Dan Byrd is returning to ABC.
The former Cougar Town star has signed on for the network’s drama pilot Doomsday, The Hollywood Reporter has learned.
Set in the aftermath of Sept. 11, Doomsday follows when the U.S. government instituted a secret think-tank comprised of the most creative minds in science and entertainment who were tasked solely with dreaming up man-made disaster scenarios and their possible solutions. The ideas they invented were so dangerous that the list was sealed and the program shut down. But when a catastrophe occurs that is ripped from the pages of the missing doomsday book, the team is brought back years later to prevent the disasters of their own making.
Byrd will play Nate, a gay, meek, skeptical hipster who runs a FiveThirtyEight-type analytical website known for making predictions.
The role brings Byrd back to ABC, which was home to Cougar Town for the first three of its six-season run (it eventually moved to TBS). He most recently appeared on two episodes of the network’s hit Shondaland drama Scandal. Byrd’s other roles include Easy A, Mad Men and Sisters. He is repped by Gersh, Industry Entertainment and Stone Genow.
Doomsday hails from writers Mark Bianculli and VJ Boyd (Justified), who will executive produce with Carol Mendelsohn and Julie Weitz. Sony Pictures Television will produce in association with CSM Productions, Signal Hill and Pernomium Pictures.
