He owned Charles Xavier and Erik Lehnsherr in X-Men: First Class. He searched for a missing girl in Mystic River. He went too far when he turned invisible in Hollow Man. He didn't get to make out with Neve Campbell and Denise Richards in Wild Things. His mission to the moon was a disaster in Apollo 13. He showed he could ball in The Air Up There. He could handle the truth in A Few Good Men. He felt tremors in, well, Tremors. And he taught a town how to dance as Ren McCormack in Footloose. Is there anything that Kevin Bacon can't do?
Oh, here's another thing he can do: play an FBI agent searching for a serial killer. The movie star is about to take his talents to the boob tube (another name for TV). That's right — Bacon is the star in FOX's new show, The Following, set to premier midseason. The Following also stars Maggie Grace as Sarah Fuller, a former victim of serial killer Joe Carroll (James Purefoy). Bacon's character, Ryan Hardy, is the FBI agent that found Carroll and locked him up. Then he retired and wrote a book about it. Well, when it's announced that Joe Carroll escaped from prison, the FBI gets Hardy to come out of retirement in an effort to find him.
It's found that while in prison, Carroll took to the internet (and I guess other types of technology) to start a cult of followers that will follow in his footsteps, kill more women the way he killed, and continue the story — thus providing a sequel for Hardy's book. The show looks tense, gripping, and the premise is terrifying, especially if you put yourself in Maggie Grace's character's shoes. The Following is written by Kevin Williamson, who knows his way around hit TV shows. He has created and written The Vampire Diaries, the Scream movies, The Faculty, and Dawson's Creek.
This show seems like the perfect marriage for FOX. With former shows like 24, they're no stranger to shows that can provide "what's going to happen next" moments. I can picture The Following as a movie, and as a show that will string you along over multiple seasons, I hope it doesn't fall victim to the same problems that Flash Forward and Awake experienced. 24 worked because we knew that at the end of 24 episodes, there would be a resolution to the day's events. If Bacon's character solves everything in the firs season, there's no show.
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