Ruben Santiago Hudson is heading East…

The 65-year-old half-Puerto Rican actor, playwright and director has been cast as a series regular opposite Amanda Warren in the CBS drama pilot East New York.

In East New York, co-written by William Finkelstein and Mike Flynn, Regina Haywood (Warren) is the newly promoted deputy inspector of East New York, an impoverished, working-class neighborhood at the eastern edge of Brooklyn. She leads a diverse group of officers and detectives, some of whom are reluctant to deploy her creative methods of serving and protecting during the midst of social upheaval and the early seeds of gentrification.

Hudson will play Marvin Sandeford, who could have become a boss or a detective, but he never wanted to be anything but a street cop. He’s very opinionated and given to quick, intractable judgments, but not without compassion. No one knows as much about East New York as he does.

Finkelstein and Flynn executive produce with Mike Robin of Skyemac Productions, Christine Holder and Mark Holder of Wonder Street. Andrew Maher of Skyemac is co-executive producing. Warner Bros. Television is the studio.

Hudson is a two-time Tony Award winner and star/writer/director of Lackawanna Blues on Broadway. He also write Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom.