Apple TV+ Renews Sports Drama “Swagger,” Starring Tristan Mack Wilds, for Second Season

Tristan Mack Wilds still has swagger

Apple TV+ has picked up its sports drama, Swagger, starring the 32-year-old Afro-Dominican American actor, for a second season.

The series, inspired by NBA star Kevin Durant’s experiences as a kid, premiered in October.

The news was unveiled on the Instagram account of Durant’s investment firm Thirty-Five Ventures.

Swagger explores the world of elite youth basketball clubs, the players, their families and coaches.

It stars O’Shea Jackson Jr., Isaiah Hill, Shinelle Azoroh, Quvenzhané Wallis, Caleel Harris, Wilds, Tessa Ferrer, James Bingham, Solomon Irama, Ozie Nzeribe and Jason Rivera, who are all set to return for the second season.

The series is produced by Boardroom, Imagine Television Studios, CBS Studios and Undisputed Cinema, and executive produced by Bythewood, Durant, Brian Grazer, and Rich Kleiman. Francie Calfo, Tony Hernandez, Kristen Zolner and Joy Kecken also serve as executive producers.

“I’m excited to share more of the beautifully complicated lives of these incredible characters,” said creator, showrunner, director and executive producer Reggie Rock Bythewood. “In season two, they will search and discover what it means to be a champion on and off the court, and the basketball playing will continue to be groundbreaking. We are grateful to Apple TV+ for the platform.”

Tessa Ferrer to Star in Apple TV+’s New Basketball-Themed Drama Series “Swagger”

Tessa Ferrer’s got some serious swagger

The 34-year-old part-Puerto Rican actress and former Grey’s Anatomy star has joined the ensemble cast of Apple TV+’s new basketball-themed drama series Swagger.

Tessa Ferrer

The project, which hails from NBA superstar Kevin Durant and Imagine’s Brian Grazer, stars O’Shea Jackson Jr. and Oscar-nominated Quvenzhané Wallis.

Ferrer will be a series regulars alongside Isaiah Hill, Shinelle Azoroh, 32-year-old part-Afro-Dominican actor Tristan Mack WildsCaleel Harris, Latino actor/producer Jason Rivera, Solomon Irama, Ozie Nzeribe and James Bingham.

Written and directed by Bythewood, who also serves as showrunner, Swagger is inspired by Durant’s youth basketball experiences. It explores the world of youth basketball, and the players, their families and coaches who walk the fine line between dreams and ambition, and opportunism and corruption. Off the court, the show reveals what it’s like to grow up in America.

Wilds will portray Alonzo Powers, the grassroots division leader at a major shoe company.

Ferrer will portray Meg Bailey, a former basketball player and coach for the rival team.

Rivera will play Nick, a player from Puerto Rico with the drive to become the best player in the country.

The drama is co-produced by Imagine Television Studios and CBS Television Studios.

Tessa Ferrer Lands Starring Role on AT&T Audience Network’s Series “Mr. Mercedes”

Tessa Ferrer is going into overdrive…

The 31-year-old part-Puerto Rican actress and former Grey’s Anatomy star will star as a series regular opposite Jack Huston in Season 2 of AT&T Audience Network’s breakout series Mr. Mercedes.

Tessa Ferrer

The second season will be based on King’s best-selling Bill Hodges Trilogy, which includes Mr. Mercedes, Finders Keepers and End of Watch.

Season 1 followed a demented killer Brady Hartsfield (Harry Treadaway) who taunts a retired police detective Bill Hodges (Brendan Gleeson) with a series of lurid letters and emails, forcing the ex-cop to undertake a private, and potentially felonious, crusade to bring the killer to justice before he is able to strike again.

Ferrer will play Cora Babineau, wife of Dr. Felix Babineau (Huston) and head of marketing at a major pharmaceutical corporation, who’s even more ambitious than she is beautiful. If her husband has a genius for manipulating people from the inside out as he reaches into their brains and rewires them, Cora has a genius for influencing people from the outside in. Her beauty, brains and force of will, judiciously softened with poise and extreme charm, make her a formidable saleswoman, of whatever she’s peddling.

Ferrer is onscreen in Blumhouse’s Insidious 4: The Last Key. On television, she played the series regular role of Leah Murphy on Grey’s Anatomy and recurred on CBSExtant and FXX’s You’re the Worst.

Production begins next month in Charleston, SC, on the Sonar Entertainment-produced Stephen King adaptation.

Season 2 of Mr. Mercedes will air this summer on AT&T Audience Network.

Ferrer to Star in Shonda Rhimes’ ABC Comedy Pilot “Toast”

Tessa Ferrer is the toast of the town…

The 29-year-old part-Puerto Rican actress and Grey’s Anatomy alumna, the granddaughter of José Ferrer, has been cast in Toast, ABC’s hybrid comedy pilot from Shonda Rhimes and Betsy BeersShondaland, Scott Foley and Greg Grunberg.

Tessa Ferrer

Written by Foley and Grunberg and directed by Gail Mancuso, the project revolves around engaged couple Max Leeds (Jono Kenyon) and Paige (not yet cast), who, over their wedding rehearsal dinner, have their eclectic family and friends give toasts recalling anecdotes about the couple — but flashbacks reveal that the toasts don’t always get it right, as we watch the true story of their complicated, funny and relatable road to marriage.

Kenyon’s Max is awkwardly handsome, charming and unassuming, and worried about what his bride-to-be’s family thinks about him. After all, they couldn’t be more different: Paige is a sorority girl from a close-knit wealthy Austin family, and he’s a college dropout with a questionable credit history and a father in prison.

Ferrer is Jules, an up-for-anything Texas tomboy who is Max’s closest friend, his biggest champion and business partner. Fiercely loyal and protective, she knows Max better than he knows himself, and worries that he is too focused on the wrong things when it comes to meeting the right woman.

Ferrer played Dr. Leah Murphy on Grey’s Anatomy on Seasons 9 and 10, and she recurred on CBS Extant and on Stephen Falk’s FX comedy You’re The Worst

Ferrer to Star on CBS’ Summer Drama “Extant”

Tessa Ferrer will be defying gravity in her next project…

The 28-year-old part-Puerto Rican actress, the granddaughter of the late José Ferrer, the first Hispanic actor, to win an Academy Award, has landed a recurring role on CBS’ upcoming summer drama series Extant.

Tessa Ferrer

From Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Television and CBS Television Studios, the serialized mystery thriller centers on Molly (portrayed by Halle Berry), an astronaut trying to reconnect with her family when she returns after a year in outer space. Her experiences lead to events that ultimately will change the course of human history.

Ferrer will portray Katie Sparks, the athletic, intelligent astronaut who is the daughter of ISEA Director Alvin Sparks (Michael O’Neill). Known for being a problem-solver and over-achiever, she is forced to make a terrifying decision when faced with unimaginable terror.

The series also stars Goran Visnjic and Grace Gummer.

Ferrer’s previous credits include Grey’s Anatomy, Abducted and Go for Sisters.