Game Of Thrones' Sean Bean Replaces Brendan Fraser In TNT's Legends

Things didn't work out for ABC's Missing, but the cancelled ABC drama may not be the last we've seen of Sean Bean on the small screen. The actor has been cast to fill the role vacated by Brendan Fraser in TNT's drama pilot Legends. From the description of the part, he may not be the only person playing the character.

Legends comes from Homeland and 24's Howard Gordon and follows a deep-cover operative named Martin-Odum who has the useful ability of transforming himself into other people, which likely proves especially helpful in his undercover work. But - assuming that transform means to completely take on the appearance of someone else - it seems like we'd be also seeing other people playing the part of Martin (when the character plays them). Martin's own identity plays a big role in the story, as Legends' description for the drama also notes that Martin's identity is questioned "when a mysterious stranger suggests that Martin isn’t who he thinks he is."

The pilot was originally set for NBC, but later move to TNT, after which Brendan Fraser was cast as the lead. As of last month, Fraser had exited the role due to creative differences. THR reports today that Bean has been brought in to star.

While both Fraser and Bean are associated with adventure stories - Bean for Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Rings and Fraser for the Mummy franchise - I associate Fraser more with comedy-action and Bean more with dramatic parts, so perhaps Bean's casting sheds some light on Fraser's exit, if they were looking for someone with a better handle on serious drama. That's just speculation, though.

Among his recent credits, Bean starred in the first season of Game of Thrones and the recently cancelled ABC drama Missing. He's also set to play the role of Zeus in Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters. Hopefully things will work out for Legends, which sounds like a promising drama and now has a pretty fantastic lead on board.

Kelly West
Assistant Managing Editor

Kelly joined CinemaBlend as a freelance TV news writer in 2006 and went on to serve as the site’s TV Editor before moving over to other roles on the site. At present, she’s an Assistant Managing Editor who spends much of her time brainstorming and editing feature content on the site. She an expert in all things Harry Potter, books from a variety of genres (sci-fi, mystery, horror, YA, drama, romance -- anything with a great story and interesting characters.), watching Big Brother, frequently rewatching The Office, listening to Taylor Swift, and playing The Sims.