The Line of Fire Cast Serves Justice in Exclusive EW Cover Portraits

Most families argue about who does the dishes. The Hollingsworths argue about jurisdiction. In NBC's new drama "Line of Fire," created by Joshua Safran, one family is scattered across the Secret Service, the Department of Justice, the FBI and the U.S. Marshals — which means every dinner table conversation is technically a multi-agency briefing, and every case has a way of coming home.

At the center are Hope Davis as matriarch Jane Hollingsworth and Peter Krause as Mike, parents whose children followed them into law enforcement and now outrank, undercut and occasionally arrest each other's suspects. The ensemble also includes Kat Cunning as Clare, Tommy O'Brien as Micah and Taylor Bloom as Russell — siblings whose loyalties are constantly split between the badge and the last name.

Krause has his own shorthand for the show's tone: "Parenthood packing heat." It's a joke, but it's also a thesis. The series wants the warmth and needling humor of a family drama, then drops it into shootouts, surveillance vans and conspiracies that stretch further up the chain of command than anyone in the house is comfortable admitting.

Safran's pitch is a little more mischievous: "Procedural Gossip Girl." There are weekly cases to close, but the pleasure is in the whispers — who told whom, which sibling withheld a file, which parent quietly pulled a string. The conspiracy plot runs underneath the case-of-the-week structure, so the show can deliver a satisfying arrest and still leave the family more suspicious of one another than they were at the top of the hour.

For EW's exclusive cover portraits, the cast leaned into that duality: sharp suits, easy smiles, and the sense that everyone in frame is keeping something from someone else in frame. Davis and Krause pose like a couple who have survived decades of secrets; the younger Hollingsworths look like they're already drafting their own.

"Line of Fire" premieres September 21 on NBC.