Freeform Casts 4 For Their Non-Marvel Superpowered Remake, Misfits

Jill Pantozzi | June 7th, 2017

The American remake of the quirky British sci-fi series Misfits is moving ahead to a pilot order at Freeform. They’ve also cast four stars and picked up a Queen Sugar director.

I came to Misfits late in the game. Like, so late it had already been off the air for two years. But I really enjoyed it. The news of an American remake was announced in April of last year but I hadn’t heard a peep since then. Today, Deadline says the show has been given a pilot order:

It comes from Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage’s Fake Empire and Diane Ruggiero-Wright (iZombie, Veronica Mars), who wrote the adaptation and serves as showrunner. Cast as four of the five leads in the pilot are Ashleigh LaThrop (Sirens), Tre Hall (Rebel), Allie MacDonald (Orphan Black) and Jake Cannavale (Nurse Jackie), son of actor Bobby Cannavale.

Director/writer/actor Victoria Mahoney will direct the pilot. She’s previously directed episodes of Ava DuVernay’s Queen Sugar plus Grey’s Anatomy, and American Crime.

Secret's out: Victoria “Vic” Mahoney is making her [pilot] directing debit.
*Was obsessed with the original #Misfits when I lived in London💘 https://t.co/SJCrydx67Y

— Vic Mahoney (@VictoriaMahoney) June 6, 2017

Here’s the description Deadline gives of the series and the characters:

Misfits revolves around on a group of young offenders in a community service program who develop supernatural powers after being hit by a mysterious electrical storm.

Lathrop will play Alicia, a spoiled, vapid, middle-class party girl who seems to have three main goals in life: have fun, look hot and get guys. Hall plays Curtis, a talented and cocky football player with a promising career ahead of him who is used to everything going his way. MacDonald plays the tough and trashy Kelly, who is street smart with a hair-trigger temper and a penchant for beating the crap out of people. Cannavale plays Nathan, a con artist and thief with a heavily inflated sense of his own attractiveness, intelligence and potential.

Freeform (formerly known as ABC Family), already home to several sci-fi themed shows, seems to be going even further in that direction. In addition to Misfits the network will soon be home to two young-adult Marvel Entertainment superhero series, Cloak & Dagger and New Warriors (featuring Squirrel Girl). Deadline notes “Schwartz, Savage and Fake Empire are also working on Marvel’s Runaways for Hulu.