TV Pilot season casting continues…
Catch up on all current pilot season casting news items here, here, here, here, here, and here.
This week’s roundup follows.
— Nia Long has booked a starring role in ABC‘s untitled “The Goldbergs” spinoff comedy series. She joins Bryan Callen, Tim Meadows, Rachel Crow and Summer Parker in the pilot, which is set in the 1990s and centers on Lucy Winston (Long) a single mother of three. She’s worked at the same dead end job for the last 7 years, but she needs a better life for her children, who are getting older and inching towards trouble. After begging her brother, Andre Glascott (Meadows), for a job at the Academy he runs (free tuition for three included), Lucy and her kids all have to adjust to a new life in a new school — but schools are somewhat the same all over the country, and many of the same problems haunt the hallowed halls of the William Penn Academy as in any other school in America (though it’s blessedly free of metal detectors).
— Angel Laketa Moore has booked a series-regular role on Fox’s comedy pilot “Linda From HR.” Written by Geoff Barbanell and Itai Grunfeld and directed by Marc Buckland, “Linda From HR” centers on the eponymous heroine, Linda Plugh. All it takes is one bad decision to throw Linda from HR’s monotonous, unfulfilled life into an exciting but dangerous tailspin of balancing work life, home life and a secret that could unravel everything. Moore has signed up to play Sierra, a quick-witted and honest mother of young triplets, the cool girl from college that no one imagined as a supermom.
— Diona Reasonover has booked a series regular role in NBC’s pilot “Relatively Happy.” Written and executive produced by Max Mutchnick and Jeff Astroff and directed by James Burrows, “Relatively Happy” revolves around an adult brother and sister who wind up living together for the first time since they were kids, after one of them suffers a big loss. Reasonover will play Sydney, a first-year resident in an ER in the Bronx. She runs the hospital like she runs her life: with tough love. She lives with her boyfriend/EMT, Royal.
— Marcuis W. Harris has booked a series regular role in the ABC drama pilot “The Crossing.” Written/executive produced by Dan Dworkin and Jay Beattie, executive produced by Jason Reed and directed by Rob Bowman, “The Crossing” revolves around refugees from a war-torn country who start showing up to seek asylum in an American town. But the country these people are from is America, and the war they are fleeing is 250 years in the future. Harris will play Caleb, one of the refugees. Once a simple man, Caleb was a janitor in his past life, but his peers have nominated him to represent them as a group in order to find out what’s going on.
— Yvette Nicole Brown has been cast opposite Brandon Micheal Hall in ABC’s untitled rapper-turned-Mayor comedy pilot, produced by “Hamilton” standout Daveed Diggs. Written by Jeremy Bronson, the pilot centers on Courtney Rose (Hall), a struggling hip-hop artist who runs for mayor to promote his mixtape — and wins. Brown will play Dina, Courtney’s chatty, drama-prone, single mom who had him when she was a teenager — but she’s also his best friend and biggest cheerleader. They’re always oversharing, and he seeks out her advice on everything. Dina, who has a high-volume personality and a big laugh, works at the post office, which allows her to stay on top of the latest neighborhood gossip.
— Merrin Dungey is set to co-star opposite Romany Malco and Adhir Kalyan in “Brothered Up,” CBS’ buddy cop comedy. Written and executive produced by Mark Gross, with sitcom veteran James Burrows directing and exec producing, “Brothered Up” centers on Calvin (Malco), an emotionally guarded African American cop who is partnered with Farooq (Kalyan), an emotionally available Pakistani cop, and they are forced to find a way to connect as they patrol a Detroit neighborhood. Dungey will play Desri, Calvin’s wife, the woman who knows him better than he knows himself. The cast also includes Nishi Munshi and Glynn Turman.
