Casting News - July 10, 2019
AMC's Untitled Walking Dead Drama; CBS All Access' Tell Me a Story; HBO's Lovecraft Country; Hulu's Reprisal; and Netflix's Bridgerton, Firefly Lane & Untitled Mindy Kaling Comedy.
NETFLIX's FIREFLY LANE
- Katherine Heigl will star in and executive produce the upcoming drama based on the novel by Kristin Hannah. She previously starred for six seasons in ABC's Grey's Anatomy and currently stars in USA's Suits, which returns for its ninth and final season next week.
- She will play Tully, a force of nature: magnetic, ambitious, reckless, and fiercely loyal. Still bearing the scars of a traumatic childhood, she is dogged by inner loneliness, even as she goes on to fabulous fame and fortune as a journalist and talk show host. Her saving grace is her best friend and soulmate, Kate, with whom she shares an unshakable bond.
NETFLIX's UNTITLED MINDY KALING COMEDY
- After an expansive casting call, Toronto newcomer Maitreyi Ramakrishnan will play the lead role on the upcoming comedy co-created by Mindy Kaling loosely based on her childhood.
- She will play Devi, an overachieving high school sophomore who has a short fuse that gets her into difficult situations.
HULU's REPRISAL
- Craig Tate, Wavyy Jonez, Shane Callahan and Rory Cochrane have been cast as series regulars on the upcoming drama starring Abigail Spencer. Tate has previously recurred on NBC's Aquarius and FX's Snowfall. Jonez starred in the USA limited series Unsolved. Callahan has recurred on CBS' Under the Dome, WGN America's Outsiders and BET's American Soul. Cochrane starred for two seasons in CBS' CSI: Miami.
- Tate will play Earl, a former Special Forces operative who runs a landscaping business as a front for his Robin Hood stick-up operation. He teams up with Doris (Spencer) in her quest to take down the Banished Brawlers, and the two bond over their shared traumas.
- Jonez will play Cordell, Earl's cousin and trusted confidant, a war veteran who makes a living robbing criminals. He is recruited by Doris in her quest to take down the Banished Brawlers, and his pragmatism and Special Forces training prove useful.
- Callahan will play Bru, one of the Banished Brawlers, a former River Phoenix and Joel's (Rodrigo Santoro) loyal right-hand man. He oversees the daily operations of the 3 River Phoenixes and the Brawlers.
- Cochrane will play Burt, the charismatic and reclusive leader of the Banished Brawlers. Disgusted by hypocrisy and vice, he left home at a young age to form his own family in the Brawlers but returned to bring his sister Katherine into the fold. His falling out with her propelled her to take revenge on the Brawlers.
CBS ALL ACCESS' TELL ME A STORY
- Danielle Campbell and Carrie-Anne Moss have joined the cast of the anthology series' upcoming second installment. Campbell starred in the first season but will play a new character in the upcoming season. She previously starred for three seasons in The CW's The Originals. Moss recently starred for all three seasons of Netflix's Jessica Jones.
- Campbell will play Olivia. Self-possessed, strong, smart and sly, she left small-town life behind (including her small-town boyfriend) and moved to Nashville to pursue her master's degree in Philosophy and Comparative Literature. But fate has new plans for her, plans which will force her to rely on every ounce of strength, brains and craftiness she's got - simply to survive.
- Moss will play Rebecca, the steely matriarch of the Pruitt family who keeps her emotions firmly in check. After losing her husband over a decade ago in a car crash, she was forced to raise her three children solo, with varying degrees of success. She struggles to find balance between practicality, tough love and actual love - especially with her youngest daughter, Ashley (Natalie Alyn Lind). After years of pouring all her energy into her children, she is ready to start focusing on herself.
NETFLIX's BRIDGERTON
- Phoebe Dynevor, Regé-Jean Page, Golda Rosheuvel, Jonathan Bailey, Luke Newton, Claudia Jessie, Nicola Coughlan, Ruby Barker, Sabrina Bartlett, Ruth Gemmell, Adjoa Andoh and Polly Walker will lead the cast of the upcoming drama created by Chris Van Dusen based on the novels by Julia Quinn.
- Dynevor (Younger) will play Daphne Bridgerton, the picture-perfect young debutante who has been waiting her entire life to make her grand debut on the marriage mart. Poised to be the season of 1813's forthcoming Incomparable, she's set to take the town by storm - but not everything goes exactly as planned for this diamond of the first water, especially after she meets a certain Duke.
- Page (For the People) will play Simon Basset, the Duke of Hastings. Having newly returned to London, he finds himself the primary topic of conversation amongst marriage-minded misses and ambitious mamas alike. Yet, for reasons of his own, our devastating Duke has zero interest in his title, society, or taking a wife.
- Rosheuvel (Silent Witness) will play Queen Charlotte, the veritable tastemaker of London society. She finds herself living for the sordid gossip that Lady Whistledown (Julie Andrews) prints, though she'd swear she's above such mundane musings. It's only when the ton's newest gossip writer takes aim at the palace that Queen Charlotte knows she must do something about it.
- Bailey (Broadchurch) will play Anthony Bridgerton, the quintessential English nobleman, the eldest Bridgerton sibling and dutiful head of the family since assuming his late father's title of Viscount. Endlessly handsome, charming and rich, he's quite the catch on this year's marriage mart. But if he has any hope of fulfilling his oftentimes overwhelming duty of marrying and producing an heir, he must first learn to temper his pursuit of pleasure.
- Newton (The Lodge) will play Colin Bridgerton, a dashing gentleman used to disarming his fellow society members with good-natured jokes, though a serious sense of adventure lurks behind those swoon-worthy eyes. He takes a liking to the newest young lady in town - but it's this infatuation that winds up giving him more than he may have bargained for.
- Jessie (Vanity Fair) will play Eloise Bridgerton. Whip-smart, brazen and rebellious, she is definitely not here for turning into just another young simpering and mincing debutante. She believes she's destined for something much greater, though she's quite rapidly approaching marriageable age.
- Coughlan (Derry Girls) will play Penelope Featherington, a vastly intelligent girl with a sharp wit and kind heart. She would prefer to quietly sway near the perimeter of any ballroom rather than take center stage. She's been born into a family who will never truly understand her - as if dealing with the cutthroat, mean girls of 1813 Regency London weren't enough.
- Barker (Wolfblood) will play Marina Thompson. Having been sent from the country to live with her cousins, the Featheringtons, she never imagined being a part of London society. Yet the arrival of this resourceful young lady seems to make more than just a splash in our glittering, exclusive world.
- Bartlett (Knightfall) will play Siena Rosso, the beautiful, captivating and enterprising opera singer who's having a secret affair with a prominent lord. Fun and a bit impetuous, she secretly longs to be part of our town's world.
- Gemmell (Penny Dreadful) will play Lady Violet Bridgerton, the family matriarch. All warmth, wisdom and love, she manages to treat everyone with unmatched kindness and respect. But don't mistake her compassion for weakness - as she's an impressive match for anyone who dares come close to interfering with her family. She'd like nothing more than for her children to marry - not for convenience or opportunity, but for love.
- Andoh (Thunderbirds Are a Go) will play Lady Danbury, the legendary, acerbic, lioness of a dowager who runs this town. Unconcerned with the rules of polite society, she is a straight shooter - both formidable and a little scary. And while her judgments may be sharp, they're always accurate. She's a friend of Simon's later mother, having shown the now Duke a rare kindness when he was a child.
- Walker (Pennyworth) will play Lady Portia Featherington, perhaps the most ambitious mama of all. She is determined to make advantageous matches for each of her daughters - and is forever pushing them on some rather disinterested parties. Cunning and ruthless, she hustles to get what she wants, no matter the cost.
AMC's UNTITLED WALKING DEAD DRAMA
- Alexa Mansour, Nicolas Cantu and Hal Cumpston have booked lead roles on the upcoming drama created by Scott Gimple and Matt Negrete. Mansour has previously recurred on FOX's The Resident and CBS' SEAL Team. Cantu has voice the lead character on Cartoon Network's The Amazing World of Gumball since 2017. Cumpston wrote and starred in the comedic film Bilched.
- Mansour will play a good-natured rule breaker who lives for today. She is likable and funny on the outside but sad on the inside.
- Cantu will play a character who is small for his age in addition to being friendly and an old soul. He also has a black belt in karate.
- Cumpston will play a character who is big for his age. He is a shy loner who scares some kids, but he hates the fact that he scares people.
HBO's LOVECRAFT COUNTRY
- Tony Goldwyn has landed a recurring role on the upcoming drama starring Jonathan Majors, Jurnee Smollett-Bell and Courtney B. Vance. He previously starred for seven seasons in ABC's Scandal and one season in Netflix's Chambers.
- He will play Samuel Braithwhite, the patriarch of his family. He views people as assets and objects, and outsiders - including his daughter Christina (Abbey Lee) - as inferiors.
