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[06/04/12 - 11:04 PM]
Development Update: Monday, June 4
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!


DA VINCI'S DEMONS (Starz) - Lara Pulver ("True Blood") is the latest addition to the upcoming drama, about the "untold" story of the world's greatest genius - Leonardo da Vinci (Tom Riley) - during his turbulent youth in Renaissance Florence. She'll play "famed enchantress and political machinator Clarice Orsini, aristocratic wife of Florentine ruler Lorenzo Medici." Laura Haddock also stars as Lucrezia Donati. David S. Goyer is behind the project, which is set up at BBC Worldwide Productions. (Deadline.com)


HANNIBAL (NBC) - Mads Mikkelsen ("Casino Royale") has booked the title role in the upcoming drama, about the early relationship between psychiatrist-turned-serial-killer, Dr. Hannibal Lecter (Mikkelsen), and gifted criminal profiler Will Graham (Hugh Dancy). Gaumont International Television is behind the project, the pilot for which will be directed by David Slade from a script by Bryan Fuller. Brian Cox originated the Lecter role in the 1986 feature "Manhunter" while Anthony Hopkins took home an Oscar for his turn in 1991's "The Silence of the Lambs." (Deadline.com)


HOLIDAY SPIN (Lifetime, New!) - Ralph Macchio and Garrett Clayton are set to topline a new holiday original at the cable channel about Blake (Clayton), a "rebellious teen who is forced to go live with his father Ruben (Macchio) after his mother is killed in a car accident." Macchio's character runs a famed dance studio that has fallen on hard times where Blake falls for star student Pia (yet to be cast), who just happens to be Ruben's future step-daughter. Writer Albert Leon and director Jon Rosenbaum are behind the project, with Safe House's Scott W. Anderson serving as an executive producer and HS Productions' Christian Bruyere producing. (THR.com)


MOCKINGBIRD LANE (NBC) - Jerry O'Connell ("The Defenders") has been tapped to star as Herman Munster in the Peacock's reboot of "The Munsters." Said role, played by Fred Gwynne in the original 1960s series, is detailed as a great dad and devoted husband who works at a funeral home and is married to Lily (yet to be cast), a vampire, with whom he has fathered a 10-year-old boy, Eddie (Mason Cook), a werewolf. Charity Wakefield and Eddie Izzard also star in the Universal Television-based hour, from writer Bryan Fuller and director Bryan Singer. (Deadline.com)


PLAYING FATHER (Hallmark) - Eddie Cibrian and Michael Beach are set to star in the original movie, about "a former musician (Cibrian) who, despite having fans around the world, opts to return home to take a job teaching music to disenfranchised children so he can repair his relationship with his own family." Beach then will play "a custodian who works at the school in which Cibrian's character works." Eriq La Salle is helming the film, due to premiere next year timed with Father's Day, off a script by Wayne Lemon with Larry Levinson and Randy Pope serving as executive producers and Lincoln Lageson producing. (THR.com)


RED WIDOW (ABC) - Clifton Collins Jr. ("The Event") has joined the cast of the midseason drama, about Marta Walraven (Radha Mitchell), the widow of an assassinated criminal who is suddenly forced to adopt her late husband's (Anson Mount) role in order to protect her family. He'll play FBI Agent James Ramos, taking over for Mido Hamada in the original pilot. Melissa Rosenberg is behind the ABC Studios-based hour. (Deadline.com)


AND IN OTHER NEWS... - "CSI" co-star Eric Szmanda is the latest cast member to close a deal to return for the show's upcoming 13th season (THR.com); DiGa's Tony DiSanto and Liz Gateley are developing a small screen take on Kevin Williamson and Wes Craven's "Scream" franchise at MTV (TVLine.com); "Game of Thrones" executive producers David Benioff and D.B. Weiss have renewed their deal with HBO to continue as showrunners for two more seasons (EW.com); Brian White will guest on "Burn Notice" as "a hard-edged and by-the-book FBI agent who has devoted much of his career to bringing down a ruthless Boston Mob syndicate" (EW.com); Victor Webster is set to drop by "White Collar" as "an aggressive top Wall Street trader" whom the FBI suspects of running an insider trading ring (EW.com); and Bob Cooper's Landscape Entertainment has signed a first-look deal with Entertainment One Television (Deadline.com).






  [june 2012]  
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· BURN NOTICE (USA)
· CSI: CRIME SCENE INVESTIGATION (CBS)
· DA VINCI'S DEMONS (STARZ)
· DEFENDERS, THE (CBS)
· DEVELOPMENT UPDATE (TFC)
· EVENT, THE (NBC)
· GAME OF THRONES (HBO)
· HANNIBAL (NBC)
· HOLIDAY SPIN (LIFETIME)
· MOCKINGBIRD LANE (NBC)
· NOTES FROM DAD (HALLMARK)
· RED WIDOW (ABC)
· SCREAM (VH1)
· TRUE BLOOD (HBO)
· WHITE COLLAR (USA)





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