Donald Sutherland's son Rossif reveals why he's dedicating new show Murder in a Small Town to late dad

Rossif Sutherland, son of the late acting legend Donald Sutherland, revealed the touching reason his new Fox series Murder in a Small Town is dedicated to his dad.

"People were asking what they could do to honor dad and, since dad had such an intimate relationship with the birth of this project, I proposed that they dedicate it to him,” Sutherland told Deadline. In the interview, Sutherland revealed that he only learned about his father's 30-plus-year-old attachment to the project after he was cast in the lead role of detective Karl Alberg, a hotshot detective from a big city who comes to the titular small town to help solve crimes.

Series writer and executive producer Ian Weir wrote his first treatment over three decades ago, when the elder Sutherland was attached to star as the story's prime suspect, George.

"Donald was so, so, so very important to the project from its inception," Weir said, "the way the script grew in the early days of development as a future film, and the way the characters grew. I can still hear his voice discussing things in script meetings.”

Murder in a Small Town is an adaptation of a series of detective novels by the late Canadian author L.R. Wright. The so-called "Karl Alberg series" are classic whodunnits that might today be called "cozy mysteries." They're all set in the quaint, Sunshine Coast village of Sechelt, feature a gripping new murder at the heart of each book, and are propelled forward by a charming cast of small-town characters.

When he felt he nailed the audition, Rossif rushed to tell his father. After describing the premise and character, a look of recognition dawned in Donald's eyes.

“It‘s then I found out that he was all too familiar with those books because 30 years ago was when the journey began for him of trying to get a movie version off the ground," Sutherland said. But it never happened.

Weir was initially hired to adapt the first book in the Alberg series, The Suspect, as a film. Though financing never came together, producer Nick Orchard felt that the book "is so good I just felt it had to be made," as he told Coast Reporter in 2023. Thirty odd years later the script found its way to the desk of Jeff Wachtel, who's currently producing the project as a series through his outfit Future Shack.

The elder Sutherland's health became too precarious to bring him into the series in a guest or even cameo role, so the role of George went to Babe star James Cromwell. Smallville's Kristin Kreuk will play Cassandra, the female lead and Alberg's potential love interest. More cast include Stana Katic (Castle), Savonna Spracklin (Wildhood), and Aaron Douglas (Battlestar Galactica).

Donald Sutherland died in June at the age of 88, leaving behind Rossif, son Kiefer Sutherland, wife Francine Racette, three other children, and several grandchildren, including Veep's Sarah Sutherland.

Murder in a Small Town will premiere on Fox on Tuesday, Sept. 24 at 9 p.m. ET.