André Braugher’s Final Series ‘The Residence’ Remains Unfinished After Strike-Related Shutdown
Shut down by the WGA strike months ago, Shondaland’s murder-mystery drama The Residence had been gearing up to resume production. On Tuesday, the Netflix series lost one of its stars, Emmy winner André Braugher, who died at the age of 61 after a brief illness.
The Residence, from executive producer/showrunner Paul William Davies and executive producers Shonda Rhimes and Betsy Beers, shot four episodes of its eight-episode order before suspending filming during the early days of the writers strike more than six months ago.
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The series had been slated to return to production Jan. 2, sources tell Deadline. In light of Braugher’s untimely death, it is unclear whether The Residence will keep that date or give the cast and crew more time to mourn while Netflix the producers mull how to continue without the actor. It also is too soon to speculate whether Braugher’s character will be written off or recast for the remaining four episodes.
Using Kate Andersen Brower’s book The Residence: Inside the Private World of the White House as a jumping off point, the Netflix series is described as “a screwball whodunnit set in the upstairs, downstairs, and backstairs of the White House, among the eclectic staff of the world’s most famous mansion.”
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After a dead body is found, one wildly eccentric detective (Uzo Aduba) comes in to investigate 157 suspects attending a State Dinner.
Braugher plays one of the main characters, White House Chief Usher A.B. Wynter. In Netflix’s casting release on the series, Braugher was listed second after Aduba.
The cast also includes Susan Kelechi Watson, Ken Marino, Jason Lee, Bronson Pinchot, Isiah Whitlock Jr., Edwina Findley, Molly Griggs, Al Mitchell, Dan Perrault and Mary Wiseman.
Braugher, two-time Emmy winner for Homicide: Life on the Street and Thief, segued to The Residence after a series regular stint on the sixth and final season of Paramount+’s The Good Fight and an eight-season starring turn on Fox/NBC’s Brooklyn Nine-Nine.
Rosy Cordero contributed to this report.
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