TOUGH-guy cop Vic Mackey of “The Shield” is headed for a dangerous liaison with a new precinct captain played by none other than Glenn Close.
In a casting coup for FX, the five- time Oscar nominee – including a Best Ac tress nomination for “Dangerous Liai sons” in 1988 – has agreed to join “The Shield” for its entire fourth season, officials of the Fox-owned cable net work said yester day.
Production on 13 new episodes begins in January in Los Angeles and is expected to last four months. The new episodes will start airing in March.
In her first-ever regular role on a prime-time TV series, Close will play Monica Rawling, a hardened veteran of the Los Angeles Police Department who has been assigned to take over the rough-and-tumble “Shield” precinct house, nicknamed “the Barn,” in the gritty, downtrodden community of Farmington.
For Rawling, her new position is an opportunity “to put into practice some of the strongly held feelings and theories she’s developed about policing” over a 20-year career, explained FX President of Entertainment John Landgraf, who played a key role in signing the acclaimed star of movies such as “Reversal of Fortune” and “Fatal Attraction.”
“Those theories will change the power structure of the Barn,” he said.
Where will this leave the unorthodox and unethical Det. Mackey, the gang-busting powerhouse played by Michael Chiklis? Landgraf hinted that Mackey’s world is changing.
“We thought it would be really interesting to have a female character who is both at times a confidant and at times an adversary of Mackey’s,” Landgraf said.
Close, 57, said yes to a TV series because of the uniqueness of the role and because her representatives at Creative Artists Agency are bullish on the series, Landgraf said.
On “The Shield,” which has earned a reputation as one of the most violent shows on TV, Close’s character assumes the captain’s position vacated by David Aceveda (played by Benito Martinez), who was elected to City Council at the end of last season.
Martinez will be back for a fourth season, along with every other principal on “The Shield,” including CCH Pounder (as Det. Claudette Wyms), Walton Goggins (as Det. Shane Vendrell) and Jay Karnes (as Det. “Dutch” Wagenbach).