The Following is an American television drama series starring Kevin Bacon and created by Kevin Williamson. It premiered January 21, 2013 on Fox. The series is produced by Outerbanks Entertainment and Warner Bros. Television. The series follows an FBI agent who finds himself in the middle of a network of serial killers, when a diabolical serial killer uses special technology to create it. In Entertainment Weekly, features TV writer Melissa Maerz wrote in a preview article, “Purefoy plays Joe Carroll, a former college professor who taught the works of Poe and killed young women in the gothic hero’s honor—until he got caught. Since then he’s been spending hours on a computer in the prison library, building a social network of copycat killers who hang on his every command. When the series begins, he’s just escaped from death row with help from those followers, and the FBI calls in former agent Ryan Hardy (Bacon)—who brought down Joe the first time—to consult on the case”.
Main cast
- Kevin Bacon as Ryan Hardy, a former FBI agent who in 2003 captured serial killer Joe Carroll. Hardy, now on disability and an alcoholic, is called back to service as a consultant on the Joe Carroll case.
- James Purefoy as Dr. Joe Carroll, a professor of English literature and a serial killer. While in prison, Carroll forms a cult of followers to execute a plan of revenge focused on Hardy.
- Natalie Zea as Dr. Claire Matthews, Joe Carroll’s ex-wife, who also had a relationship with Ryan Hardy. Like her ex-husband, she is a college professor.
- Annie Parisse as Debra Parker, an FBI specialist on cult behavior, called in to head the investigation of Carroll and his cult.
- Shawn Ashmore as Mike Weston, a young FBI agent whose hero is Ryan Hardy. Weston makes a study of Joe Carroll while in training, and is the team’s expert on the case.
- Valorie Curry as Emma Hill/Denise
- Nico Tortorella as Jacob Wells/Will Wilson
- Adan Canto as Paul Torres/Billy Thomas
- Kyle Catlett as Joey Matthews, Joe Carroll and Claire Matthews’ son.
