TV News Roundup: Female-Led ‘Walking Dead’ Series Casting, Darren Criss’s New Role & More
All Your Must-Know Wednesday TV News:
Meet Your New Zombie Fighters in the New Walking Dead Series
Alexa Mansour, Nicolas Cantu, and Hal Cumpston have been cast in major roles in the upcoming third series in the Walking Dead universe, Variety reported. It centers on two female protagonists and the first generation to come-of-age in the new, walker-filled world.
Mansour is playing “a good-natured rule breaker who lives for today” and “is likable and funny on the outside but sad on the inside.” Cantu is playing someone who is “small for his age” and “friendly, an old soul” with a black belt in karate. Cumpston is playing someone who is “big for his age” and “a shy loner that scares some kids,” something he doesn’t like.
Darren Criss Is Returning to Musical Comedy
Glee‘s Darren Criss will be starring in, executive producing, co-writing scripts, and writing original songs for a musical comedy series for Quibi (“quick bites”), a short-form video service, according to TVLine. Royalties is a “satirical take on the oft-untold story of songwriters behind the world’s greatest hits.” Criss is playing Pierce, who, along with Sara, deals with “strange and hilarious challenges” making up hit songs every week. Real-life entertainers will play fictional music stars in every episode.
Tony Goldwyn Cast in HBO’s Lovecraft Country
(Michael Tran/Getty Images)
Scandal‘s Tony Goldwyn will guest star in the upcoming HBO series Lovecraft Country based on Matt Ruff’s 2016 novel, Deadline reported. The series follows Atticus (Jonathan Majors) as he joins his friend Letitia (Jurnee Smollett-Bell) and his Uncle George (Courtney B. Vance) on a road trip across 1950s Jim Crow America to find his missing father. A struggle to overcome the racist terrors of white America and terrifying monsters that could come from an H.P. Lovecraft book ensues.
Goldwyn’s character is Samuel Braithwhite, described as his family’s patriarch and someone “who views people as assets and objects, and outsiders, including his daughter Christina, as inferiors.”
Netflix Sets Cast for Shondaland’s Bridgerton Series
Netflix has announced the rest of the cast joining Julie Andrews, who will voice the anonymous sharp-tongued gossip writer Lady Whistledown, for the upcoming Shondaland series based on Julia Quinn’s Bridgerton novels. Phoebe Dynevor, Regé-Jean Page, Golda Rosheuvel, Jonathan Bailey, Luke Newton, Claudia Jessie, Nicola Coughlan, Ruby Barker, Sabrina Bartlett, Ruth Gemmell, Adjoa Andoh, and Polly Walker have all joined the eight-episode drama.
Dynevor will play Daphne Bridgerton, a young debutante who has been eager to debut on the marriage mart, but not everything goes as planned once she meets a certain Duke.
Page will play Simon Basset, the Duke of Hastings who has just returned to London and is the primary topic of conversation amongst marriage-minded misses and ambitious mothers. However, he has no interest in his title, society, or taking a wife.
Rosheuvel will play Queen Charlotte, the veritable tastemaker of London society who lives for Lady Whistledown’s gossip, but when the newest writer takes aim at the palace, she knows she has to do something about it.
Bailey is playing Anthony Bridgerton, the eldest sibling in and head of the family who has assumed his late father’s title of Viscount. Described as “endlessly handsome, charming, and rich,” he’s considered a catch on the marriage mart. However, he has to find a way to temper his pursuit of pleasure.
Newton’s Colin Bridgerton is known for his good-natured jokes, but he also has a serious sense of adventure. His infatuation with the newest young lady in town gives him more than he bargained for.
Jessie’s Eloise Bridgerton is described as “whip-smart, brazen, and rebellious,” and while she’s nearing marriageable age, she believes she’s destined for something much greater.
Coughlan will play Penelope Featherington, an intelligent girl with a sharp wit and kind heart who would rather not be the focus of any ballroom.
Barker’s Marina Thompson is moving in with her cousins, the Featheringtons, and never imagined she’d be part of London society. Described as “resourceful,” her arrival makes more than a splash.
Bartlett’s Siena Rosso is a beautiful, captivating, and enterprising opera singer who is having a secret affair with a prominent lord.
Gemmell’s Lady Violet Bridgerton is the matriarch who treats everyone with unmatched kindness and respect, but she’s an impressive match for anyone who tries to interfere with her family. She wants her children to marry, but for love, not convenience or opportunity.
Andoh will play Lady Danbury, the legendary, acerbic lioness of a dowager who runs the town. She cares not for the rules of polite society and has sharp, but accurate judgments. She was friends with Simon’s late mother.
Walker’s Lady Portia Featherington is the most ambitious mother of all and determined to make advantageous matches for her daughters, even pushing them on disinterested parties. She’s “cunning and ruthless” and doesn’t care about the cost to get what she wants.
Katee Sackhoff’s Netflix Series Gets a Trailer and Key Art
Katee Sackhoff is going back into space in the upcoming series Another Life, set to drop on Netflix on Thursday, July 25. Her character, astronaut Niko Breckinridge, goes on a mission in search of alien intelligence and the genesis of an alien artifact and faces unimaginable danger with her young crew.
(Netflix)
The teaser offers a look at the crew’s mission and the troubles they’ll face, plus features Niko admitting just what she’s scared of (and it’s not necessarily the alien intelligence).
