Mark Davis/Getty ImagesOnce upon a time, there used to be a stigma about a movie star "falling from grace" and slumming it up on TV. No more is that the case, especially for some of the best actresses in Hollywood. Viola Davis is doing it with How to Get Away With Murder and she's injected so much into a project we'd already be all over.
How to Get Away With Murder hails from mega producer Shonda Rhimes and her Shondaland Productions. The people who have bequeathed us Grey's Anatomy and Scandal are now doing a dark legal drama? We're in. It's starring Davis, an Oscar nominee for Doubt and The Help? Has it been renewed for season two yet?
In How to Get Away With Murder, Davis plays top attorney and law professor Annalise Keating who takes several students under her wing. The pilot episode sees the group of kids—played by Alfie Enoch, Jack Falahee, Katie Findlay, Aja Naomi King, Matt McGorry and Karla Souza—helping Davis' character win a case. Laws are broken, rules are bent, sex is had (more than once!) and mysteries unfold in the best possible way. Throughout it all, all eyes are on Davis. As they should be.
We've come to expect strong characters from Rhimes, Betsy Beers and Peter Nowalk, and we can't wait to see what they have in store for Davis and what Davis does with the role. It's Viola Davis on a weekly basis, guys! It doesn't get much better than that. Her character is vulnerable, yet strong. Caring, yet brusque. She's everything you want in a TV character and more.
This isn't Davis' first TV gig by far—she's appeared in recurring roles on United States of Tara, Law & Order: SVU and started out with several guest spots on shows like NYPD: Blue and The Practice—but How to Get Away With Murder is going to be her most notable.
We repeat: It's Viola Davis. On a weekly basis. In a Shonda Rhimes show. Need we say more?
How to Get Away With Murder premieres Thursday, Sept. 25 at 10 p.m. on ABC.