Jason Momoa to Star in Sundance’s Original Series The Red Road

Stargate Atlantis actor Jason Momoa is headed back to television, having been cast in The Red Road.

The Sundance Channel original series follows a sheriff who is struggling to hold his family together while policing two clashing communities: “the small town where he grew up and the neighboring Ramapo Mountains, home of the Ramapo Mountain Indians,” according to TVWise.  “After a terrible tragedy and coverup occurs involving the sheriff’s wife, an unholy alliance is forged between the sheriff and a dangerous member of the tribe that will come back to haunt all involved.”

The Red Road (formerly The Descendants) is created by Aaron Guzikowski (Contraband), who will supervise with Sarah Condon and Bridget Carpenter.  The show has received an order for six one-hour episodes.

Since his turn on SGA and the first season of Game of Thrones, Momoa has had a successful career on the big screen with major roles in Conan the Barbarian (2011), Bullet to the Head (2012), and the upcoming Wolves (2013).

He also appears in the sci-fi film Debug, the next directorial project from his former Atlantis co-star David Hewlett.

UPDATE: Deadline reports that Momoa will play not the lead role, but that of an ex-cop named Phillip Kopus, “a dangerous member of the tribe that will come back to haunt all involved.”  Tom Sizemore will play his father Jack, a dangerous and unpredictable drug dealer. In the story, Phillip returns home to run his father’s small-town drug ring.