Apple’s upcoming series The Crowded Room is gaining three new talented cast members. Today it was announced that Sasha Lane, Christopher Abbott, and Emma Laird have signed on alongside the previously announced Tom Holland, Amanda Seyfried, and Emmy Rossum. Akiva Goldsman, the writer behind blockbuster films including Batman Forever, A Beautiful Mind, The Da Vinci Code, and I Am Legend will be penning and executive producing the project.
An anthology series, The Crowded Room will take a deep dive into characters living with mental illness and the courage and determination they must tune into while facing down their sometimes debilitating conditions. Goldsman will weave the plot together from his own real life experiences and from the 1981 Daniel Keyes biography The Minds of Billy Milligan, which centers around the life of Billy Milligan who, following his arrest for several rapes in Columbus, Ohio during the 1970s, was acquitted after his defense team claimed that he had multiple personality disorder and was unaware of the crimes he was committing. Milligan became the first person to be found not guilty due to a dissociative identity disorder and was instead sent to a psychiatric hospital for ten years.
Holland will take on the leading role in the series as Danny Sullivan, the character who written to partially reflect Milligan. Along with his starring role, Holland will join Goldman as one of the show’s executive producers. Playing Danny’s best friend and number one cheerleader, Ariana, will be Lane. Dealing with unresolved traumas from their past, Ariana and Danny will stick together and face those that have wronged them.
Laird’s Isabel is a longtime friend of Danny’s. Their friendship goes all the way back to high school. Though many people don’t see anything special about the young man, Isabel knows that Danny is a deeply caring individual with his own special gifts. Abbott joins the cast as Stan, Danny’s attorney and leading line in defense who struggles with his own demons following his time in the Vietnam War.
The previously announced Seyfried will step into the role of Rya. A psychologist intensely dedicated to her clients, Rya is a single mother who is slowly learning that she needs to put her children ahead of her patients. Portraying the mother of Danny, Rossum joins the cast as Candy. Trying her very best to support her son through countless ups and downs, she is hoping that there is something better for her beyond the horizon.
Apple Studios and New Regency are teaming up to produce with Suzanne Heathcote, Alexandra Milchan, Arnon Milchan, Yariv Milchan, and Michael Schaefer to executive produce alongside Holland and Goldsman. Kornel Mundruczo will executive produce and direct the premiere season.
Although there is no release date yet set for The Crowded Room, you can count on Collider to keep you up to date with any and all updates.