Nellie Andreeva

EXCLUSIVE: After an extensive search and lengthy negotiations, Dylan McDermott has been cast as the male lead in FX’s drama pilot American Horror Story, from Glee co-creators Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk. Additionally, FX is also making a deal with McDermott to develop, write and potentially star in another series project for the cable network. In American Horror Story, the Practice alum will star opposite Connie Britton and Jessica Lange. The premise of the project is being kept under wraps, but a breakdown for the pilot listed two main characters: Ben Harmon (McDermott), a handsome and masculine but sensitive therapist who loves his family but has hurt his wife, and Vivien Harmon (Britton), his gorgeous wife who is a force to be reckoned with. Lange plays their nosy neighbor, a role that has been beefed up after her casting. The pilot also co-stars Denis O’Hare. The script was written by Murphy and Falchuk, with Murphy set to direct. Production on the pilot, from 20th Century Fox TV, will start after Murphy and Falchuk wrap production on Glee. Murphy and Falchuk are executive producing American Horror Story with Dante Di Loreto. FX was already high on the pilot, with president John Landgraf saying that he was targeting it for a fall series launch. McDermott, repped by CAA and the Schiff Co, most recently starred in the TNT cop drama Dark Blue. Coincidentally, McDermott’s American Horror Story co-star Britton also has a second series project in the works at FX. She is attached to star to a drama from David O. Russell.

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