In a move that is a sigh of relief for Damages fans, FX announced the addition of Campbell Scott and Martin Short (once again... ?!) to the cast of the Glenn Close-starring drama (Comingsoon.net had the scoop here). I wasn't entirely convinced the show was coming back at all after FX President John Landgraf called season two a "ratings disappointment." If you haven't seen the first season of Damages, buy it immediately (click here) or rent it on Netflix. It's amazing. The second season I could take or leave (it's still good), but season one is really quite brilliant.
Campbell Scott is, in my opinion, one of the best and most underutilized actors working today. In addition to directing the totally underrated indie film Off the Map, he's also done great acting in David Mamet's The Spanish Prisoner, Roger Dodger, Saint Ralph and supplies his voice in a superb reading of Tom Perrotta's The Abstinence Teacher, which is one of the finer audio books I've heard (click here to buy it). He's the man, and I think he'll be a great addition to the Damages cast.
Martin Short, on the other hand, I'm not too sure about. Darrell Hammond's absurd presence on last year's season of Damages (check this out) was a huge distraction and there's nothing on Mr. Short's resume to suggest he can handle this cut-throat legal thriller (I double-checked, really there's nothing). I trust the executive producers, I just hope they thoroughly screen tested him. In fact, if they put the screen tests up on youtube, I'll buy it. They probably won't, but it's worth a shot.
Below are a clip from the pilot episode of Damages and then the trailer for Off the Map:
