Joel Johnstone Joins ABC's THE ASTRONAUT WIVES CLUB

According to Deadline, THE NEWSROOM's Joel Johnstone has joined the cast of ABC's upcoming drama series THE ASTRONAUT WIVES CLUB.

Based on the book by Lily Koppel, this 10 episode limited series tells the story of the women who were key players behind some of the biggest events in American history. As America's astronauts were launched on death-defying missions, Life Magazine documented the astronauts' families, capturing the behind-the-scenes lives of their young wives. Overnight, these women were transformed from military spouses into American royalty. As their celebrity rose and tragedy began to touch their lives, they rallied together.

Johnstone "will play Gus Grissom, an average student and athlete who may be the least likely astronaut but proves himself to be one of NASA's top men. He's an extraordinary engineer who flies on the Mercury and Gemini missions, and becomes the first man to go into space twice."

THE ASTRONAUT WIVES CLUB was originally scheduled to premire on July 24th, will now be pushed back to the 2014-15 midseason. The scheduling shift was based on "creative reasons". When the series makes it debut, it will include fictional characters based on the wives of the Gemini and Apollo astronauts, in addition to the wives of the Mercury astronauts.

"The Astronaut Wives Club" stars JoAnna Garcia Swisher as Betty Grissom ; Odette Annable as Trudy Cooper; Zoe Boyle as Jo Schirra; Azure Parsons as Annie Glenn; Desmond Harrington as Alan Shepherd.

Executive producers are Stephanie Savage, Josh Schwartz, Len Goldstein, Michael London, Janice Williams. The first episode will be directed by Nick Cassavetes. The series is produced by ABC Studios, Fake Empire and Groundswell.

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