Nellie Andreeva

Mariana Klaveno has been cast as Lily Munster in NBC’s Munsters reboot Mockingbird Lane. However, Klaveno’s deal is contingent on her being released from a pilot she had a regular role on: ABC’s Devious Maids. Klaveno is not one of the leads on Devious Maids and has just a few lines in the pilot. But, in light of the project’s possible move to Lifetime, in an act of gamesmanship or a mix of both, Devious Maids producer ABC Studios has so far refused to release the actress. I hear that, in a major departure from precedent, NBC is even willing to let Klaveno recur on Devious Maids in exchange for securing her in first position to Mockingbird Lane, where she would play the female lead.

Related: Lifetime Eyes Marc Cherry’s ABC Dramedy Pilot ‘Devious Maids’

ABC Studios has been looking to cut costs for Devious Maids‘ potential move to cable (I hear the main actresses have been asked to take a pay cut), but the studio has not agreed to convert Klaveno’s role to a recurring so she can join Mockingbird Lane. After one extension, I hear there is now a ticking clock that expires at the end of business today to get Klaveno released from Devious Maids so she can play Lilly Munster. At this point, with ABC Studios digging in (it has Klaveno in first position until at least June 30, when they can extend her option), it is probably going to take a miracle — or a call from NBC topper Bob Greenblatt to Devious Maids creator Marc Cherry — to get her released. If that doesn’t happen, NBC will likely go back to the drawing board and start casting the Lily Munster role again.

Written by Bryan Fuller and to be directed by Bryan Singer, Mockingbird Lane is described as a reinvention of the 1960s sitcom about The Munsters, a family of “monsters” — vampires, werewolves and Frankenstein, and their “plain” cousin (Charity Wakefield) — that will feature striking visuals in the vein of Fuller’s ABC dramedy Pushing Daisies. Jerry O’Connell plays family patriarch Herman Munster, who is married to Lily, a vampire, with whom he has fathered a 10-year-old boy, Eddie (Mason Cook). Eddie Izzard plays Grandpa in the reboot.

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