Blair Underwood playing president in NBC thriller

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Blair Underwood will play the U.S. president on NBC's drama pilot "The Event."
A thriller chronicled from multiple points of view, "The Event" centers on a regular man (Jason Ritter) untangling a conspiracy to assassinate the president.

The president was originally envisioned as "a poised Hispanic JFK" by writer Nick Wauters, before Barack Obama's 2008 election.
Underwood, who is about the same age as Obama, was a supporter of the former Illinois Senator in his presidential campaign and spoke at several Obama rallies.
This is the second black president on a major U.S. TV series following Dennis Haysbert's turn on the first season of Fox's "24." Underwood most recently co-starred on ABC's "Dirty Sexy Money."