Tuesday, July 20, 2021

Casting News - Punkie Johnson Joins 'Love Life'; 'Batwoman' Casts Victoria Cartagena as New Series Regular; Plus 3 More Updates!

Casting News - July 20, 2021

Amazon's Hunters & The Summer I Turned Pretty; AMC's Moonhaven; The CW's Batwoman; and HBO Max's Love Life.





THE CW's BATWOMAN
  • Victoria Cartagena has been cast as a new series regular on the drama's upcoming third season. She previously starred in the first season of FOX's Gotham. She has also recurred on Netflix's You, NBC's Manifest and AppleTV+'s Servant.
  • She will play Renee Montoya, a former GCPD officer who left the force when she could no longer stomach the corruption inside the department. She now runs the "freaks division," which hasn't seen a lot of action... until now. Righteous, pragmatic and LGBTQ+, she's a woman with a very personal (and mysterious) mission to help clean the streets of Gotham in the right way, by whatever means necessary.
AMAZON's HUNTERS
  • Tommy Martinez, Emily Rudd and Udo Kier have booked recurring roles on the drama's upcoming second season. Martinez currently stars in Freeform's Good Trouble, which is now airing its third season. Rudd recently starred in the Netflix film trilogy Fear Street. Kier stars in the Iron Sky film franchise.
  • No details were immediately released about the characters they will be playing.
HBO MAX's LOVE LIFE
  • Punkie Johnson is set as a series regular on the upcoming second season of the anthology series. Moreover, Leslie Bibb, John Earl Jelks, Arian Moayed, Kimberly Elise, Ego Nwodim and Blair Underwood have landed recurring roles. Johnson and Nwodim currently star in NBC's Saturday Night Live - with Johnson appearing in one season so far while Nwodim has been in three. Bibb recently starred in Netflix's one-season drama Jupiter's Legacy. Jelks recurred on Showtime's On Becoming a God in Central Florida. Moayed currently stars in HBO's Succession, which returns for its third season later this year. Elise starred for three seasons in VH1's Hit the Floor. Underwood recently starred in the Netflix limited series When They See Us and Self Made.
  • Johnson will play Ida Watkins, Marcus' (William Jackson Harper) outspoken sister who is much more in tune with her authentic self than her brother is. She will say anything to anyone, often to hilarious effect.
  • Bibb will play Becca Evans, a twice-divorced mother of two with whom Marcus enters into a purely sexual relationship, but like any such relationship, it soon becomes more complicated than that.
  • Jelks will play Kirby Watkins, Marcus' affable yet formidable father, who casts a large shadow over his son. As adults, the two will finally grow closer and learn to connect.
  • Moayed will play Kian Parsa, one of Marcus' best friends, a tech millionaire who recently sold his company. But even though he's rich now, and sometimes kind of a douche, he is still the same sweet, lovable guy Marcus has known forever.
  • Elise will play Suzanne Hayward, Mia's (Jessica Williams) eccentric and often irresponsible mother. She has always leaned on her daughter, forcing Mia to grow up fast and learn how to keep things on the rails.
  • Nwodim will play Ola Adebayo, a beautiful playwright who seems perfect on paper to Marcus. But the two get so serious so fast that both of them are forced to confront how right they really are for each other.
  • Underwood will play Leon Hines, Mia's debonair yet often absent father. Their relationship, or lack thereof, has fundamentally shaped Mia's romantic life as an adult.
AMAZON's THE SUMMER I TURNED PRETTY
  • Gavin Casalegno has joined the cast of the upcoming drama starring Lola Tung and Christopher Briney. He is currently recurring on the first season of The CW's Walker.
  • He will play Jeremiah, a popular, athletic, playful and easygoing character who is the life of the party, incredibly magnetic and flirts with everyone.
AMC's MOONHAVEN
  • Kadeem Hardison has landed a series regular role on the upcoming drama starring Emma McDonald and Dominic Monaghan. He previously starred for six seasons in NBC's A Different World, three seasons in Disney's K.C. Undercover and one season in Netflix's Teenage Bounty Hunters. He has also recurred on Showtime's Black Monday.
  • He will play Arlo, Detective Paul Serno's (Monaghan) partner. He is a third-generation "Mooner" and detective with a curious heart and healing spirit who finds himself an unlikely soldier in the fight to keep Moonhaven alive.