Chris Evans to star in new Apple thriller series Defending Jacob

Captain America is leaving the Avengers behind for a new series on Apple.

Chris Evans will star in and executive produce Defending Jacob, a limited drama series based on William Landay’s 2012 best-selling novel of the same name. The story is centered on a lawyer whose son is arrested for stabbing a classmate, leading the father to take drastic measures. The Imitation Game‘s Oscar-winning filmmaker Morten Tyldum will direct the series, but no further details were given on casting or airdate of the project.

This is Evans’ first major television role since 2000’s The Opposite of Sex miniseries. The actor will appear as Captain America in the fourth Avengers film next year and is then expected to hang up his shield. His other films in development include the post-World War II drama The Devil All the Time, in which he’ll reunite with his fellow Avenger Tom Holland (Spider-Man).

Evans is the latest high-profile name to come aborad Apple’s growing original series roster, joining the likes of Reese Witherspoon and Jennifer Aniston, Octavia Spencer, Jason Momoa and Oprah.

It is still not known when these series will debut and how Apple will distribute them, but the emergence of the tech company in Hollywood has piqued the industry’s interest as it presents stiff competition to the likes of Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, HBO, and basic cable networks in the race to deliver prestige television.

—Additional reporting by David Canfield