Straight Man: Bob Odenkirk to star in the AMC series adaptation of Richard Russo’s novel

AMC and Bob Odenkirk are joining forces to develop a series adaptation of Richard Russo’s novel Straight Man. Odenkirk will star in the project as William Henry Devereaux, Jr., the unlikely chairman of the English department in a badly underfunded college in the Pennsylvania rust belt.

At this point, AMC has ordered scripts for Straight Man, and if they like what they see, it will give the series the green light for a 2023 debut. The endeavor hails from Aaron Zelman and Paul Lieberstein, who are in charge of adapting the book and will serve as showrunners.

If Straight Man gets picked up for a series, it will be the third time Odenkirk has teamed with AMC for a series project after Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul.

You’ll find an introduction to Straight Man below, courtesy of Penguin Random House:

William Henry Devereaux, Jr., known to his friends as Hank, is a fast-talking, self-deprecating man, the classic wise guy. Now approaching fifty, Hank finds himself heading full-speed into a midlife crisis: he despises his job as an English professor at an undistinguished middle-American university and his status as a “novelist” who has not written any fiction for twenty years. He fears he may have prostate cancer, he suspects his wife of having an affair, and he avoids even thinking that his father, the elder statesman of American literary criticism with whom he has a much-unresolved business, will soon be reentering his orbit. Over a single convoluted week, the hapless Hank goes through a painful series of adventures, some hilarious and some harrowing, which eventually take him to the brink of sanity. As he did in Nobody’s Fool, Russo proves himself a master of depicting the fraught, unvoiced currents that run between parents and children, husbands and wives. In his intelligence, humor, and ability to merge sorrow and farce into a seamless fabric, Richard Russo stands out as a writer of surpassing insight and humanity.

“I loved Paul and Aaron’s take on Richard’s excellent, entertaining novel. Once again, a project with AMC with a focus on character depth and sensitivity. This milieu (academia) seems very pertinent to the conversations we’re all having. I am drawn to the tone of humanity and humor in the novel, and I look forward to playing this role – something lighter than my recent projects but still closely observed and smart,” said Odenkirk.

“Bob Odenkirk is just as good as it gets. We feel so fortunate to be developing a new show that would keep him at AMC after Better Call Saul and Breaking Bad, two iconic series that have been beloved by millions of fans and helped define AMC and its reputation for unforgettable characters and high-quality storytelling for adults,” added Dan McDermott, president of entertainment and AMC Studios for AMC Networks. “We’re also thrilled to be working again with our partners at Sony Pictures Television and Mark Johnson’s Gran Via to explore this compelling material.”

Are you excited that Bob Odenkirk is teaming with AMC for Straight Man? Let us know in the comments section.