Double Down: Oscar Isaac Hits the Jackpot in Scorsese’s Vegas and More TV Casting News

If there is one thing Hollywood loves more than a reboot nobody asked for, it is a high-stakes gamble in the desert. This week, the television gods have seen fit to bless us with a lineup of casting updates that prove the "Golden Age of TV" isn't dead; it just moved to a private suite at the Wynn. Between Oscar Isaac taking a seat at the poker table and James Marsden playing "catch me if you can" with the CIA, your watchlist is about to get significantly more crowded.

The biggest headline hitting the wires is Netflix’s untitled Las Vegas drama, which has officially secured Oscar Isaac as its lead. Fresh off his stint in the second season of Beef, Isaac is pivoting from suburban road rage to the high-stakes world of casino management. He is set to play Robert "Bobby Red" Redman, the president of a premier hotel-casino who is apparently one bad hand away from losing his empire.

The pedigree here is almost annoyingly good. Brian Koppelman and David Levien, the minds behind Billions and the poker cult classic Rounders, are running the show. To add even more prestige to the pile, Martin Scorsese is executive producing. While Scorsese’s name on a Vegas project feels like a comfortable pair of Italian leather loafers, seeing Isaac navigate the "sharp-elbowed" business of modern Sin City is the real draw. Hopefully, it leans more into the gritty reality of corporate greed and less into the neon-soaked cliches we have seen a thousand times before.

Not to be outdone by the streamer in red, Apple TV is doubling down on its "handsome leading men in peril" subgenre by tapping James Marsden for the action-thriller Disavowed. Marsden, who spent much of the last year proving he is the internet's favorite person, will play Brad Griffin, a CIA case officer who gets the boot in the middle of a global hunt for an assassin. Naturally, instead of filing for unemployment, he decides to go rogue to collect a $15 million federal bounty. It is a premise that feels very 1990s in the best way possible, think less "existential dread" and more "James Marsden running through European plazas in a well-fitted jacket."

Over at HBO Max, things are getting a bit more domestic, if no less dramatic. Mandy Moore is staying in the family business narratively speaking by executive producing a new drama centered on two families navigating the complexities of IVF. While Moore is only "potentially" starring at this point, the project reunites her with This Is Us writer Julia Brownell. Expect tears, complicated family trees, and enough emotional manipulation to make you call your mother.

Rounding out the news cycle, Nicole Kidman’s Scarpetta continues to collect actors like they are rare Pokémon. The Prime Video mystery added nine recurring members for its second season, including David Arquette and William Zabka. It is an eclectic mix that suggests the show is aiming for a very specific brand of "prestige procedural" that only Kidman can anchor.

As these projects move into production, the landscape of the next television season is coming into focus. Whether it is Isaac playing the house or Marsden playing the field, there is plenty to look forward to or at least plenty to argue about on the internet.

Think Oscar Isaac can pull off the "Casino Boss" look better than De Niro? Head over to the comments and let us know which of these projects is actually worth your subscription fee.

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