Later this year, BBC America will bring Douglas Adams’ Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency back to television with Chronicle screenwriter Max Landis. Now, BBC America has announced who will play the titular star, Samuel Barnett.

For those unfamiliar with his work, Barnett is an accomplished theater and television actor, who will be seen in the upcoming third season of Showtime’s Penny Dreadful. He’s also previously appeared in the feature film Jupiter Ascending as Advocate Bob, but his role as Dirk Gently may prove to be even more bizarre.

Fans who aren’t familiar with Adams’ two Dirk Gently novels are probably asking this question: what’s a holistic detective? Basically, it’s a term that Dirk Gently invented to describe his psychic abilities to sense the otherwise invisible connections between everything. Adams’ inaugural Dirk Gently adventure sent its lead character on a “good detective-ghost-horror-who dunnit-time travel-romantic-musical-comedy-epic.” That’s probably what we can expect to see on the TV series as well.

Last week, former Wilfred and Lord of the Rings star Elijah Wood was cast in the show as Todd, a reluctant companion (but definitely not a sidekick!) to Dirk Gently. Along with the official announcement of Barnett’s casting, BBC America revealed that Stargate Universe and Stargate Atlantis veteran Robert Cooper will be the showrunner of Dirk Gently, with Galaxy Quest director Dean Parisot on board to helm the first two episodes of the series.

Dirk Gently is scheduled to premiere on BBC America this fall. Are you excited about the casting of Barnett as Dirk Gently? Let us know in the comment section below!

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Image Credit: Channel 4