‘RJ Decker’ Brings ABC to Wilmington With a Quirky New Crime Drama

Scott Speedman leads ABC’s new Carl Hiaasen-inspired crime drama, the latest network series filmed in the Wilmington area.

ABC’s new series RJ Decker has given the Wilmington region another turn in prime time. The show premiered on March 3, 2026, making it the latest nationally broadcast series shot in the Cape Fear area. For local film fans, that alone is notable. Wilmington has a long screen legacy, but every new network project still matters. It keeps the region visible. It keeps crews working. And it reminds the industry that southeastern North Carolina remains a reliable place to produce television and film.

Where does the show RJ Decker take place?

This time, Wilmington, North Carolina was asked to do what it has done so often before: stand in for somewhere else.

In RJ Decker, Southeastern North Carolina helps evoke South Florida, the sun-baked setting of a crime drama built around eccentric characters, offbeat cases, and a private investigator trying to put his life back together. The series stars Scott Speedman (known for Felicity) as R.J. Decker, a former newspaper photographer whose life has fallen apart. After serving time in prison, Decker resurfaces as a private investigator. He is not polished. He is not especially stable. And he is not stepping into a clean second act. Instead, he lands in a world filled with strange cases, messy personal baggage, and the kind of characters who seem just as likely to complicate his life as help him. That premise gives the show a slightly different feel from the average network crime drama, even though RJ Decker still works in a familiar television lane. It has weekly investigations, a damaged lead, and the promise of ongoing personal drama. But it also leans into a more playful tone. The stories are odd. The people are weird. And the series appears more interested in personality and atmosphere than in presenting itself as a grim, prestige-minded crime thriller. That tone makes sense once you look at the show’s roots. RJ Decker is inspired by Carl Hiaasen’s 1987 novel Double Whammy. Hiaasen’s work has long occupied its own corner of crime fiction. His stories mix corruption, absurdity, Florida culture, and dark comedy in a way that rarely feels conventional. That influence seems to carry into the ABC adaptation. Rather than flattening the material into a standard cop show, the series appears to preserve at least some of the eccentric energy that made the source material memorable in the first place.

For the Wilmington-area, the Show's Production May Be as Satisfying as the Storyline

Local reports tied the series to Wilmington, Carolina Beach, Fort Fisher, and Wrightsville Beach, with production using both local stages and real locations. Earlier pilot filming also took place in the area. In other words, the show was not just passing through for a few exterior shots. The Cape Fear region was part of the series’ core production footprint.

This is the kind of project Wilmington wants to keep attracting. Television series bring a different kind of economic value than one-off film shoots. They can stay longer. They can hire deeper. And they can give local crews steadier work over a longer stretch of time.

The size of RJ Decker reflected that. The first season was approved for up to $11.6 million through the North Carolina Film and Entertainment Grant, a sign that state officials viewed it as a meaningful production for the region. That support also underscores a larger point: Wilmington may no longer dominate the production conversation the way it once did, but it still has the infrastructure, crew depth, and coastal range to compete for major television work.

Speedman himself has spoken about the challenge of making coastal North Carolina pass for South Florida. In interviews, he noted that the show films primarily in Wilmington, even as it tries to sell the look and feel of South Florida. That is not always easy, especially since production began in the fall, when Wilmington was much cooler than the summer heat the show is meant to suggest. Still, Wilmington has been doubling for other places for decades.

Early Response is Encouraging

Critics have generally treated RJ Decker as a solid, likable entry in the network crime field. The consensus is not that ABC has delivered a revolutionary new drama, but that it has enough charm, confidence, and tonal flexibility to rise above the usual formula. Reviewers have pointed to its lighter touch, its character chemistry, and its willingness to be a little strange. That may be its biggest asset. At a time when so many crime series aim for maximum darkness and self-importance, RJ Decker seems more comfortable to just be entertaining.

Audience reaction appears positive as well, though it is still early. Viewer feedback has not yet reached the kind of volume that settles a show’s reputation. But the initial response suggests the series is finding an audience among people who like detective stories with a little more personality and a little less heaviness.

Whether that translates into a long run is another question. Broadcast television is still a tough place to launch anything new. A decent critical reception does not always guarantee staying power. Still, the show has already done something meaningful for the Wilmington region. It has put the area back on network television and reminded the industry that the Cape Fear coast remains one of the country’s most versatile production backdrops.

For Wilmington, that may be the headline that matters most.

For ABC, the next question is whether viewers keep coming back.

New episodes of RJ Decker air Tuesdays at 10pm on ABC and stream the next day on Hulu.