The cast of Freeform’s drama that’s centered around Cosmopolitan’s editor-in-chief just keeps growing. Katie Stevens, who just wrapped her role as Karma Ashcroft on MTV’s Faking It back in May, has been cast in the pilot of the show, entitled Issues, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Stevens will play Jane, a newly promoted writer of the fictional Scarlet magazine, who has to learn how to juggle her personal life and her newfound duties in her professional life while navigating New York City society.
Besides her role in Faking It, Stevens was also a cast member of American Idol in 2010 during the show’s ninth season. She came in eighth place in her season. She also appeared in the television movie, Immortality, that served as CSI‘s finale, where she played Lindsey Willows, Catherine’s daughter and a crime scene investigator.
Issues is set to revolve around the workers of Scarlet magazine and the challenges they face in their personal and professional lives, all while trying to look good while doing it.
Other cast members of the show include Aisha Dee, who will play a character named Kat, the newly promoted social media director of Scarlet magazine. This marks Dee’s return to Freeform, as she played Beth on Chasing Life before it was canceled after its second season.
Meghann Fahy, who has had a string of guest starring roles that includes season one of Chicago Fire and a recurring role on the ABC soap opera One Life to Live in 2010 and 2012, will play Sutton, an assistant at the magazine who has a secret to hide from her friends.
And Melora Hardin, known to fans of The Office as Jan and fans of Transparent as Tammy, has also been cast in the show as Scarlet magazine’s editor-in-chief.
Issues was originally developed for NBC almost a year ago but the network never gave it the green light. The show is created by Sarah Watson, who worked on NBC’s Parenthood. The executive producers include David Bernad, Ruben Fleischer and Joanna Coles. Bernad and Fleischer both have worked on the NBC comedy Superstore and Coles is the current editor-in-chief of Cosmopolitan magazine.
Issues has yet to film its pilot and the show hasn’t been picked up for a series order by Freeform yet, so there’s no information as to when the show will air on the network.