Nellie Andreeva

Big Love co-star Chloe Sevigny is segueing to a new series, this time on the other side of the Atlantic. Sevigny has signed on to topline Hit and Miss, a provocative new drama from Shameless creator Paul Abbott for new satellite channel Sky Atlantic. Written by feature writer Sean Conway (Brilliant Love) and to be directed by Hettie Macdoland (Beautiful Thing), the six-episode series centers on Mia (Sevigny), a contract killer with a big secret – she is a transgender hit man who suddenly finds out that in the previous life has fathered several children. Abbott is executive producing with Nicola Shindler. This is familiar subject matter for Sevigny who earned an Oscar nomination for her role in the 1999 movie Boys Don’t Cry. For now, the actress has committed only for the initial 6 episodes. She is currently training for the role, with filming scheduled for this summer.

Hit and Miss marks the first original series for Sky Atlantic, which launched on Feb. 1 with a lineup dominated by high-profile U.S. cable series. The channel has an exclusive output deal with HBO for its series and movies, including Big Love, and also carries AMC’s Mad Men and Showtime’s Weeds. Hit and Miss is yet to be formally pitched to U.S. networks, but I hear that there is already interest. Because of Sevigny and Sky Atlantic’s ties to HBO, the pay cable network is a logical home, with Showtime also a possibility given Abbott’s relationship there through the U.S. version of his hit Shameless. Sevigny, who received a Critics’ Choice TV yesterday for Big Love, is developing with Playtone Lizzie Borden, a four-hour miniseries for HBO, in which she is set to star as well as co-executive produce. She is with WME and Brillstein Entertainment.

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