Continuing a day of pre-upfronts excitement that threatens to NEVER END, NBC has ordered two more dramas and picked up one of its bubble dramas.
Ordered to series are “Game of Silence” and “The Player,” while “The Night Shift” has been renewed for a third season.
This is also the Sony Pictures Television part of our day, as NBC has a history of package deals with the studio.
“The Player” is, intriguingly, NBC's second drama fronted by a “Strike Back” star, joining “Blindspot” with Sullivan Stapleton.
Wesley Snipes and Philip Winchester star in this drama about “a former military operative turned security expert who is drawn into a high-stakes game where an organization of wealthy individuals gamble on his ability to stop some of the biggest crimes imaginable from playing out.” Charity Wakefield and Damon Gupton also star in the series from creator John Rogers and director Bharat Nalluri.
“Game of Silence” stars David Lyons, an NBC favorite after “Revolution,” “The Cape” and “E.R.” Lyons plays a successful Atlanta attorney whose life changes when long-long childhood friends reappear for the opportunity to right some wrongs from their youth. Michael Raymond-James, Larenz Tate, Bre Blair, Conor O”Farrell, Deidrie Henry, Demetrius Grosse and Claire Van Der Boom are among the co-stars.
David Hudgins wrote the “Game of Silence” pilot and will executive producer along with Carol Mendelsohn, Julie Weitz and Niels Arden Oplev, who directed the pilot. “Game of Silence” will be a co-production with Universal Television.
And you already know about “Night Shift.” The surprise drama success of last summer, “Night Shift” was renewed and moved to a prime spot after “The Voice” this spring. And it has struggled, failing to come anywhere close to the numbers generated by “Blacklist” in that slot. However, “Night Shift” has at least been consistent in the post-“Voice” time period, not wavering even as “The Voice” has sunk this spring.
“Night Shift” was able to earn another season as NBC cancelled “Constantine” and “State of Affairs” on Friday.
NBC will announce its full schedule on Sunday, May 10.
BubbleWatch 2015 Gallery Updated With All The Announced Renewals & Cancellations.