Warning: General spoilers ahead

Some people gamble to try and get rich. Some people gamble because it’s fun. And, some people, like the rich and powerful, gamble just for fun. However, after a while, there’s only so much poker, blackjack, or pony races you can take before they lose their appeal and to be blunt, they become boring (must be nice, right?). In NBC’s new thriller The Player, the rich and most influential people in Las Vegas decide to up the stakes and create a new “game” of their own. The rules of this game are simple: a particular crime is predicted to happen, a “player” is assigned to stop the crime, and the wealthy gamblers place their bets on whether the player can pull through and prevent the crime from being carried out.

Wesley Snipes takes one of his first stabs at television and stars in the series as a mysterious pit boss, Mr. Johnson. This guy interfaces with some of the most notorious criminals of Las Vegas to obtain the intel on any crimes they might be planning. Once he’s confident enough of a particular crime, he then assigns it to “the player” he has working for him at the time. In this case, it’s security expert Alex Kane played by Philip Winchester. After the game has started, Kane has a fixed amount of time to track down the persons allegedly involved in the future crime and to prevent it from happening. What’s more, he’s limited to using the resources provided by “the dealer,” Cassandra King, portrayed by Charity Wakefield. King is the human interface to a wealth of information, or as they call it, “the infrastructure.” If Kane needs to know a piece of confidential information, she knows all the passwords and can get it for him.

The overall storyline is interesting and promising in itself, but the real draw to the series is the mystery surrounding this “game.” Kane initially isn’t interested in becoming Mr. Johnson’s new player because he simply doesn’t like the idea of hanging people’s lives in the balance all for the amusement of some bored rich people who can’t find anything more appealing to do with all the time on their hands. In fact, he finds it repulsive. Mr. Johnson also rubs him the wrong way, and he doesn’t trust him at all. However, Kane changes his mind after his wife, Ginny (Cara Buono, “Person of Interest”), is killed, and he suspects that Mr. Johnson may have been involved somehow. So, he shows up for job and makes it very clear that he will do whatever it takes to find those responsible for his wife’s death.

Check out the below video interviews of what cast members Wesley Snipes and Philip Winchester and series creator and showrunner, John Rogers, have to say about this exciting new series and be sure to tune in for the premiere on September 24th at 10/9c on NBC.

VIDEO

Wesley Snipes (“Mr. Johnson”) Interview:

Philip Winchester (“Alex Kane”) Interview;

John Rogers Interview:

Official Trailer:

PHOTOS

All photos courtesy of TV Geek Talk

 

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