BANSHEE (Cinemax) - Ryann Shane ("Lights Out") and Ben Cross ("Star Trek") are the latest additions to the ever-expanding cast of the original drama, about Lucas (Antony Starr), an ex-convict and master thief who assumes the identity of a small town sheriff and continues to carry out his criminal activities even as shadowy gangsters hunt him. Shane will play Deva Hopewell, "the goth-rebel teenage daughter of Lucas' old flame Carrie (Ivana Milicevic) and her DA husband Gordon (Rus Blackwell)"; while Cross is set as Mr. Rabbit, "a ruthless Ukrainian gangster who's been hunting Lucas and Carrie for 15 years." Director Greg Yaitanes and co-creators Jonathan Tropper and David Schickler are behind the Alan Ball-produced hour, which also features Daniel Ross, Demetrius Grosse, Frankie Faison, Hoon Lee, Matt Servitto, Trieste Dunn and Ulrich Thomsen. (TVLine.com)
ECHO CHAMBER (HBO, New!) - Feature helmer Rupert Wyatt ("Rise of the Planet of the Apes") is developing a potential mini-series at the pay channel about a British soldier who is sent undercover in the Irish Republican Army by British intelligence in the 1980s. Wyatt is penning the script to the project - envisioned as three 90-minute telecasts - and is likewise attached to direct. Alan Moloney ("Albert Hobbs") is set to produce with Sky Atlantic on board as a co-producer. (Variety.com)
GUYS WITH KIDS (A.K.A. DILFS) (NBC) - Sara Rue ("Rules of Engagement") has joined the cast of the comedy pilot, about a trio of thirtysomething guys who live in the same high-rise - Nick (Zach Cregger), Chris (Jesse Bradford) and Gary (Anthony Anderson) - dealing with parenthood despite the fact they haven't grown up themselves. She's on board as Sheila - Chris's ex-wife, who's now dating former NBA star Patrick Ewing - where she'll take over for the previously cast Courtney Henggeler. Said role is in second position to her duties on the ABC comedy pilot "Malibu Country." Tempestt Bledsoe and Jamie-Lynn Sigler also star in the Universal Television-based half-hour, which Scott Ellis is helming off a script by Charlie Grandy. (THR.com)
HANNIBAL (NBC) - David Slade ("Awake") has been tapped to direct the premiere installment of the upcoming drama, about the early days of Thomas Harris's signature characters FBI agent Will Graham (Hugh Dancy) and his mentor Dr. Hannibal Lecter. Bryan Fuller is behind the Gaumont-based project, which is also executive produced by Katie O'Connell and Martha De Laurentiis. (Deadline.com)
INSIDE (FX, New!) - Kyle Jarrow ("Armless") has booked a new drama at the cable channel about "a San Francisco homicide detective who discovers his real father is a convicted serial killer who claims to be innocent of murdering the cop's mother." Philip Seymour Hoffman and Emily Ziff Cooper are on board to executive produce the hour via their Town Productions banner alongside Jarrow with Sara Murphy also producing. No other specifics were given. (Deadline.com)
MOCKINGBIRD LANE (NBC) - British actress Charity Wakefield is the latest to board the drama pilot, an imaginative reinvention of "The Munsters" as a visually spectacular one-hour drama. She'll play Marilyn, the only "normal" Munster, "a college student who believes in good manners and congeniality toward the new neighbors." Beverly Owen and Pat Priest both played the role in the franchise's original incarnation. Wakefield joins the previously cast Eddie Izzard as Grandpa. Bryan Singer is helming the Universal Television-based hour from a script by Bryan Fuller. (Deadline.com)
SHELTER (The CW) - Zachary Abel ("Make It or Break It") and Malese Jow ("The Vampire Diaries") have both been cast in the Mark Schwahn-penned drama pilot, about the staff and guests at Shelter Bay, a historic New England summer resort. Abel will play the "hopelessly romantic Mitchell Taylor, a 23-year-old former local baseball hero who now works the concierge desk at the Shelter Bay Inn"; with Jow as Morgan, "Shelter Bay's resident party girl." Eka Darville, Elizabeth Henstridge, Hannah New and Trent Ford also star in the project, from the Warner Bros. Television-based Bad Robot Productions and to be directed by Liz Friedlander. (Deadline.com)
TALHOTBLOND (Lifetime, New!) - Ashley Hinshaw ("Chronicle") has booked the title role on the Courteney Cox-helmed original movie, about "a married, blue-collar father who finds himself caught up in the fantasy of his online romance with a beautiful teenager." Garret Dillahunt and Laura San Giacomo also star in the project, which was penned by Trent Haaga and is based on Barbara Schroeder's 2009 documentary. Hinshaw is also set to guest star on HBO's "Enlightened" as Danielle, a flirtatious friend of Levi (Luke Wilson) who he meets in rehab. (Variety.com)
