Betty Gilpin To Lead Peacock Drama Series 'Mrs. Davis'

Emmys snubs! Peak TV has never seen snubs like this. And the Outstanding Drama Series is going to have a ton of them.

Clayton Davis Variety Awards Circuit section is the home for all awards news and related content throughout the year, featuring the following: the official awards predictions for the upcoming Oscars and Emmys ceremonies, curated by Variety senior awards editor Clayton Davis; Awards Circuit Column, a weekly analysis dissecting the trends and contenders by television editor Michael Schneider (for Emmys) and Davis (for Oscars); Awards Circuit Podcast, a weekly interview series with talent and an expert roundtable discussion; and Awards Circuit Video analyzes various categories and contenders by Variety's leading awards pundits. Variety's unmatched coverage gives its readership unbeatable exposure in print and online, as well as provide inside reports on all the contenders in this year's awards season races.

Apple TV+ has given a formal green light to Constellation, a conspiracy-based psychological thriller drama series starring Noomi Rapace (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo) and Jonathan Banks (Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul). The project was created and written by Peter Harness (The War of the Worlds), with Michelle MacLaren (Breaking Bad) set to direct the series from Turbine Studios and Haut et Court TV.

Peacock’s limited drama series A Friend Of The Family continues to build its cast, adding Austin Stowell (The Hating Game), Patrick Fischler (American Crime Story: Impeachment), Bree Elrod (Red Rocket) and Philip Ettinger (First Reformed). They will join previously announced stars Anna Paquin, Jake Lacy, Lio Tipton, Mckenna Grace and Hendrix Yancey. A Friend Of The Family comes from Nick Antosca, who serves as showrunner, writer and executive producer.

EXCLUSIVE: Peacock is developing a 1960s crime saga set in Hawaii from The Eternals writers Kaz and Ryan Firpo, Fast & Furious director Justin Lin and The Walking Dead and Minari star Steven Yeun.

EXCLUSIVE: Leonard Cohen’s relationship with muse Marianne Ihlen is going under the microscope in a 1960s-set drama co-production for Norwegian broadcaster NRK.

Carson Burton Emmy-award winning composer Geoff Zanelli is slated to compose the music for “The First Lady,” premiering on Showtime. The new hour-long anthology drama follows the lives of three of America’s First Ladies and stars Viola Davis as Michelle Obama, Michelle Pfeiffer as Betty Ford and Gillian Anderson as Eleanor Roosevelt.Zanelli served as composer of films such as “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales,” “Maleficent: Mistress of Evil” and “Christopher Robin,” and he won an Emmy award for his work in the Steven Spielberg and Dreamworks miniseries “Into the West.” He also was nominated for HBO’s “The Pacific,” another Spielberg collaboration.“I’ve had the honor of writing music for ‘The Pacific’ and ‘Into The West,’ both shows about distinct times in America’s history, but nothing as intimate as ‘The First Lady,'” Zanelli said.

J. Kim Murphy NBCUniversal has announced that it is developing “Pinned,” a new dramatic scripted series about the world of wrestling.“Pinned” comes from Universal Content Productions and World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. The production is billed as a dramatic series with a logline touting “an adrenalized upstairs-downstairs soap that gives a behind-the-scenes look at a fictional wrestling promotion and the unforgettable characters that populate it.”“Pinned” will offer a look into the world of wrestling culture, documenting the mayhem both within the locker room and the boardroom of wrestling organizations.Craig O’Neill serves as an executive producer on the series, alongside Tom Rinaldi.

EXCLUSIVE: Ravi Patel (Wonder Woman 1984), Eric Edelstein (Creepshow) and Johnny Jay Lee (NCIS: Los Angeles) are set as series regulars in CBS comedy pilot Rust Belt News, from The Simpsons writer and The Mindy Project exec producer Matt Warburton. They join previously announced cast members Rich Sommer, Lauren Lindsey Donzis, Jayma Mays, Bailey Gavulic, Bentley Green and Angel Laketa Moore.

Nicole Kidman has a slightly unusual obsession in Apple TV+ anthology series, Roar – she eats pictures!

Nicole Kidman stars as “The Woman Who Ate Photographs” in AppleTV+’s intriguing new series, “Roar”. 

Apple TV+ is having quite the year of television so far, gathering acclaim for shows like Ben Stiller’s “Severance” and “WeCrashed,” with Anne Hathaway and Jared Leto, and is sure to receive attention for strong upcoming series including “Shining Girls” starring Elisabeth Moss and “Slow Horses” featuring Gary Oldman.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief“Barons,” a surf and business drama series that plays this week at Series Mania, is a calling card for the newly re-structured Australian operations of TV giant Fremantle.In recent weeks, leadership of the unscripted side of the business has been put in the hands of Eureka, a company in which it bought an increased shareholding last year. That leaves the remainder, under the management of Greg Woods, focused on high end drama and documentaries.Insiders have called the new emphasis on premium drama and big factual pieces a new chapter for the company.Other upcoming shows include the recently wrapped “Heartbreak High” for Netflix, “Significant Others” for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, and “Jump” for local streamer Stan.

In the wake of the popularity of Charlie Brooker’s fantastic technology thriller anthology series, “Black Mirror,” multiple shows are popping up, continuing the dystopian idea of cautionary tales set within the world of futuristic advances. Alex Garland‘s underrated “DEVS” is an excellent example of a series taking a similar tone to “Black Mirror,” and another show might be trying to fill those shoes with a religious twist.

Adam Barlow thought he had finally made a breakthrough with his tormentor Lydia Chambers - only then to be pushed over the balcony of a shopping centre.

Betty Gilpin (GLOW, The Hunt) has been tapped as the lead of Mrs. Davis, Peacock’s new drama series written and executive produced by Tara Hernandez and Damon Lindelof. Emmy-winning director Owen Harris (Black Mirror: San Junipero, Brave New World) will direct and executive produce multiple episodes, including the first episode, of the series, which comes from Warner Bros. Television, where both Hernandez and Lindelof are under overall deals.

Joe Otterson TV ReporterBetty Gilpin will star in the lead role of Damon Lindelof and Tara Hernandez’s upcoming Peacock drama series “Mrs. Davis,” Variety has learned.The series was originally ordered in May 2021.

Emmy nominee Adina Porter (Underground) and Clark Backo (Letterkenny) are set as leads opposite LaKeith Stanfield in The Changeling, Apple TV+’s upcoming drama series based on Victor LaValle’s bestselling book of the same name.