Nellie Andreeva

Breaking Bad‘s Anna Gunn has been tapped for the lead in Bravo‘s hourlong pilot Rita. Written by Krista Vernoff and directed by Miguel Arteta, Rita is an adaptation of a Danish series. It is a family drama that follows Rita (Gunn), an acerbic, outspoken private-school teacher who struggles to raise her three teenage children while dealing with the inane bureaucracy and overprotective parents at her school. “Anna is the perfect actress to play Rita,” said Andrew Wang, VP of Scripted Development and Production, Bravo. “Rita needs to have a certain wit and strength about her, a person who is unapologetic in her point of view about her life and choices and Anna perfectly embodies all of those qualities that we are looking for in that role.”

Rita is produced by Fox TV Studios, with Vernoff, Henrik Bastin, Mikkel Bondesen and Arteta executive producing and Kristen Campo co-executive producing. Filming is slated to begin in the spring. Rita is one of the cable network’s first two scripted pilots greenlighted last month, along with The Joneses. Bravo plans to debut its first original scripted series in the fourth quarter of 2013.

Emmy-nominated Gunn, repped by UTA and the Schiff Co., is wrapping her turn as Skyler White on AMC’s Breaking Bad, which is finishing production on its final eight episodes. She is the second actress from the acclaimed drama to be snapped up for a lead of a new series project, joining Betsy Brandt, set as the female lead in Michael J. Fox’s NBC comedy series.

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