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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!
AGATHA (ABC/ABC Studios; W: Tom Donaghy; D: Jace Alexander) - Clancy Brown ("Sleepy Hollow") has snagged a lead role on the drama pilot, about Agatha McAuliffe (Bojana Novakovic), a former convict turned big city criminologist who is brought in to help local police - including her estranged chief detective father - crack a case involving a perplexing disappearance. He'll play her aforementioned father, Hank McAuliffe, "a salt of the earth guy who also happens to be a struggling alcoholic." Aaron Ashmore, Christian Keyes, Erik Palladino, Jee Young Han and Meta Golding also star. (THR.com)
BATTLE CREEK (CBS/Sony; W: David Shore & Vince Gilligan; D: Bryan Singer) - Josh Duhamel ("Las Vegas") has booked a lead role on the drama pilot, about a detective (Dean Winters) and an FBI agent with very different world views who are teamed up to clean up the semi-mean streets of Battle Creek, Michigan. He'll play said agent, Milton Chamberlain, "a sincere, humble, even naive guy who heads from Detroit to Battle Creek to set up a satellite FBI office." Aubrey Dollar, Damon Herriman, Edward Fordham, Jr., Janet McTeer and Kal Penn also star. (Deadline.com)
COERCION (NBC/Universal; W/D: George Nolfi) - Morgan Spector ("Person of Interest") has scored a role on the drama pilot, about the O'Connor family and their son, Alex (Gavin Stenhouse), a decorated American war hero and CIA analyst who is a true patriot and loves his country and family. Unbeknownst to him, both of his parents (Hope Davis, TBA) and his sister (Margarita Levieva) are part of a dormant Russian sleeper cell that has just been reactivated. He'll play Victor Dobrynin, "an appealing, intimidating and powerful man who knows how to both charm and terrify." Alexandra Peters, Annie Ilonzeh and Kenneth Choi also star. (Deadline.com)
DEAD BOSS (FOX/Warner Bros.; W: Patricia Breen; D: Barry Sonnenfeld) - Barry Sonnenfeld (Men in Black 3) is set to helm the comedy pilot, about Helen Stephens (Jane Krakowski), an overachiever who is wrongfully convicted of murdering her boss and forced to rely on Laura (Justine Lupe), her train wreck of a sister to prove her innocence. He'll work from a script by Patricia Breen. Amy Sedaris, Cedric Yarborough and Ravi Patel also star. (Deadline.com)
EMPIRE (FOX/20th; W: Danny Strong & Lee Daniels; D: Lee Daniels) - Gabourey Sidibe, Trai Byers and Grace Gealey have all landed roles on the pilot, a unique family drama set in the world of a hip-hop empire run by music superstar Lucious Lyon (Terrence Howard). Sidibe will recur as Becky, his adorable assistant; with Byers as Lucious's brilliant eldest son, Andre, who's hiding a dark, depressed side; and Gealey as Anika Gibbons, "the head of A&R for Empire and Lucious's current lady friend." Bryshere Y. Gray, Jussie Smollett, Malik Yoba and Taraji P. Henson also star. (Deadline.com)
EXPOSED (ABC/Universal; W: Charles Randolph; D: TBA) - Mary Elizabeth Winstead (A Good Day to Die Hard) has signed on for the lead role in the drama pilot, about Anna Loach, an investigative journalist who will stop at nothing to uncover the truth including making questionable alliances. Also starring in the hour are Brian F. O'Byrne, Fran Kranz, Sandrine Holt, Pedro Pascal and Peter De Jersey. (Deadline.com)
FOREVER (ABC/Warner Bros.; W: Matthew Miller; D: Brad Anderson) - Alana de la Garza ("Do No Harm") has been tapped as the female lead on the drama pilot, about Dr. Henry Morgan (Ioan Gruffudd), a 200-year-old man who spends his days working in the New York City Morgue trying to find a key to unlock the curse of his immortality. She's set as NYPD Detective Jo Martinez, who's both recently widowed and a recovering alcoholic. Judd Hirsch also stars. (Deadline.com)
GOOD SESSION (CBS/Warner Bros.; W: John Hamburg & Matt Miller; D: John Hamburg) - James Roday ("Psych") has booked the male lead on the comedy pilot, about Joel and Lindsay, a happy couple that goes to a therapist to help them decide if they should have a baby but quickly discover they have more to discuss. He'll play the aforementioned Joel, "a dedicated middle-school guidance counselor." Rich Sommer also stars. (Deadline.com)
HOW TO GET AWAY WITH MURDER (ABC/ABC Studios; W: Peter Nowalk; D: Michael Offer) - Tom Verica ("The Nine") has booked a role on the drama pilot, about a group of ambitious law students and their brilliant, mysterious criminal defense professor, Annalise Dewitt (Viola Davis), who become entangled in a murder plot that will rock their entire university and change the course of their lives. He'll play her husband Tom, "a psychology professor who comes from a long line of academic royalty." The project also stars Aja Naomi King, Alfred Enoch, Billy Brown, Charlie Weber, Jack Falahee, Karla Souza, Katie Findlay, Liza Weil and Matt McGorry. (Deadline.com)
IDENTITY (The CW/CBS; W: Corinne Brinkerhoff; D: Gary Fleder) - Mehcad Brooks ("Necessary Roughness") is the latest to board the drama pilot, about Mia Lawrence (Ahna O'Reilly), a young New Yorker who is recruited by the CIA to infiltrate her recently discovered biological family, a wealthy and powerful dynasty in Texas suspected of having criminal alliances across the globe. He's set as Brennan Stauffer, "a driven, unorthodox CIA agent who finds himself with a perfectly positioned but very green new asset in Mia." Matt Barr and Stephen Hagan also star. (Deadline.com)
MADAM SECRETARY (CBS/CTS; W: Barbara Hall; D: David Semel) - Katherine Herzer (Barely Lethal) is the latest addition to the drama pilot, about the personal and professional life of maverick Secretary of State Elizabeth Faulkner McGill (Tea Leoni) as she drives international diplomacy, wrangles office politics and balances a complex family life. She'll play her popular 15-year-old daughter, Caroline, in the project, which also stars Bebe Neuwirth, Erich Bergen, Evan Roe, Geoffrey Arend, Patina Miller and Tim Daly. (Deadline.com)
ONLY HUMAN (CBS/CTS; W: David Marshall Grant; D: TBA) - Nick Jandl and Cameron Scoggins have joined the Jamie Lee Curtis-led drama pilot, about quadruplets - three brothers and a sister - who grew up on a reality show. The former will play Jonathan, "the oldest of the quadruplets who's fresh out of his residency and new to Easton Hospital, an eminent institution headed by his mother (Curtis)"; while the latter is set as Michael, "another one of the quadruplets who runs an inner-city clinic." (Deadline.com)
YOUR FAMILY OR MINE (TBS/Sony; W: Greg Malins; D: Gail Mancuso) - Australian actor Andrew Lees is the first to be cast in the pilot, a family comedy with an unusual structure: each episode focuses on a different side of the family. He'll play Blake, the youngest brother who's a great dresser, really good looking and knows it, but never flaunts it. (Deadline.com)
AND IN OTHER NEWS... - Entertainment One Television and The De Laurentiis Company are developing Frederik Pohl's sci-fi classic "Gateway" as a TV series (Deadline.com); Fox Television Studios is likewise looking to bring Kevin Roose's bestselling nonfiction book "Young Money: Inside the Hidden World of Wall Street's Post-Crash Recruits" to the small screen (Deadline.com); Mason Dye and Khylin Rhambo are both set to recur on "Teen Wolf" come season four (EOnline.com); Louis Gossett, Jr. has been cast as the father of Halle Berry's female astronaut character in CBS's summer series "Extant" (TVGuide.com); and Laura Benanti is bound for "The Good Wife" as Colin Sweeney's (Dylan Baker) new fiancée (TVGuide.com).
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