Memory of a Killer undergoes major shake-up as new showrunners step in for Patrick Dempsey’s Fox drama - Here's all about it

Fox’s Memory of a Killer is seeing a major creative shift, with Aaron Zelman (Criminal Minds) and Glenn Kessler (Bloodline) stepping in as the new co-showrunners. The 10-episode series stars Patrick Dempsey in the lead role and was given a straight-to-series order in May.

Zelman and Kessler replace the previous showrunners, Emerald City writer David Schulner and British writers Ed Whitmore & Tracey Malone.

Reportedly, the production of Memory of a Killer has paused filming to work on new scripts. However, this creative change will not affect the production timeline and the show will make its scheduled debut in January 2026. Deadline reported that additional scenes will be written for the completed episodes and the writing process is underway.

More on this in our story.

Memory of a Killer undergoes a showrunner change before the series premiere

Memory of a Killer is inspired by the 2003 Belgian film De Zaak Alzheimer. According to IMDB, the official synopsis for the series reads as follows:

Angelo lives a double life as an assassin and a family man - which all worked out well until he was hit with early onset Alzheimer's. Now his worlds are colliding, putting his family in danger.

Patrick Dempsey plays the lead character of Angelo Ledda, a hitman who lives a double life. However, his dual identity is threatened when he is diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer's. The series will follow Angelo as he handles his new diagnosis, while maintaining his dual identity and facade in front of his family.

In addition to Dempsey, the cast of Memory of a Killer includes Michael Imperioli as Dutch, Angelo's best friend, a chef by profession, whose restaurant is a front for a criminal enterprise, Richard Harmon as Joe, a hitman, Gina Torres as Special Agent Linda Grant, Odeya Rush as Maria, Angelo’s daughter, Peter Gadiot as Dave, a police detective and Daniel David Stewart as Jeff, Maria’s husband.

According to Deadline, Kessler was already working on the Fox project with star Dempsey as a consultant and character developer. However, when Fox approached Zelman to serve as the new showrunner, he asked to share the position with Kessler, which led to his promotion.

Zelman has previously worked with Kessler on Netflix's Bloodline and FX's Damages. Zelman's brother and writer-producer Daniel Zelman created FX's Damages and Netflix's Bloodline with Kessler and his brother Todd A. Kessler. Their working history and relationship are likely why Zelman asked to share the showrunner duties (for Memory of a Killer) with Kessler.

The duo also shared the Outstanding Drama Series Emmy nomination for Damages in 2009, proving why this creative change could work for the Fox project.

In addition to Zelman and Kessler, the project is also executive produced by Whitmore, Malone, Schulner, Dempsey, Cathy Schulman, Arthur Sarkissian, Martin Campbell and Peter Bouckaert of Eyeworks.

While Fox has not yet set an exact release date for Memory of a Killer, it will be released in January 2026.

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