ICYMI: Oprah To Star In The Imortal Life of Henrietta Lacks; Susan Sarandon, Jessica Lange To Star In New FX Show From Ryan Murphy; Laverne Cox Added To Megyn Kelly's Primetime Special; and More TV News
Oprah Winfrey is set to star in an HBO film adaptation of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot, which tells the true story of an African-American woman whose cells were used to create the first immortal human cell line, through the eyes of her daughter, Deborah (Winfrey). The film will chronicle Deborah’s search to learn about the mother she never knew and understand how the unauthorized harvesting of her mother’s cancerous cells in 1951 led to medical breakthroughs. (Deadline)
Stephen Root (King of The Hill,Office Space)has been added to the cast of Bill Hader’s new HBO comedy Barry, which Hader created, directs, stars in. The new series centers on an ex-Marine (Hader) who now works as a low-rent hitman in the Midwest. Lonely and tired of his life’s direction, he goes to Los Angeles for a hit but finds his path crossed with the accepting community of the L.A. theatre scene. Root will play Fuches, a lawyer who arranges Barry’s hits. (Deadline)
Nat Geo has ordered its first scripted series Genius, which will be directed by Ron Howard. The anthology drama will tell the stories of the most brilliant innovators, like Albert Einstein, which the first season will center on. (Deadline)
History is expanding its scripted catalog with #Cartel, a new drama series about notorious Mexican drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman. The new show comes from the co-creator of Netflix’s Narcos, and will explore global drug wars with a man who has been called the most powerful drug lord in history at its center. (Deadline)
The network that brought the world Tiny House Nation is shining a light on the newest home-building craze: pre-fab homes. FYI has ordered eight half-hour episodes of a new show called Prefabulous, which will follow a new family in their journey to building and designing their pre-fab home. (Deadline)
Described as a mix between HBO’s Girls and true crime podcast Serial, TBS’ new dark comedy Search Party has expanded its already stellar cast, including Rosie Perez, Ron Livingston, Christine Taylor, Brandon Michael Hall and Parker Posey. Search Party follows four self-absorbed 20-somethings living in New York City, who become obsessed with the disappearance of a former college acquaintance, and is set to premiere later this year. (Deadline)
British director Tom Harper (War & Peace) has signed on to direct the opening episode for AMC’s new drama The Son, based on an epic, multi-generational novel of the same name written by Philipp Meyer, tracing America’s birth as a superpower through the bloody rise and fall of one Texas family. Same Neill is set to star. (Deadline)
Seth MacFarlane will star in his first live-action TV series, which FOX has given a straight-to-series order on. Few details have been released about the new project, but the sci-fi dramedy is set to premiere in 2017. (Deadline)
Megyn Kelly continues to add more interesting guests to her primetime special Megyn Kelly Presents: Laverne Cox (Orange is the New Black,* FOX’s upcoming Rocky Horror Picture Show Live) will join former O.J. Simpson attorney Robert Shapiro, actor Michael Douglas, and presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump on Kelly’s interview hit list. (Deadline)
The first clip of David Schwimmer and Jim Sturgess in their new AMC drama Feed The Beast has surfaced. Based on a Danish series, the show follows a pair of best friends as they work to overcome the struggles of opening a high-end restaurant in the Bronx – one is an alcoholic (Schwimmer) and the other is addicted to cocaine and mixed up with the Mob. The series premieres May 31. (Vanity Fair)
Ryan Murphy is continuing his takeover of FOX and FX with a new anthology series on FX called Feud with Susan Sarandon and Jessica Lange set to star. Brad Pitt will serve as an executive producer for the show, which is centered on the tension between Bette Davis and Joan Crawford. The series will also star Stanley Tucci, Alfred Molina, Judy Davis and Dominic Burgess. (The Hollywood Reporter)