AVAILABLE ROLES:

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MAX MAYHEW — Lead, Male, 40s
Eclectic, disheveled, magnetic in spite of himself. A Pulitzer-winning journalist who's spent his career chasing danger everywhere except the one place it started — home. Dresses head-to-toe in denim, never without his tinted glasses, bucket hat, and an oversized fountain drink. Deadpan, dryly funny, and carrying two decades of unprocessed grief underneath a practiced showman's exterior.  Comedic timing is essential; so is the ability to turn on a dime into real vulnerability.

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SHERIFF ROBERT "BOB" O'BRIEN — Lead, Male, 60s
Silver-haired, well put-together, the kind of small-town lawman who's spent 20 years turning a badge into a brand. Warm, folksy, quick with a firm handshake and a disarming laugh — the most trusted man in town, and we need to believe that completely before we ever suspect otherwise. This role lives in subtext: every line should play as sincere on the surface with something colder moving underneath. Charisma is the whole character.

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JANICE — Supporting, Female, 60s
Motel owner, town gossip, fiercely protective of "her" celebrity guest the moment he checks in. Talks fast, says exactly what she's thinking, utterly unbothered by social niceties. Big personality in a small frame. Comic relief with a surprisingly protective streak once things get dangerous.

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LORETTA PARKER — Supporting, Female, 60s
Tavern owner, sharp-tongued, been pouring drinks in this town since before Max could legally order one. Knew the Mayhew family, knew Harold Binetti, knows everyone's business and isn't shy about it. Warm underneath the sarcasm — one of the only people in town who treats Max like a person instead of a celebrity or a suspect-hunter. 

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WILLY DAVIS — Supporting, Male, 50s
Large, physically imposing, an odd stillness about him that reads as unsettling before it reads as anything else. A former addict turned mechanic. Needs to hold real menace and real sympathy in the same scene — we should never be entirely sure which one is true. Unsettling through and through.

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OFFICER MIRANDA — Supporting, Female, 20s-30s
Young officer on desk duty after a minor injury, sidelined and a little bored — until she isn't. Dry sense of humor, quick rapport with Max, a rule-bender with a conscience. 

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OFFICER JONES — Supporting, Male, 20s-30s
Amiable, a little dim, mostly harmless — the kind of cop who talks more than he observes. Flirts badly with Miranda, means well, represents the ordinary machinery of the department that has no idea what's really going on above its pay grade. 

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LIEUTENANT SHAFFER — Supporting, Female, 30s
Sharp, efficient, all business — the department's competent face for the press and public events. Loyal to O'Brien, though whether that loyalty is knowing or naive is left ambiguous. Should carry herself like someone who could be a much bigger problem for O'Brien if she ever looked in the wrong direction.

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LOU HARRELSON — Supporting, Male, 70s
Landowner, gruff on first approach, gentler underneath. Lost his driver's license, doesn't get out much, glad for the company even if he won't say so directly. Grounded, weathered, a little lonely.

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JESSICA JOHNSON — Supporting/Day Player, Female, 30s
The current owner of the old Mayhew house. Frazzled young parent mid-argument when we meet them, blunt to the point of absurdity, quick comic energy. Jessica is sharper and more suspicious of Max.

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DARLEEN O'BRIEN — Supporting, Female, 60s
The Sheriff's wife. Poised, polished, clearly practiced at managing her husband's public image. Mostly glimpsed in the margins of his performance — fixing his hair, straightening his tie — until a rare private moment reveals more going on underneath than anyone assumes. 

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THE CASHIER — Supporting, Male, late teens/early 20s
Works the local gas station, a little starstruck, a little too eager to help, treats the murder investigation like the most exciting thing that's ever happened in town. 

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JACK BOWER — Supporting, Male, 40s
Polished national TV interviewer. Smooth, media-trained, the kind of host who's more performance than substance. Appears in the opening framing device.

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ISAAC BRADFORD — Supporting, Male, 30s
Local/regional TV reporter, ambitious, sees the unfolding scandal as his big break. Professional, probing, morally neutral — just doing his job, which happens to apply pressure on both Max and O'Brien.

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BARBARA FREEDMAN — Supporting, Female, 30s
National news reporter parachuted in once the story breaks wide. Aggressive, polished, embodies the media circus Max's proclamation sets off.

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HAROLD BINETTI — Supporting (flashback/archival), Male, 50s
Seen primarily in the opening execution sequence and in transcript-based flashback material. Worn down, aged beyond his years, carrying the exhaustion of a man who has spent two decades in the system. Needs to land a handful of devastating, ambiguous moments with very little dialogue — his face should do most of the work.

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