Wednesday, June 12, 2013

TV News - 'The Strain,' 'Untitled Andrew Gurland Comedy,' 'Tyrant' & 'Horizon'

        Wednesday, June 12 - Lauren Lee Smith (CSI) has joined the cast of the FX drama pilot The Strain starring Corey Stoll. She will play Kelly Goodweather, Ephraim's (Stoll) ex-wife. After winning a bitter custody battle, she embarks on a new life with her boyfriend but when she fails to heed her husband's warning about the contagion spreading in Manhattan, she pays the ultimate price.

Brett Gelman (Go On) and Jenny Slate (Saturday Night Live) have been cast on the untitled FX comedy pilot from Andrew Gurland and starring Nat Faxon and Judy Greer. Gelman will play AJ, Russ' (Faxon) close friend and an intense, recently divorced guy. Slate will play Jess, Russ' best friend and a petite ex-party girl who is now married to a much older guy.

David Yates (Harry Potter) has signed on to direct the high-profile FX drama pilot Tyrant from Homeland executive producers Howard Gordon and Gideon Raff and Six Feet Under alum Craig Wright. Tyrant tells the story of an unassuming American family drawn into the workings of a turbulent Middle Eastern nation. The pilot will film in Morocco. Yates replaces Ang Lee who originally signed on to direct but pulled out last month for personal reasons.

Yves Simoneau (The 4400) has been tapped to direct the USA drama pilot Horizon from Bridget Tyler and The Walking Dead executive producer Gale Anne Hurd. Set during the height of World War II, Horizon centers on a female secretary at the FBI who begins a secretive investigation into files that have been stamped with the codename "horizon." The mysterious project provides links to the death of her husband and the disappearance of a young girl, and has also - unbeknownst to her - aroused the interest of undercover Nazi spies working in the U.S.