Mr. Natural: Robert De Niro to Lead Crime Drama Series

According to Variety, Oscar winner Robert De Niro has officially boarded Entertainment One’s forthcoming crime drama series titled Mr. Natural. De Niro is set to portray the titular leading role of Louis Baron, an ex-convict who goes to Palm Springs to enact his dangerous plans. The project currently has no platform attached to it yet.

This marks De Niro’s second major TV project within the month, as he recently signed on for Netflix’s political thriller miniseries Zero Day. Both projects would be De Niro’s first series regular roles after only appearing in movies for most of his career.

Mr. Natural is created and executive produced by Mitch Glazer. In addition to starring, De Niro will also serve as an executive producer along with John Linson.

“The series follows Louis ‘Mr. Natural’ Baron (De Niro), who, fresh off a 30-year stint in federal prison, hits Palm Springs driven by a dream to reunite with his stolen family and a dangerous scheme to grab a taste of the Salton Sea’s lithium billions,” reads the logline. “There will be blood in the sand and bones in the desert. Palm Springs will never be the same.”

De Niro’s first venture into scripted TV drama was the 2017 TV film The Wizard of Lies. For his leading performance as Bernie Madoff in the HBO biopic, he earned an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series or Movie.