September 15, 2013 by The Sumter Item

TELEVISION

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2013

THE ITEM

Modern-day ‘Sleepy Hollow’ Washington Irving Tale Is Revised worth losing your head over Sunday, September 15 - 21, 2013

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Tom Mison plays Ichabod Crane on the new FOX drama “Sleepy Hollow,” premiering at 9 p.m. Monday.

Tom Mison plays Ichabod Crane on the new drama "Sleepy Hollow," premiering Monday at 9 p.m. on FOX.

By Candace Havens © 2013 FYI Television, Inc. Don't get too attached to the cast of the new drama "Sleepy Hollow," premiering Monday at 9 p.m. on FOX. There's a good chance they lose their heads. Anyone who ever thought Washington Irving's short story about a headless horseman was spooky hasn't seen this new version of the tale. "I think there's something really fun about taking the imaginary that we already are familiar with, like the 'Headless Horseman,' 'The Legend of Sleepy Hollow,' and then revising it in a way that's really new and fresh," says executive producer Mark Goffman. "And this show really capitalizes on that well. We have a headless horseman. We have this legend of Ichabod Crane (Tom Mison). And then, it's reconceived in such a way that now there's the Revolutionary War and we just sort of pull back the veil. And everything you thought you know about the way our country was founded is completely blown apart." Injured during the American Revolution, Crane wakes up almost 250 years later. For a man who has never seen a car or asphalt, he adapts fairly quickly. He's left everything behind, including his loving wife. Everyone around him thinks he's crazy, except for police lieutenant Abbie Mills (Nicole Beharie), who has seen her fair share of strange things. She believes at least part of Crane's story. It isn't long before she's neck deep in this mystery that goes back several hundred years and is just beginning to unfold. Most of us think of Ichabod Crane as being a bumbling man who was afraid of his shadow. Mison's por-

trayal of the character is anything but milquetoast. And this is about as far from the original short story as it can get. "It's been done," says cocreator and executive producer Len Wiseman. "It's been portrayed like that. So, I thought it was one of the same things as doing Headless - the iconic things that we do know from it. We know the tale, we know Ichabod, and we know the Headless Horseman so well. And so we really wanted to show a different version of Crane. He's tied into the Apocalypse in a way. He's a professor. In our version, he's almost like Clark Kent - he is this guy who's following this quest to fight the Apocalypse and was brought in by (George) Washington and given this secret order - and brought into the secret order. He has this professor element to him, and it plays hand-inhand with how he uncovers a lot through our series. But it's almost his cover." Mison is the first to admit that he's enamored with the mythology the writers have created. "I'm looking forward to the quest to try and rescue my wife from her purgatorial netherworld, which is something I've never done in my career to date," laughs the actor. "And, you know, you've got that one aim, but then suddenly there are the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse trying to get in your way. I can't wait to find out how you bring someone back from the afterlife." There is a mad, headless horseman running around town chopping off heads of those who belong to the secret order. And the mythology proposes that the American Revolution wasn't all that it seemed. There are definitely two factions, but it isn't

just about the Americans and the British. "I think it's a resurrection of this war which we thought was just the United States versus England, and was really something about good versus evil," says Goffman, "and the first time that America would be a country, that it was built on freedom from tyranny. And so that is something that, just with Ichabod's return, we're sort of laying the groundwork for." Orlando Jones plays Mills' boss Frank Irving. He isn't happy about the sleepy town gone mad. The actor admits he's excited to find out what comes next. "I'm really interested to see what the rest of the mythology of the Apocalypse is," says Jones. "I don't know if I'm good or bad right now, so I'm going through that element of trying to figure out where I am and where I'm going. I'm really excited, though, about the mythology of it because I've always been that comic book, nerd kid. So, all of those elements, I think, I'm probably more in love with than I've previously been in love with in my television experience." No one is more skeptical about some of the aspects of the show than Beharie. "This is a fantasy piece where I spend most of my time covered in dirt and carrying a gun," laughs the actress. "But as everything unravels and we learn more about the story, I've been impressed. I think we all have been impressed with what the creators, writers and producers are doing with our show. You read something on paper, and you're like, 'OK, perhaps this is kind of ridiculous. It would work if …' and then all the ifs fall into place. And it's kind of amazing, and then some."

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