Joey King, Freddie Stroma, and Hayley Marie Norman are Dead Inside

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

I've been keeping an eye on the progress of The CW's "supernatural cop drama" Dead Inside for a while now, but I never would have expected that this project would end up starring the little girl from THE CONJURING as the character the synopsis described as an "underachieving beat cop". But Joey King (pictured above in WISH UPON) is 18 now, so I guess that's old enough for her to land a beat cop job. Maybe. In some places.

King has signed on to star in Dead Inside alongside Freddie Stroma and Hayley Marie Norman.

Michael Patrick Jann is directing the pilot, which was written by Katie Lovejoy. The aforementioned synopsis: 

After surviving an explosion that killed her hotshot detective big brother Zach Gates, underachieving beat cop Emmy Gates starts seeing his ghost, flipping their sibling dynamic on its head and allowing her to truly live her life for the first time, as they work together to help crime victims both living and dead, and figure out the unfinished business keeping his spirit on Earth.

Stroma will be playing Zach Gates, who is "annoyingly perfect, roguishly over-confident with a rock-star charm. When he returns as a ghost, he learns a few surprising things about the people closest to him."

King is Emmy, who is "tougher and stronger than she thinks she is, and what she lacks in confidence, she makes up for with determination, humor and snark. Emmy’s life is turned upside down when her brother dies and returns to her as a ghost, forcing her to team up with him to solve a murder and resolve his unfinished business."

Norman's character is Jayla Harris, "the unfiltered motormouth receptionist at the Portland police station. Jayla’s one of the few true supporters of Emmy’s law enforcement aspirations. As for her own aspirations, it’s to be insta-famous."

Lovejoy is executive producing the show with Bill Lawrence and Jeff Ingold.

I've always felt that the concept of Dead Inside could come off as being really cheesy on screen, but I'm interested in seeing how Jann is going to execute it. And now that I know Hayley Marie Norman is going to be on the show and that it's going to have the CONJURING kid being a cop, it's definitely one I'm going to have to check out – assuming, of course, that The CW orders it to series after the pilot has been completed.