Breaking Bad Creator and actor move on to other projects, E! has started their own scripted series,Robert De Niro replaces the late James Gandolfini , more people join The Mindy Project and more......
... Breaking Bad may not be over until Walt says it's over—or at least until this Sunday—but series creator Vince Gilligan has lined up his next TV gig. CBS has ordered Battle Creek, a drama about two detectives with differing views and attitudes in Battle Creek, Michigan, to series for the 2014-2015 TV season. Along for the ride are House creator David Shore, who will serve as showrunner, and Breaking Bad alum Mark Johnson, who'll executive-produce alongside Gilligan.
... The CW is developing Red, a sci-fi Western drama from The Mentalist creator Bruno Heller and executive producer Tom Szentgyorgyi. The project is about the first human settlement on Mars and centers on the relationships between the town’s female sheriff, a doctor, and a criminal.
... Robert Zemeckis has partnered with Clifton Campbell (The Glades) for Billy Ray, which has a put pilot commitment from FOX, is about a family whose world is turned upside-down when their child who was kidnapped as a baby returns home to them at the age of 16 after being raised by a wackadoodle.
CASTING NEWS
... Bryan Cranston, much like Vince Gilligan, is keeping busy. He'll be reprising his role as Ted's former boss on How I Met Your Mother for one episode in the final season.
... HBO has finally given the go-ahead to Criminal Justice, a miniseries that James Gandolfini had been set to star in prior to his death. Robert De Niro will take over Gandolfini's role. Criminal Justice is about a New York attorney who's just a bit too ambitious in taking on a case involving a Pakistani accused of murder.
... The legendary Vanessa Redgrave has joined ABC's The Black Box, a new drama about a world-renowned neuroscientist played by Kelly Reilly who appears to have her crap together on the surface, but is struggling with a mental illness. Redgrave will play her psychiatrist.
... Martin Freeman, who you may recognize from the hit BBC series Sherlock, or from his roles in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and something called The Hobbit, has landed the lead role in FX's limited event series Fargo. He'll play Lester Nygaard, William H. Macy's character in the 1996 Coen brothers film of the same name. The series will feature an all new "true crime" case.
... Comedian and all-around awesome guy Patton Oswalt is following up appearances on Justified and Parks and Recreation with a guest-starring tole on FOX's Brooklyn Nine-Nine. He'll play a fire marshall who butts heads with Andy Samberg's Detective Peralta.
... Revenge has hired current Devious Maids star Ana Ortiz. She'll guest-star as Bizzy Preston, a public relations specialist hired by Conrad. This role should come as no surprise considering all the crap the Graysons have gone through in the public eye over the course of two seasons.
... Alanna Masterson is joining the cast of The Walking Dead for Season 4. Right now we don't know much about her character, but she'll recur this season, with an option to become a series regular in the future. She'll play a new survivor who first appears midway through the season.
... Loretta Devine has joined USA's new series Sirens. The series follows "three Chicago EMTs whose self-righteous and self-destructive personalities make them unfit for long-term relationships and most occupations. Devine will play the no-nonsense church-hugging mother of one of the characters, and will appear in two episodes.
... Bethany Joy Lenz of One Tree Hill (she played Haley) has landed the lead role in E!'s scripted series pilot Songbyrd. The drama follows a songwriter named Lauren Byrd (Lenz), who has a small group of employees who help her with her unusual songwriting process. And then there's love problems and all that, of course. Rumer Willis has joined as the sister of Lauren.
... Kendra Wilkinson will appear on FOX's The Mindy Project this season because every single celebrity is legally required to guest-star on this show at some point. The former Playmate and Girls Next Door star won't be playing herself.
... Army Wives' Sally Pressman is dropping by Scandal for a few episodes this season. Her role is being kept under wraps because this is a Shona Rhime's show (that woman is so secretive), Look for her in November.
... D.B. Sweeney will appear on Two and a Half Men this season as the boyfriend of Courtney Thorne-Smith's character Lyndsey. He's only due on one episode as of now.
