Movies News
Small-Screen Buzz: Marvel's New 'X-Men' Show Lands Former Vampire as Hero
It’s pilot season in Hollywood, which means a slew of new television shows are casting their pilot episodes in hopes of landing series orders from broadcast and cable networks. Lately we’ve been hearing about Fox’s plans for an X-Men related show about a family who discover their children are mutants and then must go on the run from threatening governmental authorities.
Fox ordered a pilot episode last month and casting has begun, with Blair Redford and Jamie Chung confirmed. Now Stephen Moyer (above, left) has been announced for the lead role. Per Deadline, he’ll play “an ambitious attorney trying to balance the demands of his job at the DA’s office with his responsibilities to his family.”
Moyer is well-known to genre fans for his seven-season run in HBO’s vampire show True Blood, on which he played an anguished Civil War veteran who is transformed into a vampire and survives into the modern day. He can certainly bring a dark edge to his roles, which makes him an intriguing pick for the X-Men related series.
During the Academy Awards show this past Sunday, young Moana star Auli’i Cravalho’s dynamic live performance of the Oscar-nominated song “How Far I’ll Go” stood out.
Watch @Lin_Manuel and @auliicravalho deliver a heartfelt performance from the #Oscars stage. Presented by @ATT. pic.twitter.com/kCIuRcXLa8″
— Oscars (@Oscars2017_Live) February 27, 2017
Cravalho (top, right) made her big-screen debut as the voice of Moana. Now she’s all set to make her small-screen debut in Drama High, according to Deadline.
Jason Katims (the great Friday Night Lights) wrote the pilot episode for the proposed series, which is based on Michael Sokolove’s book of the same title. The book examines a real-life teacher in Levittown, Pennsylvania who developed an acclaimed drama program at the working-class high school. The author attended the school and the teacher became his mentor; years later he returned to write the book, first published in 2013.
Comparisons to Glee are inevitable, but fans of Katims’ previous small-screen work, including Parenthood and About a Boy, know that he’s capable of creating a wealth of dramatic possibilities. Cravalho will play a student in the drama program, which should allow her to showcase her emerging talents.