Nellie Andreeva

English actress Hannah New is set to co-star opposite Toby Stephens in Starz’s upcoming pirate drama series Black Sails, executive produced by Michael Bay. The eight-episode series, created by Jon Steinberg and Robert Levine, is set 20 years before the events in Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island and chronicles the adventures of fabled buccaneer Captain Flint (Stephens) and his men. New, repped by IFA, UK’s CAM and attorney Lev Ginsburg, will play Eleanor, the beautiful, courageous and determined owner of a rowdy Open Nassau saloon who wields considerable influence in her dual roles as fence/supplier and party host. New starred in the CW pilot Shelter last year.

Alimi Ballard (Numbers) and Alex Shaffer (Win Win) have joined the cast of TNT’s drama pilot Trooper. The Jerry Bruckheimer-produced project centers on KJ (Mira Sorvino), a recently divorced female state trooper who is as unconventional at work as she is at home raising her three kids. Her partner on the job is Burk, a widowed father who has a much more by-the-book approach to policing. Ballard, repped by Stone Manners Salners and manager Cohn/Torgan, will play Lt. Hollis Figgins, KJ and Burk’s superior officer, a savvy, sensitive man who leads by example. Shaffer, repped by CAA and Anonymous Content, will play KJ’s teen son Lee, a rebel with a cause.

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