American Horror Story hasn’t shied away from casting big-name stars over the years, and next fall’s Freak Show is no different. And there’s a new supervillain in town on Agents of SHIELD, and he goes by the name of Blackout. Read on to find out all the details, including casting news for The Walking Dead, Grey’s Anatomy, The Good Wife, Graceland, The Blacklist, CSI, NCIS and Mistresses — which show is seeing the exit of a series regular this May?
Michael Chiklis joins American Horror Story: The actor is returning to FX, where he starred on The Shield. But who is he playing? Let’s hear it straight from Ryan Murphy himself at PaleyFest, as reported by TV Guide: “[This is] somebody who I have loved for many, many years and courted for many, many years and we finally found the right role for him. He’s playing [Evan Peters’] father. He will be Kathy Bates’ ex-husband.” Chiklis himself says that “It’s going to be creepy and we’re going to scare you. I’m ready and I’m up for it whatever comes my way.”
Blackout coming to Agents of SHIELD: Over the course of this freshman season, fans have seen the emergence of various villains and supervillains — the next to pop up is Blackout, played by Patrick Brennan, who told Marvel, “This guy, Marcus Daniels, aka Blackout, was shrouded in darkness, his soul, everything about him was shrouded in darkness until he comes across this Cello player. And the music was the only light that came into his soul, and it gave him hope and it gave him some sense of what light was.” He’ll appear in episodes 18 and 19, but fans of the comics will notice a difference: SHIELD‘s Blackout “will have the ability to suck the energy out of anything around him.”
Amy Acker is also stopping by SHIELD: The Person of Interest actress will guest star as a cellist named Audrey who was mentioned in The Avengers as a love interest for Coulson. Of course, she believes that he’s dead, but a threat comes to light that brings her past right into the present, according to TV Guide. Her episode airs on April 22, which is expected to be episode 19 — I think it’s safe to assume she’s the same cellist mentioned above who interacts with Blackout.
The Walking Dead promotes Alanna Masterson, Christian Serratos and Andrew J. West to series regulars: We’ll be seeing more of these three in season 5, for sure. Masterson and Serratos first appeared on the show back in November as Tara and Rosita, respectively. But West’s first appearance as Gareth was on the recently-aired season 4 finale. Executive producer Robert Kirkman told The Hollywood Reporter, “Seeing Gareth and Rick and the people of Terminus and our survivors go head-go-head is going to be interesting. There is a very deep, dark and storied history to Terminus and how these people came to be that will be revealed in season 5.”
Armani Jackson is Bubble Boy on Grey’s Anatomy: The young actor has been cast as a patient with this mysterious disease that commonly has the nickname Bubble Boy associated with it. Apparently, we won’t know right away that that is the exact story they’re telling (ABC is keeping quiet), but THR has it on good authority that it’s true. Bailey and Alex will be the doctors attached to this case. Jackson has a recurring role on the show, and will first appear in the April 3 episode.
Derek’s sister returning to Grey’s Anatomy: Caterine Scorsone will reprise her role as Amelia. She played the character on the spin-off Private Practice and guest starred on Grey’s in two episodes. Not much is known about her storyline this time, but TV Guide is reporting that she’ll be back sometime at the start of May and stick around through to the end of the season.
Matthew Goode promoted to series regular on The Good Wife: The actor has been a guest star up until now, but he’s got a new title for the rest of season 5: series regular. His first guest stint was on April 23 during the episode that featured a certain major death. And according to co-creator Robert King, he was hired on because of said death, telling TVLine, “Josh created a great jolt of male energy in the show. We wanted an equivalent jolt once we knew Josh was leaving. So no matter what way Josh was leaving the show, we knew we needed to get more male energy.”
Carmine Giovinazzo and Jon Sklaroff guest starring on Graceland: The former will play Sid Markham, a recurring role where he’s the lead of LAPD’s Gang Task Force. USA describes him as “more mind than muscle and uses his intelligence and ability to read people as a way to build relationships and close cases,” although he’s not shy when it comes to using violence. And Sklaroff is playing Fritz, who’s in the human trafficking business. Intimidation and brutality are the name of the game for him to keep everyone in line.
Linus Roache is the Kingmaker on The Blacklist: He’s been on Law and Order and Vikings, and coming up soon we’ll see him show up on Red’s blacklist. TV Guide describes his character as “an extremely dangerous and influential man with political ties around the world. [He] manipulates democracy to his own ends and is an expert at political assassination.” Will he and Red go head to head? That remains to be seen.
Gil Bellows playing a casino mogul on CSI: A new CSI spin-off is in the works, and the original series will air an episode that is essentially a backdoor pilot for the new one. And that’s where Bellows comes in: he’s been cast as Mr. Berman, who holds many secrets and ends up being a suspect when he wife is killed. But before you get excited about this casting, keep this in mind: TVLine notes that he’s only set to appear in this one episode and not the spin-off series.
Paul Guilfoyle leaving CSI: Speaking of the Vegas-set crime series, Brass’ days are numbered as the captain, and it wasn’t even the actor’s decision. The Hollywood Reporter is saying that the producers decided to end his storyline; his final episode is the season finale on May 7. Executive producers Carol Mendelsohn and Don McGill said in a statement, “Paul made Capt. Brass a standout character. He is not just an original cast member, he is an original. In a show about forensics, fans always looked forward to the handcuffs coming out, and Capt. Brass putting his spin on the crime of the week, just as Paul Guilfoyle put his indelible stamp on the character and the show. He will be missed.”
Kelli Williams to play an NCIS agent on — where else? — NCIS: The episode she’s guest starring in will deal with sexual assault in the Navy. Showrunner Gary Glasberg told TVLine, “It’s a really important episode for us. I’m very pleased with how it’s turned out.” Nothing else is known about Williams’ character, but the episode is expected to air a couple weeks after the final NCIS: New Orleans-centered episode.
Justin Hartley is a new love interest for Joss on Mistresses: Coming off his time on Revenge, the actor is heading on over to another ABC drama in a recurring role as Scott. Executive producer Rina Mimoun tells TVLine that “He’s the nicest plastic surgeon in Los Angeles with a teeny tiny fetish … just enough to keep someone like Joss interested. He gets Joss to do the one thing she never thought she’d ever do.” And what is that, you might ask? We all will have to wait for this summer’s sophomore season to find out.
(Image courtesy of WENN)
Staff Writer, BuddyTV
Jeff Dodge, a graduate of Western Washington University, has been a TV news editor for many years and has had the chance to interview multiple reality show stars, including Randy Jackson, Nick Cannon, Heidi Klum, Mel B and John Cena.
