In today’s roundup, HBO released stills from the second season of “Westworld,” and Rachel Bay Jones joined the cast of “God Friended Me.”
FIRST LOOKS
HBO released new stills from “Westworld” season two Friday ahead of the season premiere on April 22. The photos see the returns of Luke Hemsworth‘s Ashley Stubbs and Ed Harris‘ Man in Black, whose fates were left uncertain at the end of season one, as well as “Westworld” debuts for Fares Fares, Betty Gabriel, and Gustaf Skarsgard. See the photos above.
BBC America released the trailer for “Killing Eve” on Tuesday ahead of the series premiere on April 8 at 8 p.m. ET. The “Catch Me If You Can”-esque miniseries stars Sandra Oh, a security officer on a mission to capture cutthroat assassin Villanelle, played by Jodie Comer. Phoebe Waller-Bridge adapted the crime drama from the novellas by Luke Jennings. Watch the trailer below.
CASTING
“Dear Evan Hansen” Broadway star Rachel Bay Jones has joined the cast of Greg Berlanti’s CBS pilot “God Friended Me,” Variety has learned exclusively. Jones will appear as a guest in the pilot and will join the cast in a recurring role, should the series move forward. “God Friended Me” is a comedy series about an outspoken atheist, played by Brandon Micheal Hall, whose life is turned upside down when God friends him on Facebook. Jones will play Susan, whose past is involved with the investigation into God’s account.
The final two episodes of “Once Upon A Time,” will feature performances from several returning cast members to celebrate the series’ end May 18 on ABC. Tony Amendola, Lee Arenberg, JoAnna Garcia Swisher, Robbie Kay, Sean Maguire, Victoria Smurfit, Keegan Tracy, Beverley Elliott, and Jared Gilmore, are set to reprise their roles. The actors portrayed a variety of fantasy figures throughout the series from Smurfit’s Cruella De Vil to Kay’s Peter Pan.
Carson White has been cast in the untitled Bobby Bowman comedy pilot at ABC. The series is inspired by Bowman’s own childhood growing up with a father with mental illness. White will play Buzzy Jr., the youngest child in the show’s family. The character is described as sensitive, sweet, enthusiastic, and creative with a love of dance. White is repped by CESD and Link Entertainment.
Brian d’Arcy James and Clare O’Connor have been cast in an untitled legal drama from David Strong and David Elliot. The pair of actors will portray Cole Bellows, described as a hard-as-nails state’s attorney, and Young Madeline, respectively, in the show, which centers on a woman lawyer leading a legal team on a mission to exonerate convicts unlawfully deemed guilty. James is repped by Gersh and Thruline Ent., and O’Connor is repped by TalentWorks and Link Entertainment.
Bradley Whitford, Steve Zahn, and Lamorne Morris will star in National Geographic‘s “Valley of the Boom,” from executive producer Arianna Huffington. The historical series follows the successes and failures of Silicon Valley’s technological pioneers during the 1990s tech bubble, profiling several seminal figures in the tech world who shaped the era. “Valley of the Boom” premieres on Nov. 1 and also features John Karna as a computer engineer who co-created Mosaic, as well as Dakota Shapiro and Oliver Cooper as Ivy League undergraduates who launched one of the first social networking sites.
DATES
Epix‘s “Deep State,” which the network recently acquired from Fox Networks Group Europe and Africa, will premiere in the U.S. on June 17 at 9 p.m. Mark Strong stars as the series’ protagonist Max Easton, an ex-spy, who is thrown back into action to avenge the death of his estranged son, eventually finding himself at the center of a covert intelligence war. Matthew Parkhill co-created, directed, and wrote the eight-episode drama, which also features Joe Dempsie, Karima McAdams, Alistair Petrie, and Anastasia Griffith.
EVENTS
Select PaleyFest panels will stream live from the Dolby Theater on the Paley Center‘s Facebook page Sunday through March 25. The live streams will include conversations with the casts and crews of “The Handmaid’s Tale,” “Supernatural,” “Young Sheldon,” “The Big Bang Theory,” “The Good Doctor,” “Mom,” “Queen Sugar,” “Riverdale,” and “Stranger Things.” The television festival runs from Friday to March 25.
Adult Swim will host its first Adult Swim Festival on Oct. 6 and 7 in downtown Los Angeles. The festival will include a marketplace featuring premiere screenings, comedy performances, interactive gaming, and merchandise, as well as a live music setlist headlined by hip hop duo Run the Jewels. Weekend passes to the event are available for purchase now on the festival’s website.