The CW Picks Up ‘Valor’, ‘Life Sentence’… & The ‘Dynasty’ Reboot…
The CW went on on a bit of a buying spree last night. After picking up Berlanti’s latest DC show, Black Lightning, they’ve also added 3 new, and very different dramas – Valor, about a group of elite unit of helicopter pilots trained to perform clandestine international and domestic missions, Life Sentence, starring Pretty Little Liars’ Lucy Hale, and a reboot of 80’s soap Dynasty.
Valor sees the boundaries between military discipline and human desire tested on a U.S. Army base that houses an elite unit of helicopter pilots. These highly skilled operatives are tasked with performing clandestine international and domestic missions. Whilst the drama is set in the present, it also utilizes flashbacks to a failed mission involving one of the first female pilots in the unit. This ultimately uncovers layers of personal and government/military secrets and leading to a season-long plan to rescue a group of MIA soldiers.
The series is written by Kyle Jarrow (Lost Generation), and stars Matt Barr (Sleepy Hollow, One Tree Hill), Christina Ochoa (Animal Kingdom), Charlie Barnett (Chicago Fire/PD, Secrets and Lies), W. Tré Davis (Shades of Blue), Corbin Reid (How to Get Away with Murder), Mac Brandt (Colony) and Melissa Roxburgh (Supernatural, Star Trek Beyond). Showrunner is Anna Fricke (Being Human US, Wayward Pines).
Life Sentence stars Pretty Little Liars’ Lucy Hale as a young woman who is diagnosed with terminal cancer. When she finds out that she’s not dying after all, she has to learn to live with the choices she made when she decided to “live like she was dying.”
Joining Hale in the cast are Elliot Knight (Once Upon a Time, American Gothic), Dylan Walsh (Nip/Tuck, Unforgettable), Gillian Vigman (New Girl, Suburgatory), Jayson Blair (Young & Hungry, The Hard Times of RJ Berger), and Brooke Lyons (The Affair, iZombie). Erin Cardillo & Richard Keith (Significant Mother) created the series.
Lastly, Dynasty, a reboot of the hugely popular 80’s soap, which follows two of America’s wealthiest families, the Carringtons and the Colbys, as they feud for control over their fortune and their children. The series will be told primarily through the perspectives of two women at odds: Fallon Carrington, the daughter of billionaire Blake Carrington, and her soon-to-be stepmother, Cristal, a Hispanic woman marrying into this WASP family and America’s most powerful class.
The reboot is being handled by Gossip Girl’s Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage, who are joined by writer/producer Sallie Patrick (Revenge, Limitless), and the show’s original creators, Esther & Richard Shapiro. Patrick will serve as showrunner.
Elizabeth Gillies (Sex&Drugs&Rock&Roll, Victorious) stars as Fallon Carrington, Nathalie Kelley (The Vampire Diaries, UnREAL) plays Cristal Jennings, with Grant Show (Devious Maids, Private Practice) taking the Blake Carrington role. Additional cast includes Alan Dale (Neighbours, Once Upon a Time, Lost), Brianna Brown (Devious Maids, Graceland, General Hospital), Robert Christopher Riley (Elementary, Hit the Floor), James Mackay (The Straits), Sam Adegoke (Switched at Birth, Murder in the First), and Rafael de la Fuente (Empire, When We Rise).
As these are all brand new shows, there are no UK air dates yet. Hard to say if, when and were Valor or Life Sentence might land, but I’m pretty sure at least one of the UK channels will go after Dynasty. We’ll update you when we know more.
