TVLine Items: FNL Vet to TWD Spinoff, College Bowl Renewed and More

Smash is taking on zombies: Friday Night Lights favorite Gaius Charles has joined AMC’s The Walking Dead spinoff Isle of the Dead, starring Lauren Cohan and Jeffrey Dean Morgan, our sister site Deadline reports.

Premiering in 2023, the series follows Maggie (Cohan) and Negan (Morgan) as they travel through a post-apocalyptic Manhattan long ago cut off from the mainland. “The crumbling city is filled with the dead and denizens who have made New York City their own world full of anarchy, danger, beauty and terror,” per AMC.

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Charles — whose other TV credits include Grey’s Anatomy and Taken — will play Izaak, a confident, ruthless and devoted family man whose journey unearths a loss he is haunted by.

Ready for some more recent newsy nuggets? Well…

* NBC has renewed Capital One College Bowl for Season 2, with hosts Peyton Manning and Cooper Manning returning. Harry Friedman, who oversaw Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune for over 25 years, will serve as showrunner.

* Prime Video’s The Summer I Turned Pretty, a YA drama based on the book series by Jenny Han (who also serves as co-showrunner), will premiere Friday, June 17.

* Crown Media Family Networks has signed Aimee Teegarden (Friday Night Lights) to an exclusive multi-picture overall deal. Teegarden’s previous work for Hallmark Channel includes My Christmas Family Tree, A New Year’s Resolution and the upcoming Heart of the Matter (for Hallmark Movies & Mysteries).

* David Gyasi (Carnival Row, Containment), Ato Essandoh (Chicago Med, Altered Carbon) and Rory Kinnear (Our Flag Means Death) have joined the Netflix political thriller The Diplomat, starring Keri Russell, per The Hollywood Reporter.

Which of today’s TVLine Items pique your interest?

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