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Exclusive: Billy Porter’s What If? from Orion Pictures has set Eva Reign, Abubakr Ali and Renee Elise Goldsberry to star in Porter’s feature directorial debut, which begins production today in Pittsburgh. Courtnee Carter, Kelly Lamor Wilson and Grant Reynolds round out the cast.

The film’s global casting search was overseen by Alexa Fogel. Unfortunately, due to complications owing to backlogs during Covid that have impacted UK citizens coming to the U.S. for work, and after exhausting all avenues over several months’ time, the production was unable to secure a work visa in time for Yasmin Finney, the original actress cast.

The modern coming-of-age story follows Kelsa (Reign), a trans high school senior. After Khal (Ali) posts online about his school crush, the internet encourages him to go for it. What If? tells the story of Kelsa and Khal navigating a senior-year relationship that neither could have expected.

Exclusive: Em Haine (Deadpool) is set as a lead opposite Caitlin Kinnunen and Bella Ortiz in CW’s Our Ladies of Brooklyn (fka Untitled Urman/Rothrock/Weir Project), the drama pilot executive produced by Jennie Snyder Urman.

Written by Claire Rothrock and Ryann Weir and directed by Tessa Blake, Our Ladies of Brooklyn is a dramedy about two millennial nuns – Sister Francis (Kinnunen), a devout true believer, and Sister Maggie (Ortiz), a new arrival who has yet to take her final vows – who start as strangers and become sisters on a funny, spiritual journey to understand their own faith and place in the Catholic Church.

Haine will play Ellie, Sister Frances’ little sister who arrives out of nowhere to wreak havoc. On the surface, she might seem like a wholesome Midwesterner with a badass edge. But beneath it all, she’s an unparalleled con artist with a heart of gold.

Karen Robinson (Schitt’s Creek), Joe Regalbuto (Murphy Brown), Kathleen Chalfant (The Affair), Maxwell Whittington-Cooper (Human Capital) and Abubakr Ali (Power Book II: Ghost) are set as series regulars opposite Caitlin Kinnunen and Bella Ortiz in the CW’s untitled drama pilot executive produced by Jennie Snyder Urman.

Written by Claire Rothrock and Ryann Weir and directed by Tessa Blake, the Untitled Urman/Rothrock/Weir Project centers on two millennial nuns – a devout true believer (Kinnunen), and a new arrival (Ortiz) who has yet to take her final vows – who start as strangers and become sisters on a funny, spiritual journey to understand their own faith and place in the Catholic church.

Robinson will play Sister Mary Annette Shiloh (“Smash”), the loving, defacto head-nun-in-charge, slyly trying to slingshot the Church into the 21st Century by mentoring the next generation.

Regalbuto is Father Quinn, the power of the Church personified. A charming,...

Karen Robinson, Joe Regalbuto, Kathleen Chalfant, Maxwell Whittington-Cooper and Abubakr Ali have been confirmed as cast members of The CW’s untitled millennial nun dramedy pilot, directed by Tessa Blake and written by Claire Rothrock and Ryann Weir.

Described by Blake as a “subversive comedy,” the untitled pilot stars Caitlin Kinnunen (“The Prom”) and Bella Ortiz (“American Carnage”). Per the logline, it centers on two nuns: Sister Maggie (Kinnunen) and Sister Frances (Ortiz), one a true believer and the other a new arrival who hasn’t taken her final vows. Sister Maggie is described as “the daredevil on your shoulder,” a radical nun hell-bent on shaking up the structures of the Catholic Church, while Sister Frances is described as the “complacent angel on your shoulder,” an impressional and people-pleasing nun who never breaks the rules— that is, until she meets Sister Maggie. The strangers become sisters on a spiritual – and...

Caitlin Kinnunen and Bella Ortiz have signed on for the lead roles in the untitled nun dramedy pilot at The CW, Variety has learned.

The pilot centers on two millennial nuns: one a true believer and the other a new arrival who hasn’t taken her final vows. The two strangers become sisters on a spiritual – and spirited – journey to understand their own faith and their place in the Catholic Church.

Kinnunen will star as Sister Frances, described as the complacent angel on your shoulder. An impressionable, people-pleasing, young nun who believes in the power of thoughts and prayers and never breaks the rules, until she meets Sr. Maggie.

Ortiz will play Sister Maggie, described as the daredevil on your shoulder. A radical, millennial nun hell-bent on shaking up the power structures of the Catholic Church while being of service to her Brooklyn neighborhood. She can’t help but get into trouble,...

The CW has cast Tony-nominated The Prom star Caitlin Kinnunen and Bella Ortiz as the two leads of its untitled drama pilot executive produced by Jennie Snyder Urman.

Written by Claire Rothrock and Ryann Weir and directed by Tessa Blake, the project centers on two millennial nuns – a devout true believer (Kinnunen), and a new arrival (Ortiz) who has yet to take her final vows – who start as strangers and become sisters on a funny, spiritual journey to understand their own faith and place in the Catholic church.

Kinnunen’s Sister Frances is the complacent angel on your shoulder, an impressionable, people-pleasing, young nun who believes in the power of thoughts and prayers and never breaks the rules — until she meets Sr. Maggie.

Ortiz’s Sister Maggie is the daredevil on your shoulder, a radical, millennial nun hellbent on shaking up the power structures of the Catholic Church while being...

Tessa Blake has signed on to direct the untitled nun dramedy pilot at The CW, Variety has learned exclusively.

The project centers on two millennial nuns: one a true believer and the other a new arrival who hasn’t taken her final vows. The two strangers become sisters on a spiritual – and spirited – journey to understand their own faith and their place in the Catholic Church. Claire Rothrock and Ryann Weir are writing the pilot and executive producing alongside Jennie Snyder Urman and Joanna Klein of Sutton St. Productions. CBS Studios will produce.

“Claire and Ryann have crafted a playful, powerful and impassioned journey for two young women fighting to make the world better,” Blake said. “I grew up halfa-Catholic, and I love the script’s subversive comedy along with its sincere investigation of what it means to live a spiritual life in the modern world. I’ve long admired...

The CW’s “Wonder Girl,” based on the DC character created by Joëlle Jones, is no longer moving forward at the network. Greg Berlanti had been on board to executive produce.

“I was very proud of the script I wrote,” tweeted writer and executive producer Dailyn Rodriguez on Friday. “Wish I could’ve shared the world I created, but unfortunately it wasn’t meant to be. Thanks for everyone’s enthusiasm. It meant a lot to me.”

The prospective one-hour drama centered on Latina Dreamer Yara Flor, born to an Amazonian warrior and Brazilian river god. Rodriguez previously served as showrunner on several seasons of USA Network’s “Queen of the South” and has worked on “The Night Shift,” “The Glade,” “Lie to Me,” “Ugly Betty,” and other series. Alongside Berlanti, Sarah Schechter and David Madden had been set to produce for Berlanti Productions in association with Warner Bros. Television.

The 4400 is officially making a comeback.

The CW on Tuesday announced a straight-to-series order for its remake of USA Network's sci-fi drama.

The news comes a little over two years since the project was first announced, but the series has been in development since.

As expected, the network was holding off on a formal pickup until it got the project right, and the new take comes from Ariana Jackson.

The reboot follows 4,400 overlooked, undervalued, or otherwise marginalized people who vanished without a trace over the last hundred years and are all returned in an instant, having not aged a day and with no memory of what happened to them.

“As the government races to analyze the potential threat and contain the story, the 4400 themselves must grapple with the fact that they’ve been returned with a few… upgrades,” the project's description reads.

“And the increasing likelihood that they...

Pilot season at The CW is happening after all.

The youth-skewing broadcaster has handed pilot orders to three projects: Ava DuVernay’s superhero drama Naomi, the live-action reboot of The Powerpuff Girls and a millennial nun dramedy exec produced by Jennie Snyder Urman.

The network has also ordered a reboot of classic sci-fi drama The 4400 straight-to-series.

There had been some question as to whether the network would go completely straight-to-series for next broadcast season, given the uncertainty around the pandemic, but CW chairman Mark Pedowitz has decided to stick with the pilot process.

“I believe in pilots, I believe you see things in pilots,” he told Deadline last month.

The three pilot orders do not, however, spell the end of the road for the network’s other development projects, and sources tell Deadline that there may be room for more. It has also developed the Greg Berlanti-produced Wonder Girl...

The CW has given a straight-to-series order for a reboot of “The 4400,” while three other projects are moving forward with pilots, including Ava DuVernay’s “Naomi” and the “Powerpuff Girls” live-action series.

“The 4400” is based on the USA Network series of the same name, which ran for four seasons starting in 2004 and featured a then-unknown Mahershala Ali.

In the CW version, 4,400 overlooked, undervalued or otherwise marginalized people who vanished without a trace over the last 100 years are all returned in an instant, having not aged a day and with no memory of what happened to them. As the government races to analyze the potential threat and contain the story, the 4,400 themselves must grapple with the fact that they’ve been returned with a few… upgrades, and the increasing likelihood that they were all brought back now for a specific reason.

The new version of “The 4400” is being led by Ariana Jackson,...

A cult sci-fi series is making a comeback. The CW has given a straight-to-series order to The 4400, a reimagining of the 2004 USA Network drama. It hails from Riverdale co-executive producer Ariana Jackson and Anna Fricke, who successfully rebooted Walker, Texas Ranger for the CW.

The 4400 is part of four greenlights given by the CW on Tuesday. The network, which last year did not do traditional pilots because of the coronavirus pandemic, ordering four projects straight-to-series, will film at least three pilots in 2021: Diablo Cody and Berlanti Prods.’ Powerpuff Girls; Ava DuVernay and Jill Blankenship’s DC-themed Naomi; and a millennial nun dramedy from Jennie Snyder Urman, Claire Rothrock & Ryann Weir. All four projects have all-female creative teams.

The 4400 has been a title that the CW chairman Mark Pedowitz has been high on. Its development history mirrored that of The Lost Boys. Both went through multiple cycles...

The CW is prepping for a potential profusion of girl power.

The network has greenlit three pilots centered on young women, TVLine has learned, including a live-action project based on The Powerpuff Girls cartoon series.

More from TVLineSuperman & Lois Review: A Smallville Return and a Provocative Adversary Do This Arrowverse Hero GoodRiverdale Boss Teases Time Jump's 'Different Dynamics' (and Talks Betty and Jughead's New Grown-Up Look)The 4400 Reboot Gets Straight-to-Series Order at The CW

The Powerpuff Girls will follow characters introduced in Craig McCracken’s Cartoon Network series, who are now “disillusioned twentysomethings who resent having lost their childhood to crime fighting,...

The CW has made a number of orders for the 2021-2022 season, including a pilot order for the live-action “Powerpuff Girls” series.

In total, The CW announced three pilot orders and one straight-to-series pickup, with the latter being a reboot of the USA Network series “The 4400.” The other two pilots are for the DC project “Naomi” from Ava DuVernay and Jill Blankenship and an untitled religious dramedy from Claire Rothrock and Ryann Weir. All of the projects are created by women.

The “Powerpuff Girls” live-action series was first announced as being in development back in August. Based on the Cartoon Network series created by Craig McCracken, the new series sees the pint-sized superheroes as disillusioned twentysomethings who resent having lost their childhood to crime fighting. Will they agree to reunite now that the world needs them more than ever?

The project hails from writers and executive producers Heather Regnier and Diablo Cody,...

When the 14 newly minted Sundance Institute fellow step into the Episodic Labs on Thursday, they and their nine projects will be receiving guidance from some of the best of the small screen best.

Though Oz creator and City on the Hill executive producer Tom Fontana might freak some of the Fellows out with his enduring habit of writing out scripts in long hand, the multiple Emmy, Peabody Awards and Writers’ Guild Awards winner also offers the expertise of a master of the small screen form.

As a creative advisor to the Fellows (see the full list below) at the October 10 – 15 sixth annual Episodic Lab at Utah’s Sundance Mountain Resort, Fontana will be joined by American Gods showrunner Charles “Chic” Eglee and Justified showrunner Graham Yost.

In addition, Sex and the City Ep Jenny Bicks, Daniel Chun, Little America creator Lee Eisenberg, The Wilds co-ep Shalisha Francis,...