The two-time Academy Award nominee Viola Davis is set to take Thursdays by storm with the upcoming series "How to Get Away with Murder" on ABC from 25 September at 10 pm. It will be Shonda Rhimes's third TV series on ABC after "Scandal" and "Grey's Anatomy".
In the new legal drama series, Davis portrays the role of a criminal law professor Annalise Keating. The creative, charismatic, brilliant and passionate Keating works at Philadelphia University. She follows a court room strategy to make her students capable of dealing with the hardened criminals of all time.
Besides being a glamorous, sexy, dangerous and unpredictable professor, she is also a defence attorney and deals with the toughest cases of all times, from fraud and arson to murder.
The pilot episode of "How to Get Away with Murder" begins with the introduction of Keating as arrogant and merciless law professor, who believes that practical classes are more important than theory classes, , according to ABC.
In the opening sequence of the legal drama, Keating will instruct her students on the three steps to use in defending a murder suspect.
As the story evolves, Keating will select a group of four students to work in her law firm and will hand-over a murder case that she was working on herself to those students.
The much-anticipated series, written by Peter Nowalk, will follow the four favourite students of Keating, who will gradually get entangled in a murder case.
Meanwhile, Nowalk revealed that a major character will be killed by one of the associates of Keating in the pilot episode of "How to Get Away with Murder".
"The idea was a little different – I didn't have the school aspect. Annalise was just a criminal defense attorney, and one of her first-year associates murdered someone. [After a while] I was like, 'What happens if I set it in a school?,' and that's when it clicked for me. It made it feel more fresh and fun to me, plus you had this creepy university atmosphere," Nowalk told TV Line.
Other cast members in legal drama series includes, Billy Brown as respected Philadelphia detective Nate Lahey, Alfred Enoch as Wes Gibbins, Aja Naomi King as Michaela Pratt, Matt McGorry as Asher Millstone, Karla Souza as Laurel Castillo, Charlie Weber as Frank Delfino, Liza Weil as Bonnie Winterbottom, Jack Falahee as Connor Walsh and Katie Findlay as Rebecca Sutter.
It remains to be seen whether Rhimes will receive a thumbs up from both the critics and the viewers for his new legal drama series.
Click here to watch the pilot episode of ABC's new legal drama series online.
Watch the premiere promo of "How to Get Away with Murder" below:
