Nellie Andreeva

Edi Gathegi (Twilight) is set to co-star opposite Kyle Bornheimer in ABC’s comedy pilot White Van Man. The single-camera is a blue collar ensemble based on the British format and centers on Jack (Kyle Bornheimer) who is forced to put his dreams on hold in order to take over the family handyman business from his father Tony (J.K. Simmons). Gathegi will play Darren, one of Tony’s workers. Also cast in the pilot is Johnny Pemberton as Tony’s teen nephew. The series takes its name from the UK phrase that describes the stereotype for drivers of light commercial vehicles, often self-employed or owning small businesses such as handyman services. The ABC Studios/Mark Gordon Co.-produced adaptation was written by Bobby Bowman. Michael Fresco is directing. Gathegi, repped by ICM & Framework, recently starred in Tracy Lett’s play Superior Donuts at the Geffen Playhouse. Pemberton, repped by CAA, Principato Young & attorney Lev Ginsburg, will next be seen in Neighborhood Watch, This Is 40 and 21 Jump Street.

Veteran Martin Landau has joined ABC’s untitled Roland Emmerich drama pilot, from ABC Studios and the Mark Gordon Co. Written by Emmerich and Harold Kloser and to be directed by Emmerich, the project centers on Carter (Max Thieriot), an astrophysics grad student in NYC who learns that he is the chosen one to destroy the forces of evil. Landau, repped by TalentWorks, will play Mr. Armin, a blind former  German soldier in World War II who is the executor of Carter’s father’s estate and one of Carter’s only true friends.

Nicole Gale Anderson (Jonas) and newcomer Nina Lisandrello have been cast in the CW’s drama pilot Beauty And The Beast. Loosely based on the 1980s CBS series starring Linda Hamilton, CW’s Beauty And The Beast is described as a modern-day romantic love story with a procedural twist.
 It centers on Catherine (Kristin Kreuk), a tough-minded NYPD homicide detective and the Beast, Vincent Koslow, the survivor of a military experiment that went disastrously wrong. Lisandrello, repped by Leading Artists andInvictus Entertainment, will play Tess, Catherine’s partner and friend on the Homicide Squad. Anderson, repped by Paradigm and The Marshak/Zachary Co., will play Catherine’s younger sister. She has been recurring on ABC Family’s Make It or Break It.
Sugar Lyn Beard has joined Living Loaded, Fox’s single-camera comedy pilot from the It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia duo of Rob McElhenney and Rob Rosell and FX Prods. Based on the book of the same name by Dan Dunn, Living Loaded centers on Dan (Mike Vogel), the loose partying blogger of the popular Living Loaded blog who is forced to change his career plans when he becomes an NPR radio host. Beard will play Dan  and Bobby’s (Michael Marc Friedman) BFF.

TV Editor Nellie Andreeva - tip her here.