Sarah Shahi isn’t passing (on) judgement…
The 43-year-old part-Spanish actress and Sex/Life will star in and produce Judgement, ABC’s drama pilot from showrunner Joey Falco and 20th Television.
Shahi had been in talks for the project since January as ABC and the producers had to work through her commitment to Sex/Life, which she headlines.
Netflix just released the second season of the drama, inspired by BB Easton’s book 44 Chapters About 4 Men.
While there has been chatter for a while that this might be Sex/Life‘s final chapter, creator Stacy Rukeyser has shared hopes for a third season. If the show is renewed, Shahi will be able to reprise her role, subject to availability as Judgement now reportedly has her in first position.
Written and executive produced by Falco, Judgement is a high-stakes legal soap that redefines the genre by playing out over two timelines. Fifteen years from now, a woman (Shahi) being vetted for a Supreme Court seat recounts her experience at a prominent D.C. law firm in 2023, where the only thing more controversial than the cases was her messy love life, caught between two feuding brothers. Now, with a Supreme Court seat on the line, all of her darkest secrets are at risk of coming out, threatening her nomination, her reputation and her marriage.
We meet Shahi’s Mia Bahari in two distinct periods of her life. In one, she’s a brilliant, successful Appeals Court judge being vetted for the U.S. Supreme Court — so long as her dark and painful secrets don’t derail the nomination. In another, she’s a young spitfire of an attorney, painfully awkward at times but ingenious when it comes to navigating the many nuances of the law. She’s also caught romantically between two feuding brothers who are at the root of the very things she’s trying to hide from her Supreme Court investigators.
Falco executive produces with Melvin Mar, Jake Kasdan and Jordan Cerf. Paul McGuigan directs and also executive produces. 20th Television is the studio.
This marks Shahi’s return to ABC, where she had a major recurring role on The Rookie.
She also recently recurred on Showtime’s City on a Hill and was seen on the big screen in Warner Bros’ DC feature Black Adam alongside Dwayne Johnson.
