Alec Baldwin Headed To HBO As Mayor Of NYC

Alec Baldwin held a role on a hugely successful show that was centered around New York City for many years, and now he’s getting the chance to take his love of the Big Apple to a more dramatic place: namely, HBO.

Baldwin will reportedly be playing a man who suddenly finds himself in the position of New York City mayor in a new series for the cable network, and according to Deadline, the show looks to be like a lighthearted mixture of The Sopranos and House Of Cards.

“The character is a philanthropist, a big businessman and well-known tabloid fixture in New York. He’s Trump without the baggage, Bloomberg but a Democrat, George Soros if he was in real estate, a left-leaning Democrat who is also a businessman who understands the reality of how the city has to be run to create the right climate for the business community,” Baldwin told Deadline.

According to Alec, the show draws inspiration from the darkness of House Of Cards, a Netflix original series that focuses on one man’s rise to power in Washington and the people he steps on to get there.

“He’s drafted for this run because the alternative would be catastrophe. We’ve seen from shows like Kevin Spacey’s House Of Cards that you can go anywhere creatively. He throws Kate Mara’s character in front of a subway train and you think, what the hell is going on? You can create these Shakespearean character arcs, and pull the curtain back on how New York City is actually run and how political careers are made and lost in the city.”

Baldwin will be executive producing the project with Cary Brokaw. The actor says that the show has actually been several years in the making, but he got somewhat sidetracked with another series before they could get it off the ground.

“Cary and I were going to do this together nine years ago, but I got detoured by Lorne Michaels and Tina Fey into 30 Rock,” Baldwin said.

The show holds a special place for the Alec Baldwin, who appeared on the 40th anniversary episode of Saturday Night Live last month and gave a shoutout to his 30 Rock co-star Tracy Morgan. Along with Tina Fey, Baldwin lamented the fact that Morgan — who was in a horrific car accident last year which killed a fellow passenger and friend — couldn’t be there with them to celebrate.

[Photo courtesy TBS/YouTube]