If you think the combination of the words “covert,” “affairs” and “Piper Perabo” sounds titillating, you’re in luck. The pilot for the actress’ CIA series Covert Affairs has been picked up for an 11 episode order by USA. You know what that means? Piper in a suit on our TVs. Hallelujah.
Piper will play Annie Walker (Perabo), a multilingual CIA trainee unexpectedly plucked from obscurity to be a field operative. But she realizes the CIA may have promoted her less for her great linguistic skills and more for her mysterious ex-boyfriend, who is of particular interest to her agency bosses.
The cast includes the artist formerly known as Cutthroat Bitch on House Anne Dudek (as Annie’s sister), former Ugly Betty cutie Christopher Gorham (as a blind CIA intelligence officer), The O.C. dad Peter Gallagher (as the CIA Director of Clandestine Services ) and Invasion‘s Kari Matchett (as his wife).
USA president of original programming Jeff Wachtel said Covert Affairs should “push the envelope” and is “in some ways is the most ambitious show that we’ve undertaken. The story is bigger, the production values are bigger, and the ensemble too is a little bigger than our other shows.”
The series doesn’t have a start date yet, but it should premiere in either the summer or fall. A lesbian favorite for her roles as Lena Headey romancer in Imagine Me and You, boarding school brooder in Lost and Delirious and midriff revealer in Coyote Ugly, Piper has a perpetually winsome quality to her. So it’ll be interesting to see her add kick-ass spy to that repertoire.
So, are you excited to see Piper get covert? And, USA, how about bringing Lena to guest star for an affair? Hey, just a suggestion.
