Elijah Wood is set as the co-lead in Dirk Gently, BBC America’s eight-episode series based on the cult Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency novels by Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy author Douglas Adams. Written by Max Landis, the series is set to debut in fall 2016.

Dirk Gently is a comedic thriller that follows the bizarre adventures of eccentric “holistic” detective Dirk Gently and his reluctant assistant Todd (Wood), as they wend their way through one big, seemingly insane mystery a season, crossing unlikely paths with a bevy of wild and sometimes dangerous characters, each episode landing them a few random steps closer to uncovering the truth.

Todd does not consider himself a sidekick. He is just flat-out better than Dirk at a lot of things. He always attempts to solve matters with the fewest steps possible; despite being a compassionate, sweet, smarter-than-average man with biting wit, Todd often finds himself at the intersection of morally gray crossroads. Thus, his bad habits of lying and stealing have dire consequences that he can’t put off forever, even though he tries. As Todd describes himself to Dirk: “I am not your Watson, a**hole. I am not available for side-kicking on something I am not involved with. I am my own messed up person with my own messed up problems.”

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The series is co-produced by AMC Studios, Ideate Media and comic book publisher IDW Entertainment with Circle of Confusion producing. Exec producers are Landis, who wrote the project on spec; Ideate’s Arvind Ethan David and Zainir Aminullah; IDW’s Ted Adams and David Ozer; and David Alpert and Rick Jacobs from Circle of Confusion.

A four-episode adaptation of Dirk Gently starring Stephen Mangan aired on BBC4 in 2010 and 2012.

BBCA’s scripted slate also includes Doctor Who (considered a suitable companion for Dirk Gently), Orphan Black, Undercover, Thirteen, London Spy, The Living and The Dead, Luther and Class.

The Lord Of The Rings and Hobbit alum Wood toplined the FX series Wilfred.