John Grisham Book, Film 'The Firm' Coming to NBC; Josh Lucas to Take Over Tom Cruise's Job

I wonder if John Grisham had some horrific incident in his life involving lawyers, or is just inherently distrustful of the profession that he once called his own. Either way, he's made a good living for himself questioning the whole system, but even Grisham needs to go back to the well from time to time.

That well, of course, is "The Firm," which was Grisham's second novel. The subsequent film adaptation was a big hit and more or less launched Grisham's Hollywood career, which has produced everything from "The Pelican Brief" to "Christmas with the Kranks" (I know, I couldn't believe it either).

But if you ever found yourself sitting around asking, "whatever happened to that Mitch McDeere? He was such a nice young boy." Well, he grew up and turned into Josh Lucas. Deadline reported today that Lucas is in final talks (meaning it's pretty much a done deal) to play for the television series the role Tom Cruise made famous in the film.

The show will pick up ten years after the film ended, and find Mitch emerging from the witness protection program he's been in since working with the FBI to reveal his firm's (yes, THE firm) mob connections. But the past might not be so far gone after all, and new threats are emerging every day. Well...every week anyway, until syndication.

Lucas has a limited range, but he's a pretty underrated actor, so it's great to see him get an opportunity like this. You may remember him from such films as "A Beautiful Mind," "American Psycho," "Hulk," or more recently "The Lincoln Lawyer," another thriller centered around attorneys. He's the guy trying to undermine the protagonist's achievements - not quite the bad guy, just kind of a sneaky up-and-comer who's clever, but not as talented as the guy we're rooting for. He's always this guy. Except in "Sweet Home Alabama." There he's just a swell guy. He can be seen this fall in Clint Eastwood's "J. Edgar."

"The Firm" is on NBC's slate to premiere midseason next year.