David E. Kelley is an expert in making TV crime dramas and has another on his hand, The Calling, a new Peacock original series. As this new series is based on D.A. Mishani’s series of novels centered on Detective Avraham Avraham, this has the foundation of a potential franchise for the streaming service.
Kelley has been behind shows like The Practice, Boston Legal, Big Little Lies, Nine Perfect Strangers, Big Sky, and The Lincoln Lawyer; as well as some Disney Plus hits in Big Shot and Doogie Kamealoha, M.D. For The Calling, he is teaming up with Oscar-winning director Barry Levinson, who in addition to serving as a producer is directing the first episode. Oh, and legendary composer Hans Zimmer is doing the soundtrack with Steve Mazzaro.
Intrigued? Here is everything that we know about The Calling.
How to watch The Calling
The Calling dropped all eight of its episodes on Peacock as of November 10. As a Peacock original, you must be a Peacock Premium subscriber if you want to watch it (you have different pricing options depending on if you can deal with ads or want to get rid of them).
Audiences in the UK interested in watching The Calling have to wait a bit. While Sky TV allows it subscribers to get access to Peacock, a UK release date for The Calling has not been announced.
The Calling plot
The Calling is based on the first novel in D.A. Mishani’s series of books centered on Avraham Avraham, The Missing File. In the original book, Avraham Avraham is a police inspector in Tel Aviv, but for this adaptation he is a New York Police Department detective (still named Avraham Avraham though).
Here is the official synopsis of the series:
"The Calling tells the story of NYPD Detective Avraham, whose belief in mankind is his superpower when it comes to uncovering the truth. Guided by a deep sense of spirituality and religious principles, Avraham is left to question his own humanity when a seemingly routine investigation turns upside down."
The Calling episodes
Here are the official synopses for all eight of The Calling episodes:
The Calling episode 1, "He's Gone"
"NYPD detective Avraham "Avi" Avraham searches for a missing boy."
The Calling episode 2, "The Knowing"
"Avi questions Vincent's friends and family to learn more about the tormented and lonely boy."
The Calling episode 3, "The Horror"
"Avi searches Vincent's building and the people within it; Dania's intentions are questioned."
The Calling episode 4, "The Break"
"The secrets of Vincent's case rise to the surface; Zack's writing is further investigated."
The Calling episode 5, "Shomer"
"Avi investigates a bomb threat at a local daycare; Paul's wife is reported missing."
The Calling episode 6, "The Pursuers"
"Avi pursues possible suspects of the bomb threat; Elisabeth Serra's backstory is revealed."
The Calling episode 7, "The Hand of the Diligent"
"The team grapples with Anna's fate; Avi questions whether Elisabeth is missing or dead."
The Calling episode 8, "Blameless and Upright"
"Avi solves Elisabeth's disappearance; Paul plans to leave New York; Hanney has a moment of honesty."
The Calling cast
Though the Avraham Avraham character is swapping out his Tel Aviv locale for the streets of New York, he's keeping some of those roots as Israeli-German actor Jeff Wilbusch is set to portray him in the series. Wilbusch may not yet be a household name, but he’s popped up in a number of well-regarded TV shows and TV movies in recent years, including Bad Banks, The Little Drummer Girl, Unorthodox and Oslo.
What to watch spoke with Wilbusch on why Avi is a new type of TV detective.
The rest of the principal cast includes Juliana Canfield as Janine Harris, Karen Robinson as Captain Kathleen Davies and Michael Mosley as Detective Earl Malzone. Canfield is known to fans of Succession as Jess Jordan; Robinson played Ronnie Lee on the fan-favorite comedy Schitt’s Creek; and Mosley was most recently seen in the miniseries The Girl from Plainview.
Additional cast members for The Calling include Tony Curran (Your Honor), Noel Fisher (Shameless), Stephanie Szostak (A Million Little Things), Annabelle Dexter-Jones (Succession), Steven Pasquale (Bloodline), Mattea Conforti (Power), Charlie Besso (Fallout), Christopher Mann (The Right Stuff), Constance Zimmer (UnReal) and Chris Sullivan (This Is Us).
The Calling interviews
Here are some quotes from The Calling cast and creatives from interviews with What to Watch:
Juliana Canfield on Janine
"I think she does see the good in people in the beginning of the series, but part of that is she is naive and she hasn’t yet been exposed to the complexities and darknesses that are inherent in all of us. And I think what happens over the course of the series is the curtain is kind of lifted for her and she has to confront these moral gray areas."
Karen Robinson on the fun in doing a crime drama after Schitt's Creek
"People might know me from Schitt’s Creek, but throughout my career before that it was always a balance of comedy and drama. And quite frankly, just because of my demeanor, people would always lean on me for the serious characters, right? So I love that I have these two relatively high profile projects that are so completely different from each other because it just keeps me interested. No one wants to play the same thing all the time. Yeah, I get to use all my tools."
Executive producer Matthew Tinker on David E. Kelley
"That’s the beauty of working with David all this time, I sort of describe him as like the greatest pop-up restaurant of all time in that you come to a David Kelley restaurant, so to speak, not knowing what to expect. He’s got a certain levity and humor that goes along with the drama that is a hallmark of a lot of his writing. But I think the real reason he’s had such a long career and the reason that so many people like his shows is they’re very different. ... That is something that we try to do on the show, is surprise an audience and give them a little bit different taste of the experience they think they’re coming into with a cop drama."
Executive producer Jason Horwitch on Barry Levinson and Hans Zimmer
"I got the first day of dailies from Barry Levison and the shot was Avi on the roof of his apartment and one of the early shots the sun is rising and the train appears and my jaw dropped; I was like, this is such a beautiful, iconic shot. And then, Matt was on this Zoom too, when Hans played us the main title theme for the first time. Just the melody was another jaw drop. It was like, there’s a reason these guys have Academy Awards."
The Calling trailer
The trailer for The Calling is here, which just touches the surface of all the twists and turns that lie in this case for skilled NYPD detective Avraham Avraham. Watch the trailer below:
