Melissa Leo is solving crimes at Fox: The Oscar winner will star in the network’s drama pilot Blood Relative, our sister site Deadline reports.
Based on James Renner’s 2018 article “Beyond the Jungle of Bad: The True Story of Two Women from California Who Are Solving All the Mysteries,” the pilot centers on genetic genealogy expert Louise Kelly (Leo), who applies that expertise to crime scene forensics; she’s described as “the smartest person in the room with no time to explain her methods to average folks” and “impossible to deal with.” Renner and Chris Levinson (Tyrant) penned the pilot, which will be directed by Philip Noyce (The Resident, Revenge).
Leo’s TV credits include I’m Dying Up Here, Wayward Pines, Treme, an installment of the recent Netflix anthology Dolly Parton’s Heartstrings and the upcoming HBO limited series I Know This Much Is True. She won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in the 2010 film The Fighter.
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Ready for more of today’s newsy nuggets? Well…
* ABC’s thirtysomething(else) sequel pilot has added Auden Thornton (aka rock star Jack’s wife Lucy on This Is Us) to its cast, Deadline reports. She will play Brittany Weston, the daughter of Elliot Weston (Timothy Busfield) and Nancy Weston (Patricia Wettig). Brittany is a therapist-in-training who is involved in an on-again/off-again relationship with Angelica.
* NBC has renewed Ellen’s Game of Games for Season 4.
* BET+ has renewed executive producer Will Packer’s comedy series Bigger, starring Tanisha Long, for Season 2, per Deadline.
* Vida will return for Season 3 on Sunday, April 26 at 9/8c on Starz. Watch a teaser trailer:
* AMC has released a new teaser for Ride With Norman Reedus Season 4, premiering Sunday, March 8 at midnight ET/PT:
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