Muppets Series About Electric Mayhem Band Set at Disney Plus, Lilly Singh to Star

Joe Otterson TV ReporterA live-action version of “The Loud House” has been picked up to series at Paramount Plus.The announcement was made as part of Nickelodeon’s upfronts presentation on Thursday. Production will begin on the new series in June with the premiere set for later this year.

Joe Otterson TV ReporterSharon Horgan’s new Apple series has set its main cast.The series, now titled “Bad Sisters,” will star Horgan, Anne-Marie Duff, Eva Birthistle, Sarah Greene, and Eve Hewson as the Garvey sisters. Claes Bang, Brian Gleeson, Daryl McCormack, Assaad Bouab, and Saise Quinn also star.The series follows the lives of the Garvey sisters bound together by the premature death of their parents and a promise to always protect one another. The show was originally ordered at Apple back in September with a 10-episode order.

Joe Otterson TV ReporterMckenna Grace has joined the upcoming Peacock limited series “A Friend of the Family.”Grace joins previously announced cast members stars  Anna Paquin, Jake Lacy, Colin Hanks, and Lio Tipton. The series is based on the true story of the Broberg family, whose daughter Jan was kidnapped multiple times over a period of years by a charismatic, obsessed family “friend.”Grace will star as Jan Broberg in the later years. Jan is the oldest daughter of Bob (Hanks) and Mary Ann Broberg (Paquin) and leads a happy, traditional life in an idyllic American city.

Joe Otterson TV ReporterThe Apple series “Dear Edward” from creator Jason Katims has added eleven new cast members, Variety has learned.Audrey Corsa, Eva Ariel Binder, Idris Debrand, Amy Forsyth, Brittany S. Hall, Carter Hudson, Maxwell Jenkins, Jenna Qureshi,, Anna Uzele, Ivan Shaw, and Dario Ladani Sanchez will all star in the series alongside previously announced cast members Connie Britton, Taylor Schilling and Colin O’Brien.Full character descriptions and rep info for the new additions can be found below.“Dear Edward” is based on the book of the same name by Ann Napolitano.

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.

Joe Otterson TV ReporterAdina Porter and Clark Backo have been cast opposite LaKeith Stanfield in the upcoming Apple drama series “The Changeling,” Variety has learned.The series is based on the book of the same name by Victor LaValle. It is descirbed as a horror story, a parenthood fable, and a perilous odyssey through a New York City you didn’t know existed.Stanfield stars as Apollo. Porter will play Lillian, his mother.

Joe Otterson TV ReporterLaysla De Oliveira will star alongside Zoe Saldaña in the upcoming Paramount Plus series “Lioness” from Taylor Sheridan, Variety has learned exclusively.The series is based on a real-life CIA program and follows Cruz Manuelos (De Oliveira), described as a rough-around-the-edges but passionate young Marine, who is recruited to join the CIA’s Lioness Engagement Team to help bring down a terrorist organization from within. Saldaña will play Joe, the station chief of the Lioness program tasked with training, managing and leading her female undercover operatives. The series is set to go into production in June.De Oliveira currently stars in the Netflix series “Locke & Key,” with the third season of that series set to debut later in 2022.

Joe Otterson TV ReporterA scripted series about legendary rock band U2 is in early development at Netflix, Variety has confirmed with sources.J.J. Abrams is attached to executive produce the project under his Bad Robot banner, with “Bohemian Rhapsody” writer Anthony McCarten onboard to write the script.

Joe Otterson TV Reporter“Squid Game” star Hoyeon has been cast in Alfonso Cuarón’s upcoming Apple series “Disclaimer.”Hoyeon will star in the series alongside previously announced cast members Cate Blanchett, Kevin Kline, Sacha Baron Cohen, and Kodi Smit-McPhee.Based on the novel of the same name by Renee Knight, “Disclaimer” will star Blanchett as Catherine Ravenscroft, a successful and respected television documentary journalist whose work has been built on revealing the concealed transgressions of long-respected institutions. When an intriguing novel written by a widower (Kline) appears on her bedside table, she is horrified to realize she is a key character in a story that she had hoped was long buried in the past.

Joe Otterson TV ReporterAlexandra Daddario has been cast in the lead role of the “Mayfair Witches” series at AMC, Variety has learned exclusively.Based on Anne Rice’s “The Lives of the Mayfair Witches” novels, the show was picked up to series at AMC in December 2021. Daddario will star as Rowan, a brilliant doctor who grapples with her fate as the heir to a family of powerful witches.“Alexandra is a singular talent who has lit up the screen in everything she’s been in and we couldn’t be happier to have her on board leading the cast of a series that will be a centerpiece of an expanding Anne Rice universe on AMC+ and AMC,” said Dan McDermott, president of entertainment and AMC Studios for AMC Networks.

Joe Otterson TV Reporter“Star Trek: Strange New Worlds” has cast Paul Wesley in the iconic role of James T. Kirk for the Paramount Plus show’s upcoming second season.“Strange New Worlds” is due to premiere on Paramount Plus on May 5. It was renewed for a second season back in January, with that season already in production.The show follows the adventures of Captain Christopher Pike prior to Kirk becoming captain of the Enterprise.

Joe Otterson TV ReporterAmazon has ordered two seasons of an animated comedy from Ramy Youssef, Variety has learned exclusively. The series is part of new first-look deal Youssef and his Cairo Cowboy production banner have signed with the streamer.Youssef leads Cairo Cowboy with Andy Campagna, the former senior vice president of television for Sam Esmail’s Esmail Corp.“Ramy has only scratched the surface of his incredible creative gifts,” said Vernon Sanders, head of global television for Amazon.

Joe Otterson TV ReporterThe “Quantum Leap” sequel series pilot at NBC has rounded out its main cast with three new additions.Caitlin Bassett, Nanrisa Lee, and Mason Alexander Park have all joined the cast of the project. They join previously announced cast members Raymond Lee and Ernie Hudson.In the followup to the original “Quantum Leap,” the new version takes place 30 years after Dr. Sam Beckett stepped into the Quantum Leap accelerator and vanished.

Joe Otterson TV ReporterRenée Zellweger has lined up another TV role with NBCUniversal. Variety has learned exclusively that the actress is set to star in the drama “Avenger Field” that is in development at Peacock.The one-hour drama series, which hails from MGM Television, tells the story of those that established a clandestine all female US Airforce program called the WASPs (Women Airforce Service Pilots) to battle Hitler from home. Inspired by the true story of WASP leader Jackie Cohran (Zellweger) and the diverse group of women who fought the system, skeptics and even sabotage to bring everyone home safely.Felicia D.

Joe Otterson TV ReporterGiancarlo Esposito is staying in business with AMC, with the renowned actor set to star in the newly greenlit drama series “The Driver” for the basic cabler.The six-episode first season is based on a U.K. format created by Danny Brocklehurst and Jim Poyser. Brocklehurst and Sunu Gonera developed the new series for U.S.

Joe Otterson TV ReporterThe “Quantum Leap” pilot at NBC has cast Raymond Lee in one of the show’s lead roles, Variety has learned.Serving as a sequel series to the original “Quantum Leap,” the new version takes place 30 years after Dr. Sam Beckett stepped into the Quantum Leap accelerator and vanished. Now a new team has been assembled to restart the project in the hopes of understanding the mysteries behind the machine and the man who created it.Lee will star as Dr.

Joe Otterson TV ReporterRobin De Jesús has joined the Hulu series “Immigrant,” which tells the story of the founding of Chippendales.He joins previously announced series lead Kumail Nanjiani as well as series regulars Annaleigh Ashford, Murray Bartlett, and Dan Stevens.“Immigrant” is the true story of Somen “Steve” Banerjee (Nanjiani), the Indian-American entrepreneur who started Chippendales. The series will detail the darkly comedic, crime-ridden story behind the unique male revue that became a cultural phenomenon.De Jesús will appear in the recurring role of Ray Colon. Described as a proud Nuyorican from the Bronx, Colon comes on the Chippendales scene as the resident handyman and self-proclaimed jack of all trades.

Joe Otterson TV ReporterBaseball legend David “Big Papi” Ortiz is taking a journey through baseball history in his new ESPN Plus series “Big Papi’s Places.”Ortiz hosts the sports series, the latest expansion of the football-centric ESPN Plus series “Peyton’s Places,” with the first episode now available to stream.In an exclusive clip (see below), Ortiz and “Peyton’s Places” host Peyton Manning meet up, with Manning offering Ortiz a chance to host his own show. Of course, there are qualifications.

Joe Otterson TV ReporterSam Esmail’s “Metropolis” series has been greenlit at Apple, Variety has learned.The drama series is inspired by the 1927 Fritz Lang sci-fi film of the same name. Hailed as one of the greatest and most influential films of the silent film era, the story takes place in the futuristic city of Metropolis.While the city’s wealthy elite enjoy a lavish life of comfort and ease in penthouses and pleasure gardens, scores of workers labor at dangerous machinery in the bowels of the city to keep everything running. Freder Fredersen, the son of the most powerful man in Metropolis, has an awakening after meeting a young worker named Maria and witnessing a number of workers die in an industrial accident.

Joe Otterson TV ReporterSpectrum Originals has ordered the dramedy series “Panhandle” starring Luke Kirby and Tiana Okoye, Variety has learned.Set in the Florida panhandle, the series follows agoraphobic arm-chair detective Bell Prescott (Kirby) and reluctant traffic cop Cammie Lorde (Okoye) as they wrestle with personal demons, shocking twists, and a few Florida gators on their journey to heal themselves and their town.Spectrum has ordered an eight-episode first season of the series, which will shoot in Savannah, GA. It will have a nine month exclusive ad-free run on Spectrum before an ad-supported second window on The Roku Channel.Nicholas Stoller and Carla Kettner created the series and will serve as executive producers.