Wednesday, May 22, 2013

TV News - 'Broad City,' 'The Strain,' 'Pretty Little Liars,' 'American Horror Story: Coven,' 'Quarry' & 'Homeland'

        Wednesday, May 10 - Comedian/writer Hannibal Buress (30 Rock) has signed a development deal with Comedy Central which will include a pilot commitment for a project Buress will executive produce as well as a recurring role on the network's upcoming new series Broad City.

Jonathan Hyde (Titanic), Richard Sammel (Inglourious Basterds) and Mía Maestro (Alias) have joined the cast of the FX drama pilot The Strain starring Corey Stoll. Hyde will play Eldritch Palmer, an elderly tycoon who's the third richest man in the world who has been an invalid since children but has developed a relentless drive to attain immortality by any means necessary. Sammel will play Thomas Eichorst, a mysterious figure from Profess Abraham Setrakian's past whose re-emergence in New York is not a coincidence. Maestro will play the female lead role of Dr. Nora Martinez, a brilliant biochemist who serves as Eph's (Stoll) No. 2. They finish each other's sentences and ultimately stumble into an affair. She's caring more about people than the diseases that threaten them but will soon be forced to embrace a new identity as a ruthless warrior.

Rumer Willis (90210) will guest star on a late July episode of ABC Family's Pretty Little Liars. She will play Zoe, an organizer of a worldwide charity who is the type of girl who can change the world and keep her sense of humor at the same time.

Emma Roberts - who played the leading role in the failed FOX drama pilot Delirium - is joining the cast of the upcoming third installment of FX's American Horror Story dubbed Coven. She will play Madison, a self-involved party girl. She joins Kathy Bates, Angela Bassett, Patti LuPone and Gabourey Sidibe as new blood for the anthology series as well as returning faces Jessica Lange, Evan Peters, Sarah Paulson, Taissa Farmiga, Frances Conroy and Lily Rabe.

Logan Marshall-Green (Prometheus) has landed the starring role on the Cinemax drama pilot Quarry based on the book by Max Allan Collins. The project revolves around a Marine sniper (Marshall-Green) who returns home from Vietnam in 1973 to find that he's been shunned by those he loves and demonized in public. Combat-hardened and disillusioned, he's recruited into a network of contract killers and corruption spanning the length of the Mississippi River.

Production on season three of Showtime's Homeland is underway and the series has announced a slew of guest stars for the upcoming fall season. New faces include David Aaron Baker (Boardwalk Empire) as Dr. Harlan, an assessment shrink who will meet with the CIA survivors of the deadly blast in the second season finale; Joanna Merlin (Law & Order: SVU) as Grandma Louis, Jessica's mother; Nazanin Boniadi (How I Met Your Mother) as Fara, a capable analyst despite her young appearance; Amy Morton (Boss) as Erin Kimball, Carrie's CIA appointed attorney; Gary Wilmes (Louie) as Dr. Richardson, a psychiatrist helping Dana cope with recent events; Sam Underwood (The Last Keepers) as Leo, a new friend of Dana's with a troubled past; Tracy Letts (Prison Break) as Senator Andrew Lockhart, the committee chairman investigating the attack; Lawrence Clayton (Dreamgirls) as Admiral Jim Pennington, the president's national security advisor; and Pedro Pascal (Graceland) as Majority Counsel David Portillo, a member of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.