Wednesday, April 24, 2013

First Look: Banshee

Okay, the first season of this show has already wrapped up for US viewers on Cinemax and a second one has been commissioned but SkyAlantic are finally airing Banshee, so here's a brief preview ...


Banshee (sadly not about a certain wailing figure) is a ten part series starring Outrageous Fortune's Antony Starr as Lucas Hood - a former jewel thief who's served 15 years in the slammer and upon his release is determined to get back both the woman he loved and his loot but instead along the way ends up assuming the identity of Sheriff in the small Pennsylvanian town of Banshee. The show spearheaded by Six Feet Under/True Blood maestro Alan Ball along with Jonathan Tropper and David Schickler has already turned into a massive hit for cable channel Cinemax and it looks set to do the same here.


Along with Starr, the show also features Ivana Milicevic (some might recognise her as Riley's wife from Buffy The Vampire Slayer) as Lucas's former lover/partner in crime, Anastasia, who has now changed her name to Carrie and is married with children, much to her former lover's disappointment. Other characters thrown into the chaotic town of Banshee include retired former boxer/con/bar owner, Sugar Bates (Frank Faison), transvestite/computer hacker, Job (Hoon Lee), Mr Rabbit (Ben Cross), the Ukranian mobster in which Lucas stole from and is baying for his blood, crime boss/kingpin Kai Proctor (Ulrich Thomsen) as well as Dan Kendell (Daniel Ross Owens) as the rather idealistic mayor of the town and a whole plethora of other interesting characters.

Premise wise, it might not sound like the most innovative of shows or the type of one that you'd expect from Alan Ball of all people but the trailers that have been airing on SkyAtlantic definitely implies that it will fit their usually impressive lineup of US imports and pairing it with Game Of Thrones on a Monday night is a pretty smart move as well. I'll definitely be giving this show a go.

Season 1 Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0vMPOqzYLwk

Banshee will air Mondays at 10.15pm on SkyAtlantic from April 29th.

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