Jesse Metcalfe and Josh Henderson: Real First Cousins in "Dallas" Reboot

Actor Jesse Metcalfe is the latest addition to the TNT reboot of the popular 1980s night-time soap, "Dallas." The 32-year-old actor has been given the role of Christopher Ewing, the adopted son of Bobby Ewing (Patrick Duffy) and his wife, Pamela (Victoria Principal).

Tall, dark and handsome Jesse, described in John Tucker Must Die (2006) as a cross between "an Abercrombie model and a Greek god ," is a great choice to play the cousin of John Ross Ewing III, particularly since that role has gone to tall, dark and handsome Josh Henderson. The two actors are actually 5' 10" and 5' 11" respectively and they really do look like they could be cousins. Jesse is 32 years old and Josh is 29. In the Ewing family saga, John Ross III is actually older than Christopher, but who is going to care about these little details with these two gorgeous hunks playing cousins fighting over the Southfork cook's daughter?

In case you do care, here is a little of the Ewing cousins' backstory :

John Ross Ewing III was about to be born at the end of the very first season of Dallas. His mother, Sue-Ellen Ewing (Linda Gray) believed she was carrying the child of Cliff Barnes (Ken Kercheval), her husband, J.R.'s nemesis and arch-rival. Sue-Ellen was sent to a sanitarium to both prevent her from drinking and cure her, but she escapes and gets in a car accident. She goes into premature labor and the season ended with the suspense of whether she and her child would survive.

In Season 2, the question of whether J.R. or Cliff was the baby's father was resolved by a paternity test. J.R. (Larry Hagman) was really happy to have a son, his first-born (not really, but at that point, he thought so). While initially happy that Sue-Ellen survived the crash as well, the couple soon fell back into destructive patterns and their relationship continued to deteriorate.

Two seasons later, Bobby Ewing and Pam wanted to adopt Christopher. Sue-Ellen found out what Bobby already knew: Christopher is really her own sister's child. Sue-Ellen's sister, Kristin, had an affair with J.R. and claimed to be pregnant by him. Kristin (Mary Crosby) was also the one "who shot J.R." She died at the end of Season 3 in the South Fork swimming pool. So everyone is thinking that Christopher's real father is J.R. except Pam, who doesn't know anything. Bobby and Pam adopted Christopher in Season 4, but the adoption didn't become official until Season 5. The ever-dastardly J.R. found out what was going on and, believing himself to be Christopher's father, began blackmailing Bobby. It was eventually revealed that J.R. was not Christopher's father but Christopher is still John Ross's first cousin by virtue of being Sue-Ellen's blood nephew.

John Ross and Christopher are hardly the only Southfork cousins. J.R. had two other boys, one older and one younger than John Ross. Bobby had a son named Lucas, adopted by his half-brother, Ray Krebbs (Steve Kanaly).

It will be interesting to see how the creators of the "Dallas" reboot deal with these events from the past. Since some of the original stars, Larry Hagman, Patrick Duffy and Linda Gray, will be returning at least in the pilot, some of it is bound to be written in with the older generation telling it, and some of it could be shown by flashback later on.

With Jesse Metcalfe and Josh Henderson on board, and Jordana Brewster playing the part of Elena, the cook's daughter, it's much more likely they will be able to produce enough suspense and drama to create a whole new generation of "Dallas" fans, who may have never even watched the original series.

It's also been announced that actress, Julie Gonzalo will be playing the role of Christopher's fiancee, Rebecca. Well, at least he'll have someone to marry if John Ross gets the cook's daughter.

Sources:
Wikipedia: Dallas Episode List
Deadline.Com : TNT's Dallas Reboot Adds Jesse Metcalfe and Julie Gonzalo