CTV and Super Écran, alongside producers Sienna Films and Entertainment One (eOne), announced today that production has begun on Cardinal, the networks new serialized, six-part, one-hour drama featuring Golden Globe nominee Billy Campbell and the multiple Genie Award-winning actress Karine Vanasse as series leads. Directed by the award-winning Montréal native Daniel Grou aka Podz the cinematic murder mystery begins shooting in Sudbury, Ont., today. The series will also shoot in North Bay, Ont., Atikameksheng Anishnawbek in northern Ontario, and Toronto. Cardinal is a gripping, character driven drama set to premiere as part of CTV and Super Écran’s 2024/17 schedule.
Also announced today are additional cast members including Deborah Hay as Catherine Cardinal, John Cardinal’s wife; Alanna Bale as Kelly Cardinal, Cardinal’s precocious and independent teenage daughter; Glen Gould as Jerry Commanda, a police contemporary and friend of Cardinal; David Richmond Peck as Corporal Musgrave, an officer in charge of a tightly guarded investigation; Gail Maurice as Dorothy Pine, mother of young murder victim Katie Pine; Kristen Thomson as Sergeant Noelle Dyson, Cardinal’s commanding officer; and Brendan Fletcher and Allie MacDonald as Eric Fraser and Edie Soames, a young couple.
“As production begins today in Sudbury, Ont. with the exceptional Billy Campbell, Karine Vanasse, and the ensemble cast we look forward to working with them and our incredible production partners to bring this unique serialized drama to life,” said Corrie Coe, Senior Vice-President, Independent Production, Bell Media. “Setting the tone for this psychological drama is the exotic Northern landscape, which not only provides the perfect backdrop for this cast of compelling characters but also lends itself to become a character of its own.”
Cardinal is adapted from the award-winning novel Forty Words for Sorrow, the first of the John Cardinal Mysteries series, a series of six bestselling crime novels written by Ontario native and award-winning author Giles Blunt. The series begins with the discovery of Katie Pine, a missing 13-year-old whose body is discovered in the shaft-head of an abandoned mine. Cardinal follows detectives John Cardinal (Campbell) and Lise Delorme (Vanasse) as they attempt to uncover the mystery of what happened to the young girl. But as the case grows in scope and horror, a dark secret from Cardinal’s history threatens to derail the investigation.
Cardinal is produced by Sienna Films and eOne in association with Bell Media’s CTV, with the financial participation of the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corporation, the Canada Media Fund and the Cogeco Program Development Fund, and with the assistance of the Ontario Film and Television Tax Credit and the Canadian Film or Video Production Tax Credit. Super Écran has commissioned the series for French-language Canadian broadcast. eOne will distribute the series worldwide.
Cardinal was first put into development by CTV in 2024. The series adaptation is developed for television and written by Canadian Screen Award-winner Aubrey Nealon, who also serves as an Executive Producer and Showrunner, directed by the award-winning Montréal native Daniel Grou aka Podz, also an Executive Producer, and is executive produced by Sienna Films duo Julia Sereny and Jennifer Kawaja. For Bell Media, Tom Hastings is Director, Drama, Independent Production; and Corrie Coe is Senior Vice-President, Independent Production. Mike Cosentino is Senior Vice-President, Programming, CTV Networks and CraveTV. Randy Lennox is President, Entertainment Production and Broadcasting, Bell Media.