The CW's Untitled Arrow Spinoff; FOX's Carla; Freeform's Last Summer; HBO's Untitled Los Angeles Lakers Project; and HBO Max's Generation.
FREEFORM NEW PILOT ORDER
- LAST SUMMER (Drama) - Written by Bert V. Royal. Directed by Max Winkler. Executive produced by Royal, Winkler, Jessica Biel and Michelle Purple. Produced by Entertainment One and Iron Ocean Productions. Logline: Set across three summers (1993-95) in a small Texas town, a beautiful popular teen, Kate, is abducted and, seemingly unrelated, a girl, Jeanette, goes from being a sweet, awkward outlier to the most popular girl in town and, by 1995, the most despised person in America. Each episode is told from the POV of one of the two main characters which will have the viewers loyalties constantly shifting as more information is revealed.
HBO's UNTITLED LOS ANGELES LAKERS PROJECT
- Molly Gordon, Rob Morgan, Spencer Garrett, Kirk Bovill and Delante Desouza have joined the cast of the drama pilot starring Jason Clarke and John C. Reilly. Gordon previously starred for three seasons in TNT's Animal Kingdom. Morgan has recurred on Netflix's Daredevil and NBC's This Is Us. Garrett has recurred on USA's Unsolved, Syfy's The Magicians and Starz's Survivor's Remorse. Bovill appeared in the 2018 film Vice. Desouza is a recent graduate of the University of Maryland at College Park.
- Gordon will play Linda Zafrani, whose intelligence and savvy have earned her a position in the Forum Office. The arrival of new ownership - Jerry Buss (Reilly) and his ambitious daughter Jeanie - requires her to navigate a complicated web of personal and professional relationships.
- Morgan will play Earvin Johnson Jr. For decades, he worked as both a garbage man and on an automobile assembly line to provide a better life for his children. When his son, Earvin "Magic" Johnson (Quincy Isaiah), is presented with an expensive NBA contract, the differences in how Earvin Sr. and his namesake handle privilege, opportunity and attention are made obvious.
- Garrett will play Chick Hearn, the legendary Lakers announcer who coined terms essential to basketball's lexicon - including slam dunk, airball and no-look pass. His colorful language and "world's eye view" were so essential to fans he became one of the few personalities to lead simultaneous radio and TV broadcasts.
- Bovill will play Donald Sterling, who already was notorious for his questionable hairstyle and stingy management of the Clippers - before the infamous tape of a sexist, racist rant went public. He pursues the trappings of fame but lacks tact, empathy and grace.
- Desouza will play Michael Cooper. Despite having been drafted the season before, a devastating knee injury rendered him a "rookie" alongside Magic Johnson. Anxious and unsure of himself, he is nonetheless determined to prove his worth to the team.
HBO MAX's GENERATION
- Justice Smith, Chloe East, Michael Johnston, Uly Schlesinger, Haley Sanchez, Nava Mau, Nathanya Alexander, Lukita Maxwell, Chase Sui Wonders and Sam Trammell will round out the main cast of the dramedy pilot starring Martha Plimpton.
- Smith (Detective Pikachu) will play Chester, a star water polo player and a straight A high school senior. Fabulous, funny and fearless, he pushes boundaries and resists labels in every way. Despite his seemingly friendly and open nature, there's a deeper mystery behind his loneliness.
- East (Kevin (Probably) Saves the World) will play Naomi, Nathan's outspoken, crass and hard-edged twin sister. She comes from a wealthy conservative Christian family which is part of Orange County's socio-political elite. Her disposition has the tendency to drive others away, but she is also a vulnerable and insecure girl who's always struggled to define herself separately from her brother and family.
- Johnston (Teen Wolf) will play Ollie, who is introverted yet instantly likable. Forthright and honest, he's the school's young new guidance counselor, still very green, and not always sure how to handle himself though he sets himself apart from other teachers with his honesty. His accessible exterior hides an intensely complex inner emotional life. He connects on a deep level to Chester's loneliness.
- Schlesinger (Divorce) will play Nathan, a curious mixture of jaded and innocent. He comes from a wealthy conservative Christian family which is part of Orange County's socio-political elite, which fuels pressure on him to be the family's successful golden boy. He hide his sexuality from his family, including his twin sister Naomi, until he comes out publicly as bisexual at his older sister's wedding reception. Sexually inexperienced but porn-savvy, earnest and wry, emotional and funny, he is defined by an intense push-pull between extremes of his interior/exterior life.
- Sanchez will play Greta, a first generation Latinx who has been raised by a single mother activist who has just been detained by ICE. By turns tentative and bold, reserved and emotional, she is trying to figure out how to define herself amid powerful feelings of in-between-ness.
- Mau (Waking Hour) will play Ana, Greta's aunt. Since coming as trans, her relationship with her sister (Greta's mother) deteriorated, but she wants to be a positive queer figure in Greta's life. She is a kind and gentle person, but she doesn't know much about raising kids and has zero tolerance for transphobia or toxic masculinity.
- Alexander (Ocean's 8) will play Arianna. Caustically funny, lacking in social skills, she loves gossip but can't keep a secret. She has gay dads but offhandedly makes homophobic comments and judges others harshly. More than anything, she wants to be "seen" - and her more outrageous behavior stems from a fear of being invisible.
- Maxwell (Speechless) will play Delilah, a social justice warrior, fighting even the most unnecessary of causes. Most people take a dislike to her, but underneath the intensity of her political front is a deeply misunderstood soul. After being sexually assaulted, she will have a profoundly emotional arc.
- Wonders (Betty) will play Riley. So in control you often forget it: her independence and self-possessed maturity are well beyond her years. Her father sits on Anaheim's city council; he's a charismatic but self-sabotaging politician; Riley's mother is also in politics but spends most of her time in DC.
- Trammell (True Blood) will plary Mark, a successful Orange County investor and fixture in his church. He has a wholesome Christian exterior, but is funny and vivacious. Initially more detached as a father, Nathan's coming out will prompt Mark to examine himself in unexpected ways.
THE CW NEW BACKDOOR PILOT
- UNTITLED ARROW SPINOFF - Airing as a backdoor pilot during the eighth and final season of Arrow. Starring Katherine McNamara, Katie Cassidy and Juliana Harkavy. Written by Beth Schwartz, Marc Guggenheim, Jill Blankenship and Oscar Balderrama. Executive produced by Schwartz, Guggenheim, Blankenship, Balderrama, Greg Berlanti and Sarah Schechter. Produced by Warner Bros. Television and Berlanti Productions. Logline: The potential spinoff follows the continuing adventures of Mia Smoak (McNamara), Laurel Lance (Cassidy) and Dinah Drake (Harkavy).
FOX NEW SERIES COMMITMENT
- CARLA (Comedy, Multi-Camera) - Starring The Big Bang Theory's Mayim Bialik. Written by Darlene Hunt. Executive produced by Hunt, Bialik, Jim Parsons, Todd Spiewak, Angie Stephenson and Miranda Hart. Produced by Fox Entertainment, Warner Bros. Television, BBC Studios, Sad Clown Productions and That's Wonderful Productions. Logline: 39-year-old Carla (Bialik) struggles every day against society and her mother to prove that you cannot have everything you want - and still be happy. Which is why she spent the money her parents set aside for her wedding to open a Cat Café in Louisville, Kentucky. Based on the BBC series Miranda.
