Shonda Rhimes has a brand new sequence on the 2025 TV schedule known as The Residence, during which Uzo Aduba’s Cordelia Cupp, the detail-oriented, bird-loving police guide, is known as to the White Home to analyze the homicide of Chief Usher A.B. Wynter. The good Giancarlo Esposito portrays the fallen staffer, however that wasn’t the unique plan. Andre Braugher was the primary actor solid as Wynter, and Esposito spoke candidly in regards to the “tough choice” to step in following Braugher’s demise.
Followers have been devastated when Andre Braugher died in December 2023 after a battle with lung most cancers. The Juilliard-trained actor was recognized for each dramatic roles and comedic ones just like the beloved Raymond Holt on Brooklyn 9-9, and Giancarlo Esposito had recognized and labored with Braugher for years. He instructed the AP that connection was on his thoughts when deciding if he wished to take over the function on The Residence, saying:
The function initially was performed by Andre Braugher, who had shot a lot of episodes earlier than they needed to cease for the pandemic and the strike. And [he] was somebody I knew and revered deeply. His work was tantamount to one of many biggest actors of our time, not solely in drama but additionally in comedy. I labored with him on Murder: Life on the Road. We went again to New York theater days collectively. We crossed paths and I noticed him in a film known as Glory, during which I simply thought he was – his efficiency was the film.
It’s apparent that the Higher Name Saul actor holds Andre Braugher within the highest regard, and I can’t think about how robust that was on him and the remainder of The Residence solid to must reshoot the late actor’s scenes when manufacturing restarted following the shutdown.
It definitely wasn’t a choice Giancarlo Esposito took calmly, and he defined how he finally realized he may honor his pal by means of his efficiency. He continued:
So, to me, to step in for somebody as iconic as he was, however who I had a private relationship with was a tough choice to make. How may I let go of my friendship, my reminiscence and all of that, and render the character to be who I believed the character needs to be? After which I noticed that Andre was nonetheless with us, and if I allowed myself to honor him in taking part in this character, all can be properly. And that is the best way it turned out.
Giancarlo Esposito has stayed in demand recently, even boasting a few credit on the 2025 film calendar already, and he’s appeared on a number of sequence together with The Boys and The Mandalorian. He could have been a late addition to the brand new Netflix sequence, however he match proper in with spectacular names just like the beforehand talked about Uzo Aduba, Susan Kelechi Watson (after a disappointingly brief stint on Will Trent), Jason Lee, Ken Marino, Randall Park, Taran Killam and plenty of extra.
The Residence, which is accessible to stream with a Netflix subscription, facilities round a fictional homicide, however Shonda Rhimes used the guide The Residence: Contained in the Personal World of the White Home by Kate Andersen Brower as her information. The supply materials gives a behind-the-scenes have a look at the inside workings of the president’s house by means of interviews with real-life maids, butlers, cooks, florists, doormen and different former staffers.
As upsetting because the scenario should have been to lose Andre Braugher, I like that Giancarlo Esposito is honoring him by means of the character, and I’d say Wynter is in good fingers.