Sopranos Star Heads to Mars

The Sopranos star Michael Imperioli is returning to series television as co-star of ABC’s new drama Life on Mars, says The Hollywood Reporter.

Based on the BBC series, Life centers on Sam Tyler, a modern-day police detective who, after a car crash, finds himself mysteriously transported back to 1973 and still working as a detective.

Imperioli will play Detective Ray Carling, a colleague of Sam’s in 1972. He is a rough, tough sexist who has never heard the phrase “politically correct.” The casting of Imperioli is part of the revamping of the project after the departure of David E. Kelley, who penned the original pilot for ABC.

The series, which will be filmed in New York, is slated to air in the post-Grey’s Anatomy slot at 10 p.m. Thursdays in the fall.