Scandal‘s Kimrie Lewis and Hawaii Five-O‘s Jake Choi are set as series regulars in ABC comedy pilot SINGLE PARENTS. Lewis will play Poppy, a single mother in touch with her sexuality and a bit of a hippie who she raises her son to always be himself. Choi will portray Miggy, a 20-year-old, sleep-deprived dad, raising a baby boy after the mother departs for college and leaves him to parent their son alone.
Former Once Upon A Time star Ginnifer Goodwin is returning to ABC as the female lead in the network’s comedy pilot STEPS. The series revolves around four adults in three houses raising three kids after two divorces — together. Goodwin will play Bea, a modern hippie, in tune with her spirit, a great listener and a parent coach, who is making her perhaps the most-equipped to handle three kids with her new husband Paul, her ex-husband (Barry Rothbart), and his ex-wife. She has a fantastic ability to understand others (except the odd time when it fails completely).
Tyrant alumna Anne Winters and Valor‘s Bryan Craig are set as series regular roles on the ABC drama pilot GRAND HOTEL. Winters will play Ingrid, a beautiful hotel employee who would rather be anything else. She’s humorously candid about not liking her job (or any job, really) and spends much of her time trying to find shortcuts to a richer, easier life. Craig will portray Javi, a no-filter playboy who loves to disobey his father.
Pitch‘s Michael Beach and The Gifted‘s Frances Turner are set as series regulars in ABC’s untitled Holmes drama pilot. The series explores the lives of five African-American sisters, all officers in the NYPD, as they face the challenges of their high-risk jobs while juggling the responsibilities of marriage, motherhood, and family. Beach will play Langston Graves, husband to one of the sisters, Sgt. Ella Kendrick Graves (Amirah Vann). Turner will play the lead sister, Lena Kendrick. Witty and intelligent, Lena relishes being a woman and a cop. The highest ranking of the five Kendrick sisters who are all also NYPD officers, Lena is the first African American woman to be promoted to Assistant Chief in the NYPD.
Turbulence‘s Justin Johnson Cortez has booked a series regular role on ABC’s drama pilot STATIES. The series centers on Eliza Cortez, a hard-charging NYPD detective who’s banished to the boonies after a high-profile mistake and is paired with a new partner, Oregon State Trooper Sam King. King’s investigative techniques don’t exactly follow protocol, as evidenced by his talking to trees for clues and his obsession with flying kites. Cortez will play Richard Spruce, the cop in charge of the robbery at the River Run Tribal Gaming Casino.
Designated Survivor‘s Ben Lawson and The Comeback‘s Mark L. Young are set as series regulars in ABC’s FALSE PROFITS pilot. Lawson will play Jake Amato, the hot building manager of the TJ Maxx, a cute blue collar guy who has a flirty relationship with Laura (Bellamy Young). Young will portray Travis Pitts, the young manager of the TJ Maxx where Laura, Hilary, and Parvun all work.
The Affair‘s Catalina Sandino Moreno has been tapped as one of the leads in ABC’s drama pilot SALVAGE. The series centers on ex-cop Jimmy Hill ( Toby Kebbell), who just wants to be left alone after moving back home to rural Florida. But when a local murder is linked to the sunken treasure of a lost Spanish galleon, he’s drawn into the investigation by an idealistic deputy (Sardino) and pitted against the powerful town patriarch (Jim Belushi), outside criminal agents and his own father (Will Patton). Sandino’s Deputy Kate Collins came down from Atlanta with her now-ex-husband and is raising their adopted Asian son, Chip, alone. To keep her job, and for Chip, she’s turned a blind eye to the corruption and killings and cover-ups in Bel Grove, but now has had enough. Afraid for her life if she tries to stop them alone, she turns to Jimmy for help.
Former Drop Dead Diva star Brooke Elliott has booked a series-regular role in ABC’s untitled single-camera comedy pilot. The uplifting comedy features a dysfunctional family that perseveres despite their differences and finds happiness in unexpected places. Elliott will play Keri-Ann, the mom of this amazing family. If she was a super-low-key, boring, ordinary person, it might help to balance out her husband, Buzz. Instead, she’s the furthest thing from boring. She has a bit of diva in her and sometimes has a bit of wine in her, too. After working two jobs to support her husband as he worked on numerous Ph.D.s, she’s finally getting a chance to devote time to her own career. A designer “who likes elegance,” she grew up a farm girl but now dresses very chicly. She’s madly in love with Buzz — and has been ever since they met in high school. She’s stood by him through thick and thin, and she expects her kids to do the same.
Nelson Franklin (Veep), Jessica Chaffin (Search Party), and Leonard Ouzts (Master of None) are set as leads in NBC’s multi-camera comedy pilot ABBY’S. Franklin will play Bill. Cautious. A worrier, never a risk-taker, he is Abby’s (Natalie Morales) new landlord, a bit confused and very concerned to discover that Abby is running a clearly illegal business in the backyard — a bar where friends gather to drink, chat, play games and do a little grilling. Chaffin plays Beth, a harried mom who lives next door and is a regular at Abby’s backyard bar, where she can escape the madness of her home life while still keeping an eye on things from her perch on a bar stool. Ouzts plays James, a large, gentle scaredy cat and another die-hard regular at Abby’s backyard bar. A security guard at a warehouse, James gets most of the excitement in his life at the bar.
The Orginals co-star Yusuf Gatewood has landed one of the male leads in IN BETWEEN LIVES, NBC’s drama pilot. The series follows a mysterious young woman who reluctantly uses her gift of clairvoyance to help a veteran LAPD detective and a damaged ex-FBI outsider (Gatewood) solve the most unnerving and challenging cases the city encounters. Gatewood’s Damien Parrish is the new kid on the LAPD Homicide Squad. Damien used to be a Criminal Analyst with the FBI, and spent the last eight years in Florida.
Pretty Little Liars alum Ian Harding and Taken‘s Jose Pablo Cantillo are set as series regulars in Fox’s FBI drama pilot. Harding will play Sam Gerard, a preppy and privileged co-worker of FBI special agent Hazel Otis (Katie Holmes). Cantillo will portray Irish Joe, an FBI field agent on Hazel’s team.
April Dawn | Editorial Intern
