Noah Wyle seeks 'Redemption' in new IMDb TV 'Leverage' reboot
They're getting the band back together again, only with a new catalyst and on a new platform, as the drama series “Leverage” returns as a reboot, mostly intact but with more of a comedic tone.
“Leverage: Redemption,” premiering Friday, July 9, on Amazon and IMDb TV, picks up on the anniversary of the death of mastermind Nathan Ford (former series star Timothy Hutton), with his crew of high-tech criminals in grifter Sophie Devereaux (Gina Bellman), hacker Alec Hardison (Aldis Hodge), thief Parker (Beth Riesgraf) and hitter Eliot Spencer (Christian Kane) gathered at his grave. The world has changed a lot in the eight years since their boss' passing, with the rich and powerful finding it easier to become more so at the expense of the little guy. And they want to change that.
Crossing their path in an art theft case is Harry Wilson (Noah Wyle, “The Librarians,” “ER”), a corporate lawyer who comes to the realization he's been fighting for the wrong causes. His knowledge of the law is a perfect fit for this team of vigilantes and, along with Hardison's sister Casey (Aleyse Shannon, “Charmed”), a computer and robotics whiz, he joins these people he finds to be kindred spirits.
The series comes from Dean Devlin and the creative team behind “Leverage” and “The Librarians,” which gave Wyle a level of comfort coming into his new surroundings.
“In some ways, it was like I had been there before and in other ways it was like everybody was starting fresh for the first time,” the actor explains. “It was this nice combination of familiar and unfamiliar and new and old and concepts that at one time hadn't been very, very revolutionary. But that Robin Hood ethos is sort of in demand at the moment and the kind of positive aspect of the show - the little guy being helped out by a secret team, whether it's Ocean's 11 or the A-Team - is something I think people can get behind again.”
In Harry, Wyle portrays a corporate fixer who has been very adept at keeping his boss, a billionaire making big bucks from the opioid crisis, out of trouble, but his conscience eventually catches up with him. Seeing his guilt over helping this creep avoid jail, the team agrees to help take him down.
“I've known guys like this who were so obsessive about their own technique that they kind of lost sight of the master they were serving,” Wyle says of Harry. “I think he enjoyed finding the loopholes of the law so much that he didn't really give a lot of thought to the consequence of who he was letting off the hook by being really good at his job. And then he gets to a point where he can no longer deny that he's working for the wrong side of righteousness and decides that he wants to sort of karmically get back into balance by undoing some of the harm he's done and coincidentally comes across this team of people that do exactly that for a living.”
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<b>“Leverage: Redemption” </b>
Premieres Friday, July 9, on Amazon and IMDb TV