Josh Radnor, Mary Elizabeth Winstead and Gary Cole join drama 'Mercy Street'

ARLINGTON, Va., April 29 (UPI) -- PBS is to produce its first American drama in more than a decade and television stars Josh Radnor (How I Met Your Mother), Mary Elizabeth Winstead (The Returned) and Gary Cole (The Good Wife) will lead the way.

Mercy Street is planned to be a six-part series following those working in a Virginia hospital during the Civil War.

According to a press release, Winstead will play Nurse Mary Phinney, a New Englander who is new to the Mansion House Hospital while Radnor plays affluent Southern surgeon Jedediah Foster. Cole will be on screen as James Green, Sr., a patriarch struggling to maintain his family's dwindling reputation.

"It's an honor to be able to tell the exciting stories of real experiences and struggles of the war," says Chief Programming Executive and General Manager Beth Hoppe. "I know this talented and diverse cast and crew will be able to bring Mercy Street to life on screen. We will tell the story of what it was like in Alexandria, Virginia -- the crossroads of the Civil War -- by delving into the multifaceted lives of those in the hospital wards."

The series will be directed by Roxann Dawson (Agents of Shield) and Jeremy Webb (Turn) and filmed on-location in Virginia. It is scheduled to join PBS' Sunday night lineup in winter 2016.