Lots of news over the weekend for you TV fans. Comedies, dramas, and soaps all get a few new actors.
Kiefer Sutherland's dad Donald joins him at Fox, but on a different show. Scott Speedman, John Leguizamo and Anthony LaPaglia are all coming back to television. Nashville and The Frontier have some new citizens. Take a look at all the casting news right after the break.
According to Deadline Donald Sutherland is set to co-star opposite Mike Vogel in Living Loaded. The new comedy at Fox comes from It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia's Rob McElhenney and Rob Rosell. Sutherland would play the serious general manager of the radio station who is also the father of the lead character Dan. The story revolves around Dan, a partying blogger who gives up his career plans and becomes an NPR radio host.
TVLine reports that Scott Speedman will be joining the cast of Last Resort with Andre Braugher. The show is set slightly in the future and looks at a U.S. nuclear submarine crew that refuses to fire their missiles and instead declares themselves an independent nuclear nation. Speedman would have the role of Sam, the "beating heart of the boat." The second-in-command to Braugher's captain knows every sailor and officer by name is is conflicted about their situation. Also in the cast right now are Autumn Reeser and Daisy Betts.
For the untitled Nick Wooton and Greg Berlanti drama which used to be called Golden Boy, Stella Maeve will be joining the cast as the younger sister of Ryan Phillippe's character. According to Deadline Maeve joins Kevin Alejandro and Chi McBride in the growing cast. The pilot is being directed by Richard Shepard.
In the drama pilot Widow Detective at CBS, Conor Leslie and Natalie Martinez will play the daughter and widow, respectively of the men lost in the line of duty. The lead character plays a surrogate husband, lover, and father the the families. Davis Guggenheim is set to direct the pilot written by David Hubbard.
Anthony LaPaglia is returning to TV according to TVLine. For the new soap Americana, the former Without a Trace star will have the role of a "legendary fashion designer with the show being set around his family and business.
The same site also reports that John Leguizamo has been cast in the new Comedy Only Fools and Horses over at ABC. He will play the role of Del. "an overly confidant con artist and leader of a team" that consists of his streetwise brother and their grandfather. The show is based on the British show of the same title which follows the team in a series of outrageous, morally questionable schemes to get rich quick.
According to THR NBC has added Erik Jensen to the ensemble cast of The Frontier. Jensen will take on the role of Dr. William Strong in the Western drama that revolves around a group that heads West in the 1840s to follow their dreams. Also in the cast are Ethan Embry who is set to play DJ, a man in a sham marriage to Megan Ferguson's Payton who is something like a cross between Scarlett O'Hara and Tallulah Bankhead. Also in the cast are Jake McLaughlin as Cooper, a farmer with great fighting skills and Bridget Regan as a Hannah who likes Cooper even though she is traveling with her husband. Al Weaver will play a writer in his 30s who is writing about the journey, and Gina Bramhill will play a young woman that he rescues from a sandbank. Thomas Schlamme will be directing the project as well as executive producing.
According to Deadline Jurnee Smollett has picked up the lead on NBC’s drama pilot Bad Girls. The show, based on the Brit series, follows the women in a federal prison including a "scandalous female warden her new protégé and a host of inmates — some mothers, some friends — who struggle with loyalties to people on the inside and outside." Smollet has the role of a famous rap star who is busted by the DEA and sent to women's prison without bail.
Over in Nashville, the drama pilot not the city in Tennessee, Clare Bowen will be joining the cast as Scarlett, a new arrival in the music scene of the city. The musically-driven drama follows both the rising and fading stars as they all try to get on their feet in Nashville. The pilot was written by Callie Khouri and is directed by RJ Cutler.
In really quick news that doesn't have a lot of details, Madison Davenport has been signed to play the precocious teenage daughter of Anne Heche in the NBC comedy Save Me.
Deadline reports that Julie White is the first actor cast in NBC’s comedy pilot Go On. The show follows an "irreverent yet charming sportscaster" who uses his mandatory group therapy sessions to deal with his loss. White will play the role of Anne, a widow that seems to be stuck in the anger stage of grief. The show was written by Friends alum Scott Silveri and is directed by Todd Holland.
In ABC's new drama Zero Hour, Scott Michael Foster from Greek will be joining the cast. The pilot revolves around a man who gets involved with a complex and compelling conspiracy involving human history after spending nearly 20 years as the editor of a skeptics magazine. Foster will play a member of the staff at Modern Skeptic Magazine.
Ed Weeks a writer-comedian will be starring in Mindy Kaling's comedy pilot on Fox. In the pilot she plays the lead role of a "young Bridget Jones-type Ob/Gyn" who is constantly balancing her personal and professional lives. Weeks picks up the role of a doctor who is a ladies man and flirts with everyone.
