates it linked: one was an architect, the other a serial killer. The architect was Daniel H. Burnham. He created the ‘White City’, a massive, visionary landscape of white buildings set in an incandescent wonderland of canals and gardens. The killer was H. H. Holmes, a handsome doctor with intense blue eyes, who used the attraction of the great fair and his own devilish charms to lure scores, perhaps hundreds, of young women to their deaths. And while Burnham overcame politics, infighting, personality clashes, and Chicago’s infamous weather to transform the swamps of Jackson Park into the greatest show on Earth, Holmes built his own edifice. He called it the World’s Fair Hotel. In reality, it was a torture palace, a gas chamber, and a crematorium.”



 

The big-budget project has been in development since DiCaprio bought the film rights to the book in 2010 and previously set it up as a feature at Paramount with Scorsese to direct, mentioned The Hollywood Reporter. In 2019, Hulu announced that it was working on the series adaptation of the book. Todd Field is on board to direct the series, which is now a co-production between Paramount Television Studios and Disney's ABC Signature.

Reeves will also serve as an executive producer, alongside DiCaprio and Scorsese. While he’s appeared in TV shows before, such as providing voice work for Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventures (1990 animated TV series) and appearing in Swedish Dicks, he’s yet to sink his teeth into a meaty TV role, like Matthew McConaughey with True Detective or Kate Winslet with Mare of Easttown.



 

Meanwhile, adding to his upcoming works, a trailer for John Wick 4 has already surfaced, and Reeves is very excited about the latest movie to be released in the franchise. He said: "I read the script. It's really, really cool. As much as it's the same world as the other three films, it's just deeper. It's much deeper in terms of the code of the assassin and the relationship that he has with one character in particular who I think Mr. Watanabe is playing... is really the heart and soul of it."