NeNe Leakes is fast becoming Ryan Murphy‘s newest protégé.

The Real Housewives star — who’s made a handful of appearances on Glee this season — has joined the cast of Murphy’s NBC comedy pilot The New Normal.

Also among the latest wave of pilot castings: a Vampire Diaries alum returns to The CW, Notorious adds a Breakout Kings vet and more.

As for Leakes, she joins the project — which centers on a modern-day blended family of a gay couple and their surrogate — as the heavily recurring character, Rocky.

In other pilot news…

• Trent Ford (Vampire Diaries) will co-star in The CW’s Shelter, a resort-set drama from Mark Schwahn and J.J. Abrams. He’ll play a former British rock star staying at the New England-based inn.

• Breakout Kings‘ Laz Alonso has nabbed the male lead in NBC’s Notorious, an opulent soap centering on a detective who goes undercover within the wealthy family she knew a child. Per Deadline, the actor will star as a determined NYPD detective opposite the previously cast Meagan Good.

• Jonathan Silverman (Greek, The Single Guy) will play an internist in David E. Kelley’s TNT medical drama, Chelsea General.

• Veteran actor Ken Howard (30 Rock) has joined ABC’s Counter Culture, Deadline reports; the show is a comedy about three sisters running the family diner in Texas. He’ll play the working-class hubby of Margo Martindale’s leading lady.

Which pilot castings have your interest piqued?