Scarlett Johansson sets first major TV role with Amazon death row thriller Just Cause

(Image credit: Disney/Marvel)

Scarlett Johansson is set to star in a new Amazon Prime Video series in her first major TV role, Deadline reports. She will also executive produce the limited series along with writer Christy Hall, who's known for her work on the Netflix show I Am Not Okay With This. The series was reportedly involved in a fierce bidding war before Amazon snapped up the project with a straight-to-series order.

Based on the 1992 novel of the same name by John Katzenbach, Just Cause will see Johansson play Madison Cowart, a struggling reporter for a Florida newspaper sent to cover the final days of an inmate on death row. The book's protagonist is a male journalist named Matt.

Coincidentally, Johansson's second-ever film role was in the 1995 movie adaptation of the novel, when she was 10 years old, in which she played the young daughter of the protagonist. In the movie, Matt was changed from a journalist to a Harvard law professor and played by Sean Connery.

Prior to this, Johansson's only forays into TV have been Saturday Night Live and a stint of voice acting on Robot Chicken between 2006 and 2008. As for big screen roles, she can next be seen in Wes Anderson's next movie, Asteroid City, and the Apple TV Plus film Project Artemis, which will also star Channing Tatum.

While we wait for Just Cause to arrive on Prime Video, fill out your watch list with our picks of the other best new TV shows coming our way.