Brandy Joins ABC Music Drama Pilot ‘Queens’

Joe Otterson TV ReporterDon Cheadle will serve as the narrator on the “Wonder Years” reboot pilot currently in the works at ABC, Variety has confirmed.Cheadle will voice the adult version of main character Dean, who will played by Elisha Williams. Daniel Stern served as the narrator on the original series.The pilot will show how a black middle-class family in Montgomery, Alabama in the turbulent late 1960s, made sure it was The Wonder Years for them too.

Joe Otterson TV ReporterTisha Campbell, Essence Atkins, Tahj Mowry, Isaiah Mustafa, and Beth Grant have all been cast in ABC’s multi-cam comedy pilot “Black Don’t Crack,” Variety has learned.The group joins previously announced series star Sherri Shepherd. The show follows three former sorority sisters (Shepherd, Atkins, Campbell) who lost touch after college and reunite during a pivotal point in their lives.

Joe Otterson TV ReporterJason Segel has been cast as Paul Westhead in the HBO series about the Los Angeles Lakers of the 1980s.The untitled series was ordered at HBO in December 2019.

Joe Otterson TV ReporterNaomie Harris has signed on for a lead role in “The Man Who Fell to Earth” series at Showtime, Variety has learned.Harris joins previously announced series lead Chiwetel Ejiofor. The show is based on Walter Tevis’ 1963 novel and the 1976 Nicolas Roeg film that starred David Bowie, both of the same name.

Joe Otterson TV ReporterBen Hardy has been cast in the upcoming BBC One, HBO Max series “The Girl Before,” Variety has learned exclusively.Hardy joins previously announced cast members David Oyelowo, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, and Jessica Plummer. The four-episode series is based on the book of the same name by J.P.

Joe Otterson TV ReporterJane Lynch has been cast in a lead role in the ABC multi-cam comedy pilot “Bucktown,” Variety has learned.Lynch joins previously announced cast members Shannon Woodward and Nicole Richie.In the multi-cam sitcom, after being dumped by her boyfriend and kicked out of her apartment on the eve of a big promotion, Amy (Woodward) finds refuge at her mom’s (Lynch) house in the blue-collar neighborhood where she grew up.

Joe Otterson TV ReporterJamie Foxx will play boxing great Mike Tyson in a new biographical limited series, Variety has learned.The series, titled simply “Tyson,” is not currently set up at a network or streaming service, but will no doubt find one quickly given the names attached to it already.

Joe Otterson TV ReporterForest Whitaker has joined Tom Hardy in the upcoming Netflix crime drama film “Havoc,” Variety has learned.The film hails from writer, director, and producer Gareth Evans, the first under a new exclusive multi-year deal to produce and direct films for the streamer.In “Havoc,” after a drug deal gone wrong, a bruised detective must fight his way through a criminal underworld to rescue a politician’s estranged son, while unraveling a deep web of corruption and conspiracy

Joe Otterson TV ReporterDulé Hill and Laura Kariuki have been cast in “The Wonder Years” reboot pilot at ABC, Variety has learned.They join previously announced cast members Elisha Williams, who will play main character Dean, and Saycon Sengbloh, who will play family matriarch Lillian.

Joe Otterson TV ReporterNicole Richie has been cast in the ABC comedy pilot “Bucktown,” Variety has learned.In the multi-cam sitcom, after being dumped by her boyfriend and kicked out of her apartment on the eve of a big promotion, Amy finds refuge at her mom’s house in the blue-collar neighborhood where she grew up.

Joe Otterson TV ReporterDianne Wiest is set to star opposite Jeremy Renner in the Paramount Plus series “Mayor of Kingstown” from Taylor Sheridan, Variety has learned.The series follows the McLusky family – power brokers in Kingstown, Michigan where the business of incarceration is the only thriving industry. Tackling themes of systemic racism, corruption and inequality, the series provides a look at their attempt to bring order and justice to a town that has neither.

Joe Otterson TV ReporterSally Field will be taking the court for HBO’s scripted series about the Los Angeles Lakers in the 1980s.The untitled series was ordered at HBO in December 2019. It is described as chronicling the professional and personal lives of the 1980s Los Angeles Lakers, one of sports’ most revered and dominant dynasties, in what came to be called the Showtime Era.Field will star as Jessie Buss, mother of Lakers owner Jerry Buss, who will be played by John C.

Joe Otterson TV ReporterAnthony Boyle has signed on to star in in Apple’s World War II drama “Masters of the Air,” a continuation of the “Band of Brothers”/”The Pacific” franchise from Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks.Boyle joins previously announced cast members Callum Turner and Austin Butler. Based on the book of the same name by Donald L.

Joe Otterson TV ReporterTom Hiddleston will star alongside Claire Danes in the series adaptation of the Sarah Perry novel “The Essex Serpent” at Apple, Variety has learned.The one-hour drama series follows newly widowed Cora (Danes) who, having being released from an abusive marriage, relocates from Victorian London to the small village of Aldwinter in Essex, intrigued by a local superstition that a mythical creature known as the Essex Serpent has returned to the area.

Joe Otterson TV ReporterElisha “EJ” Williams has been cast in the main role of “The Wonder Years” pilot at ABC, Variety has learned.The project will show how a black middle-class family in Montgomery, Alabama in the turbulent late 1960s, made sure it was The Wonder Years for them too.Williams will star in the role of Dean, described as an inquisitive and hopeful 12-year-old kid coming of age in a turbulent time.

Joe Otterson TV ReporterDakota Fanning has joined the cast of the Showtime drama series “Ripley,” Variety has learned.The series is based on Patricia Highsmith’s Tom Ripley novels. She joins previously announced cast members Andrew Scott and Johnny Flynn.In the series, Tom Ripley (Scott), a grifter scraping by in early 1960s New York, is hired by a wealthy businessman to travel to Italy to try to convince his vagabond son to return home.

Joe Otterson TV Reporter“The Boys” spinoff at Amazon is nearing a series order.

Joe Otterson TV ReporterDominique Fishback has signed on to co-star with Samuel L. Jackson in the Apple drama series “The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey,” Variety has learned.In addition, Ramin Bahrani has come onboard to direct and executive produce the limited series, which is based on the novel of the same name by Walter Mosley.Jackson stars as Grey, a 91 year old man forgotten by his family, by his friends, by even himself.

Joe Otterson TV ReporterAnnie Murphy has been cast in “Russian Doll” Season 2 at Netflix.News of Murphy’s casting comes as the series recently began production on its second season. The details of Murphy’s character are being kept under wraps.Murphy is best known for her role as Alexis Rose in the hit comedy series “Schitt’s Creek.” The role won her an Emmy Award for best supporting actress in a comedy in 2020, part of the show’s historic sweep of the comedy categories at the Emmys.

Joe Otterson TV ReporterFX has ordered a pilot based on the Octavia E. Butler novel “Kindred.”The pilot will be written and executive produced by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins.