Executive producer Jack Bender also teases what to look forward to in season three of the AT&T Audience Network thriller.
Mr. Mercedes, the AT&T Audience Network television adaptation of Stephen King’s Bill Hodges trilogy, is back for another season of murders and mystery. ET has an exclusive first look at the trailer for season three, which closely follows Finders Keepers, King’s second novel in the hard-boiled detective series.
Still reeling from the massacre perpetrated by Brady Hartsfield in season one, Bill Hodges (Brendan Gleeson) is shaken by the unexpected murder of beloved local author John Rothstein (Bruce Dern). Hodges, aided by Holly Gibney (Succession’s Justine Lupe) and Jerome Robinson (Jharrel Jerome, who was just nominated for an Emmy for his role in When They See Us), must track down the cold-blooded killer.
The case, however, proves to be more complicated than a simple murder, when it's discovered that the manuscripts for Rothstein’s unpublished novels estimated to be worth millions were stolen from his home. And it seems that the killer is not the only one who wants them.
Picking up six months after the events of season two, the small Ohio town is still dealing with the repercussions of Hartsfield’s actions, when he ran down a group of people at a job fair with his car. (For instance, Breeda Wool’s character, Lou Linklater, is still haunted by Hartsfield even after his public execution.) Executive producer and director Jack Bender, who worked with Jonathan Shapiro and David E. Kelley on adapting this season, tells ET they wanted to dig into “the ramifications of these events in a town.”
“When something like this evil occurs, there are ripples in the pond,” he says, introducing new characters -- notably, Morris Bellamy (Gabriel Ebert), Peter Saubers (Rarmian Newton) and Alma Lane (Orange Is the New Black’s Kate Mulgrew) -- that were directly affected by the events of season one and play heavily into the acts of season three, which is centered around Rothstein’s murder.
Likening Rothstein to a J.D. Salinger-type author, Bender says “he’s like a rattlesnake.” The author has the ability to affect and infect young minds with his anger. Simply put: he’s brilliant but angry, and Dern just leaned into the character. “He’s wonderful in the role,” the director says.
In addition to Dern, who makes a lasting impression throughout the season, Mulgrew is another actor who makes a welcome addition to the cast. “Kate Mulgrew plays a woman the likes of which you’ve never seen,” Bender teases.
Rounding out the cast this season are Holland Taylor as Hodges’ ally, Ida Silver, who has some unexpected connections of her own to the dead author; Stranger Things actor Brett Gelman as Roland Finkelstein, a lawyer defending Linklater; and Max Hernandez as prosecutor Antonio Montez, who uses the Rothstein case to make up for his missed opportunity to try Hartsfield in court.
Mr. Mercedes returns Tuesday, Sept. 10 at 10 p.m. ET with 10 one-hour episodes on AT&T Audience Network.
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