The Casting Scoop for July 4 to July 8

There was a lot of casting news this week so all of those details appear below:

Actors Darren Criss and Harry Shum, Jr. have both been upgraded to series regular on the FOX musicomedy Glee, but the contract for actor Chord Overstreet has not been renewed.

Actor Richard T. Jones (Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles and Judging Amy) will appear on a recurring basis as the new Governor on the CBS series Hawaii Five-0.

Actress Kristina Apgar (Privileged) will have a recurring role on 90210, playing a love interest for Liam (Matt Lanter). Her character will be Jane, a mysterious 21-year-old from Alaska who married young and is a widow.

Actress Charisma Carpenter (Buffy and Angel) will guest star in an upcoming episode of Burn Notice playing Nicki, a sharp-tongued, high-maintenance trophy wife whose not-so-better half, a bio-weapons engineer, is a wanted man in cahoots with the Russians.

Actor Adrian Pasdar (Heroes) has joined the cast of the new ABC Family Channel drama The Lying Game, which is based on the books by Sara Shepard (who also authored Pretty Little Liars). The series is about separated-at-birth twins Emma Becker and Sutton Mercer (both played by Alexandra Chando). The sisters switch places so that Emma can experience the trappings of wealth while Sutton pursues the identity of their birth mother. But it gets much darker when Sutton doesn’t show on the night the girls are supposed to reunite. Pasdar will play the father of Sutton’s best friend Madeleine (Alice Greczyn) and her brother Thayer.  The Lying Game premieres on August 15 at 9 PM.

Actors Jason Priestley (the original Beverly Hills, 90210) and Tony Hall (Arrested Development) will both make guest appearances on Psych this fall. Priestley will play a Harley-riding con man who tries to pull a job at the same spa resort Shawn (James Roday) and Juliet (Maggie Lawson) are staying at for the weekend. While Hale plays an owner of an imports/exports business who crosses paths with Shawn and Juliet while at the resort.

Actress Jamie-Lynn Sigler (The Sopranos) will guest star on the season finale of Drop Dead Diva, playing Tina Howard, a hard-edged but sweet travel agent with a sense of adventure. When Tina is offered a new ticker, due to her diagnosis of fatal cardiac disease, she refuses it, as the heart is from her brother — a death row inmate who is to be executed in 72 hours. Tina wants nothing to do with her brother, and Jane (Brooke Elliott) must convince her to take the heart that will save her life. And then the real battle begins — Jane has to fight California law, which doesn’t permit death-row inmates to donate organs. Jane doesn’t have long to win her case as Tina’s health is rapidly failing.

Also, actor Lex Medlin (Southland) will appear in Drop Dead Diva in a multi-episode arc as Owen French, a charming judge who asks Jane out after presiding over her cases in court. He will appear in the last four episodes of the season.

Actor Jason Ritter (The Event) will be back on Parenthood in the fall AND he has also signed a development deal with Universal Media Studios for a new series that will be from Jason Katims (the man behind Parenthood, Friday Night Lights and Roswell).

Actresses Stephanie March and Diane Neal will be returning to Law & Order: Special Victims Unit next season as Assistant District-Attorneys. It is unknown for how many episodes they will be returning, though, nor if they will be splitting the ADA duties.

Actor Alfred Molina (Law & Order: Los Angeles) has been cast in a multi-episode arc in the NBC drama Harry’s Law that will return this fall on NBC. He will play ‪Eric Sanders, a man in who has been accused of murdering his wife. While admitting he was unhappy in his marriage and had dreamt of getting rid of her, he claims he’s innocent. After spending time in jail, he has suffered from anxiety attacks and is estranged from his daughter who believes him to be guilty of murder. He will appear in three episodes. ‬

Actress Rachelle Lefevre (Off the Map and the first two Twilight movies) has joined the cast of the fall CBS medical drama A Gifted Man that stars Patrick Wilson as Dr. Michael Holt, a surgeon who starts to communicate with his dead ex-wife (Jennifer Ehle). Lefevre will play Kate, a doctor at a family clinica where Holt will find himself spending more time instead of his upscale hospital. A Gifted Man premieres on September 23 at 8 PM.

Actors Michael Rady (Melrose Place and the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants movies) and Nick Stahl (Terminator 3) have been cast as love interests Jeannie, the character to be played by actress Kristen Bell (Veronica Mars) in her new Showtime comedy called House of Lies that is based on the best-selling tell-all book, How Management Consultants Steal Your Watch and Tell You the Time. The series will center on competing corporate management consulting firms of which the cast includes Don Cheadle, Ben Schwartz and Dawn Olivieri. Rady will recur as Wes, a wealthy golden boy who may be a tad too conservative for Jeannie while Stahl will appear in one episode as a musician named Kurt who makes Jeannie question what she wants out of life and love.

Relative newcomer actress Gwendoline Christie (The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus) will appear in the pivotal part of Brienne on HBO’s Game of Thrones. Brienne serves the late king’s brother Renly and is a fan favorite from the book series on which the series is based.

Actor Michael B. Jordan will be back on Parenthood playing the easy-going Alex. He will have a recurring role when the show returns with new episodes on September 13.

Actor James Wolk (Lone Star) will appear in a multi-episode arc the Showtime series Shameless, playing Adam, an investment executive who makes a connection with Fiona (Emmy Rossum).

Keep an eye out for these episodes!