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[05/19/14 - 11:31 PM]
Development Update: Monday, May 19
By The Futon Critic Staff (TFC)

LOS ANGELES (thefutoncritic.com) -- The latest development news, culled from recent wire reports:

Looking to keep track of all the various projects in development? Click here to visit our signature "Devwatch" section. There visitors can view our listings by network, genre, studio and even development stage (ordered to pilot, cast-contingent, script, etc.). It's updated every day!


DAMIEN (Lifetime, New!) - Glen Mazzara ("The Walking Dead") is developing a small screen follow-up to the 1976 horror classic "The Omen" which centers on the film's young boy Damien Thorn, "now an adult and haunted by his past, he's faced with a series of macabre events and must finally face his true destiny: he is the Antichrist." He'll write and executive produce via his Fox Television Studios-based 44 Strong Productions banner. Ross Fineman of Fineman Entertainment likewise will executive produce. (THR.com)


IRON KING, THE (FX, New!) - Maurice Druon's historical book series "The Accursed Kings" - about the French monarchy in the 13th and 14th centuries - is being developed as a potential drama at the cable channel. Carol Polakoff, Kristina Sorensen and Daniela Albin of Viewfinder Pictures are all behind the project, however no writing auspices were given. (Deadline.com)


LOTTERY, THE (Lifetime/Warner Horizon; W: Timothy J. Sexton; D: Danny Cannon) - Athena Karkanis has joined the cast of the upcoming drama, which is set in a dystopian future when women have stopped having children and a national lottery is held to decide the surrogates for 100 embryos that have been successfully fertilized. She'll play Vanessa, "who has earned her job and risen through the political ranks all the way to chief of staff to the POTUS." Louise Lombard played said role, then known as Tori, in the original pilot. David Alpay, Marley Shelton, Martin Donovan and Michael Graziadei also star. (Deadline.com)


SLAP, THE (NBC/Universal; W: Jon Robin Baitz; D: Lisa Cholodenko) - Lisa Cholodenko (The Kids Are All Right) has signed on to helm and executive produce the first two episodes of the limited series, a complex family drama that explodes from one small incident where a man slaps another couple's misbehaving child. This seemingly minor domestic dispute pulls the family apart, begins to expose long-held secrets, and ignites a lawsuit that challenges the core American values of all who are pulled into it. Tony Ayres, Walter Parkes, Laurie MacDonald and Ted Gold also serve as executive producers. (Deadline.com)


STITCHERS (ABC Family; W: Jeffrey A. Schechter; D: TBA) - Newcomers Emma Ishta and Kyle Harris are the first to be cast in the drama pilot, about "a young woman recruited into a covert government agency to be 'stitched' into the minds of the recently deceased, using their memories to investigate murders and decipher mysteries that otherwise would have gone to the grave." Ishta will play Kristen Clark, "the smart, socially awkward girl with a rare condition, which makes her unable to feel emotions or correctly gauge the passage of time"; with Harris as Cameron, "the chief tech/handler at the secret government agency." Jonathan Baruch and Rob Wolken also serve as executive producers. (THR.com)


UNTITLED ED BURNS PROJECT (FX, New!) - Ed Burns ("The Wire") is developing a cyber crime drama at the cable channel. Cyber crime/counter-terrorism expert Marc Goodman is also on board to executive produce the hour, as are Carol Polakoff, Kristina Sorensen and Daniela Albin of Viewfinder Pictures. No other details were given. (Deadline.com)


AND IN OTHER NEWS... - Steven Berkoff will recur on "Witches of East End" as King Nikolaus, "the patriarch of the Beauchamp family, who also happens to be a darkly powerful warlock and rules Asgard with an iron (and corrupt) fist" (Deadline.com); and Brett Cullen has been cast as Barbie's father Don Barbara on "Under the Dome" (EW.com).






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· DAMIEN (A AND E)
· DEVELOPMENT UPDATE (TFC)
· IRON KING, THE (FX)
· LOTTERY, THE (LIFETIME)
· SLAP, THE (NBC)
· STITCHERS (FREEFORM)
· UNDER THE DOME (CBS)
· UNTITLED ED BURNS PROJECT (FX)
· WALKING DEAD, THE (AMC)
· WIRE, THE (HBO)
· WITCHES OF EAST END (LIFETIME)





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