Deadline Pan Am TV Pilot

Jonah Lotan (Generation Kill) has landed the male lead in ABC’s drama pilot Pan Am. The project, from Sony Pictures TV, writer Jack Orman and director Thomas Schlamme, is a sexy soap set against the Jet Age that revolves around pilots and flight attendants working at the iconic Pan Am airlines in the 1960s. Lotan, repped by Gersh and Luber Roklin, will play the charismatic and confident Dean, who has just been made captain of the amazing new Pan Am clipper the Majestic.

Brooke D’Orsay has landed the female lead in the ABC multi-camera comedy pilot Smothered, from Andrew Reich and Ted Cohen. The Warner Bros. TV-produced project centers on young couple Zack (Kyle Howard) and Gillian (D’Orsay), who find themselves smothered by their two very different sets of parents. D’Orsay, repped by the Kohner Agency, is recurring on USA’s Royal Pains as the girlfriend of Evan (Paulo Costanzo).

Gabriel Mann has joined ABC’s drama pilot Revenge. Written by Mike Kelley and to be directed by Phillip Noyce, it is a contemporary re-imagining of The Count of Monte Cristo from a female perspective and centers on Emily Thorn (Emily VanCamp), a mysterious woman who comes to the Hamptons to exact revenge on the people who destroyed her family. Mann, repped by APA and Untitled, will play a Howard Hughes/Mark Zuckerberg-ian thirtysomething tech genius cum social misfit, a multi-gazillionaire who serves as Emily’s personal benefactor. Also cast in the pilot is Connor Paolo.

Brian O’Byrne is set to co-star in NBC’s drama pilot Prime Suspect. The remake of the British series centers on Jane Timoney (Maria Bello), an iconoclastic female detective who has to make her bones in a tough New York precinct dominated by men. Gersh-repped O’Byrne will play a detective on the squad who cut Jane out of working cases.

Caprica co-star Sasha Roiz has booked the last series regular role in NBC’s drama pilot Grimm, a dark but fantastical cop drama about a world in which characters inspired by Grimm’s Fairy Tales exist. It centers on Nick Burckhardt (David Giuntoli), a detective who starts to see humans as beast/animals and discovers that he has a legacy – to protect “humans” from these beasts. Roiz, repped by Domain and Pearl Hanan Management, will play the police captain.

Kevin Chapman (Brotherhood) has been added to the cast of CBS’ drama pilot Person of Interest, produced by JJ Abrams and written by Jonah Nolan. The crime drama centers on a CIA agent (Jim Caviezel), presumed dead, who is recruited by a reclusive billionaire (Michael Emerson) to wage war against violent criminals in New York City. Chapman, repped by TalentWorks and Ellen Meyer Management, will play a New York homicide detective who helps them.

Margo Harshman has been added to NBC’s single-camera comedy pilot Bent. The project, from writer/exec producer Tad Quill, is a romantic comedy about recently divorced Type-A single mother Alex (Amanda Peet), who tries hard not to fall for sexy surfer-dude contractor Pete (David Walton), who she’s hired to re-do her kitchen. Harshman, repped by APA and New Wave, will play Alex’s younger sister.

Arielle Kebbel (Life Unexpected) has been added to Marc Cherry’s drama pilot Hallelujah. It is set in the town of Hallelujah, Tenn., which is being torn apart by the forces of good and evil and whose fortunes change when a stranger comes to town, bringing justice, peace and possibly restoring faith. Kebbel, repped by ICM and Management 360, will play a sexy young siren.

Broadway actress Afton Williamson (David Mamet’s Race) has joined CBS’ untitled Susannah Grant pilot. Jonathan Demme is directing he supernatural medical drama, from CBS TV Studios and Timberman/Beverly, which centers on an ultra-competitive surgeon (Patrick Wilson) whose life is changed forever when his ex-wife (Jennifer Ehle), a doctor running a free clinic, dies and begins teaching him what life is all about from the hereafter. Williamson, repped by Suskin Management, will play a social worker.

Brian d’Arcy James has joined NBC’s Broadway drama Smash playing Debra Messing’s husband.