Genre aficionados, this one’s for you.
A number of darker-hued TV pilot projects added to their cast lists on Thursday, beginning with ABC’s “Gothica,” a monster-movie soap that’s tapped Christopher Egan (“Kings,” “Vanished”) and Tom Ellis (“Merlin,” “EastEnders”) to play literary spooks Dorian Gray and Victor Frankenstein, respectively. Set in contemporary times, the Matt Lopez-penned supernatural pilot will see the former character reimagined as a sexy playboy who helps lead heroine Grace Van Helsing discover who killed her family, while the latter character will be depicted as a brilliant and, yes, handsome doctor (and ex-boyfriend of Grace) who’s desperately searching for a way to bring his late daughter Anna back to life. Anand Tucker (“Leap Year,” “Shopgirl”) is slated to direct the pilot episode.
Fox’s “Sleepy Hollow,” meanwhile, has cast “Shame” actress Nicole Beharie as Debbie Archer, a small-town detective who witnesses the brutal murder of someone close to her just as she’s set to depart for the FBI Academy. The only person who can back up her story is Mr. Ichabod Crane himself. Written and executive-produced by Alex Kurtzman and Robert Orci (“Fringe,” “Star Trek”), the prospective series is a modern-day updating of the story of the same name by Washington Irving.
Last but not least (ok, well it is on the CW) is the “X-Men”-esque drama pilot “Tomorrow People,” about a group of genetically-evolved individuals who band together to fight the forces of evil. Robbie Amell (“Revenge”), cousin of “Arrow” star Stephen Amell, has been cast as Stephen, a young man with the powers of telepathy, telekinesis, teleportation and time-freezing (?) who is relieved to discover that he’s not the only “genetically superior” “Tomorrow Person” roaming the Earth. Amell joins the previously-cast Luke Mitchell (“Home and Away”) and Peyton List (“Mad Men”) in the Phil Klemmer-penned pilot, which will be directed by Danny Cannon (“Nikita,” “Alcatraz”).
The above details come courtesy of TV Line (“Sleepy Hollow”) and The Hollywood Reporter (“Gothica” and “Tomorrow People”).
So, what say you, TV watchers? Sound off with your thoughts in the comments.