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By India McCarty
Patricia Heaton will return to the small screen with new legal drama PUBLIC INTEREST.
“PUBLIC INTEREST is set at a nonprofit public interest law firm in Washington, D.C., and follows Heaton as Ingrid Erickson, ‘an attorney unexpectedly thrust into the firm’s top leadership role after its longtime president suffers a sudden heart attack, and her unconventional team as they fight for everyday people facing impossible odds,’” a description of the show reads. “As the attorneys navigate high-stakes legal battles, they must also contend with office tensions, personal relationships and the emotional toll of trying to do the right thing in an increasingly complicated world.”
In a statement about the show, Heaton shared, “What immediately connected me to Ingrid was her sense of conviction and responsibility. She’s someone who believes deeply in helping people, even when the path forward is messy or uncertain. PUBLIC INTEREST explores the tension between idealism and reality in a way that feels incredibly timely, but it also has warmth, humor and heart at its center.”
Heaton, who also serves as an executive producer on the project, will be joined by Richard Schiff, James Walk, Liana Liberato, Tiana Okoye, Carter Redwood and Josh McKenzie.
PUBLIC INTEREST comes from producer-director David Barrett and MPI Original Films.
“PUBLIC INTEREST isn’t about advancing a single ideology or telling people what to think. It’s about defending the civil liberties that allow honest disagreement to exist in the first place and ensuring that no one in power gets to decide which voices deserve to be heard,” Barrett said, via Variety. “That’s why I love working with MPI. They give me the freedom to engage with difficult and sometimes tense subject matter honestly and thoughtfully, without pressure to conform to an ideological agenda. We’ve had these conversations with the actors and crew throughout prep, which has created an inspiring energy. With this show, we hope to give America a roadmap for how to have those conversations.”
Heaton is a veteran of the TV industry — most notably, in hit sitcoms EVERYBODY LOVES RAYMOND and THE MIDDLE — but she told the Catholic Review she didn’t find success until after she got married and had children.
“If I had been successful in my 20s, I could have had substance abuse issues or big ego issues, and would have had my priorities out of alignment,” she said. “It didn’t happen until I really got God as the center of my life. He was always in my life, but I didn’t realize how much the desire to be a successful actor was really the thing that was driving me, as opposed to how God wanted me to serve.”
PUBLIC INTEREST is still working on securing a network or streamer to distribute the show, but fans of Heaton are excited to see her come back to television.
Read Next: Patricia Heaton Credits God for Delaying Her Career Until After Her Children Were Born
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