Brian Cox will be Santa, Simone Ashley gets her own rom-com, and more of the week in casting news

Spring is officially here, and with that air of growth and renewal comes a whole slate of new and exciting projects on the horizon. There were a lot of casting announcements this week, coming from returning series like You and Nine Perfect Strangers, to brand new productions like Netflix’s Black Doves and Peacock’s The Good Daughter.

Read on for The A.V. Club’s roundup of this week’s most exciting casting news.

Brian Cox will be the voice of Santa

Brian Cox will be taking his voice talents to Netflix for the animated Christmas flick That Christmas, streaming later this year. Fiona Shaw, Jodie Whitaker, and the recently Oscar-nominated Bill Nighy round out the cast as Ms. Trapper, Mrs. Williams, and the aptly-named Bill, respectively, as residents of a seaside town thrown into flux during the holiday season. [Drew Gillis]

Jessica Biel stars in Peacock’s The Good Daughter

Jessica Biel can’t stay away from a good thriller. After starring in The Sinner and Candy, she returns to the small screen to act in The Good Daughter. Based on Karin Slaughter’s novel of the same name, the show follows Charlotte Quinn (Biel) and her sister, Samantha, whose lives were altered by a tragedy 28 years ago. When Charlotte witnesses another attack in the present day, the two of them have to reflect on their past to solve the mystery finally. Let’s think about who should play Biel’s sister, we guess. [Saloni Gajjar]

Mark Duplass joins Ellen Pompeo in Hulu’s Orphan

Mark Duplass, indie filmmaker and The Morning Show cast member, has joined Ellen Pompeo (in her first post-Grey’s Anatomy outing) and Imogen Faith Reid in Hulu’s Orphan limited series. Duplass will play Michael Barnett, husband to Pompeo’s Kristine Barnett. The series is based on the true story of Natalia Grace, whom the Barnetts adopted believing she was a little girl only to become convinced that she was actually older than they were told. As covered in the ID docuseries The Curious Case Of Natalia Grace, the Midwestern couple were eventually charged with neglect and abandonment. Per Deadline, “Michael’s world begins to crumble as he and Kristine are forced to defend the narratives they’ve spun about Natalia in the courts of law and public opinion.” [Mary Kate Carr]

David Schwimmer and more join second season of Disney+ Goosebumps

Friends’ David Schwimmer has been cast in the second season of Disney+ Goosebumps anthology. The first season of the latest R.L. Stine adaptation aired in October 2023, and was renewed in February 2024. Schwimmer will be joined by Ana Ortiz (Love, Victor), who plays “Jen, a dedicated police detective who remains rooted in her Brooklyn neighborhood after experiencing a tragic event that involved her friends in adolescence.” In addition, the second season will also feature Sam McCarthy and Jayden Bartels as fraternal twins Devin and Cece, respectively; Elijah Cooper as CJ; Galilea La Salvia as Frankie; and Francesca Noel as Alex.

According to a synopsis from Disney, the new season follows “Devin and Cece, fraternal twins adjusting to life with their recently divorced dad, Anthony. When the duo discovers a threat stirring, they quickly realize that dark secrets are among them, triggering a chain of events that unravel a profound mystery. As they delve into the unknown, Devin, Cece and their friends—Alex, CJ and Frankie—find themselves entangled in the chilling tale of four teenagers who mysteriously vanished in 1994.” [Mary Kate Carr]

Anna Camp and Griffin Matthews join You season 5

Somehow, it just makes sense that Anna Camp is playing twins in You’s fifth and final season. She joins the Netflix drama as sisters Reagan and Maddie Lockwood, sisters-in-law to serial killer Joe Goldberg (Penn Badgley). As different as they might be, the two of them are expert liars, so let’s see how they face off against Joe. Griffin Matthew also joins the cast as Teddy Lockwood, another new relative for Joe to probably murder. [Saloni Gajjar]

Henry Golding, Mark Strong, and Lena Olin join Nine Perfect Strangers season two

Henry Golding, Mark Strong, and Lena Olin are all checking in to the second season of Nine Perfect Strangers on Hulu. Following a star-studded first season based on Lianne Moriarty’s novel of the same name, the next installment of David E. Kelly’s drama will once again explore the health and wellness resort run by the enigmatic guru Masha (Nicole Kidman). So far, all we have is character names with no details—Golding plays Peter, Strong plays David, and Olin plays Helena. They join previously announced cast members Murray Bartlett, Annie Murphy, Christine Baranski, Maisie Richardson-Sellers, Dolly De Leon, King Princess, Aras Aydin, and Lucas Englander. [Mary Kate Carr]

Kyle Schmid joins NCIS: Origins

Kyle Schmid (Being Human, Big Sky) has joined the cast of NCIS: Origins as a younger version of Mike Franks. In the flagship series, Franks (played by Muse Watson) leads the NCIS Major Case Response Team and helped Gibbs (Mark Harmon) become an NCIS Special Agent. Harmon is the executive producer and narrator of his “Young Gibbs” show, which stars Austin Stowell as his younger self. Mariel Molino has also been cast as a new character, Special Agent Lala Dominguez. [Mary Kate Carr]

Tracey Ullman and Finn Bennett join Black Doves

Keira Knightley’s Netflix thriller is expanding its ensemble to include True Detective: Night Country’s breakout, Finn Bennett, and famed sketch comedian Tracey Ullman. Titled Black Doves, the series follows two spies on a mission during Christman in London that unravels a geopolitical crisis. Knightley will also be joined by Luther Ford (The Crown) and Adeel Akhtar (Sweet Tooth), as well as the previously announced Ben Whishaw and Sarah Lancashire. [Saloni Gajjar]

Maggie Q leads Bosch spin-off

Maggie Q (Designated Survivor) has been tapped to lead Prime Video’s untitled Renée Ballard series, a spinoff of the long-running Bosch franchise. According to a synopsis, Q’s Ballard runs “the LAPD’s new cold case division—a poorly funded, all-volunteer unit with the largest case load in the city.” The series, adapted from multiple novels by Michael Connelly, will also feature Titus Welliver, who has led Prime Video’s previous two Bosch series. Those are Bosch, which ran from 2014 to 2021, and Bosch: Legacy, which is currently heading into its third season. [Emma Keates]

Simone Ashley gets her own rom-com

It’s about time Bridgerton and Sex Education standout Simone Ashley got a rom-com of her own. She’ll star opposite Hero Fiennes Tiffin (After) in director Prarthana Mohan’s Picture This, a film about a single photographer led on a “hilarious but heartfelt” quest for love after meeting with a spiritual guru. Rounding out the cast are Phil Dunster, Nikesh Patel, Adil Ray, Sindhu Vee, Anoushka Chadha, Kulvinder Ghir, and Luke Fetherston. [Emma Keates]