Casting News - November 7, 2019
Amazon's The Wilds; National Geographic's Genius: Aretha; and Netflix's Dash & Lily & Inventing Anna.
AMAZON's THE WILDS
- Rachel Griffiths, David Sullivan, Troy Winbush, Sophia Ali, Sarah Pidgeon, Jenna Clause and Erana James have joined the cast of the upcoming drama created by Sarah Streicher. Griffiths starred for five seasons in HBO's Six Feet Under and five seasons in ABC's Brothers & Sisters. Sullivan recurred in HBO's Sharp Objects. Winbush has recurred on ABC's The Goldbergs. Ali has been recurring on ABC's Grey's Anatomy. Pidgeon has guest starred on FOX's Gotham and CBS All Access' One Dollar. Clause is a relative newcomer. James has starred in the New Zealand comedy Golden Boy.
- Griffiths will play Gretchen Klein, an ambitious intellectual who runs an all-girls empowerment retreat.
- Sullivan will play Dr. Daniel Faber, an FBI trauma specialist. He's a pro at putting his interviewees at ease and extracting valuable information from them.
- Winbush will play Dean Young, a stoic, authoritative and professional FBI agent who is a seasoned investigator.
- Ali will play Fatin Jadmani, a proudly promiscuous girl with an audacious fashion sense. When she doesn't pull her weight on the island, the others mistake her for a good-for-nothing slacker. But if they knew her past, they'd realize nothing could be further from the truth.
- Pidgeon will play Leah Rilke. Mature beyond her years, creative and brooding with an overactive mind, she is somewhat of a loner who prefers reading, writing and observing the world around her. She makes an unexpected connection with a famous author twenty years her senior, and a risqué relationship develops between them.
- Clause will play Martha Blackburn, a timid animal lover with a big heart and shaky self-esteem. She will face challenges on the island that will force her out of her shell.
- James will play Toni Shalifoe, a tomboy with anger issues who feels like everyone is out to screw her over - since almost everyone in her life has. Despite her aggression, she has a softer side and a great capacity for love, as evidenced by her fierce loyalty to her best friend Martha.
NETFLIX's DASH & LILY
- Glenn McCuen, Michael Park, Gideon Emery, Jennifer Ikeda and Diego Guevara have booked recurring roles on the upcoming comedy starring Austin Abrams and Midori Francis. McCuen starred in Nickelodeon's one-season comedy Bucket & Skinner's Epic Adventures. Park is a two-time Daytime Emmy Award winner for CBS' As the World Turns. Emery has recurred on MTV's Teen Wolf and VH1's Scream. Ikeda has recurred on NBC's Blindspot and CBS All Access' Tell Me a Story. Guevara starred in the 2017 film Strapped for Danger.
- McCuen will play Edgar Thibaud, a popular prep school boy from a privileged upbringing. Confident, flirtatious and sometimes oblivious, he's a former bully who's trying to reform.
- Park will play Gordon, Dash's (Abrams) father, a world traveler who skis, sails and always manages to make his son feel small.
- Emery will play Adam, Lily's (Francis) father, a school administrator who works hard to shelter his children from the harsher realities of the adult world.
- Ikeda will play Grace, Lily's mother, a poetry scholar who's taught her daughter to find the beauty in everyday life.
- Guevara will play Benny, the boyfriend of Lily's brother Langston (Troy Iwata). He's a compassionate romantic who encourages Lily to step out of her comfort zone.
NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC's GENIUS: ARETHA
- Courtney B. Vance will co-star on the upcoming third installment of the anthology series starring Cynthia Erivo. He won an Emmy Award for his performance in FX's The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story. He next stars in HBO's upcoming drama Lovecraft Country.
- He will play C.L. Franklin, Aretha's (Erivo) father, an influential minister and civil rights activist - and a star in his own right. He was pastor of New Bethal Baptist Church in Detroit and was known as the "Million Dollar Voice." His sermons were published and sold in record stores and broadcast on a weekly radio show, and he also booked national ministry tours and public appearances. He had a fraught relationship with Aretha but supported her throughout her career, notably when she made the decision to turn from gospel to secular pop music.
NETFLIX's INVENTING ANNA
- Arian Moayed, Anders Holm, Anna Deavere Smith, Jeff Perry and Terry Kinney have been cast on the upcoming limited series starring Julia Garner and Anna Chlumsky. Moayed currently stars in HBO's Succession, which has been renewed for a third season. Holm starred for seven seasons in Comedy Central's Workaholics. Smith starred for seven seasons in Showtime's Nurse Jackie and two seasons in ABC's For the People. Perry starred for seven seasons in ABC's Scandal. Kinney starred for six seasons in HBO's Oz and two seasons in TNT's Good Behavior.
- Moayed will play Todd, Anna's (Garner) lawyer who is a fast-talking family man with working class roots. Given the high-profile nature of the case and his need to earn the respect of his legal peers, he needs Anna just as much as she needs him.
- Holm will play Jack, Vivian's (Chlumsky) husband. Supportive with a dry sense of humor, he is in sync with his wife in ways that make them lovable even when they annoy each other. But he finds it harder and harder to be in sync with Vivian as she grows more in danger of succumbing to her obsession with Anna.
- Smith will play Maud, who climbed to the top of her field alone as the only woman in the room. But now, she's sidelined because the idiots who run the magazine aren't old enough to remember what a brilliant journalist she is. She's sharp, funny, and often too blunt but her helpful, honest nature makes up for that.
- Perry will play Lou, who is smarter than you and kinder than most. He is the unofficial king of Scriberia - the group of writers at the magazine deemed too old and out of touch to do "real work" and yet too esteemed to fire. His personal life is a mess but his awards keep him warm.
- Kinney will play Barry, a war correspondent with no war to cover. He is a Scriberian by choice - he'd rather wither than cover pop culture. Sarcastic, charming, with a dark sense of humor and sharp tongue, he has no problem saying what no one else is willing to say.
