Netflix Reveals Star-Studded Cast for ‘The Roman’ Vegas Casino Drama Series

^{Golden Globe-winning actor Oscar Isaac (left) and influential filmmaker Martin Scorsese (right) are the executive producers of Netflix's new casino drama "The Roman."  (Photos: Imagespace / Alamy Live News, Erik Pendzich / Alamy)}

Las Vegas will once again serve as a cinematic backdrop for Netflix’s "The Roman", featuring stars like Oscar Isaac, Betty Gilpin, Alec Baldwin, and David Constabile. Brian Koppelman and David Levien, the masterminds from Billions, will bring us an eight-episode drama series set in the high-stakes world of a modern casino.

Shalom Brune-Franklin and Jimmy O. Yang are the latest additions to the series this week, bringing the show's ensemble closer to a fuller picture of what to expect from the highly anticipated drama.

A release date for "The Roman" hasn’t been announced yet, but with this much talent aboard, betting’s looking good.

A Cast of A-Listers Taking Over Sin City

Isaac leads the show as Robert “Bobby Red” Redman, the president of the number-one hotel-casino in Sin City. Isaac is best known as Poe Dameron in the Star Wars sequel trilogy and also recently starred in Guillermo del Toro’s Academy Award-winning version of Frankenstein.

The ensemble around Isaac is exactly what you'd want for a show set in the world of high-stakes Las Vegas casinos. Betty Gilpin, best known for the series "GLOW," plays Marla Blake, the wife of Isaac's Bobby Red and a high-powered Vegas attorney. Alec Baldwin joins the cast as Paul “Primo” Clark, a father figure to Isaac's character, and David Constabile from Breaking Bad plays Bill Saverick, an operator of a competing casino. 

The cast has continued to grow, with two additions announced this week. Shalom Brune-Franklin joins as Jessica Christine "JC" Griffin, described as “an alert and ambitious rising star at the casino” who works as a host managing the property's high rollers. Actor and comedian Jimmy O. Yang will play Rich Tzu, a rival executive to Isaac's Bobby Red. 

Both are strong additions to what was already a stacked lineup. Brune-Franklin is coming off a major role in HBO's Dune: Prophecy, which has been renewed for a second season, and Yang just performed a couple of shows at the Encore Theater at Wynn Las Vegas back in April.

Koppelman, Levien, and Scorsese's Vegas Movie History

Koppelman and Levien will add to their Vegas filmography with the show's debut. The two have a long history of writing about both poker and Vegas, starting with the film "Rounders," starring Matt Damon and Ed Norton, which has since become a cult classic. They later co-wrote "Ocean's Thirteen," a canon in the caper and heist oeuvre. Their 2016 TV show "Billions" showed they could sustain a world of money and power across multiple seasons, so "The Roman" should fit in nicely with that collection.

Martin Scorsese ups the ante by executive producing "The Roman" alongside Isaac. His 1995 film "Casino" remains one of the most definitive portrayals of Las Vegas put on screen to this day.

The city of Las Vegas is no stranger to the TV and film worlds, being featured in hit movies such as the Hangover and Think Like a Man Too, along with the TV series "Las Vegas" with James Caan and Josh Duhamel and HBO Max’s comedy series Hacks.