Patrick Dempsey sets TV return with The Truth About the Harry Quebert Affair adaptation

Patrick Dempsey’s kept a fairly low profile since leaving Grey’s Anatomy in 2015, but he’s coming back to the small screen to star in EPIX’s 10-episode adaptation of Joël Dicker’s The Truth About the Harry Quebert Affair, the network announced Tuesday.

The book, which came out in 2014, follows a young writer (Snowden‘s Ben Schnetzer) who heads to Harry Quebert’s home for some inspiration. Instead, he finds that Harry’s been accused of murdering 15-year-old Nola Kellergan, who went missing years prior.

Along with Schnetzer and Dempsey, Damon Wayans Jr. will star as a police investigator. The cast also includes Virginia Madsen, Kristine Froseth, Colm Feore, Josh Close, Matt Frewer, Connor Price, Tessa Mossey, Victoria Clark, Craig Eldridge, Kurt Fuller, Don Harvey, Felicia Shulman, and Wayne Knight.

Jean-Jacques Annaud is directing the series, while Masters of Sex‘s Lyn Greene and Richard Levine wrote the pilot script and multiple additional episodes. The show is currently filming in Montreal.

“The Truth About the Harry Quebert Affair was the ideal project for my first American television venture,” Annaud said in a statement. “It is a rich and nuanced novel set in a small New England town and has all the elements for a classic mystery. Having MGM [and producers Tarak Ben Ammar and Fabio Conversi] as my partners has given me the ability to assemble a formidable cast and a talented crew. Their enthusiasm for Harry Quebert is equal to my own.”

This marks Dempsey’s first major television role since departing Grey’s Anatomy, a decision he said “just kind of happened.” “[Being written off] was something that was kind of surprising and, uh, just naturally came to be,” he told EW in 2015. “I like the way it has all played out.”

He also talked about his future in the entertainment industry, revealing he would “commit to a show that is 10 to 12 episodes.” “But 24 again? I don’t know if I would do that,” he said. “It’s a very hard life. It’s financially rewarding, but there comes a point where, how much is enough, really? I’m very grateful for that character, for what Shonda [Rhimes] and ABC have given to me. It allows me to do so many things. I want to try something different. Will I be allowed to do something different? Is Derek so identifiable that I can’t go on and be someone else? That will be the challenge, to see if people embrace me as someone else.”

The Truth About the Harry Quebert Affair does not yet have a premiere date.