Tony nominee Christopher Jackson has joined the cast of the Ava DuVernay-helmed Netflix series Central Park Five, according to Deadline. The Hamilton star joins previously announced 2018 Tony Award recipient John Leguizamo in the four-episode series about a group of Harlem teenagers who were falsely convicted of rape in 1989.
Also new to the cast are stage and screen actor Joshua Jackson, recently seen on Broadway in the revival of Mark Medoff's Children of a Lesser God, and 12 Years A Slave’s Adepero Oduye.
Jackson will reportedly play attorney Peter Rivera, who defended Raymond Santana Jr., one of the young men falsely convicted. Leguizamo, as previously reported, will play Raymond Santana Sr., his father.
After spending several years in jail, the men—Santana, Antron McCray, Kevin Richardson, Yusef Salaam, and Korey Wise—were finally cleared of the charges in 2014 and settled a lawsuit for more than $40 million in 2014.
Oscar-nominated director DuVernay (13th, A Wrinkle in Time) created and directs the series, which is due in 2019. She co-wrote each episode with Robin Swicord, Attica Locke, and Michael Starrbury.
The cast will also feature Omar Dorsey, Emmy winner Blair Underwood, Famke Janssen, William Sadler, Freddy Miyares, and Aurora Perrineau, along with previously announced Michael K. Williams, Vera Farmiga, Leguizamo, and Felicity Huffman.