Casting News: Sleepy Hollow, Suits, Netflix, and NBC and CW Recastings
Upfronts have come and gone, as the major networks have finalized their schedules for the 2014-2015 broadcast season. But that doesn't mean that casts have been finalized just yet. Casting changes and re-ups continue to abound as the old season falls away and we get closer to the new one.
So what changes are in store? Let's get to it!
In the first big story of the day, Sleepy Hollow fans will be glad to know that the Headless Horseman will be returning for Season 2. Neil Jackson, who had a guest-starring role in the first season as Abraham Van Brunt, will return in a recurring role when Season 2 premieres. Jackson's character was one of Ichabod Crane's best friends, in addition to being the boyfriend of Katrina. However, a tragic series of incidents led to his transformation into the Headless Horseman.
Credit: FOX
While he hasn't exactly been upgraded to series regular status, it appears Jackson will be a fairly frequent fixture on the series, owing to his status as a central character in the overarching mythos of the show. Given that Van Brunt is one of the show's more compelling characters, even in his initially limited capacity, this is pretty good news all-around.
Via: TVLine
Credit: John Fleenor/NBC
However, while FOX is keeping a familiar face around for another season, as two networks are getting rid of some faces they already signed.
Two characters on the upcoming NBC series Bad Judge are being recast, as Mather Zickel and Arden Myrin are being replaced. The new series stars Kate Walsh as Rebecca Wright, an L.A. criminal court judge who, while notoriously tough, also possesses a bit of a wild streak. Zickel was set to play the role of Gary, Rebecca's on-again/off-again psychiatrist boyfriend with whom she has crazy, courtroom trysts (for this is the way of things in the TV version of L.A., I suppose). Myrin, meanwhile, was to play the role of Jenny, Rebecca’s best friend, making this yet another awful pilot season if you're a best friend character in a new pilot.
Case in point, the latest recast over at The CW...
Credit: The CW
Yes, much like NBC, The CW is recasting the best friend character for its upcoming DC Comics adaptation, iZombie, written by Veronica Mars creator Rob Thomas and fellow veteran Diane Ruggiero-Wright.
Alexandra Krosney had been set to play Peyton, the best friend of medical student-turned-zombie Liv (Rose McIver). However, it appears things just didn't really work out. This marks the fourth significant recasting in as many days, as NBC is recasting roles for the pilot Mission Control, while CBS is reportedly looking to go in a different direction with the ensemble for its upcoming Odd Couple reboot.
Via: Deadline
Credit: FX
Over on cable, a Justified alum is heading over to Suits.
Neal McDonough will be joining the cast of Suits when Season 4 premieres on June 11. He will play the role of Sean Cahill, a villain described as "a bulldog who goes toe-to-toe with everyone at Pearson Specter when Eric Woodall (guest star Zeljko Ivanek) tasks him with uncovering wrongdoing at the firm."
As a huge Band of Brothers fan, I'm kind of a Neal McDonough fan by osmosis, so this is some damn fine casting. The man tends to play these Tate Donovan-esque roles, in which he's either a straight-laced good guy, or a hard-nosed bad guy. But he's quite good at these sorts of parts, so it makes sense to have him here.
Via: TVLine
Credit: A&E
From cable TV, we head to online distribution, as the latest Netflix original series has added two more huge names to its cast.
Oscar nominee Chloe Sevigny, of the recently-canceled A&E series Those Who Kill, will be joining Netflix's currently-untitled psychological thriller. Also joining the cast is Rescue Me alum Steven Pasquale.
The 13-episode series, from Sony Pictures TV and written/executive produced by Damages creators Todd A. Kessler, Daniel Zelman and Glenn Kessler, centers on a family of four siblings (Kyle Chandler, Ben Mendelsohn, Linda Cardellini, and Norbert Leo Butz) whose "secrets and scars are revealed when their black sheep brother (Mendelsohn) returns home."
Sevigny will play the role of Chelsea, a former flame of Mendelsohn’s character. She lives with her brother Eric (Jamie McShane), recently released on parole, which is a whole other layer of complication on a story that already seems pretty out there (in a good way, dramatically).
Credit: Michael Wong/FX
Pasquale, meanwhile, plays a love interest for Cardellini’s character. So it looks like these four siblings are all going to have their own unique brand of drama in the Florida Keys, where the show is set (because, eventually, I suppose some kind of show needed to be set there).
Via: Deadline