Oscar Winner Danis Tanovic Boards Serbian-Hungarian Comedy-Drama Series ‘Frust’ (EXCLUSIVE)

EXCLUSIVE: Coming off a three-season run as Dr. Neil Melendez on ABC’s The Good Doctor, Nicholas Gonzalez has been tapped to co-star opposite Eoin Macken, Natalie Zea and Jon Seda in NBC’s sci-fi drama La Brea.

EXCLUSIVE: Oscar-winner F. Murray Abraham (Amadeus) and Stéfi Celma (Call My Agent) are among cast joining the modern reimagining of Mozart’s popular opera, The Magic Flute. The film is being executive-produced by Roland Emmerich.

EXCLUSIVE: Spectrum Originals has given a 10-episode order to Joe Pickett, a one-hour drama series based on C.J. Box’s bestselling novels. Michael Dorman (Patriot, For All Mankind) has been tapped for the title role in the project from Waco creators John Erick Dowdle and Drew Dowdle, Paramount Television Studios and Lucy Fisher’s Red Wagon Entertainment.

Former Game of Thrones star Lena Headey has been tapped as the female lead in Beacon 23, Spectrum Originals and AMC Networks’ psychological thriller series based on the book of the same name by bestselling author Hugh Howey. Headey will also executive produce through her production company, Peephole Productions, as part of her first-look deal Boat Rocker Studios, which co-produces Beacon 23 with Spectrum Originals.

Joe Otterson TV ReporterShowtime has ordered a drama series about Zulu king Shaka, with Antoine Fuqua onboard to direct and executive produce, Variety has learned.“Shaka: King of the Zulu Nation” hails from writers and executive producers Olu Odebunmi and Tolu Awosika.

Joe Otterson TV ReporterTom Hiddleston will star alongside Claire Danes in the series adaptation of the Sarah Perry novel “The Essex Serpent” at Apple, Variety has learned.The one-hour drama series follows newly widowed Cora (Danes) who, having being released from an abusive marriage, relocates from Victorian London to the small village of Aldwinter in Essex, intrigued by a local superstition that a mythical creature known as the Essex Serpent has returned to the area.

EXCLUSIVE: We’ll be meeting Dr. Stacy in an upcoming episode of ABC’s A Million Little Things.

Joe Otterson TV ReporterLucy Hale has signed on for a starring role in the AMC-Alibi series “Ragdoll,” Variety has learned exclusively.In the six-episode show, which was ordered to series back in February, six people have been murdered, dismembered, and sewn into the shape of one grotesque body — nicknamed the “Ragdoll.” Assigned to the shocking case are DS Nathan Wolf, recently reinstated to the London Met; his best friend and boss, DI Emily Baxter; and the unit’s new recruit, DC Lake Edmunds

EXCLUSIVE: Anonymous Content has put in development an untitled drama series about the early days of IMSA (International Motor Sports Association) auto racing from writer-producer Vinnie Wilhelm (Castle Rock, Penny Dreadful: City of Angels). Anonymous Content will serve as the studio on the project.

Taxi Driver.Studio S, the drama’s production company, confirmed on March 8 that the actress will no longer be part of the upcoming series.

Peacock has launched international drama series Dime Quién Soy: Mistress of War, based on Julia Navarro’s bestselling novel. The streamer released all nine episodes today, March 8, in celebration of International Women’s Day.

Jamie Lang France’s Manny Films has boarded Chilean feature “Maybe It Is True What They Are Saying About Us,” and will co-produce alongside leading Chilean independent label Storyboard Media and Argentina’s Murillo Cine, whose credits include Cannes sidebar entries “The Snatch Thief” and “Land of Ashes.”“We are thrilled that Manny Films is joining as a co-producer on this exciting film,” Storyboard’s Carlos Nuñez told Variety.

Joe Otterson TV ReporterThe upcoming NBC drama series “La Brea” has added four new castmembers.Eoin Macken, Jack Martin, Jon Seda, and Lily Santiago have all joined the series. They join previously announced cast members Natalie Zea, Zyra Gorecki and Chiké Okonkwo.In the show, when a massive sinkhole mysteriously opens in Los Angeles, it tears a family in half, separating mother and son from father and daughter.

EXCLUSIVE: The Good Wife alum Dallas Roberts, Clea Lewis (The Americans) and Nicole Chanel Williams (Boomerang) are set for recurring roles in Showtime drama series American Rust, starring Jeff Daniels and Maura Tierney. The series is scheduled to begin production in Pittsburgh in late March.

EXCLUSIVE: Jeff Schine (SEAL Team) is set as a series regular opposite Rose Rollins and Josh Lucas in Long Slow Exhale, Spectrum Originals’ upcoming drama series from L.A. Finest‘s Pam Veasey, Anton Cropper and John Dove and Paramount TV Studios. After a nine-month exclusive run on Spectrum, the series will air with a second window on BET.

Guy Lodge Film CriticHungarian auteur Bence Fliegauf made a head-turning debut in 2003 with his microbudget portmanteau drama “Forest,” which strung together a series of intensely performed two-hander vignettes depicting relationships in various forms of crisis.

Nick Vivarelli International CorrespondentItalian actor Toni Servillo (“The Great Beauty”) is set to star in “Il ritorno di Casanova,” a drama about what happens to a great lover when he gets older, to be directed by Oscar-winner Gabriele Salvatores (“Mediterraneo”).Loosely based on Austrian author Arthur Schnitzler‘s novella “Casanova’s Homecoming,” in which the Venetian libertine is having trouble contending with the fact that he’s over 60, “Ritorno di Casanova,” which translates as

Oscar winner Sissy Spacek and three-time Emmy-nominated Modern Family star Ed O’Neill are set as the leads in Amazon’s sci-fi drama Lightyears, from writer Holden Miller and producer Daniel C. Connolly. Argentinian director Juan José Campanella will direct and executive produce the first two episodes of the series, a co-production of Amazon Studios and Legendary Television. It’s scheduled to begin filming later this year.

Christopher Vourlias Hungarian broadcaster RTL Klub has boarded “Balaton Brigade,” a Cold War spy drama set on the shores of Hungary’s Lake Balaton in the summer of ’86, Variety has learned exclusively.