Betsy Brandt to Star in ABC’s Susannah Grant Drama ‘The Club’

Breaking Bad and The Michael J. Fox Show‘s Betsy Brandt has lined up her next gig. The actress has boarded the network’s 13-episode drama series The Club, The Hollywood Reporter has learned.

The role is in second position to the freshman NBC comedy starring Michael J. Fox, meaning Brandt would remain with that series should NBC opt to renew the low-rated entry for a second season. 

From Susannah Grant (Erin Brockovich), The Club is described as a 13-episode upstairs/downstairs soap centered on a private country club. Brandt will play Leslie Holbrooke, a warm-hearted woman with a dry wit whose husband just ran off with his father’s trophy-wife stepmother after squandering the club’s finances. She’s left alone with her 11-year-old son, Evan, her legal consulting practice and her husband’s crazy and wealthy family. Irreverent and funny, she’s not above seeing the humor in her situation. She doesn’t play sports or drink, hates the sun, and is way too outspoken to ever fit in at the club — but she’s there anyway.

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Following the end of AMC’s Breaking Bad, Brandt signed on to star opposite Fox after NBC had already handed out a 22-episode series order for The Michael J. Fox Show. The Club marks the second time the actress has boarded a project with a series order already attached. ABC picked up The Club straight to series; David O. Russell was previously attached to co-write and exec produce, but the American Hustle writer-director departed the series last month.

Grant will pen the script and exec produce the CBS Television Studios and ABC Studios entry. Sarah Timberman and Carl Beverly are also on board to exec produce. Callie Hernandez and Chris Conroy co-star.

The role marks Brandt’s second casting this month. The actress last week signed on for a multiple-episode arc on Showtime’s sophomore drama Masters of Sex. Brandt is repped by Talent Works and Patty Woo Management.

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NBC pulled The Michael J. Fox Show in February after airing 15 of its 22 episodes. Production on all 22 has wrapped, but NBC has yet to announce a return date for the remaining seven half-hours. Meanwhile, co-star Wendell Pierce also booked a pilot (CBS’ reboot of The Odd Couple) as well a recurring role on Showtime’s Ray Donovan as he, too, awaits word on the fate of MJFS.

In a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Fox said he’d “love to continue on with [the series] if that’s what happens.”

“I have a feeling of accomplishment, of camaraderie and of affirmation,” he said. “The hardest thing about doing something is getting started, and once you get started, it gets a life of its own, and you just ride it and see where it takes you. We just have to see where this takes us. But I don’t think this journey is finished. I think these episodes, if they’re put in a more advantageous spot on the schedule, can attract an audience and keep it.”

Other actors across the dial await word on their respective bubble shows. Enlisted‘s Geoff Stults and Angelique Cabral, Rake‘s Bojana Novakovic, The Carrie Diaries‘ Katie Findlay and Mixology‘s Andrew Santino have all booked roles in second position.

Email: Lesley.Goldberg@THR.com
Twitter: @Snoodit