When the Leverage: Redemption launched in 2020, it was without one of its most popular stars.
Timothy Hutton was missing from the cast when the IMDb TV reboot was confirmed.
Now, the star is suing producer Electric Entertainment, saying his contract was breached when he was let go from the series following a report of a sexual assault allegation, according to Variety.
BuzzFeed reported in March 2020 that a woman had gone to the police in Vancouver with a claim that Hutton had raped her in 1983, when she was 14.
The actor denied the allegations, claiming in a statement that Johnston had made “multiple extortion attempts … to extract millions of dollars from me,” and “threatened that if I did not meet her demands, she would go to the press with a false allegation that I sexually assaulted her 37 years ago in Canada.”
At the time of the report, Hutton was locked in to return to the series, but the official cast was announced a month later, with Hutton MIA.
In July 2021, the star was cleared by Canadian law enforcement due to a lack of “support and proof of Ms. Johnston’s claim.”
Hutton claims that Electric Entertainment did not independently investigate the allegation against him.
What’s more, the suit alleges that the company also ignored evidence that his representatives presented.
It also alleges that the company owes him at least $3 million because they have broken the pay-or-play component of his agreement.
The star was in line to make $175,000 per episode of the reboot, and was said to have had the opportunity to direct at least one episode per season.
When the cast was officially announced for the reboot, Noah Wyle was revealed as his replacement.
Leverage: Redemption was a fast hit for the ad-supported streaming service, landing an expanded first season, and subsequently, renewal for a second season.
Beth Riesgraf, Gina Bellman, Christian Kane, and Aldis Hodge returned.
Paul Dailly is the Associate Editor for TV Fanatic. Follow him on Twitter.