Shining Vale: Mira Sorvino to play Courteney Cox’s alter ego in Starz series

Last Updated on August 5, 2021

It's been several months since we heard that Courteney Cox and Greg Kinnear would be starring in a horror comedy pilot called Shining Vale for Starz, and now it sounds like the show is getting close to filming, as the names of several more cast members have been announced. Joining Cox and Kinnear are Mira Sorvino, Merrin Dungey, Gus Birney, and Dylan Gage.

Creayed by Jeff Astrof and Sharon Horgan, Shining Vale will follow 

a dysfunctional family that moves from the city to a small town into a house in which terrible atrocities have taken place. But no one seems to notice except for Pat (Cox), who’s convinced she’s either depressed or possessed – turns out, the symptoms are exactly the same.

Sorvino is taking on the lead role of Rosemary, "who is either Pat's alter ego, a split personality, her id, her muse, or a demon trying to possess her. Sometimes playful, sometimes evil, often tragic, Rosemary has been roaming the halls of Pat's new house for 70 years, searching for a vulnerable soul to live vicariously through. She sees in Pat a kindred spirit: Like Pat, she was unfulfilled in her role as a dutiful housewife — and as a result, she may or may not have slaughtered her entire family, straightened up the house, then took her own life in the bathtub that Pat now uses to relax. In any case, Rosemary promises to help Pat get her groove back and finish her novel, if Pat will simply agree to let Rosemary 'come inside her,' a bargain that may haunt Pat forever."

Dungey's character Kam is also a lead role. She's "Pat's oldest friend and book editor, a no-bulls**t straight talker who knows and loves Pat more than Pat does herself. Kam has been with Pat through the highs of Pat selling her first novel to the lows of everything that has happened since. She is the one person Pat can rely on for tough love, but Kam is running out of patience: If Pat does not give Kam a book she can sell, then Kam will have no choice but to leave her — this time for good."

Details on Birney and Gage's characters were not revealed.

Astrof and Horgan are executive producing Shining Vale alongside Aaron Kaplan, Clelia Mountford, and Dana Honor. Dearbhla Walsh, whose previous credits include episodes of Penny Dreadful, The Punisher, and Fargo, will be directing and executive producing the pilot.

This show sounds like it could be entertaining, and it has a solid cast. I look forward to seeing how it's going to turn out.