Deadline reports that Megan Dodds has been cast opposite Ethan Hawke in what sounds like the most promising new spy series of next season, Fox's Mission: Impossible meets 24 real-time drama Exit Strategy. Like Mission: Impossible, Exit Strategy follows a team of five experts in different fields employed to untangle the CIA's most impossible missions. Like 24, the action unfolds in real time. (The hours take place days apart and in different locations, however; not over the course of a single day in a single place.) Hawke has been attached since December as team leader Eric Shaw; Dodds is the first additional team member to be cast. According to the trade blog, she will play "Dr. Hannah Burke, the medic on the team who has a genius-level IQ, trusts no one and appears to have a romantic connection with Shaw." This isn't Dodds' first foray into spying. She played the CIA's London Station Chief, Christine Dale, on Season 2 of Spooks (aka MI-5). On that series, she "appeared to have a romantic connection" with Matthew Macfadyen's Tom Quinn, but the spark didn't have a chance to develop. Like most CIA characters on Spooks, her American accent sounded a little dodgy... which was why I was shocked to discover that she actually is an American, born in California! I suppose living in London for a while messes with your accent, whether you're a CIA officer or an actress. Still, I really liked her on Spooks and I'm glad to see her on another spy series. No word on what accent her character will have on Exit Strategy. Dodds also appeared with Daniel Craig in Sword of Honor.
As previously reported, Antoine Fuqua directs the pilot. Exit Strategy is produced by the prolific team of Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci (Alias, Mission: Impossible 3), and created by David Guggenheim (Safe House).
