Chris Messina is set to star in Peacock's Based on a True Story. He joins Kaley Cuoco on the dark comedy thriller series, which was given a straight-to-series order in April.
Variety reports that Messina has joined the streaming series, which is about "a realtor, a plumber and a former tennis star whose lives unexpectedly collide, exposing America’s obsession with true crime, murder and the slow close toilet seat". Cuoco will play Ava Bartlett, a married woman, while Messina will play Nathan; at the moment, further character details are being kept under wraps.
Messina is a familiar face to viewers, having recurred on a wide variety of TV series, including The Newsroom, Six Feet Under, and Damages, as well as the HBO miniseries Sharp Objects. His most prominent TV role was as "endgame" love interest Dr. Daniel Castellano on Mindy Kaling's sitcom The Mindy Project. Messina also took on the villainous role as Victor Zsasz in Birds of Prey. The actor, expanding his résumé, executive produced the Sarah Paulson comedy Fairhaven, and directed the Mary Elizabeth Winstead drama Alex of Venice. He recently co-starred as FBI agent Angelo Lano on the Starz Watergate series Gaslit, and in the Donnie and Joe Emerson biopic Dreamin' Wild. He can next be seen in the Hulu Stephen King adaptation The Boogeyman, and the science fiction thriller I.S.S. What's more, as a frequent collaborator of Ben Affleck, he appeared in the Affleck-directed projects Argo and Live By Night, and will also appear in his yet-untitled Nike film.
Cuoco is coming off a successful run as the female lead on the long-running sitcom The Big Bang Theory. Her HBO series, The Flight Attendant, aired its second season earlier this year. She can now be seen alongside Pete Davidson in the Peacock time-travel romantic comedy Meet Cute.
Craig Rosenberg, who has previously written for Lost, The Boys and Preacher, will write, executive produce, and serve as showrunner on Based on a True Story. Jason Bateman, coming off the recently-concluded Netflix series Ozark, which netted him Emmy nominations for both acting and directing, and Michael Costigan, who produced A Teacher, Under the Banner of Heaven, and the Bateman-starring The Outsider, will executive produce via Aggregate Films, with Roxie Rodriguez of Aggregate co-executive producing. The series will be produced by Universal Content Productions.
Stay tuned to Collider for more updates. Check out our interview with Messina's co-star, Cuoco, below: