Lifetime has picked up the drama Witches of East End, starring Julia Ormond (Mad Men), Jenna Dewan-Tatum (American Horror Story), Rachel Boston (In Plain Sight) and Mädchen Amick (Twin Peaks), it was announced today by Rob Sharenow, Executive Vice President, Programming, of Lifetime Networks. Lifetimeordered 10 episodes of the series to launch this year.
Regarding the pick-up, Sharenow said, “We’ve been thrilled about Witches of East End and its powerful premise since the moment we bought the property, and our friends at Fox 21 helped develop it for television. This is one of the most exciting ensemble casts we’ve seen and the whole show is fresh, original and just right for Lifetime.”
Based on Melissa de la Cruz’s best-selling novel, Witches of East End centers on the adventures of Joanna Beauchamp (Ormond) and her two adult daughters Freya (Dewan-Tatum) and Ingrid (Boston) — both of whom unknowingly are their family’s next generation of witches — who lead seemingly quiet, uneventful modern day lives in Long Island’s secluded seaside town of East Haven. When Freya becomes engaged to a young, wealthy newcomer, a series of events forces Joanna to admit to her daughters they are, in fact, powerful and immortal witches. Amick stars as Joanna’s mischievous witch sister Wendy. Maggie Friedman (Dawson’s Creek, Jack and Bobby and Eastwick) wrote the pilot, which was directed by Mark Waters (Mean Girls), andwill executive produce Witches of East End with Erwin Stoff (The Matrix) of 3 Arts Entertainment. The series hails from Fox 21 (Homeland, Sons of Anarchy).
Witches of East End joins Lifetime’s fast-growing scripted slate. On March 10, the second season of its hit drama The Client List, starring andexecutive produced by Jennifer Love Hewitt and co-starring Cybill Shepherd,Loretta Devine and Colin Egglesfield, will premiere. The series’ first season, which last year delivered Lifetime’s strongest freshman season for an original series among key demographics since Army Wives in 2007, propelled Lifetime to number one in its Sunday time period among Women 18+. Also set to return on March 10 is the seventh season of Army Wives, 2012’s top ad-supported cable series in its premiere time period among Women 18+. Additionally, this year Lifetime will launch its all-new drama Devious Maids, from executive producers Marc Cherry, Sabrina Wind, Eva Longoria, Paul McGuigan,Larry Shuman, David Lonner, John Mass, Paul Presburger and Michael Garcia. Following the lives of five maids with ambition and dreams of their own while they work for the rich and famous in Beverly Hills, Devious Maids stars Ana Ortiz, Judy Reyes, Dania Ramirez, Roselyn Sanchez, Edy Ganem, Grant Show, Brianna Brown, Rebecca Wisocky, Tom Irwin, Mariana Klaveno, Brett Cullen, Drew Van Acker and television icon Susan Lucci.
