When HBO’s “Six Feet Under” wrapped in 2005, Peter Krause was happy to put his character from that show, Nate Fisher, behind him.
“One awful thing after another happened to Nate,” said Krause (rhymes with “wowza”). “It was difficult to want to continue to live that life alongside my own. … It’s hard on you.”
That didn’t dissuade “Six Feet Under” writer Craig Wright, who hammered away at Krause to commit to another series.
“I told him that if I did do something, I’d want to do something that was ultimately more heroic than Nate Fisher,” said Krause, 42. “The complicated anti-hero is not something I needed to explore again.”
The result is “Dirty Sexy Money,” in which Krause is the moral compass on a show that features a filthy rich New York family, the Darlings, who get caught up in all sorts of messes of their own making. And then buy their way out of them.
In the show, which debuts Wednesday on ABC, Krause is Nick George, the kind of lawyer who takes on no-pay cases for nuns and orphans. It’s his way of not turning into his father, who spent his career serving as the Darlings’ family attorney — and serving them far more than he did his own family.
As the series opens, Nick’s dad dies in a plane crash, and the Darling family patriarch (played by Donald Sutherland) tries to woo Nick into taking over Daddy’s role by promising him millions above and beyond his salary to invest, as he wishes, in charitable causes.
“There is a Faustian element to Nick’s journey,” Krause said. “It’s an opportunity to play someone who is trying to do the right thing, but is tempted by wealth.”
Dirty Sexy Money
9 p.m. on ABC
