casting couch

Toni Collette to Star in New ABC Dramedy From the Creators of Black-ish

G'Day USA 2016 Black Tie Gala - Red Carpet
Photo: John Sciulli/Getty Images

Toni Collette is coming back to TV, and this time she’ll be joining the brain trust behind Black-ish, Kenya Barris and Lindsey Shockley. Unit Zero will air on ABC and center around Collette’s Jackie Fink, a “brilliant, but unassuming CIA engineer and single mom” who heads up a team of green CIA spies. The hour-long dramedy sounds like it will have a heavy procedural feel. “Each week, this team of zeroes races against the clock to gather intelligence and solve cases of national security,” according to Deadline. Shockley will pen the script for Unit Zero, which is based on her own original idea, and Barris, who is the creator, showrunner, and executive producer of Black-ish, will write and produce the show with her. The two emphasized that the project is about celebrating outsiders and putting a female voice in a “historically male-dominated field.” If Barris keeps this up, he and Shonda Rhimes are going to have to thumb wrestle for who gets to fill the remaining hours in ABC’s evening programming blocks.

Toni Collette to Star in New ABC Dramedy