Casting News - May 14, 2019
Audience's Condor; FX's Mrs. America; National Geographic's Barkskins; and Syfy's Van Helsing.
FX's MRS. AMERICA
- Uzo Aduba, Rose Byrne, Kayli Carter, Ari Graynor, Melanie Lynskey, James Marsden, Margo Martindale, Sarah Paulson, John Slattery, Jeanne Tripplehorn and Tracey Ullman have been cast on the upcoming limited series starring Cate Blanchett. Moreover, Captain Marvel's Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck have signed on to direct the first two episodes.
- Aduba (Orange Is the New Black) will play Shirley Chisholm, who not only made history as the first African American congresswoman but also became the first African American candidate to run for president from a national political party when she launched her unprecedented 1972 campaign.
- Byrne (Damages, Bridesmaids) will play Gloria Steinem, the most recognizable leader of the women's movement. She co-founded Ms. Magazine and played a major part in the effort to pass the ERA.
- Carter (Private Life, Godless) will play Pamela, a young, impressionable housewife who is an early member of Phyllis Schlafly's (Blanchett) anti-ERA movement.
- Graynor (I'm Dying Up Here) will play Brenda Feigen-Fasteau, a Harvard-educated lawyer and co-founder of Ms. Magazine who helped the feminist effort to pass the ERA.
- Lynskey (Castle Rock, Togetherness) will play Rosemary Thomson, a homemaker in Schlafly's inner circle who eagerly joined her fight against the ERA.
- Marsden (Westworld, Dead to Me) will play Phil Crane, a conservative congressman from Schlafly's home state of Illinois and one of her most powerful allies.
- Martindale (The Americans, Justified) will play Bella Abzug, a leading figure in the feminist movement. She is a three-term congresswoman who spearheaded the effort to pass the ERA.
- Paulson (The People v. O.J. Simpson, American Horror Story) will play Alice, Schlafly's best friend who joins her effort to block the ERA.
- Slattery (Mad Men, Next) will play Fred Schlafly, Phyllis' husband. He is a prominent lawyer, GOP donor and anti-communist.
- Tripplehorn (Big Love) will play Eleanor Schlafly, Fred's unmarried sister, a close confidante of Phyllis and a devoted aunt to Phyllis' six children.
- Ullman (Howards End) will play Betty Friedan, known as the mother of the women's movement. She wrote The Feminine Mystique and co-founded the National Women's Political Caucus. She was an active proponent of the ERA.
NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC's BARKSKINS
- Marcia Gay Harden will play the female lead on the upcoming drama starring David Thewlis. She won an Academy Award for the 2001 film Pollock. She also won a Tony Award for the play God of Carnage. She recently starred for three seasons in CBS' Code Black.
- She will play Mathilde, an innkeeper who knows everyone's secrets and is a burgeoning power player in the town as she learns how to use those secrets to her advantage.
SYFY's VAN HELSING
- Tricia Helfer is returning to Syfy with a major role on the drama's upcoming fourth season. Moreover, Richard Harmon, Nicole Munoz, Keeya King and wrestler Big Show have also joined the season in recurring roles.
- Helfer (Battlestar Galactica, Lucifer) will play the Dark One aka Dracula.
- No details were immediately released about the characters Harmon (The 100), Munoz (Defiance), King (Jigsaw) and Big Show will be playing.
AUDIENCE's CONDOR
- Constance Zimmer, Toby Leonard Moore, Rose Rollins, Isidora Goreshter, Eric Johnson, Alexei Bondar and Jonathan Kells Phillips have joined the cast of the drama's upcoming second season.
- Zimmer (House of Cards, UnREAL) will play Robin Larkin, who runs the CIC's counterespionage unit.
- Moore (Billions) will play Gordon Piper, a CIA officer.
- Rollins (The Catch) will play Eva Piper, Gordon's wife and a close friend of Mae Barber's (Kristen Hager).
- Goreshter (Shameless) will play Kat, an FSB officer stationed in the Russian Embassy in Washington, D.C. who's grown accustomed to American ways.
- Johnson (Vikings) will play Tracy Crane, a CIA officer within the CIC Counterespionage Unit and a potential new love interest for Mae.
- Bondar (The Americans) will play Vasili Sirin, a colonel in the SVR.
- Phillips (Madam Secretary) will play Volk, a high-ranking, clever and terrifying FSB operative known as "The Grim Reaper."
