Thanks to Variety, we at long last know the identity of the actor to play Leonard Pine in the Sundance TV’s HAP AND LEONARD, the adaptation of Joe R. Lansdale’s acclaimed crime series.

It’s a big day for Michael Kenneth Williams.

“The Wire” and “Boardwalk Empire” star has been cast as a lead in Sundance TV’s “Hap and Leonard,” plus IFC’s “The Spoils Before Dying,” alongside Will Ferrell, both cablers announced Monday.

In “Hap and Leonard,” an original series from Sundance TV that tells the story of an unexpected friendship between an unlikely duo, Williams will co-star as Leonard Pine.

Williams’ character, Leonard, is an openly gay black Vietnam war vet who struggles with anger issues, and was raised by his homophobic uncle, causing him to lean on Hap — a white, working-class laborer — for support in the non-progressive rural South of the 1980s. Hap (who has yet to be cast) spent time in prison for refusing to be drafted and serve in the Vietnam War. Now in his 30s, he works on a plantation picking roses with little financial means, but still has Leonard, his lifelong best friend and confidant.

The drama is produced by Sundance Studios, and created by director-writer Jim Mickle and writer Nick Damici. The duo has adapted Joe Lansdale’s “Hap and Leonard” novels, novellas and short stories of the same name for this series. Lansdale will also serve as a co-exec producer on this project, along with Lowell Northrop and exec producers Nick Shumaker, Jeremy Platt and consulting producer Linda Moran.

Sundance TV ordered six hour long episodes of “Hap and Leonard.” The series, set to bow in early 2016, marks the net’s third original scripted series, following “Rectify” and “The Red Road.”

Read the rest of the article at Variety.

Also coming in 2016 from Tachyon is HAP AND LEONARD, a collection of the finest Joe R. Lansdale short stories featuring the not-so-dynamic East Texas duo.

HAP AND LEONARD cover by Elizabeth Story.