More TV pilot season casting news you can use…

Catch up on all previous pilot season casting news items here, here, here, here, and here.

This week’s roundup follows.

— Sharon Leal has booked the lead and Sheaun McKinney a male lead in CBS’ untitled Jenny Lumet drama pilot, a character-based procedural that centers on an elite team of investigators for the Northeast Regional U.S. Hate Crimes Unit who solve myriad crimes against humanity as they confront their own biases. Leal will play Lt. Naomi Barr, the passionate, relentless leader of the hate crimes task force in NYC. McKinney will play Michael, the liaison between the mayor’s office and the hate crimes task force.

— Nikki M. James is set as a series regular in NBC’s untitled medical drama pilot which is described as a real-time “extreme event” medical series that follows the nurses and doctors of an understaffed Brooklyn hospital that becomes the borough’s last viable trauma center after a catastrophic hurricane wreaks havoc on the city. James will play Meghan, a hospital administrator.

— Allen Maldonado has booked a co-starring role opposite Tracy Morgan in Morgan’s straight-to-series comedy at TBS, which is also executive produced by Jordan Peele. After being released on good behavior from a 15-year prison stint, Tray (Morgan) is shocked to see just how much the world has changed in his absence. Returning to his newly-gentrified Brooklyn neighborhood, Tray discovers that his former girlfriend has married an affable, successful white man, who is helping raise the twin sons Tray never knew existed. Wanting nothing more than to connect with his kids, but having no money to support them or himself, Tray falls back on the skills he learned in prison to make ends meet. Maldonado has signed up to play Cousin Bobby, Tray’s loyal cousin, not the brightest tool in the shed. He was just 15 when Tray first went to prison, and he’s grown up to be a small-time hustler who is always looking for the latest scam. He helps Tray adjust to life on the outside.

— J. August Richards has landed a series regular role opposite Jason Ritter in ABC’s “The Gospel of Kevin,” an hourlong drama pilot about Kevin (Ritter), a down-on-his-luck man who is tasked by God with a mission to save the world. Kevin is a cluelessly self-serving jerk who’s on a dangerous path to despair. After a failed suicide attempt, he’s going home to stay with his widowed twin sister and niece for a time, only to be met with a crisis in the person Yvette (Christina Alonso). Richards will play Deputy Nathan Purcell, a friend of the family and Deputy of the town.

— Nigel Thatch and Corbin Reid have been cast as series regulars opposite Christina Ochoa and Matt Barr in The CW’s “Valor,” a serialized military drama/conspiracy thriller pilot that centers on chopper pilots Nora (Ochoa) and Gallo (Barr) who, after a botched mission in Somalia leaves a pair of American servicemen in enemy hands, train for a rescue operation, and only they share secret from the initial operation — a secret that must never come to the attention of the Army. Thatch will play Capt. Robert Torres, the commander of the Night Raiders. A tough-minded man with gravitas, who is loyal to his troops, Torres expects his unit always to do the right thing, no matter how tangled the tactical situation might become. Reid will portray Jess, a mother and wife who lives on the Army base.

— And finally, Donald Faison has booked a series regular role on NBC’s space-travel comedy pilot “Spaced Out,” a workplace comedy that centers on a working-class genius and his struggles to fit in with an established team — all made more difficult when their job is building a rocket to Mars. Faison will play Dicky Quinlan, the blue-collar manufacturing guy who builds what “the nerds think up.” The engineers find Dicky intimidating, as he takes the separation between manufacturing and engineering very seriously. He shares the engineers’ passion for the mission; he just doesn’t want to hang out with them in his spare time.

That’s all for now!

All previous pilot season casting news items here, here, here, here, and here.