Casting News - November 15, 2018
ABC's Grand Hotel; CBS All Access' The Twilight Zone; HBO's The Undoing; Hulu's Veronica Mars; NBC's Manifest; and Netflix's Designated Survivor.
NBC's MANIFEST
- Matt Long has been cast in a major recurring role on the drama's first season. He starred in the second season of Syfy's Helix. He has previously recurred on ABC's Private Practice and AMC's Mad Men.
- He will play Zeke, a mysterious new character whose arrival triggers a new relationship triangle and upends the series' mythology.
CBS ALL ACCESS' THE TWILIGHT ZONE
- Kumail Nanjiani will star in an upcoming episode of the anthology series reboot created by Jordan Peele. He has starred for five seasons in HBO's Silicon Valley. He and his wife, Emily V. Gordon, received an Academy Award nomination for the screenplay of the film The Big Sick. They also co-created the upcoming anthology series Little America, which was picked up by Apple.
- No details were immediately announced about the character he will be playing. He will appear in an episode written by Alex Rubens, who previously worked with Peele on Comedy Central's Key & Peele and TBS' The Last OG.
HULU's VERONICA MARS
- J.K. Simmons has joined the cast of the upcoming revival starring Kristen Bell. He won an Academy Award for his performance in Whiplash. He currently stars in Starz's Counterpart, which returns for its second season in December.
- He will play Clyde Prickett, an ex-con who served 10 years for racketeering and was the first inmate in Chino to offer protection to Neptune real estate developer Big Dick Casablancas (David Starzyk) when he entered prison. Now a free man, Clyde works as the elder Casablancas' fixer. He's the smarter and more dangerous of the two and has a network of fellow ex-cons he uses to do his dirty work.
HBO's THE UNDOING
- Hugh Grant has been cast as the male lead on the upcoming limited series starring Nicole Kidman. He previously starred in the Amazon limited series A Very English Scandal. His film credits include Bridget Jones's Diary, About a Boy, Florence Foster Jenkins and Paddington 2.
- He will play Jonathan, an acclaimed pediatric oncologist, devote husband to Grace (Kidman) and doting father. His past undergoes scrutiny when he suddenly disappears, leading to a chain of terrible revelations.
NETFLIX's DESIGNATED SURVIVOR
- Lauren Holly and Benjamin Watson have landed recurring roles on the drama's upcoming third season. Holly starred for four seasons in the Canadian drama Motive. Watson starred in The CW's one-season drama The L.A. Complex.
- Holly will play Lynn Harper, the daughter of a renowned Virginia senator who is married to Mars Harper (Anthony Edwards). She desperately wants Mars to spend more time at home - a near impossibility for him as Kirkman's (Kiefer Sutherland) new Chief of Staff. After being prescribed opiates for a back injury, she now struggles with an opiate addiction.
- Watson will play Dontae Evans, a mid-20s Digital Officer in the West Wing. Since coming out as gay, he hasn't had the closest relationship with his family. Keenly intelligent, he exudes self-confidence. He is unapologetic and honest about not always supporting Kirkman's views or his platform, primarily because African Americans and LGBTQ individuals are consistently left out of the conversation. He's a whiz at social media, easily whipping up a flash mob or generating a viral video, which makes him an invaluable asset to the administration.
ABC's GRAND HOTEL
- John Marshall Jones, Richard Burgi and Adrian Pasdar have booked recurring roles on the upcoming drama starring Demián Bichir and Roselyn Sanchez. Jones has recently recurred on USA's Shooter and Amazon's Bosch. Burgi starred for one season in ABC's Desperate Housewives. Pasdar starred for four seasons in NBC's Heroes.
- Jones will play Malcolm, the husband to Mrs. P (Wendy Raquel Robinson) and father of Jason (Chris Warren). He is the head of facilities at the Riviera Grand. He's a loving family man who works hard to give his loved ones the life they deserve.
- Burgi will play Michael Finn, the owner of the Finn Hotel Group. He might seem charming but this shrewd businessman's presence in Miami Beach means trouble for the Mendoza family and the staff of the Riviera Grand.
- Pasdar will play Felix, Gigi's (Sanchez) ex-husband and father of Yoli (Justina Adorno) and Carolina (Felix Ramirez). He abandoned his family after he was caught embezzling money from his clients. He's returned after several years to make amends but are his intentions honorable, or does he have a more sinister motive?
