Golden Globe� Winner Kyra Sedgwick Returns For Third Season of TNT's Hit Crime Drama THE CLOSER, Ad-Supported Cable's #1 Series of All Time

Acclaimed Ensemble Cast Includes Jon Tenney, J.K. Simmons, Corey Reynolds, Robert Gossett, G.W. Bailey, Tony Denison, Raymond Cruz, Michael Paul Chan and Gina Ravera

Season Premiere, Monday, June 18 at 9 p.m. (ET/PT) is Commercial-Free, Sponsored by Toyota

Television's top detective is back on the case this summer as Golden Globe� winner Kyra Sedgwick returns in TNT's THE CLOSER, ad-supported cable's #1 series of all time. THE CLOSER, in which Sedgwick plays an investigator and interrogator with a remarkable talent for trapping criminals in their lies, is set to return Monday, June 18 at 9 p.m. (ET/PT) with a compelling new season of complex cases and outstanding performances. In addition to Sedgwick, THE CLOSER's Screen Actors Guild Award�-nominated ensemble cast is back, including Jon Tenney, J.K. Simmons, Corey Reynolds, Robert Gossett, G.W. Bailey, Tony Denison, Raymond Cruz, Michael Paul Chan and Gina Ravera. The eagerly anticipated third season will kick off with the first episode being presented uninterrupted and commercial-free, sponsored by Toyota.

THE CLOSER comes to TNT from The Shephard/Robin Company in association with Warner Bros. Television and is executive-produced by Greer Shephard (Nip/Tuck, The D.A.), Michael M. Robin (Nip/Tuck, The D.A., NYPD Blue) and James Duff (The D.A., The Agency) and produced by Andrew J. Sacks (The D.A, Adaptation, Two Soliders) with Kyra Sedgwick also serving as producer. Gil Garcetti, Los Angeles district attorney from 1992 to 2000, is a consulting producer.

Sedgwick took home the Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Drama Series this year for her performance as the feminine yet forceful, offbeat yet indomitable CIA-trained Deputy Police Chief Brenda Leigh Johnson, a former Atlanta detective brought to Los Angeles to head a special LAPD unit charged with cracking sensitive, high-profile murder cases. She is an expert at digging into a person's secrets and obtaining confessions, despite constantly struggling with her own imperfections and neuroses.

"When you think about it, Kyra sometimes is playing a character within a character," says Duff. "When Brenda sits down in that interview room, Brenda is herself playing a role. She is turning herself into someone the suspect can talk to. Brenda's a great liar, just like the killers are. And they sit in that room and lie to each other until Brenda gets to the truth."

This season will bring several new challenges for Brenda to face. "Just as Brenda finds her place in the world, a financial crisis at the LAPD rocks the ground under her feet," says Duff in describing the upcoming season. "Her struggle to solve murders on a budget while protecting individual members of her squad from layoffs, transfers and early retirements, endangers her friendships, tests her loyalties and shifts her alliances as she goes about closing each case."

Providing loving support for Brenda, as well as the occasional investigative assistance, is FBI Agent Fritz Howard (Jon Tenney � You Can Count on Me, Get Real). Despite their decision last season to move in together, Fritz's devotion to Brenda continues to be tested by the long hours she spends on the job.

On the professional front, Brenda has a strong ally in her boss, Assistant Police Chief Will Pope (J.K. Simmons � Spider-Man, Law & Order, Oz).

Brenda's team of detectives has become more tightly knit over the past two seasons. Closest to her is Sgt. David Gabriel (Corey Reynolds � The Terminal, Tony nominee for Hairspray), a young detective who serves as her right-hand man and who was one of the first on her squad to be won over by her skills as an investigator and interrogator.

The cantankerous Detective Lt. Provenza (G.W. Bailey � M*A*S*H, St. Elsewhere, Police Academy) and the slick Lt. Andy Flynn (Tony Denison � Melrose Place, The Amy Fisher Story) are two excellent investigators. But they occasionally make bone-headed mistakes, such as failing to report a dead body in Provenza's garage so that they could attend a Dodgers game.

Lt. Mike Tao (Michael Paul Chan � Robbery Homicide Division, The Insider) provides expert technical support for the team, while Detective Julio Sanchez (Raymond Cruz � Collateral Damage, Training Day) is an expert on Los Angeles' gangs. And Detective Irene Daniels (Gina Ravera � The Temptations, Soul Food) frequently sees a case from a perspective her colleagues � including Brenda � miss.

Working another side of the investigative arm of the LAPD is Commander Taylor (Robert Gossett � Arlington Road, The Net), head of the Robbery Homicide Division. While he has in the past been a thorn in Brenda's side, blocking her investigations or interfering with her squad in order to make her look bad, he and Brenda tried to bury the hatchet last season, establishing a better � although not entirely congenial � working relationship.

Ratings for THE CLOSER's first and second seasons combine to rank it as ad-supported cable's #1 original series of all time among viewers and households, according to data from Nielsen Media Research. Last year's second-season launch in June scored ad-supported cable's largest audience delivery ever for an original scripted series telecast, beating its own record set with the premiere episode of season one.

Turner Network Television (TNT), television's destination for drama and one of cable's top-rated networks, offers original movies and series, including the acclaimed detective drama The Closer, starring Golden Globe� winner and Emmy� and Screen Actors Guild Awards� nominee Kyra Sedgwick; Saving Grace, a unique new drama starring Oscar�-winner Holly Hunter; Heartland, a powerful medical drama with Treat Williams and Kari Matchett; and this summer's eagerly anticipated television event The Company, executive-produced by Ridley Scott and starring Chris O'Donnell, Michael Keaton and Alfred Molina. TNT is also home to powerful one-hour dramas, such as Without a Trace, Law & Order, Las Vegas, Cold Case, ER, Charmed and Judging Amy; broadcast premiere movies; compelling prime-time specials, such as the Screen Actors Guild Awards�; and championship sports coverage, including NASCAR and the NBA. TNT is also available in high-definition.

Turner Broadcasting System, Inc., a TimeWarner company, is a major producer of news and entertainment product around the world and the leading provider of programming to the basic cable industry.