Luke Evans (The Girl on the Train) and Daniel Brühl (Rush) star as investigators in TNT’s historical crime series The Alienist, set in “the darkest corners of New York City during the Gilded Age,” according to the network.

Amidst a backdrop of vast wealth, extreme poverty and technological innovation in 1896, the psychological thriller focuses on a series of gruesome murders of boy prostitutes. Newly appointed police commissioner Theodore Roosevelt (Brian Geraghty, The Hurt Locker) calls upon Dr. Laszlo Kreizler (Brühl)—a criminal psychologist, also known as an alienist—and newspaper illustrator John Moore (Evans) to conduct the investigation in secret. They are joined by Sara Howard (Fanning), a headstrong secretary determined to become the city’s first female police detective.

Using the emerging disciplines of psychology and early forensic investigation techniques, the band of social outsiders set out to find and apprehend one of New York City’s first serial killers.

The series also stars Douglass Smith and Matthew Shear as twin brothers who help unravel the mystery; Matt Lintz as Steve, Kreizler’s tough young driver and errand boy; Robert Ray Wisdom as Cyrus, Kreizler’s valet with a dark past; and Q’orianka Kilcher as Mary, Kreizler’s mute maid with whom he shares a special unspoken connection.

Jakob Verbruggen (Black Mirror) serves as director and executive producer along with Cary Fukunaga (True Detective), Eric Roth (Forrest Gump), Hossein Amini (Drive), E. Max Frye (Foxcatcher), and Anonymous Content’s Steve Golin, Rosalie Swedlin and Chris Symes.

Serving as co-executive producers on the series are Marshall Persinger (Rectify) and Jamie Payne (The Driver).

The Alienist is a co-production of Paramount Television and Turner’s Studio T. It’s based on the book of the same name by Caleb Carr, and premieres January 22 at 9 p.m.

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