TV Show News

TV Casting: PENNY DREADFUL, Alexa Davalos in MAN IN THE HIGH CASTLE

Alexa Davalos Chronicles of Riddick

Penny Dreadful, The Man in The High Castle, and other TV productions have made recent TV show casting, TV movie casting, and TV directing news. These shows and movies air on Showtime and Amazon.

The Man In The High Castle (Amazon)

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Alexa Davalos (Clash Of The Titans, Mob City) has landed the lead role in Amazon pilot The Man In The High Castle…Davalos…plays Juliana, who lives in Japanese-occupied San Francisco. She is fascinated by Japanese culture and has mastered the art of aikido, but her personal state of truce with the Empire Of Japan stops forever when her half sister Trudy is shot dead in front of her eyes by a Japanese soldier. Entrusted by Trudy with a black satchel containing a vital pro- Resistance propaganda film, Juliana says goodbye to her comfortable life and heads east for Colorado, the secret headquarters of the Resistance, and the road ahead of her is very blurry and very dangerous.

Penny Dreadful (Showtime)

LOS ANGELES, CA (September 8, 2014) – Two-time Tony® Award winner and Emmy® nominee Patti LuPone (American Horror Story, Life Goes On, Evita, Gypsy) is signing on as a guest star on the second season of the hit SHOWTIME drama series PENNY DREADFUL. The stage legend will play a mysterious character of great importance in Vanessa’s (Eva Green) past. In addition, award-winning British actors Helen McCrory (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, As You Like It, Medea), and Simon Russell Beale (MI-5, Uncle Vanya, King Lear) have been upped to series regulars. McCrory returns as Evelyn Poole (a.k.a. Madame Kali), the seductive spiritualist who will pose a unique threat to our protagonists this season, along with Beale, who is back as eccentric Egyptologist Ferdinand Lyle. Production on the second season’s 10 episodes, written by John Logan, will begin in September in Dublin, Ireland for a 2015 debut on the network.

Cast members McCrory and Beale will be joined by a wealth of new guest stars this season. In addition to LuPone, Tony Award winner Douglas Hodge (La Cages aux Folles, Robin Hood) signs on as Bartholomew Rusk, an intense Scotland Yard investigator on the hunt to discover who is responsible for the terrible murders that have been plaguing London. Sarah Greene (The Guard, Vikings) will play Hecate, Poole’s powerful daughter and Jonny Beauchamp (How To Make It In America, Stonewall) will portray a young man with a singular past.

PENNY DREADFUL is a frightening psychological thriller created, written and executive produced by three-time Oscar® nominee John Logan (Hugo, The Aviator, Gladiator) and executive produced by Logan’s Desert Wolf Productions, along with Oscar winner Sam Mendes (American Beauty, Skyfall) and Pippa Harris (Revolutionary Road, Call The Midwife), both of Neal Street. The cast includes Josh Hartnett (Black Hawk Down), Timothy Dalton (The Living Daylights) and Eva Green (Casino Royale, Dark Shadows). Reeve Carney (Spider Man: Turn Off the Dark, The Tempest), Rory Kinnear (Skyfall, Othello, Hamlet), Billie Piper (Doctor Who), Danny Sapani (Trance) and Harry Treadaway (The Lone Ranger) also star.

Two And A Half Men (CBS)

Maggie Lawson is set to recur on the final season of CBS’ long-running comedy series Two And A Half Men. The storyline focuses on Walden (Ashton Kutcher) and Alan’s (Jon Cryer) decision to get married in order for Walden to adopt a child. Lawson…will play a social worker who will help the duo.

Mad Dogs (Amazon)

Steve Zahn, Romany Malco and Ben Chaplin [have been tapped] to star in Shawn Ryan‘s adaptation of Mad Dogs

Zahn will play Cobi, a 40ish, married financial adviser described as a slick and amusing guy who is fighting the onset of middle age by dressing a little too young, complete with his blond highlights and Abercrombie style. He joins his old pals, Gus (Malco), Lex and Joel (Chaplin), for the jaunt to Belize to visit wealthy friend Milo.

Gus is a former attorney who lost his career after a malpractice suit. He’s now a struggling antiques dealer and in the final stages of divorce, which is hard not only on him but also on his two teenage daughters.

Joel is a bright but depressive guy; the oldest member of the group, he is prone to misanthropy and anger, but also can be very funny. His old flame, Helena, wound up marrying Cobi. He feels unfulfilled in his teacher training career, and is estranged from his wife and kids.

Small Miracles (Lifetime)

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Rachel Boston,…will star in and serve as associate producer of the Hallmark movie “Small Miracles.”

Boston will play Darcy Miller, a pragmatic PhD student who finds herself forced to work with a free spirit idealist in order to graduate and live up to the wishes of her late mother.

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (ABC)

Hayley Atwell — aka Agent Peggy Carter — and George Stephanopoulos will guest star in the season premiere of Agents of SHIELD.

The episode, titled “Shadows” will see Coulson (Clark Gregg) and his team now serving as fugitives with limited resources, but still doing their part to keep the world safe. Stephanopoulos will play himself.

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Source: Variety, Hollywoodreporter, Deadline

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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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