Michael Dorman To Headline ‘Joe Pickett’ Drama Series Ordered By Spectrum Originals

EXCLUSIVE: Michelle Veintimilla (The Baker and the Beauty) and Sebastian Roché (The Man in the High Castle) are set for recurring roles on David E. Kelley’s hit freshman ABC drama series Big Sky. Both will be introduced in the back half of Season 1.

Emmy season is upon us and, once again, the Drama Series category looks like it will be as competitive as usual. Even with eight nomination slots, not all the players are confirmed.

EXCLUSIVE: Landmark Studio Group (Willy’s Wonderland, Safehaven, Trigger Point), a Chicken Soup For The Soul Entertainment company, is developing Heartbeat (working title), a 10-episode one-hour original drama series, from husband-and-wife DJ couple Kiss (Jakissa Taylor-Semple) and M.O.S. (Masud Semple), loosely based on the couple’s own rise to celebrity DJ status. Production is expected to begin in Q4 2021.

EXCLUSIVE: The Chi alum Ntare Guma Mbaho Mwine has been tapped for a heavily recurring role opposite Manuel Garcia-Rulfo in The Lincoln Lawyer, Netflix’s drama series based on Michael Connelly bestselling novels, from David E. Kelley and A+E Studios.

Grime Kids by DJ Target.The show, a six-part original series, will focus on the emergence of grime in the early 2000s and is set to air on the network in 2022.Radio 1Xtra host DJ Target, who wrote the book in 2018, shared the news on Instagram, calling the announcement “nuts”.“I wrote this book to celebrate and document the journey of UK music over the last 20 plus years.

Much like it was a joke that Christopher Plummer (RIP) was going to be the guy that took over all of the Kevin Spacey roles after that actor was blacklisted following sexual assault allegations, it looks like there is a new market for handsome actors willing to take over high-profile roles for Armie Hammer. And the latest actor to join that group is Dan Stevens.

EXCLUSIVE: Veronica Mars alum Jason Dohring is joining CBS’ military drama series SEAL Team in a heavily recurring role opposite Neil Brown Jr.

Kevin Hart isn’t letting the pandemic stop work on his new Netflix project.

EXCLUSIVE: Lyriq Bent (She’s Gotta Have It), Shalini Bathina (Little Voice) and Ian Harding (Pretty Little Liars), in a recasting, are set as leads opposite Rose Rollins and Josh Lucas in Long Slow Exhale, Spectrum Originals’ upcoming drama series from L.A. Finest‘s Pam Veasey, Anton Cropper and John Dove and Paramount TV Studios. Also joining the cast as series regulars are Enajite Esegine, Brittney Elena, Jazmine Stewart, Isabella Star LaBlanc, Carmen Flood and Erin Croom (The Conners).

Jordan Moreau Steven Yeun and Ali Wong are teaming up for “Beef,” a comedy-drama series coming to Netflix.The show follows two people who let a road rage incident burrow into their minds and slowly consume their every thought and action. “Beef” will be comprised of 10 half-hour episodes.Lee Sung Jin (“Dave,” “Tuca & Bertie”) serves as creator, showrunner and executive producer.

Nicholas Gonzalez is coming back to television.

EXCLUSIVE: Coming off a three-season run as Dr. Neil Melendez on ABC’s The Good Doctor, Nicholas Gonzalez has been tapped to co-star opposite Eoin Macken, Natalie Zea and Jon Seda in NBC’s sci-fi drama La Brea.

Former Game of Thrones star Lena Headey has been tapped as the female lead in Beacon 23, Spectrum Originals and AMC Networks’ psychological thriller series based on the book of the same name by bestselling author Hugh Howey. Headey will also executive produce through her production company, Peephole Productions, as part of her first-look deal Boat Rocker Studios, which co-produces Beacon 23 with Spectrum Originals.

Joe Otterson TV ReporterShowtime has ordered a drama series about Zulu king Shaka, with Antoine Fuqua onboard to direct and executive produce, Variety has learned.“Shaka: King of the Zulu Nation” hails from writers and executive producers Olu Odebunmi and Tolu Awosika.

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 ReporterWill Forte is attached to star in a drama series in development at Peacock from Harry and Jack Williams.Titled “Expiration Date,” the series is described as a dark suburban soap about Robin (Forte), who, consumed by grief, finds a life insurance policy that covers suicide, provided that the individual doesn’t carry out the deed within one year.

Joe Otterson TV ReporterLucy Hale has signed on for a starring role in the AMC-Alibi series “Ragdoll,” Variety has learned exclusively.In the six-episode show, which was ordered to series back in February, six people have been murdered, dismembered, and sewn into the shape of one grotesque body — nicknamed the “Ragdoll.” Assigned to the shocking case are DS Nathan Wolf, recently reinstated to the London Met; his best friend and boss, DI Emily Baxter; and the unit’s new recruit, DC Lake Edmunds

Mónica Marie Zorrilla OWN has ordered a new series from “Claws” showrunner Janine Sherman Barrois, “The Kings of Napa.” Barrois will executive produce alongside NAACP Image Award-winner Michelle Listenbee Brown and Oprah Winfrey. The series was created by Sherman Barrois under her exclusive multi-year overall deal with Warner Bros.

EXCLUSIVE: Famke Janssen (When They See Us) is set to recur opposite Rose Rollins, Josh Lucas and Jeff Schine in Long Slow Exhale, Spectrum Originals’ upcoming drama series from L.A. Finest‘s Pam Veasey, Anton Cropper and John Dove and Paramount TV Studios. After a nine-month exclusive run on Spectrum, the series will air with a second window on BET.