Smash Season 2 -- Jesse L. Martin to Recur (original) (raw)

Things are looking positively **_Smash_**-ing for Jesse L. Martin.

The Law & Order alum has booked a recurring role in Season 2 of the hit NBC musical series, Deadline reports. He joins as an artistic director of a theater company who shares a history with several main characters. What’s more, he may become romantically involved with Debra Messing’s Julia.

RELATED | NBC Stages Will & Grace Reunion on Smash as Sean Hayes Joins Season 2 Cast

No stranger to the stage, Martin originated the role of Tom Collins in Rent and then portrayed him in the production’s 2005 big-screen rendition.

Smash, meanwhile, returns to NBC’s lineup at midseason.

Ready for more of today’s TV dish? Well…

• USA Network has given a cast-contingent pilot order to an untitled drama from Numb3rs creators Cheryl Heuton and Nicolas Falacci. Based on a short story from Justified author Elmore Leonard, the project centers on a politically driven Miami businessman who enters into a marriage of convenience with a Colombian woman to better his election odds.

• Happy Endings has cast Christopher McDonald (Harry’s Law) and Julie Hagerty (What About Bob?) as Jane and Alex’s parents, TVGuide.com reports. The duo will appear in Episode 6 of the ABC comedy’s third season, which bows Oct. 23.

• Jeffrey Nordling (24) will appear in The CW’s new fall drama Arrow. Per Examiner.com, he’ll play the crime boss father of Helena Bertinelli’s Huntress.

RELATED | Arrow Hits Bullseye, Nabs John Barrowman

_• Southland_‘s Benjamin McKenzie will reunite with his former O.C. co-star Michael Cassidy in a Season 2 episode of Men at Work. Per TV Guide Magazine, the actor will play the ex-hubby of fellow guest-star Bethany Joy Lenz (One Tree Hill).

• Isaiah Mustafa (aka The Old Spice Guy) has nabbed a Nikita guest spot, TVGuide.com reports. He’ll play Cyrus, one of the Dirty Thirty ex-Division agents the titular spy and her team will track in Season 3. (For more on his role, head here.) The CW spy series launches its new cycle Oct. 19.

• Maria Thayer (Forgetting Sarah Marshall) will play Nick’s ex-girlfriend in _New Girl_‘s Season 2 Halloween installment, E! Online reports.

• Big Time Rush star James Maslow will guest-star in an episode of Nick at Nite’s new series See Dad Run (debuting Oct. 14), HollywoodLife reports. Star Scott Baio plays a former sitcom actor, and Maslow will portray his now grown-up onscreen “son.”

Which TVLine Items have you talking today?