AJ Soklaner/NYPP/ZUMApress.comCancer is not going to keep Patrick Swayze from his dream job.
The Dirty Dancing star announced Sunday he will continue on with his lead role in the upcoming A&E drama The Beast, playing an unconventional FBI agent whose failure to play by the books makes him a target of Internal Affairs.
"I have searched for quite a long time to find a character that is this multilayered, unpredictable and downright entertaining as well as a project this current and cutting-edged," Swayze said in a statement from A&E.
The 55-year-old actor announced in March that he was battling pancreatic cancer. The news came just three months after he shot the pilot for The Beast.
A&E has now picked up the series for 13 episodes and confirmed that Swayze has been cleared to work. Filming will begin this summer in Chicago, and the show will debut early next year.
"Chicago is an amazing, untapped city. I can't wait to get to work on this," said Swayze.
Despite some tabloid reports to the contrary, Swayze and his doctor have repeatedly said his situation is not dire and he has been "responding well to treatment" at Stanford University Medical Center.