Although there has not yet been a press release regarding this piece of news, Douglas Smith is now listed on IMDb’s cast summary for TNT’s adaptation of The Alienist to play Marcus Isaacson. The thirty-one year old actor has appeared in a number of TV series over the years, including Out There (2003), Cold Case (2003), CSI: Miami (2004) and CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (2006-2007), Big Love (2006-2011), and Vinyl (2016). Recently, he has also appeared in the feature film Miss Sloane (2016) and will be appearing in the new TV mini-series When We Rise (2017).
With the casting of Marcus now finalised, we finally have a complete investigative team, at least with regard to the fictional members of the team. (We are yet to know who will be playing Theodore Roosevelt.) And with that, I’m curious! Are you happy with the casting? How well do the choices match your imagination? I would love to hear your feelings and thoughts below.
Well, no cast is ever going to be exactly what we imagine in our minds when we read the novel, so some allowances have to be made or else we might as well not even bother to watch the show for fear of disappointment.
That being said, overall, I’m somewhat pleased with the majority of the cast. Luke Evans as Moore and Daniel Bruhl as Kreizler as not quite what I envisioned, but there are certain aspects of the characters that each actor does capture for me.
Dakota Fanning seems rather good to me in the role of Sara Howard. I have heard some people express their concern over her seeming to be a bit young, but I am able to rationalize it a bit with knowing that people often started their careers back then at younger ages than people do now. Fanning is in her early 20’s so it’s not too off for me (though the age difference between her and Bruhl and Evans is a bit of a harder one to reconcile, as both men are n their late 30’s).
Matt Lintz looks perfect to me as Stevie Taggert.
As for the rest of the cast, I will have to wait and see, though Matthew Shear had better be given thinning hair in the show, otherwise there will be a major plot point from the novel that will have to be worked around and that would be a disappointment.
What are your thoughts on the investigative team, Kim?