Hulu’s Veronica Mars has made two new casting additions to the upcoming revival. Deadline reported Kirby Howell-Baptise (Killing Eve) has joined the series as a new character named Nicole in a recurring role. Meanwhile TVLine has revealed Dawnn Lewis (A Different World) as Neptune’s newest police chief.
The revival series will take place during Spring Break and will tell a darker story. Series creator Rob Thomas told TVLine the new season will return to its “hardcore So-Cal noir” roots. “There will be one big case with eight episodes to tell the story. This is a detective show,” he told the outlet.
Howell-Baptiste will play Nicole, who owns and operates the Neptune nightclub favored by spring breakers. When they begin dying, Veronica begins to believe the killer is selecting his victims at the club.
Lewis will portray Marcia Langdon, the newest police chief for Neptune and a character that was introduced in the 2015 Veronica Mars book Mr. Kiss and Tell written by Thomas.
Despite the introduction of Langdon to the Veronica Mars revival and similarities in the premise to his other Mars book The Thousand Dollar Tan Line, Thomas assured TVLine that the new season would not follow those stories. “Like The Thousand Dollar Tan Line, the miniseries will be set against a Spring Break backdrop,” Thomas explained. “However, it is not the story we’re telling.”
Howell-Baptise and Lewis join returning Veronica Mars stars Kristen Bell (Veronica), Jason Dohring (Logan), Francis Capra (Weevil), Percy Daggs III (Wallace), David Starzyk (Richard Casablancas), Enrico Colanti (Keith Mars) and Ryan Hansen (Dick Casablanca).
The new season of Veronica Mars is expected to arrive on Hulu in 2019.