Returning Shows
Girls. SNL‘s Ana Gasteyer and E.R.‘s Anthony Edwards will appear on the season premiere of Lena Dunham’s HBO comedy as Shoshanna’s (Zosia Mamet) parents. (Wrap)
Reign. Amy Brenneman will return to the CW show as Marie de Guise soon after it returns on January 22. (EW)
Upcoming Shows
Big Giant Swords. Once proud network Discovery Channel is producing a show about a dude who makes real swords based on ones found in video games. Michael “Irish Mike” Craughwell got notice as a YouTube sensation, putting him in the regal company of Justin Bieber, Lucas Cruikshank and Rebecca Black. The show drops January 13. (AV Club)
Shannara. MTV’s fantasy upcoming fantasy show has booked Manu Bennett (Arrow) as “the druid Allanon, the last of his kind.” According to the source, “Shannara takes place in a world set thousands of years after the destruction of civilization as we know it. The 10-episode adaptation of Terry Brooks’ book series follows the Shannara family, who are able to tap into ancient magic and whose adventures help reshape the world’s future. Season one is based on The Elfstones of Shannara, the second title in Brooks’ series.” (THR)
In Development
Untitled Sarah Silverman Project. HBO has ordered a pilot for a potential Sarah Silverman show “described as a comedic look at a pathologically honest woman (Silverman) having a modern midlife crisis.” The show will be written by Lucy Prebble (Secret Diary of a Call Girl) who will also executive produce alongside Silverman. As the source notes, HBO passed on the previous Silverman pilot it ordered: People in New Jersey. (THR)
Dark Matter. Melissa O’Neil (Broadway production of Les Miserables), Marc Bendavid (Bitten), Anthony Lemke (White House Down), Alex Mallari Jr. (Robocop), Jodelle Ferland (Twilight), Roger Cross (The Strain) and Zoie Palmer (Lost Girl) have all been cast in SyFy’s adaptation of Joseph Mallozzi and Paul Mullie’s same-titled graphic novel. Production begins in Toronto on January 7 with an eye toward a Summer 2015 debut. (Press Release).