NEW YORK COMIC CON — “Lincoln Rhyme: Hunt for the Bone Collector Screening & Panel” — Pictured: (l-r) Mark Bianculli, Executive Producer; Peter Traugott, Executive Producer; Russell Hornsby; Arielle Kebbel; Michael Imperioli — (Photo by: Cindy Ord/NBC)
NBC’s Lincoln Panel and Premise
At the panel they premiered the first 20 minutes of the show — it’s AMAZING. It airs January 2020, and is shot in NYC. The show is about Lincoln Rhyme, played by Russell Hornsby, and Amelia Sachs, played by Arielle Kebbel. It starts with a gripping scene about how Lincoln came to be a quadriplegic while trying to stop the serial killer known as the Bone Collector. It then jumps three years into the future with Amelia, a beat cop trying to get into the FBI. On her beat, she discovers a grisly murder, and Lincoln’s former partner, Detective Rick Sellitto (Michael Imperioli), realizes it’s the same style as the Bone Collector. He pairs her with Lincoln, and the pair starts to solve the case together.
Technically speaking, this is an obstacle for storytelling, as Lincoln is confined to his apartment and bed. They solved it brilliantly by using bodycams and technology that I’d love to have but am not really sure exists affordably yet. And I doubt the NYPD could afford it! Ha, but suspension of disbelief intact, the show is innovative and exciting so far, with a lot of emotion to work with for character arcs. It feels less like a procedural and more like a serialized detective thriller.
We’re Obsessed Too!
Before we jump into the individual interviews, check out this hilarious and surprising compilation of the cast’s reactions when we asked, “What are you obsessed with?”
Interview with Russell Hornsby – Lincoln Rhyme
Russell plays the titular character, and he is really excited about playing him. We talked about how he prepared for the role, specifically about playing a quadriplegic. He explains they have a quadriplegic on set to help make sure everything is right, and that he did a lot of prep work related to this as well. He also talked about how this acting challenge drew him into the role to begin with.
Interview with Arielle Kebbel – Amelia Sachs
Arielle explained at the panel how excited she was for this project, and that she really really wanted the role of Amelia Sachs. She speaks to that in our interview, as well as the exact moment she found she had gotten it! She also talks about the research she did with female police to understand how they move and work in their jobs with gear that’s built for men. Fun fact, she’s from Winter Park, FL which is close to where I grew up, but there wasn’t time to ask her about this, I just wanted to throw it in. Given her extreme love for horses, I wonder if we went to the same horse camp?!
Interview with Michael Imperioli – Detective Rick Sellitto
First interview of the day was of course with the Emmy award winner. No pressure at all, nope! Michael was great to talk to though, super easy going and able to answer my essentially repeated questions well. He really respects the NYPD and police in general. He also talks about what happened when he won the Emmy and what working with Spike Lee is like. Lots of fun stuff here.
Interview with Mark Bianculli, Executive Producer and Show Writer
Mark is the head writer for the show, so I spoke to him about his writing choices in how they’re driving the narrative with the bodycam technique and Lincoln’s flashbacks. He dives into this and explains how it will help to also develop the character arcs throughout the season. He speaks to all the Sherlock Holmes happening in the show and the writer’s room, and how that ties into their characters’ stories.
Interview with Peter Traugott, Executive Producer
Peter explains where he got the idea to make Bone Collector into a TV series, and that it took them four years to get the rights (yikes!). Like I mentioned earlier in the post, it’s not quite a procedural, which Peter dives more deeply into and speaks to how it’s truly a character-driven series.
Besides NBC’s Lincoln Rhyme: Hunt for the Bone Collector, what new TV shows are you excited for this year?
Feature Image courtesy of NBC
