Craig Bierko has been cast as a lead opposite Shiri Appleby in Lifetime’s darkly comedic drama series Un-Real, which gives a behind-the-scenes look at the chaos surrounding the production of a competition dating reality series. He will play the show’s sexy and arrogant creator Chet. The 10-episode series, from Marti Noxon and Sarah Gertrude Shapiro, is inspired by Shapiro’s short film Sequin Raze. It centers on Rachel (Appleby), a young staffer whose sole job is to manipulate her relationships with and among the contestants. Bierko is with Paradigm.
Michael Irby (Almost Human) is set to recur on another Lifetime freshman drama, The Lottery, which just premiered. Produced by Warner Horizon, the 10-episode thriller is set in a dystopian future when women have stopped having children, threatening extinction of the human race. Irby, repped by Greene & Assoc. and the Coronel Group, will play Nick, the older brother to Vanessa (Athena Karkanis) who has made unwise choices that have led to trouble, again and again.
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