LIMITLESS: Heather Kadin on Bradley Cooper’s Involvement, and Why It’s ‘SLEEPY HOLLOW 2.0’

Many of the new shows next season are based on familiar properties, but the new CBS drama, LIMITLESS (based on the 2011 film starring Bradley Cooper), is in the rare position of actually having an actor from the original project attached to the series. (Cooper is an executive producer on the CBS series, in addition to his appearance in the pilot.)

And though Cooper’s involvement with the pilot was known (and heavily teased in the trailer), CBS boss Nina Tassler raised a few eyebrows when she said he’d actually recur on the series. LIMITLESS executive producer Heather Kadin is a bit more realistic about what that might mean, given his very busy schedule.

“We all know him from ALIAS, so we have a great shorthand with him,” Kadin said. “The good news is he saw the show and he loved it. He [also] loved how he came off — he was worried he would take away [from the show] and it would be distracting. I think he fits into the piece. I think as available as he is, we’ll work it out.”

And while viewers still have a few months before they see the show, Kadin is enthused for people to get a full grasp of what LIMITLESS can be.

“What you haven’t seen [in the trailer] is the show is a lot of fun,” she gushed. “That’s what you haven’t gotten to see [yet]. What Jake [McDorman (Brian)] does, he’s really funny, and brings a sense of fun to it…I think a big thing is the casting of Jake. Obviously we loved the movie, but Bradley’s character, Eddie Morra, is kind of self-serving: he takes the drug, he writes this book, he becomes a stock broker, makes money, [sleeps with] women, and in a TV show, you’re not going to root for that guy.”

“I think we got so lucky with Jake, because you root for [his character],” she continued. “He has a humanity, and obviously we had to find a [television] engine, especially at CBS, so we’re going to be doing cases for the FBI. But the twist for him is…he’s going to be the one who finds the humanity. That’s going to be his ‘superpower.'”

Much like CBS’ SCORPION — which, like LIMITLESS, is produced by K/O Paper Products — the new series will balance procedural case of the week stories with an element of serialization.

“It will be case of the week, because obviously with this network that’s really important,” Kadin acknowledged. “Ideally it should play like a season of DEXTER or THE SHIELD or BUFFY, where you felt there was this one overarching story each season, whether it’s a big bad we’re trying to take down that we’ll pepper in throughout [or something else]. But you should be able to watch each week without that [knowledge, too]. What’s great is that’s what [executive producer] Craig Sweeney has done on ELEMENTARY and MEDIUM; he’s great. We all feel like we’re in great hands…Marc Webb did an amazing job [directing the pilot].”

In the first season, as McDorman’s Brian adjusts to his new life, Kadin teased “a lot of it is going to be Brian Finch coming to terms with his new superpower, and at the right time, he’ll be called upon by Eddie to do something he does or doesn’t want to do.”

In addition to feeling like SCORPION, LIMITLESS will also have a bit of DNA from another K/O Paper Products series: Fox’s SLEEPY HOLLOW. Former SLEEPY HOLLOW showrunner Mark Goffman has been tapped as co-executive producer, while former SLEEPY HOLLOW producer/director Doug Aarniokoski will fill the same role at LIMITLESS.

“We keep joking it’s SLEEPY HOLLOW 2.0,” Kadin laughed.

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Are you excited for LIMITLESS?

Related:

LIMITLESS on CBS – First Look
CBS Upfronts: Nina Tassler on THE GOOD WIFE and PERSON OF INTEREST’s Future; Bradley Cooper to Recur on LIMITLESS

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