FX has rounded out the series regular cast for its hourlong pilot The Answers, the network’s adaptation of Catherine Lacey’s novel. Lucy Hale (Pretty Little Liars) is set to star alongside Raul Esparza (Retreat), Krys Marshall (For All Mankind), Melanie Field ( A League Of Their Own), Pallavi Sharda (Wedding Season) and Kineta Kunutu (Citadel) in the project from Sorry for Your Loss creator Kit Steinkellner, Dopesick creator Danny Strong, Requiem for a Dream director Darren Aronofsky and 20th Television. They join previously announced male lead David Corenswet.

The story, which has drawn comparisons to The Handmaid’s Tale, is set in the near future, where a heartbroken young woman, Mary (Hale), joins an enigmatic experiment that promises to hack love, but after moving into an idyllic, secluded location with her fellow female participants, she and the other women start questioning what’s really happening in the experiment, and why they’ve all been tasked with dating the same mysterious man, Christopher Skye (Corenswet).

Esparza plays Dr. Crowe; Marshall portrays Ellis; Field is Dani; Sharda plays Ash and Kunutu is Nic.

Steinkellner wrote the pilot and exec produces. Strong and Aronofsky executive produce with Mandy Safavi with Danny Strong Productions and Ari Handel and Elizabeth Gesas with Aronofsky’s Protozoa Pictures. Gillian Robespierre will direct and executive produce the pilot. 20th Television, a part of Disney Television Studios, is the studio.

Hale is repped by CAA and Reel Talent Management; Esparza with CAA and Elin Flack Management. Marshall with A3 Artists Agency, Industry Entertainment and Goodman, Genow, Schenkman, Smelkinson & Christopher; Field by Gersh, Authentic Talent & Literary Management, and Hansen, Jacobson; Sharda by WME; ColorCreative; Independent Management Company (Australia); and Goodman, Genow, Schenkman, Smelkinson & Christopher; Kunutu by Authentic Talent and Literary Management and Del Shaw Moonves Tanaka Finkelstein Lezcano Bobb & Dang.

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Lucy Hale says she’s been preparing for a series like AMC’s upcoming crime show Ragdoll her whole life.

“I’m the first girl to listen any true crime podcast or to watch any of the crime shows,” Hale said during AMC’s TCA portion on Tuesday.

From listening and watching the horrors of true crime, Hale is now at the center of a horrifying web of murders in Ragdoll. Adapted for television by Freddy Syborn from Daniel Cole’s novel, the six-part series follows newly-reinstated DS Nathan Rose (Henry Lloyd-Hughes); his best friend and boss, DI Emily Baxter (Thalissa Teixeira); and the unit’s new recruit, DC Lake Edmunds (Hale) as they unravel the mystery behind the six people who have been murdered, dismembered and sewn into the shape of one grotesque body — nicknamed the ‘Ragdoll.’ The team must find the ‘Ragdoll Killer’ before he murders the victims for his next gruesome creation.

For Hale, Ragdoll is a new step in her career – following her teen drama days of Pretty Little Liars and her time on Katy Keene. The actress, who starred on Pretty Little Liars from 2010 to 2017 and Katy Keen from 2018 to 2020, wanted to venture out beyond the types of roles she was most known for, she said.

“When you’re a part of something like Pretty Little Liars or Katy Keene, people definitely want to keep you in that box and I’m very grateful for those opportunities,” she said. “But, I made the conscious decision that after Katy Keene got cancelled I knew that the next job I did really had to creatively excite me.”

The actress said that her supporters, who first started following her with the ABC Family drama, “have grown up with me” and believes that they, too, will take a leap into Ragdoll to continue their support.

The darker, more sinister AMC show isn’t just a new chapter for Hale’s career, but a new book, she said.

“Going to London and working with Sid Gentile, working with Freddy, I was so excited to work with Henry and Thalissa – it just feels elevated. I feel like I grew working with everyone,” she said. “Not even a new chapter, but a new book for sure. A darker, new book.”

Ragdoll will premiere on AMC Thursday, November 11. Syborn will serve as the lead writer and executive producer. The series will be executive produced by Sally Woodward Gentle and Lee Morris for Sid Gentle Films. McDermott and Kristin Jones oversee for AMC and Philippa Collie Cousins, Commissioning Editor, Drama for UKTV will be executive producer for Alibi. Lizzie Rusbridger will produce. BBC Studios is distributing the series internationally.

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Lucy Hale is set as a lead in Ragdoll, a crime drama series for AMC and Alibi based on the novel by Daniel Cole, Deadline has confirmed. The series hails from Sid Gentle Films, the British production company behind Killing Eve.

Adapted for television by Freddy Syborn, the six-part drama is described as a “modern-day Faustian thriller” centers on the murder of six people whose bodies have been dismembered and sewn into the shape of one grotesque body — nicknamed “The Ragdoll.”

Assigned to the shocking case are DS Nathan Rose, recently reinstated to the London Met; his best friend and boss, DI Emily Baxter; and the unit’s new recruit, DC Lake Edmunds, portrayed by Hale. The “Ragdoll Killer” taunts the police by sending them a list of his next victims, with Rose’s name among them. And with those victims to protect, our heroes soon come under intense public scrutiny.

Filming is slated to begin this spring for a premiere later this year. Ragdoll will air on AMC in the United States and Alibi in the UK.

Syborn will serve as the lead writer and executive producer. Series will be executive produced by Sally Woodward Gentle and Lee Morris for Sid Gentle Films Ltd, one of BBC Studios invested indie production companies. Dan McDermott and Kristin Jones will take the lead for AMC and Philippa Collie Cousins, Commissioning Editor, Drama for UKTV will be executive producer for Alibi. Lizzie Rusbridger will produce.

Best known for her starring role in Pretty Little Liars, Hale recently starred as the titular character in the CW’s Riverdale spinoff Katy Keene, as well as Life Sentence and Privileged. She recently completed filming Borrego, on which she also serves as an executive producer, and will be seen in the upcoming romantic comedy The Hating Game, based on the book by Sally Thorne.

Variety was first to report Hale’s casting.

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Lucy Hale will lead the cast of survival thriller Borrego, along with Good Doctor actor Nicholas Gonzalez.

Hale will play a young botanist who relocates to a small desert town to study an invasive plant species. While out on research, she comes to the aid of a downed plane only to find herself taken captive by an inexperienced drug mule who forces her to lead a trek across the sweltering desert to his drop.

Local sheriff (Gonzalez) is drawn into the hunt as his rebellious daughter sets out to find the missing botanist, all the while being pursued by a local drug receiver.

Leynar Gómez, Jorge A. Jimenez and Olivia Trujillo round out the cast.

Jesse Harris will direct from his own script and and produce under his Abcde Pictures banner. Black Magic’s Greg Lauritano, who recently worked with Hale on Brian Petsos’ Big Gold Brick, and Tucci & Company’s Damiano and Tiziano Tucci will also produce. Hale will serve as executive producer.

Hale, repped by ICM Partners and Reel Talent Management, was last in theaters with horror Fantasy Island. Gonzalez is repped by Pakula/King & Associates, Vault Entertainment and Felker Toczek. Gómez is repped by Talent on the Road. Jimenez is repped by McKeon/Myones Entertainment. Trujillo is with CESD Talent.

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