Just when you thought you couldn’t be any more excited for the return of “Arrested Development,” Mitch Hurwitz goes ahead and casts Isla Fisher and Terry Crews. There’s no news on who they’ll be playing, whose episodes they will be in, or even how many episodes they’ll be in, but we’re excited by their involvment nonetheless. They’re both people we really like who know how to be funny, and if the show’s track-record is anything to go by, we’re sure they’ll be given brilliantly bizarre guest roles.
Freddie Highmore was the go-to loveable child lead not so long ago, starring in “Finding Neverland,” “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” “August Rush” and even “The Spiderwick Chronicles” as recently as 2008. But the now 20-year-old actor returned to screens last year alongside Emma Roberts as an angsty teen in “The Art of Getting By,” and his first adult role must have impressed a casting director somewhere because he’s snagged the part of Norman Bates in the “Psycho” prequel series “Bates Motel.” Vera Farmiga will play his mother and Max Thieriot will play his brother in the series which is being prepped for a 2013 debut.
And lastly, in other serial-killer-prequel-television-series news, NBC’s hopefully fascinating Hannibal Lecter origin series — "Hannibal" — has added another name to its cast. Mads Mikkelsen, Hugh Dancy and Laurene Fishburne are the big names already on board, but the new addition is sketch group "The Kids in the Hall" member Scott Thompson. In a rare dramatic role Thompson will take on the recurring role of Jimmy Price – a member of Fishburne’s CSI unit. We’ve liked what we’ve heard about this project so far and have high hopes for Mikkelsen in the role, and although this seems like left-field casting we’re totally willing to go with it. [NY Mag/Deadline/AV Club]