INDIANAPOLIS — Known for creating "Scrubs" and co-creating "Ted Lasso" and "Shrinking," TV producer Bill Lawrence's next series is a self-described passion project of adapting Carl Hiaasen's 2013 book, "Bad Monkey."
A former detective (Vince Vaughn), who is now a health inspector in southern Florida, might have found his way back into the police department when a human arm is fished up by tourists. But solving the case won't be as easy as it seems.
"In order to get his old job back, he is really trying to figure his way around a bunch of shady cast of characters that he meets along the way," said Michelle Monaghan ("Gone Baby Gone," "True Detective"), who plays Bonnie, the on-again off-again girlfriend of Vaughn's character with a mysterious past.
Adapting the book, Lawrence sought to be as faithful to the source material as possible, which required getting creative.
"When we first got through it, the one thing that we were bummed out about was we didn't know if it needed narration or not, but we aren't able to get enough of Carl's lines and comedy outside of the dialogue into the show," Lawrence said. "The show's so Florida, and we hired a local Florida actor to be the fisherman, who's the narrator. We were like, 'What if we used him as the voice of Carl Hiaasen?' I would say 60% of his lines are right out of the book."
With nine seasons as the protagonist of "Scrubs," Zach Braff ("Garden State") is reuniting with Lawrence in a scene-stealing, guest-starring role in "Bad Monkey."
"We have the same taste, and he's been such a champion of mine. I really was honored he asked me to do this," Braff said.
Also in the cast is Lawrence's daughter, singer-songwriter Charlotte Lawrence, in her first-ever acting role as the estranged daughter of the missing man whose arm is found.
"I'm so lucky. I feel so blessed," Charlotte said. "I very much so recognized the opportunity that was given to me and how rare it is that I'm able to do this and pursue this big of a project for the first ever thing I've done."
PHOTOS: Cast of "Bad Monkey"
To get help in solving the case, Vaughn's character goes to the Miami-Dade County Coroner's Office, where he meets the assistant coroner, played by Natalie Martinez ("Ordinary Joe," "Under the Dome").
"We had a coroner on set that helped guide me with how we hold certain tools and what do we do with the procedures so it actually looks like I knew what I was doing," Martinez said. "I think it's really amazing because I was talking to her, and it's a job for them at the end of the day, but from us looking in, it's like, 'How can you take a murder to a child? It's very dark.' But here she is, listening to music, eating food, writing down notes of what happened — you have to separate yourself from those things."
And if you're wondering about the title, yes, an incorrigible capuchin monkey is one of the cast members alongside a Bahamian fisherman, played by Ronald Peet ("The I-Land," "Partner Track").
"He's just hanging out, minding his own business until a developer comes and upends his whole existence by selling his home from under him and destroying the ecology of the Bahamas that's very important to him," Peet said of his character. "In trying to seek some kind of justice for that, my character ends up teaming up with Vince Vaugh's Yancy character, who is also seeking justice in a different way."
The ensemble cast also includes Jodie Turner-Smith ("Queen & Slim," "After Yang") Rob Delaney ("Catastrophe," "Deadpool 2") and Meredith Hagner ("Vacation Friends," "Search Party").
"It's really a pinch-me moment," Hagner, who plays the widow of the man whose arm is found, said on working with this cast. "These are hour-long (episodes), and it's a dark comedy – it's kind of hard to box in – so we get more time in the scenes. It's 'actor heaven' to be looking across at Vince Vaughn and having these long scenes together."
New episodes of "Bad Monkey" are released Wednesdays on Apple TV+ through Oct. 9.