Your favorite stars have signed on to two exciting television projects:

  • Kristen Wiig and Tobey Maguire will star opposite Will Ferrell in the six-episode IFC miniseries The Spoils of Babylon, produced by Ferrell and Adam McKay.
  • John Krasinski will guest star on season four of Arrested Development.  The impressive guest roster also boasts Wiig (hey), Ben Stiller, Seth RogenConan O’Brien, Isla Fisher, Andy Richter, John Slattery, and Terry Crews.

More after the jump.

IFC provided this synopsis for The Spoils of Babylon:

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The Spoils of Babylon is an epic story in the vein of The Thorn Birds and Winds of War.  The Spoils of Babylon spans three generations, taking viewers from the oil fields of Texas to boardrooms in New York City, through world war battlefields and velvet sheeted bedrooms.  As the story unfolds, the booze, the passion and the heartache lead to illegal arms deals and international espionage with the Shah of Iran not to mention the creation of the doomed sub-­prime market.

Ferrell will play the fictional author who "wrote" the best-selling novel The Spoils of Babylon and the Shah of Iran (naturally).  According to Deadline, Wiig will play the daughter of oil magnate Jonas Morehouse, while Maguire is an orphan taken in by Morehouse.  They go on to run Morehouse Enterprises ("the seventh largest company in the world") as brother and sister, but must fight their natural attraction.  It sounds like a fun experiment, and I am glad Ferrell is using his clout to make this kind of obscure parody.  Matt Piedmont (Casa de mi Padre) will direct.  Piedmont co-wrote the script with Andrew Steele (Saturday Night Live).

The Wrap was not able to find any details on Krasinski's role, but his addition continues to show that anybody who is anybody wants a guest spot on Arrested Development.  Jason Bateman, Portia de Rossi, Will Arnett, Michael Cera, Alia Shawkat, Tony Hale, David Cross, Jeffrey Tambor, and Jessica Walter return to star.  All 15 episodes of season four premiere on Netflix May 26.

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