TV Show News

TV Casting: GOTHAM, KILLING JESUS, Scarlett Johansson in CUSTOM OF THE COUNTRY

Scarlett Johansson

Gotham, Killing Jesus, The Custom of the Country, and other TV productions have made recent TV show casting, TV movie casting, and TV directing news. These shows and movies air on National Geographic Channel and Fox.

Granite Flats (BYUtv)

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Parker Posey will guest star in the third season of BYUtv’s 60’s-set Cold War drama series Granite Flats. Posey will appear in eight episodes playing Alice White, the aunt of main character, 14-year old Arthur Milligan. Alice has just been released from prison after spending the last decade there for murder. Formerly isolated and alone, she suffers from prescient visions, which frequently come true.

Also joining the cast for eight episodes is…George Newbern, who will play Scottie Andrews, a civil-liberties attorney from New York City who is uncle to the show’s teenaged character, Madeline Andrews. A recently recovered alcoholic who has been divorced three times, Scottie hasn’t seen his brother in six years. His fondness for his niece, as well as his boisterous and outgoing personality, will help him find his place in the Colorado town of Granite Flats.

The Custom Of The Country (cable run, possibly on premium cable)

[Scarlett Johansson] is set to star in and executive produce the eight-episode period series, from Charles Finch’s Pink Sands, which is based on [Edith Wharton]’s 1913 novel The Custom Of The Country…it will be written by British playwright-screenwriter Christopher Hampton (Dangerous Liaisons, Atonement) from his original screenplay.

Custom Of The Country is described as a scathing story of ambition featuring one of the most ruthless heroines in literature, Undine Spragg, who will be played by Johansson in her first major TV role. Undine is as unscrupulous as she is magnetically beautiful. Her rise to the top of New York’s high society from her nouveau riche roots provides a provocative and thoroughly modern commentary on the upwardly mobile and the aspirations that eventually cause their ruin.

The Slap (NBC)

Gotham (Fox)

Mozart in The Jungle (Amazon)

Makenzie Leigh has been cast in NBC miniseries The Slap, Fox’s new drama Gotham and the upcoming Amazon series Mozart In The Jungle. In The Slap, she plays Connie, a young babysitter who shares an intimate moment with Hector (Peter Sarsgaard), spurring a chain of consequences for both characters. In the Batman prequel series, she’ll play Liza, a wild child. In the Amazon drama, she plays Addison, an aspiring ballet dancer who poses a threat to Hailey (Lola Kirke) and Alex’s (Peter Vack) relationship.

Blunt Talk (Starz)

Dolly Wells has joined the cast of the upcoming Starz comedy Blunt Talk. The character-driven series revolves around Walter Blunt (Patrick Stewart), an infrequently sober but legendary British import intent on conquering the world of American cable news. Wells will play Sarah, the head producer/writer of Walter’s show. An idealist who believes in the power of the news, she comes from a family dominated by an unruly, charismatic alcoholic father, so her taste in men is hellish and in part explains her love and adoration for Walter. Jacki Weaver also stars.

The Man In The High Castle (Amazon)

Joel de la Fuente has been cast as a regular and Michael Rispoli as a recurring in the Amazon Studios pilot The Man In The High Castle…De la Fuente…will play Inspector Kido…Rispoli plays Don Warren.

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Shades Of Blue (NBC)

Barry Levinson to direct Jennifer Lopez in Shades Of Blue, the pilot written by Adi Hasak…Levinson will be hands-on and participate in the development process. Lopez is starring…The show, which got a 13-episode straight-to-series order, centers on Harlee McCord (Lopez), a single mother and detective who is recruited to work undercover for the FBI’s anti-corruption task force. Production is slated to begin shooting next summer in New York.

Colony (USA)

Sarah Wayne Callies and Josh Holloway cast in Colony.

Colony, co-written by Lost co-showrunner Carlton Cuse and Ryan Condal and directed by Juan José Campanella, is a family drama/thriller about life in Los Angeles after a mysterious “foreign” occupation. It centers on Will Bowman (Holloway), a former FBI agent who — to protect his family — is forced to collaborate with the occupational government to bring down the growing resistance movement inside the Los Angeles colony. Callies will play Will’s wife, Katie Bowman, a mother of three who faces a daily struggle to keep her family safe and united in an occupied L.A.

Killing Jesus (National Geographic Channel)

Kelsey Grammer will play King Herod in National Geographic Channel’s adaptation of Fox News Channel star Bill O’Reilly’s book Killing Jesus. Meanwhile, Stephen Moyer will play Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor who ordered the crucifixion of Jesus. Haaz Sleiman (The Visitor) will portray Jesus.

Grammer has been cast as “the unrelenting and ambitious Roman King of Judea, who attempted to kill Jesus at his birth”

– Rufus Sewell (Hercules) will play Caiaphas, high priest of Jerusalem and conspirator in Jesus’ death

– Emmanuelle Chriqui (Entourage) is cast as Herodia, ex-wife of Herod II and wife of his brother Antipas, who manipulated her husband and daughter into killing John the Baptist.

– Eoin Macken (The Night Shift) is Antipas, the tetrarch of Galilee and Perea and co-conspirator in Jesus’ death

– John Rhys Davies (Indiana Jones) is Annas, a high priest in Jerusalem who first questioned Jesus and his teachings

– Abhin Galeya is John the Baptist, who was considered a prophet and arrested and killed by Antipas

– Stephanie Leonidas (Defiance) is Salome, daughter of Herod II and Herodias, who led to the demise of John the Baptist.

– Aneurin Barnard (The White Queen) is James, one of Jesus’ 12 apostles

– Vernon Dobtcheff (Before Sunset) is Isaiah, the prophet whom King Herod claimed came to him in a dream and prophesied his death

– Tamsin Egerton (The Look of Love) is Claudia, the wife of Pontius Pilate

– John Lynch (Sliding Doors) is Nicodemus, a Pharisee and member of the high court in Israel, who was sympathetic to Jesus

– Joe Doyle (Reign) is Judas, the apostle who eventually betrayed Jesus

– Alexis Rodney (Guardians of the Galaxy) is Simon (Peter), one of Jesus’ 12 apostles and his closest confidant.

Walon Green was tapped to write and executive produce the project…The project films this fall with UK-based Chris Menaul directing.

Doc McStuffins (Disney Junior)

Joanne Froggatt (Anna Bates), Lesley Nicol (Mrs. Patmore), Matt Milne (Alfred Nugent), Nigel Harman (Mr. Green) and Robert Bathurst (Sir Anthony Strallan) are lending their voices to Disney Junior’s animated series Doc McStuffins

In the extended episode, Doc and the toys magically travel back to 19th-century England, where they meet a young Florence Nightingale (Froggatt) and help her realize her dream of becoming a nurse. Nicol will voice Pip, a small porcelain doll; Milne will be Bernard, a teddy bear; Harman is Doodle Doo, a tin rooster; and Bathurst is Admiral Fiddlesticks, a toy admiral.

Better Call Saul (AMC)

 

Breaking Bad composer Dave Porter…will be scoring the spinoff.

Porter’s first to-do item for the February 2015 series was to work on the hysterical tune, which aired at the end of the network’s Breaking Bad binge marathon. It is performed by country singer Junior Brown, with lyrics by series creators Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould.

Faking It (MTV)

Nicholas Brendon…has boarded MTV’s Faking It

Brendon will guest-star as Jackson Lee, a professional artist and Hester High alum who is interviewing art students for a prestigious fellowship. Talented yet jaded and sarcastic, he challenges Liam’s (Gregg Sulkin) ideas about art but ultimately becomes an unlikely mentor. He will appear in the season-two finale, though he has the potential to return should Faking It earn a likely third season.

The Eichmann Show (BBC)

The Eichmann Show will feature Martin Freeman (Fargo, Sherlock, The Hobbit trilogy) playing TV producer Milton Fruchtman, with Anthony LaPaglia (Without a Trace) starring as TV director Leo Hurwitz. Fruchtman and Hurwitz were responsible for putting together one of the first global television events when Eichmann’s trial was televised to 37 countries over four months in 1961.

White City (AMC)

Ellen Woglom (Hatred, Californication) has been cast in AMC’s geopolitical drama pilot White City, directed and exec produced by Stephen Gaghan. The project, about Western diplomats and journalists living in Afghanistan, centers on Jon Liston (Tim Peper), a war junkie who has spent the better part of the past decade in Kabul with a front-row seat to the carnage. Woglom, repped by Paradigm and Sanders Armstrong Caserta Management, will play Claire Summers, a U.S. press attache at the embassy who is good friends with Liston.

Grimm (NBC)

Brian Letscher has been tapped for a recurring role on the upcoming fourth season of NBC’s supernatural crime drama Grimm…Letscher…will play a sinister and mysterious individual with a horrific ability to “absorb” memories of his victims for sale to enemy powers. He’ll appear in the first two episodes of Season 4.

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Source: Deadline, Hollywoodreporter

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Rollo Tomasi

Rollo Tomasi is a Connecticut-based film critic, TV show critic, news, and editorial writer. He will have a MFA in Creative Writing from Columbia University in 2025. Rollo has written over 700 film, TV show, short film, Blu-ray, and 4K-Ultra reviews. His reviews are published in IMDb's External Reviews and in Google News. Previously you could find his work at Empire Movies, Blogcritics, and AltFilmGuide. Now you can find his work at FilmBook.
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