EXCLUSIVE: Roslyn Ruff (Lincoln Rhyme: Hunt for the Bone Collector) has been tapped as a lead opposite Neve Campbell in Avalon, ABC’s drama series based on Michael Connelly’s short story, from David E. Kelley, A+E Studios and 20th Television.

Avalon, which received a straight-to-series order from ABC, takes place in the city of Avalon on Catalina Island, where L.A. Sheriff’s Department Detective Nicole “Nic” Searcy (Campbell) heads up a small office. Catalina has a local population that serves more than 1 million tourists a year, and each day when the ferries arrive, hundreds of potential new stories enter the island. Detective Searcy is pulled into a career-defining mystery that will challenge everything she knows about herself and the island.

Ruff will play Lena, a police administrative dispatcher, “gatekeeper and grand guardian of perspective.” She’s unflappable, always a voice of reason. Self-reliant, very spiritual, independent, she is not in a relationship but gives the best relationship advice.

In addition to Campbell, she joins fellow series regular, series’ male lead Steven Pasquale.

Avalon is created and executive produced by Kelley, who wrote the pilot episode, and Connelly. Dana Calvo executive produces with Ross Fineman of Fineman Entertainment and Barry Jossen & Tana Jamieson for A+E Studios and Matthew Tinker for DEK Productions. The series is produced by A+E Studios and 20th Television.

Ruff is coming off a starring run in Lincoln Center’s Tony-nominated Broadway production of The Skin Of Our Teeth. In TV, she has been recurring in both CBS’s Blue Bloods and Epix’s The Godfather of Harlem. She previously starred alongside Russell Hornsby in NBC’s Lincoln Rhyme: Hunt for the Bone Collector. Ruff is repped by Gersh.