Ahead of AT&T Audience Network’s anticipated adaptation

of Mr. Mercedes, ET has a closer look

at the crime series’ central players: Detective Bill Hodges (Brendan Gleeson)

and Brady Hartsfield (Penny Dreadful’s

Harry Treadaway).

On the upcoming series, which premieres Aug. 9, Gleeson

plays a retired detective haunted by the gruesome killing of 16 people -- a crime

that remains unsolved. “Every cop gets one they can’t shake. This is mine,”

Hodges says, referring to the “Mercedes Killer.”

That killer is Hartsfield, a demented psychopath who taunts

Hodges with a series of lurid letters and emails, forcing the former detective

out of retirement. “You don’t need to worry, Ma. I’m taking care of us in that

basement,” Hartsfield says to his mother (played by Kelly Lynch) about a secret

plan he’s working on.

Hodges and Hartsfield soon end up in a dangerous game of cat

and mouse as the retired detective tries to stop the killer before he strikes

again.

MORE: Stephen King's Greatest Film and TV Adaptations, Ranked!

Based on King’s 2014 hard-boiled detective series, Mr. Mercedes was adapted for TV by David

E. Kelley, who is fresh off HBO’s hit adaptation of Big Little Lies, with Under

the Dome and Lost director Jack

Bender helming multiple episodes. The cast also includes Moonlight’s Jharrel Jerome as Jerome Robinson, UnREAL breakout Breeda Wool as Lou Linklatter, Ann Cusack as Olivia

Trelawney, Mary-Louise Parker as Janey Patterson and Holland Taylor as Ida

Silver.

Mr. Mercedes is

just one of many King adaptations taking over our screens this summer. First up

is Spike’s take on The Mist, one of

ET’s can’t-miss shows of the summer, and later comes the long-awaited film

adaptation of The Dark Tower starring

Idris Elba and a remake of It.

Mr. Mercedes premieres

Wednesday, Aug. 9 at 8 p.m. ET/PT on the Audience Network (exclusively

available through DirecTV).

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