Monday, February 22, 2016

Development News - Vanessa Hudgens to Star in 'Powerless'; 'Weeds' Alums Join Charlie Grandy Pilot; Plus 14 More Updates!

Development News - February 22, 2016

ABC's The Death of Eva Sofia ValdezDream Team, Model Woman, Notorious & Untitled Goldberg/Guarascio; Amazon's The Interestings; CBS' The Great Indoors & Untitled O'Shannon/Butler/Hope; The CW's Frequency & Transylvania; FOX's A.P.B. & Recon; FX's Legion; Hulu's Citizen; and NBC's Powerless & Untitled Charlie Grandy


FOX's A.P.B.
  • Reign and Please Like Me star Caitlin Stasey has been cast on the drama pilot written by David Slack. She will play Ada Hamilton, the striking, fiercely intelligent, cynical and tough head of the team of tech troubleshooters brought in by the billionaire taking over the police precinct. She has an iconoclastic, edgy personal style.
ABC's DREAM TEAM
  • Wynn Everett (Agent Carter) has joined the cast of the comedy pilot starring Justin Long. She will play Denise Johnson, a stay-at-home supermom who's determined to see her youngest daughter, Tiffnee, realize her dream and potential as a great soccer player.
ABC's NOTORIOUS
  • Friday Night Lights alum Aimee Teegarden will co-star on the drama pilot starring Daniel Sunjata. She will play Ella Benjamin, book smart and seemingly confident but covering her vulnerability. She is the daughter of a convicted felon and became a lawyer to prove her father's innocence.
THE CW's FREQUENCY
  • Peyton List (The Flash) and Mekhi Phifer (ER) have landed regular roles on the drama pilot written by Jeremy Carver. List will play Raimy, Frank's (Riley Smith) daughter, a detective who finds a way via a ham radio to speak with her father, who died in 1996. Phifer will play Lt. Satch DeLeon, a veteran police officer who was a good friend of Frank's and became a surrogate father to Raimy after Frank's death.
FX's LEGION
  • Amber Midthunder (Banshee) has been cast on the drama pilot starring Dan Stevens. She will play Kerry, a woman of action with a childlike sense of wonder. A true savant, Kerry has lived a sheltered but never dull life.
HULU's CITIZEN
  • Augusto Aguilera (Chasing Life) and Alex Gonzalez (El Principe) have booked lead roles on the drama pilot from Alfonso Gomez-Rejon. Aguilera will play Julio, a small town dreamer in over his head in the deep waters of the Los Angeles underworld. Gonzalez will play Gabriel, the stoic hero who must reconcile a crushing guilt from a tragic past.
NBC's UNTITLED CHARLIE GRANDY PROJECT
  • The untitled comedy pilot written by Charlie Grandy is hosting a Weeds reunion with Kevin Nealon and Elizabeth Perkins set to co-star. Tiya Sircar (The Internship) has also joined the cast today. Nealon will play King Adrian, the somewhat clueless King of Modaria, a sweet guy who would rather his wife wear the pants in the family. Perkins will play Queen Tuesday, the controlling and frosty royal family's queen who is generally displeased with the choices her children have made though she has hope that Princess Jana (Jessie Ennis) will become an item with Prince Harry. Sircar will play Maria, he new maid in the royal household who is smart, strong-willed and likable.
NBC's POWERLESS
  • Grease: Live! star Vanessa Hudgens has been tapped to star in the comedy pilot written by Ben Queen. She will play Emily Locke, an insurance claims adjuster who loves her job because she gets to help people. She likes to fly under the radar and just get her work done. She finds herself increasingly exasperated by the disruptive antics of the various superheroes that proliferate in her city.
CBS' UNTITLED DAN O'SHANNON, ROBYN BUTLER & WAYNE HOPE PROJECT
  • John Carroll Lynch (The Walking Dead) and Swoosie Kurtz (Mike & Molly) have joined the cast of the untitled comedy pilot written by Dan O'Shannon, Robyn Butler and Wayne Hope. Lynch will play Wayne Wheeler, the patriarch of Team Wheeler, a man whose life revolves around his profession and his extended family. Kurtz will play Margaret, Bess' widowed mother who adopted her as a child. She has a sharp tongue and is inclined to use it on her nearest and dearest.
THE CW's TRANSYLVANIA
  • Australian actress Laura Brent (The Chronicles of Narnia) has landed the female lead role on the drama pilot written by Hugh Sterbakov. She will play Victoria, a headstrong young woman in search of her missing father who ventures from New York City to Transylvania where she teams up with a wrongfully disgraced Scotland Yard Detective. Together, they witness the births of the most famous monsters and villains in history.
FOX's RECON
  • Tracy Spiridakos (Revolution, Bates Motel) has booked the lead role on the drama pilot written by Caroline Dries. Alexander Siddig (Game of Thrones) has also been cast today. Spiridakos will play Alexa, a young, driven FBI analyst tasked with embedding herself in a suspected terrorist family. Siddig will play Omar, Alexa's target, a father, husband and devout Muslim who has no idea the FBI has been tracking his every move.
ABC's THE DEATH OF EVA SOFIA VALDEZ
  • Looking alum Raúl Castillo is the first actor cast on the drama pilot written by Charise Castro Smith. He will play Sebastian, Eva Sofia's oldest son.
CBS' THE GREAT INDOORS
  • Shaun Brown (The First Family) will co-star on the comedy pilot starring Joel McHale. He will play Dwayne, Joel's (McHale) new colleague in the magazine's digital department, a hip and obnoxiously peppy "urban outdoorsman" who has actually spent zero time outside.
AMAZON's THE INTERESTINGS
  • Mad Men star Jessica Paré has been cast on the drama pilot written by Lyn Greene and Richard Levine. She will play Cathy, a former dancer who becomes a highly successful, married financier. At one point in the timeline, Cathy and Jules (Lauren Ambrose) have a big confrontation.
ABC's UNTITLED ADAM F. GOLDBERG & DAVID GUARASCIO PROJECT
  • Stephen Schneider (Broad City) is set as the male lead on the untitled comedy pilot written by Adam F. Goldberg and David Guarascio. He will play Ben, an attractive, adorable and quick-witted divorced dad of three who charmingly seduces the full-time bachelorette into falling in love with him.
ABC's MODEL WOMAN
  • Cougar Town alum Dan Byrd has been cast on the drama pilot written by Helen Childress. He will play Lonnie Geiss, Bertie's oldest son, the SVP of Geiss Agency, who makes the trains run on time but longs to prove himself in other ways, and wants to find the next new face.