Christian Slater has signed on to USA Network’s upcoming hacker thriller serial, Mr. Robot. Nabbing the titular role, Slater will topline his first show after his star turn in ABC’s Mind Games.
Before we address who exactly Slater’s character is, let’s take a look at the show’s premise. Thanks to Deadline, we’ve got a decent amount of detailed story information that has piqued our interest. Mr. Robot “centers on a young programmer, Elliot (Rami Malek), who suffers from a debilitating anti-social disorder and decides that he can only connect to people by hacking them. He will find himself in the intersection between a cybersecurity firm he works for and the underworld organizations recruiting him to bring down corporate America.”
It’s a surprise that there’s still such interest in hacking, especially since it’s unlikely any series or movie could ever better 1995’s Hackers. We still use floppies, right? Anyway, enough sly digs at technologically-dated flicks, and back to the casting.
Slater has signed on as Mr. Robot, who isn’t actually made of metal, but is “a mysterious anarchist who recruits Elliot into an underground hacker organization intent on bringing down corporate America.” Slater could play a throwaway cop with no dialogue who’s only in one scene and I’d tune in to watch him. The fact he’ll be playing a cunning anarchist is just the cherry on top of the sundae. He’s got oodles of charisma, and has proven that he can handle the transition from features to the small screen after working on The West Wing, Breaking In, My Own Worst Enemy, The Forgotten and Archer.
Heading up production on Mr. Robot for USA is Universal Cable Productions, who’ve enlisted some of TV’s top production talent to bring this computer tale to life. Steve Golin (True Detective), Chad Hamilton (Breakup at a Wedding) and Niels Arden Oplev (Under the Dome) will all take on executive producer roles.
Tell us, are you looking forward to seeing Slater in this role? Sound off below!