Exclusive Backstrom Video: Meet the Show's "Assemblage of Misfits"

What if Dr. Gregory House was a police detective in the Pacific Northwest? That's the question Fox's new drama Backstrom seems to be asking.

The series, created by Bones mastermind Hart Hanson, stars The Office's Rainn Wilson as the titular cop, an irascible curmudgeon who's returning to work after a medical leave. "He's a self-destructive mess," Wilson says of his character in the exclusive sneak peek video below. "He just happens to be the most brilliant detective on the Portland police force."

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Unfortunately, there are a number of others who have to put up with Backstrom's idiosyncrasies. "It's kind of a ragtag, hodgepodge assemblage of misfits," Wilson says of Backstom's second-in-command Nicole Gravely ( Genevieve Angelson), the devout veteran John Almond (Dennis Haysbert) and Backtrom's nemesis Peter Niedermayer (Kristoffer Polaha).

Check out the video below to learn more about those characters and the rest of the supporting cast.

Backstrom premieres thursday, Jan. 22 at 9/8c on Fox.