James Frain’s New Series The Cape to Debut in January

James Frain, who played charismatic but psychotic vampire Franklin Mott during True Blood season 3, will grace small screens again when his new series The Cape debuts on NBC in January. Kicking off with a two-hour premiere on Sunday, January 9, the series will then move to its regular timeslot Mondays at 9/8c on January 17. Liz and I are particularly excited about this scheduling because we are huge fans of Chuck, which airs at 8/7c on Mondays. Chuck followed by James Frain in The Cape? Yay, Mondays!

James Frain as "Chess"

So what is The Cape about? Here’s the premise:

The Cape is a one-hour drama series starring David Lyons as Vince Faraday, an honest cop on a corrupt police force, who finds himself framed for a series of murders and presumed dead. He is forced into hiding, leaving behind his wife, Dana (Jennifer Ferrin) and son, Trip (Ryan Wynott). Fueled by a desire to reunite with his family and to battle the criminal forces that have overtaken Palm City, Faraday becomes “The Cape” his son’s favorite comic book superhero — and takes the law into his own hands.

Rounding out the cast are James Frain as billionaire Peter Fleming – The Cape’s nemesis – who moonlights as the twisted killer: Chess; Keith David as Max Malini, the ringleader of a circus gang of bank robbers who mentors Vince Faraday and trains him to be The Cape; Summer Glau as Orwell, an investigative blogger who wages war on crime and corruption in Palm City; and Dorian Missick as Marty Voyt, a former police detective and friend to Faraday.

Here’s what James Frain had to say about moving on from playing a vampire on True Blood to a supervillain on The Cape:

“It’s a superhero show and I play the supervillain,” Frain told EW. “It’s not that big a stretch. No one has any real powers. It’s about cunning and skill. It’s very serious in its intent. But it’s also light in the way it’s played. It is closer to Batman in that the people don’t have powers. Supervillain equals job security as long as people like the show and we get picked up.”

Frain plays Peter Fleming in the drama that also stars Summer Glau and Keith David. “It is a completely new story. It is not based on a comic book or an old character. It is a completely new and inventive mythology. The show creator Tom Wheeler has the whole first season mapped out. He has the whole thing in his mind and he is slowly revealing it to us. And it’s cool. I really hope people will give it a chance to reveal itself to them. We are in the thick of shooting and we are supposed to come on in January. Wish us luck.”

Get your first look at “Chess” in this new promo trailer for the show (he appears at the 15 second mark).