Wyoming author C.J. Box has been regularly trickling out new information about the long-awaited “Joe Pickett” television series, and this week, he announced an actor coming to the show will be familiar to viewers of another series based on his books.
Patrick Gallagher, who plays Sheriff Walter Tubb on “Big Sky,” adapted from Box’s Cassie Dewell novels, is making the jump to play another sheriff, Barnum, to be precise, in the “Joe Pickett” series, according to entertainment news outlet Deadline.
“Yowza! The sheriff in BIG SKY will now be the sheriff in JOE PICKETT as well. Worlds collide!” Box wrote in a tweet on Thursday.
The author included a follow-up message, congratulating Gallagher on the role. The actor responded soon after, thanking Box for writing both of the characters.
“Thanks C J… Such a thrill to play both of those guys…who woulda thunk it ..lol Thanks for writing such great characters… It’s an honor to play them and bring them to life,” Gallagher said.
According to Deadline, Barnum “is an institution in Twelve Sleep County who’s learned that enforcing the law is not so black and white in this place and clashes with the Warden’s involvement in his murder case and doesn’t take kindly to the implication that he isn’t doing his job.”
The cast will also include David Alan Grier, Julianna Guill, Sharon Lawrence, Mustafa Speaks, Paul Sparks, Skywalker Hughes and Kamryn Pliva.
They will join New Zealand actor Michael Dorman, best known for his roles “The Invisible Man” remake and the Apple TV+ series “For All Mankind,” who has been cast as Pickett.
The series will follow Pickett and his family as they navigate the changing political and socio-economic climate in small-town Wyoming while also investigating the schemes and secrets hidden in the area.
Grier, a veteran of the Fox Television series “In Living Color” and a number of movies including the 1995 version of “Jumanji,” will play Vern, a gregarious, larger-than-life former game warden.
Guill will portray Marybeth Pickett, wife to Joe and mother to two young daughters. Lawrence will play Missy, the mother of Marybeth.
Speaks will portray Nate, a former Special Ops solider. Sparks will play Wacey, an ex-rodeo cowboy with a slick charm who is about to begin his campaign for sheriff.
Hughes will portray Sheridan and Pliva will play Lucy, the Pickett children.
The series will air for a nine-month exclusive run on Spectrum. Box is serving as an executive producer on the series, as he did for “Big Sky,” which was recently renewed for a second season.
