NBC's EMERALD CITY Casts Vincent D'Onofrio as The Wizard of Oz

There was a time, not too long ago, in which it seemed like practically every TV network had a show in development based on The Wizard of Oz. Thankfully, we haven't heard much about many of those shows going forward, but NBC's Emerald City is one that actually has some momentum behind it.

The show is said to be in the vein of Game of Thrones. Deadline describes it like this:

Swept up into the eye of a tornado, 20-year-old Dorothy Gale is transported to another world — a mystical land in great peril, where an all-powerful Wizard has outlawed magic and rules over the many kingdoms. This is the fabled Land of Oz in a way you’ve never seen before — where lethal warriors roam, wicked witches plot in the shadows and a young girl from Kansas becomes the headstrong hero who holds the fate of their world in her hands.

Adria Arjona will play Dorothy, and Deadline says that Vincent D'Onofrio has been cast as the Wizard, "a man of science in a world of magic [who] rules through inspiration, fear and a tenuous accord with the grand witches." Sounds like solid casting to me, and I wonder if those who really liked D'Onofrio's performance as The Kingpin on Daredevil will give this show a shot simply to see what he does in this role.

But even with D'Onofrio on board, a network show that puts its own spin on The Wizard of Oz can't be that interesting, right? Well, not if the director has anything to say about it. That director? Tarsem Singh, who directed D'Onofrio in The Cell. We're still in the early days on this series, but that reunion is appealing and just might be what ends up making this show watchable.