Bruce Greenwood, Odette Annable to Star in ABC Soap 'Venice'

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Bruce Greenwood and Odette Annable

Bruce Greenwood and Odette Annable are heading to Venice, Calif.

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The Star Trek alum has landed the starring role in ABC's Romeo and Juliet-themed soapy pilot Venice, The Hollywood Reporter has learned, while the House actress has nabbed a co-starring role.

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The pilot revolves around the haves and the have-nots of California’s most seductive region, Venice. The drama will focus on two rival families (the Nances and the Carvers) and a forbidden and dangerous romance emerging between them as they battle for control of the beachside community.

Greenwood, who will reprise his role as Pike in Star Trek Into Darkness, will star as Gordy Nance, the most powerful man in Venice. The head of the Nance family, he's described as Bill Clinton, without the moral compass.

Annable, who most recently starred on Fox's Breaking In, will play Gordy's daughter Sophie, an independent thinker who owns a trendy Venice boutique. She has her father's business sense but has been in love with the Carvers' son, Chris, since she was a girl.

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Jennifer Beals will play Lisa Carver, the matriarch of the rival family, in the drama that reunites her with The L Word showrunner Ilene Chaiken. Without a Trace's Byron Balasco will pen the pilot and executive produce alongside Peter Johnson, Chaiken and McG, who will direct the Warner Bros. Television pilot.

The casting brings Greenwood back to ABC, where he starred on the network's short-lived drama The River. He's repped by Gersh and Binder & Associates.

Annable, repped by UTA, Evolution and Morris Yorn, also returns to ABC after roles on dramas Brothers & Sisters and October Road.

Email: Lesley.Goldberg@thr.com; Twitter: @Snoodit