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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!
POWERS (PSN/Sony; W: Charlie Huston; D: David Slade) - Eddie Izzard, Noah Taylor and Olesya Rulin are the latest to be cast in the upcoming drama, based on Brian Michael Bendis and Michael Avon Oeming's comic of the same name, about two homicide detectives, Christian Walker and Deena Pilgrim (Susan Heyward), who are assigned to protect humans like us and investigate cases involving people with superhuman abilities. Izzard will play Wolfe, "the bogeyman of the universe - a top-level Power who has spent the last two decades incarcerated in the Shaft, his terrible abilities kept in check through a brutal regimen of surgical procedures"; with Taylor as Johnny Royalle, "a criminal mastermind with the ability to pop in and out of locations at will"; and Rulin as Calista, "a teenage Power wannabe with street smarts, attitude and vulnerability who is always seeking out her next move." Vinnie Jones and Bailee Madison originated the latter roles in the FX pilot. (Deadline.com)
UNTITLED DAN STERLING PROJECT (CBS, New!) - Writer Dan Sterling ("The Office") and directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller (The Lego Movie) are set to team for a multi-camera comedy at the Eye about "an accommodating, well-meaning, and all-too-compliant man, and a powerful, outspoken, embattled woman who form a new friendship and partnership by which they jointly strive to revolutionize themselves and their lives." Said effort, which has a put pilot commitment, comes from the latter's 20th Century Fox Television-based Lord-Miller banner. (Deadline.com)
UNTITLED STU ZICHERMAN PROJECT (Showtime, New!) - Stu Zicherman ("Six Degrees") has set up a potential comedy at the pay channel which "explores modern dating, centering on a recently divorced guy who tries to evolve and connect one date at a time." Universal Television is behind the half-hour with Jason Katims and Michelle Lee of the studio-based True Jack Productions also serving as executive producers. (Deadline.com)
WESTWORLD (HBO/WBTV; W: Lisa Joy & Jonathan Nolan; D: Jonathan Nolan) - Miranda Otto ("Rake") is the latest to board the ever-expanding cast of the drama pilot, a small screen take on Michael Crichton's 1973 movie of the same name, described as a dark odyssey about the dawn of artificial consciousness and the future of sin. She's set as Virginia Pittman, "the head of the Quality Assurance department whose brutal honesty with her colleagues and her ruthless efficiency in dealing with malfunctioning property have made her a formidable and unpredictable power player in Westworld." Angela Sarafyan, Anthony Hopkins, Currie Graham, Demetrius Grosse, Ed Harris, Eddie Rouse, Evan Rachel Wood, Ingrid Bolso Berdal, James Marsden, Jeffrey Wright, Kyle Bornheimer, Lena Georgas, Rodrigo Santoro, Shannon Woodward, Simon Quarterman, Steven Ogg, Thandie Newton and Timothy Lee DePriest also star. (Deadline.com)
AND IN OTHER NEWS... - Craig Ferguson is in talks with Tribune Media for a "half-hour first-run comedy/talk show that would air in prime" for a fall 2016 launch (Deadline.com); Bex Taylor-Klaus will succeed Amy Forsyth as Audrey Jensen on MTV's "Scream" pilot, a decision made after the table read (Deadline.com); James Belushi, Terry Kinney and Michael Stahl-David are bound for HBO's "Show Me a Hero" as Yonkers Mayor Angelo R. Martinelli, Yonkers Housing Authority's director Peter Smith and James Surdoval, respectively (Deadline.com); Ryan McPartlin will recur on NBC's "Bad Judge" as a love interest for Kate Walsh's title character (Deadline.com); J.R. Ramirez's Julio has been upped to series regular on "Power" (Deadline.com); "Local Attraction" creator/star Connor Hines has inked a blind script deal with ABC Studios (Deadline.com);
Giacomo Gianniotti has scored an arc on ABC's "Selfie" as "a handsome, smart young lawyer who is a major shareholder at the company where Eliza and Henry work" (Deadline.com); Andy Ridings and Dylan Gelula have both joined the cast of NBC's "Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt" as Charles and Xanthippe, respectively (Deadline.com); Julius Sharpe has inked a two-year overall deal with 20th Century Fox Television where he'll join the studio's "Cristela" as a consulting producer (Deadline.com); Patrick Fischler will recur on "Shameless" as "a middle-class man going to extraordinary lengths to keep his deceased son alive in spirit" (Deadline.com); Ed Bernero is departing NBC's "State of Affairs" as showrunner with Dario Scardapane "rumored as a replacement" (Deadline.com); Yeardley Smith will guest on the season premiere of "Revenge" as "a fellow patient at the mental institution where Victoria was admitted" (TVLine.com);
Michael Chernus will guest on "Elementary" as "a brilliant computer engineer who approaches Sherlock and Joan after Borstein fears he's been the victim of intellectual espionage" (EW.com); Joan Collins will visit E!'s "The Royals" as "the Grand Duchess of Oxford, otherwise known as the mother of Queen Helena (Elizabeth Hurley)" (People.com) (TVLine.com); Brant Daugherty will drop by "Anger Management" as "the boyfriend of Charlie's patient Lacey"; Connie Nielsen is the latest bound for "The Good Wife" as "a smart, beautiful attorney with far-reaching Cook County connections" (TVLine.com); and Navid Negahban and Lauren Bowles will both recur on The CW's "The Messengers" as "a hard-working, passionate politician driven by a painful personal past" and "a Middle Eastern prime minister whose responsibility of keeping peace in his volatile country weighs heavily on him" (THR.com).
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