EXCLUSIVE: Big Sky has set the first major new cast addition for Season 2. Janina Gavankar (Sleepy Hollow, The Mysteries of Laura) has joined the popular ABC drama series as a new series regular opposite returning leads Kylie Bunbury and Katheryn Winnick.
In Season 2 of the David E. Kelley series based on the series of books by C.J. Box, when private detectives Cassie Dewell (Bunbury) and Jenny Hoyt (Winnick) reunite to investigate a car wreck outside of Helena, Montana, they soon discover that the case may not be as straightforward as it seems. As they unravel the mystery of the accident, their worlds will collide with a band of unsuspecting teens, a flirtatious face from Jenny’s past, and a vicious outsider hellbent on finding answers.
Gavankar will play Ren who is new to Helena. After a simple business transaction results in a messy car wreck involving one of her employees, Ren comes to town hellbent on getting answers. Now she must find out who betrayed her, but the more rocks she overturns, the more snakes she will discover. Ren’s moves are calculated and she strongly believes that it is best to keep your enemies close, which may spell bad news for Dewell & Hoyt.
Gavankar joins returning series regulars Winnick, Bunbury, Brian Geraghty and Dedee Pfeiffer as well as Omar Metally and Anja Savcic, who have been promoted from recurring to regulars for Season 2. (Season 1 series regular Jesse James Keitel is becoming a recurring.)
Big Sky, produced by 20th Television and A+E Studios, is moving production to Rio Rancho, New Mexico for Season 2 from Vancouver, British Columbia, where the first season was shot. Elwood Reid will serve as showrunner, executive producing alongside creator Kelley.
Gavankar starred alongside Ben Affleck in Warner Bros’. The Way Back. She recently wrapped production on two features, Amazon’s Invasion, starring opposite Riz Ahmed and Octavia Spencer, as well as Eli Roth’s Borderlands for Lionsgate opposite Cate Blanchett, Kevin Hart and Jamie Lee Curtis.
Indian American Gavankar co-wrote and is set to star in a female-driven monster movie based on the ancient Hindu myth of the Rakshasa. 108 Media will finance and produce the film, which will be shot in India. The short film Stucco, which she co-wrote, co-directed, and produced, won a special jury award at SXSW last year and has become one of the fest’s most watched short films, clocking 33M views.
Gavankar will next reprise her recurring role in Season 2 of Apple TV+’s The Morning Show. She is repped by APA, Thruline Entertainment and Felker Toczek Suddleson Abramson.
