The Killing type TV Show network AMC

This is a big hire: The Killing has landed Peter Sarsgaard for the show’s third season.

Sarsgaard is an accomplished big-screen actor with roles in Shattered Glass, Jarhead, Knight and Day, Green Lantern and other films. This is his first regular TV gig.

He’ll play Tom Seward on the show, “a death row inmate for whom the clock is ticking down. A lifelong convict born into poverty and crime, Seward’s been in and out of the system for violent crimes since he was 10. Not ever wanting to appear weak, every interaction is a challenge, and one he must dominate.”

Sarsgaard will join other new hires for season three — Max Fowler and Elias Koteas — with original stars Mireille Enos and Joel Kinnaman also on board. There’s no premiere date yet announced. Here’s the official series description for next season: “A year after closing the Rosie Larsen case, Sarah Linden is no longer a detective. But when her ex-partner Stephen Holder’s search for a runaway girl leads him to discover a gruesome string of murders that connects to a previous murder investigation by Linden, she is drawn back into the life she thought she’d left behind.”

The Killing has taken a rather unusual path. AMC cancelled the show after two rounds. Producer Fox TV Studios then offered the show to Netflix (which has become the TV network equivalent of Last Chance Kitchen) and other outlets. Netflix became seriously interested. At some point, AMC came back on board, with both the studio and the network agreeing to some concessions. The Netflix component of the deal still up in the air.