Newcomer Sullivan Jones, Virginia Kull (Gracepoint) and Louis Cancelmi (The Amazing Spider-Man 2) are set as series regulars opposite Jeff Daniels and Tahar Rahim in Hulu’s straight-to-series drama based on Lawrence Wright’s Pulitzer Prize-winning 9/11 exposé, from Oscar-nominated Dan Futterman (Foxcatcher), Oscar- and Emmy-winning documentary filmmaker Alex Gibney (Going Clear) and Legendary Television.
The Looming Tower traces the rising threat of Osama bin Laden and Al-Qaeda and takes a controversial look at how the rivalry between the CIA and FBI inadvertently might have set the stage for the tragedy of 9/11 and the war in Iraq. It centers on Ali Soufan (Rahim) and John O’Neill (Daniels). O’Neill, the determined, at times bull-headed chief of the New York FBI’s Counter-Terrorism unit, is rightly convinced that the U.S. has been targeted for attack by Al-Qaeda, and he faces deliberately insufficient cooperation from other organs of the federal government, particularly from his counterpart at the frequently antagonistic CIA. Ali Soufan is a young FBI agent on O’Neill’s I-49 anti-terrorism squad who quickly ascends to O’Neill’s protégé due to his brilliance, as well as his fluency in Arabic and Islam.
Jones will play Floyd Bennet, a member of the New York State Police SWAT Team, working closely with FBI agent Kathy Shaughnessy (Kull) on O’Neill’s counter-terrorism squad. Cancelmi will play Vince Stuart, who is John O’Neill’s eyes and ears embedded into CIA’s Alec Station. Though his purpose there is to ensure the FBI receives the same information as the CIA, he is systematically shut out from details and discouraged from being “O’Neill’s snitch”, and is torn between his job duties and his loyalty to his mentor O’Neill.
A recent graduate of UCLA and Brown University, this is Sullivan’s first major television role. He has starred in several top American regional theater productions at Baltimore Center Stage, Denver Center, Berkeley Rep and is currently in previews for Smart People at the Long Wharf. He’s repped by Stone Manners Salners and Andy Corren
Kull most recently recurred on Big Little Lies and guest starred on This is Us. Cancelmi appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man 2 and recurred on Boardwalk Empire and Blue Bloods.
