Vincent D’Onofrio to star as Wizard of Oz in NBC’s ‘Emerald City’

NBC must be really serious about making sure that Emerald City is a dark version of The Wizard of Oz. That’s because the network nabbed Vincent D’Onofrio to star as the Wizard. Yes, the guy who bashed another guy’s head into pulp with a car door on Daredevil is the new Wonderful Wizard of Oz.

D’Onofrio’s Wizard is the mysterious ruler of Emerald City, reigning with a scientific mind and a shaky relationship with the grand witches, notes Variety. He joins Adria Arjona (True Detective), who was recently cast to play Dorothy.

Emerald City has been described as the Game of Thrones-meets-Wizard of Oz series we never knew we needed. Development began back in August 2013, but the show was cancelled before production began a year later. In April, NBC suddenly revived it as a 10-episode limited series. In July, Tarsem Singh (Self/less, The Cell) was hired to direct all 10 episodes.

The plot for the show finds Dorothy and Toto swept away to Oz, only this time, she’s 20 years old and Toto is a police dog. Oliver Jackson-Cohen, Ana Ularu, Gerran Howell, Jordan Loughran and Mido Hamada also star.

D’Onofrio was a villain in Jurassic World and starred as Wilson Fisk in Netflix’s Daredevil. He was last seen on NBC in Law & Order: Criminal Intent.