Former Chicago Med Star Colin Donnell Is Heading Down Under For New Peacock Series Irreverent
Actor Colin Donnell is making a big move. The St. Louis native who lives in New York is recently known for his role in the One Chicago universe. But his new series takes him to a small coastal town in Australia.
Donnell has balanced a successful musical theatre career with a fruitful livelihood on the screen. He starred opposite Broadway darling Sutton Foster at least twice, in the 2011 revival of "Anything Goes" and in 2014's "Violet," per Broadway World, and played Franklin Shepard opposite Lin-Manuel Miranda in the 2012 Encores! production of "Merrily We Roll Along." He's also married to "Frozen" star Patti Murin, and the pair released a new album on November 18 called "Something Stupid."
For the non-theatergoing crowd, Donnell is best known as trauma surgeon Dr. Connor Rhodes in the first four seasons of "Chicago Med." Dr. Rhodes left Chicago in the Season 5 premiere after failing to save the life of his ex-girlfriend Ava, who had admitted to killing Connor's father before killing herself. Though it's been three seasons since his departure, some still hope the fan-favorite will return. "There's still some stuff left to explore," Donnell told TVLine on November 18, adding, "It'd be fun to revisit that guy." But Donnell changed his tune later that day. "I love everyone over at Med but there are no plans for Connor to return," he tweeted, specifying that the interview was actually about his new series on Peacock, which takes him across the world.
Colin Donnell fakes the priesthood in his new series Irreverent
As Colin Donnell's character says in the trailer for his new series, "Irreverent," he's going to "the other side of the planet." Donnell's been filming the Peacock show, premiering November 30, on location in "Yugambeh language country," as he wrote on Instagram.
Set in the small town of Clump in Queensland, Australia, per Deadline, the dramedy features Donnell as Paulo, a mediator hiding from the mob after a negotiation goes horribly wrong. In the airport, Paulo meets Mackenzie Boyd (PJ Byrne), do-gooder and Clump's new reverend who feels disillusioned after his wife suddenly left him. Paulo feeds into Mackenzie's existential crisis, and Mackenzie runs off with Paulo's money, so Paulo takes Mackenzie's place as the small, weird community's new priest. (If this story sounds familiar, there was a short-lived TVLand series in 2015-16 called "Impastor" with a similar premise.)
"He's surrounded by this incredibly bizarre group of townspeople who are desperate for somebody to lead the way and to bring the town forward," Donnell told TV Insider. Among these townsfolk are cop and potential love interest Piper (Kylie Bracknell), who suspects "Mack" is not who he says he is; Piper's boyfriend Aidan (Jason Wilder), her childhood bestie Amy (Briallen Clarke), and teen Daisy (Tegan Stimson), who becomes Mack's biggest confidant. Naturally, the townsfolk help Mack as much as he helps them. "'Irreverent' is ultimately a story about the power and importance of community," creator Paddy Macrae said. "We hope that people feel the love and the belief with which the show was made."