Jesse L. Martin has been tapped as the lead of NBC‘s drama pilot The Irrational as he is leaving the CW’s The Flash after eight seasons. While Martin no will longer be a series regular on the Berlanti Prods./Warner Bros. TV-produced The Flash, he is expected to appear in multiple episodes of the DC drama in its recently picked up ninth season.
Martin was one of four remaining Flash original cast members, along with star Grant Gustin, Candice Patton and Danielle Panabaker. The existing contracts of all four were up at the end of the current eighth season. As Deadline reported in late January, the studio closed a new deal with Gustin ahead of the CW’s renewal of the show for Season 9 last month. Patton and Panabaker are believed to be in negotiations to return. Martin had not been approached to come back, making him available for pilots and series. He was offered The Irrational and ultimately closed a deal, which has the Law & Order veteran in first position. It allows him to do as many as five episodes of The Flash next season, I hear.
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Martin also is producing the pilot, which will be shot in late May-early June in Vancouver, where The Flash also films. It will not be in consideration for the fall schedule NBC will unveil to its advertisers on May 16.
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Written by Arika Mittman, The Irrational is based on bestselling author Dan Ariely’s “Predictably Irrational.” The show centers on Alec Baker (Martin), a world-renowned professor of behavioral psychology with a unique insight into human nature who lends his expertise to an array of high-stakes cases involving governments, corporations and law enforcement. However, he meets his match in a female domestic terror suspect who turns his world upside down
Mittman executive produces with Mark Goffman and Samuel Baum while Ariely serves as a consultant. Universal Television, a division of Universal Studio Group, is the studio.
For the past eight seasons, Martin starred on The Flash as Joseph “Joe” West, a CCPD detective, father of Iris (Patton), Wally and Jenna West, and legal guardian to Barry Allen (Gustin) following Nora Allen’s death and Henry Allen’s incarceration. He is also well known for his nine-season run on NBC’s Law & Order as Det. Edward Green.
Martin originated the Tom Collins role in Rent on Broadway in 1996, and the show went on to win four Tonys including Best New Musical. He reprised his role in the 2005 feature film adaptation. Martin is repped by ICM Partners and manager Bob McGowan at McGowan/Rodriguez Management.