Monday, March 29, 2021

Casting News - Amanda Seyfried to Star in 'The Dropout'; 'Obi-Wan Kenobi' Adds Joel Edgerton and Sung Kang; Plus 6 More Updates!

Casting News - March 29, 2021

Amazon's Upload; AppleTV+'s Masters of the Air; Disney+'s Obi-Wan Kenobi; Hulu's The Dropout; National Geographic's The Hot Zone: Anthrax; Netflix's Special & Untitled Jack Dolgen & Doug Mand Comedy; and Showtime's The Man Who Fell to Earth.



DISNEY+'s OBI-WAN KENOBI
  • Moses Ingram, Joel Edgerton, Bonnie Piesse, Kumail Nanjiani, Rupert Friend, O'Shea Jackson Jr., Sung Kang, Simone Kessell and Benny Safdie have joined the cast of the upcoming drama starring Ewan McGregor and Hayden Christensen. Ingram appeared in the Netflix limited series The Queen's Gambit. Edgerton wrote and directed the 2018 film Boy Erased. Piesse appeared in the HBO docuseries The Vow. Nanjiani starred for six seasons in HBO's Silicon Valley as well as the upcoming Marvel film Eternals. Friend starred for five seasons in Showtime's Homeland and two seasons in CBS All Access' Strange Angel. Jackson Jr. starred in the films Straight Outta Compton and Godzilla: King of the Monsters. Kang stars in the Fast & Furious film franchise - appearing in five films to date. Kessell starred in ABC's one-season drama The Crossing. Safdie co-wrote and co-directed the 2019 film Uncut Gems.
  • Edgerton and Piesse will reprise their roles as Owen and Beru Lars, respectively. They previously appeared briefly in Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones and Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith.
  • No details were announced about the characters the other new cast additions will be playing. However, production will start in April on the new drama.
NETFLIX's SPECIAL
  • Charlie Barnett, Max Jenkins, Ana Ortiz, Utkarsh Ambudkar, Lauren Weedman, Buck Andrews, Anjali Bhimani, Ajay Mehta, Karan Soni and Leslie Jordan have been cast in recurring roles on the comedy's second season. Barnett starred in the first season of Netflix's Russian Doll. Jenkins currently stars in Netflix's Dead to Me, which returns for its third and final season later this year. Ortiz currently stars in Hulu's Love, Victor, which returns for its second season in June. Ambudkar has recurred on FOX/Hulu's The Mindy Project and IFC's Brockmire. Weedman starred for two seasons in HBO's Looking. Andrews will be making his acting debut in the upcoming season. Bhimani has recurred on ABC's Modern Family, NBC's Blindspot and AppleTV+'s Little Voice. Mehta has recurred on The Mindy Project and NBC's The Good Place. Soni has starred for two seasons in TBS' Miracle Workers. Jordan currently stars in FOX's Call Me Kat, which recently finished its first season.
  • Barnett will play Harrison, who is extremely good-looking with an even bigger heart. He comes onto a wary Kim (Punam Patel) in a bar and they start a relationship.
  • Jenkins will play Tanner, Ryan's (Ryan O'Connell) new love interest. He is a former back-up dancer and current dance instructor who Ryan meets at a bar.
  • Ortiz will play Susan, Phil's (Patrick Fabian) new girlfriend. Charming and outgoing, she empathizes with Karen's (Jessica Hecht) struggle to parent Ryan, as she also has a strained relationship with her child.
  • Ambudkar will play Ravi, a longtime friend of the Laghari family. He's known Kim since they were babies and gets her in a way maybe no one else does.
  • Weedman will play Tonya, who is warm, friendly, kooky and more vulnerable than she lets on. She is a friend of Karen's from nursing school who reemerges in Karen's life.
  • Andrews will play Henry, who has high-functioning autism and exhibits stimming (repetitive, stimulating behavior). He's gay, handsome, charismatic, playful and a gentle spirit with a good sense of humor. He becomes Ryan's entryway into the world of disability and the two of them become close friends.
  • Bhimani will play Bina, Kim mother. She loves her daughter but seizes each and every opportunity to casually criticize Kim. Her heart is ultimately in the right place but she could use some therapy.
  • Mehta will play Vijay, Kim's father, a calm and anchoring presence in an otherwise chaotic family. Kim is quietly his favorite child but that's challenged when he finds out some unfortunate news.
  • Soni will play Dev, Kim's brother who's a part-time deejay who works at a cell phone kiosk at the mall. Having just proposed to his girlfriend, he has finally succeeded in impressing his family with his stability and maturity - though Kim isn't buying it.
  • Jordan will play Charles, the ringleader of a group of friends who embrace Karen while she's on a trip.
HULU's THE DROPOUT
  • Amanda Seyfried will star in and produce the upcoming limited series - replacing Kate McKinnon, who was originally set to star. She is currently nominated for an Academy Award for her supporting performance in Mank. She also starred for five seasons in HBO's Big Love and recurred on Showtime's Twin Peaks: The Return.
  • She will play Elizabeth Holmes, the enigmatic Stanford dropout who founded medical testing start-up Theranos. She was lauded as a Steve Jobs for the next tech generation. Once worth billions of dollars, the myth crumbled when it was revealed that none of the tech actually worked, putting thousands of people's health in grave danger. The story of Elizabeth Holmes and Theranos is an unbelievable tale of ambition and fame gone terribly wrong. How did the world's youngest self-made female billionaire lose it all in the blink of an eye?
NETFLIX's UNTITLED JACK DOLGEN & DOUG MAND COMEDY
  • Olivia Macklin, Michael Hsu Rosen and Cinthya Carmona will co-star on the upcoming comedy starring Emily Osment and Gregg Sulkin. Macklin starred in FOX's one-season drama Filthy Rich. Rosen starred in the first season of Netflix's Tiny Pretty Things. Carmona starred for four seasons in Netflix's Greenhouse Academy.
  • Macklin will play Claire, a scatterbrained optimist and the world's worst waitress (although the customers love her). She lives a carefree life, surrounded by her best friends. She is excited at the prospect of finally bonding with her older sister, Chelsea (Osment). Like, really really really really excited!
  • Rosen will play Jayden, a former child-model who now makes his living as a social media influencer. He's confident, generous and the hottest gay man alive according to an online poll which he created and votes on daily.
  • Carmona will play Solana, a former lawyer turned unqualified health guru. She brings her lawyerly intensity to everything, especially crystals and meditation. She wants nothing more than to bring peace and healing to everyone she meets. That said, she hasn't slept a wink in years.
SHOWTIME's THE MAN WHO FELL TO EARTH
  • Clarke Peters is set as a series regular on the upcoming drama starring Chiwetel Ejiofor. He previously starred for five seasons in HBO's The Wire and four seasons in HBO's Treme. He has also recurred on CBS' Person of Interest, Netflix's Jessica Jones, Hulu's Chance and HBO's His Dark Materials.
  • He will play Josiah Falls, the father of Justin Falls (Naomie Harris), a gifted scientist and engineer whose surprising relationship with the alien (Ejiofor) brings about the next step in human evolution.
AMAZON's UPLOAD
  • Mackenzie Cardwell has landed a recurring role on the comedy's upcoming second season. She has previously recurred on ABC's Somewhere Between, SundanceTV's Unspeakable and Epix's Get Shorty.
  • She will play Tinsley, a new temp customer service angel at the Horizon "Lakeview" center in Brooklyn. 
APPLE TV+'s MASTERS OF THE AIR
  • Nate Mann has booked a series regular role on the upcoming limited series starring Austin Butler, Anthony Boyle and Callum Turner. He has previously recurred on Showtime's Ray Donovan.
  • He will play Major Rosie Rosenthal.
NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC's THE HOT ZONE: ANTHRAX
  • Enrico Colantoni and Morgan Kelly will appear in recurring roles on the upcoming second installment of the anthology series. Colantoni starred for four seasons in UPN/Hulu's Veronica Mars as well as its 2014 feature film. Kelly has recurred on Netflix's Spinning Out and Netflix's Tiny Pretty Things.
  • Colantoni will play Rudy Giuliani, the Mayor of New York City from 1994-2001. After shepherding the city through the 9/11 terrorist attacks, he has emerged as a bold advocate for the residents of this great city, with the whole world watching. Helping NYC heal is paramount as he faces difficult decisions when new dangers emerge, threatening a second wave of panic.
  • Kelly will play Eric Sykes, a cocky FBI agent with the jaw and attitude of an Annapolis grad. He delights in mocking Ryker (Daniel Dae Kim) for hunt for "elusive bio-weapons."