June 10, 2011 01:47 PM PST

Undercovers Star Gugu Mbatha-Raw Set As Female Lead In Fox's Pilot Touch

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Nellie Andreeva

British actress Gugu Mbatha-Raw, the breakout star of J.J. Abrams’ short-lived NBC spy dramedy Undercovers, has landed the female lead opposite Kiefer Sutherland in the Fox drama pilot Touch, written by Heroes creator Tim Kring.

The project, which is considered a lock for a midseason series order, centers on Martin (Sutherland) who discovers that his genius son Jake (David Mazouz) is communicating with him through a complex series of numbers and may even be able to predict events before they happen.

For more details on this story, head over to TVLine’s sister site Deadline.com.

Tags: Fox, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Kiefer Sutherland, Touch

Comments (15)

Not going to lie, that sort of takes away a bit of anticipation I had for the show. I can’t really say I like her acting much.
Comment by Tim – June 10, 2011 01:52 PM PST Reply To This Post
- I’ve got to say I mostly agree with Tim … I thought Undercovers was a complete failure, with poor performances by both of the lead actors. Completely unbelievable. Now a good part of that probably weighs on the silly concept and lazy writing … so maybe there’s still a chance for this one. We shall see.
  Comment by singout – June 10, 2011 02:22 PM PST Reply To This Post
  - I think the actors did their best on Undercovers with severely mediocre scripts. It was such a squandered opportunity of a show.
    Comment by Brooke – June 10, 2011 06:14 PM PST Reply To This Post
Can’t wait for this show, love Gugu and her acting, very talented person.
Comment by friday – June 10, 2011 01:58 PM PST Reply To This Post
Tish deserves better than something created by Tim Kring.
Comment by Michelle – June 10, 2011 02:02 PM PST Reply To This Post
- Tish Jones!
  Comment by maggie – June 10, 2011 08:42 PM PST Reply To This Post
She’s a great addition to the show!
Comment by Barb – June 10, 2011 02:10 PM PST Reply To This Post
So, from the premise I gather that Tim Kring saw the movie Knowing and figured that he could just rip it off…
Comment by MichaelSacal – June 10, 2011 02:33 PM PST Reply To This Post
- Next thing we know, Nick Cage will replace Sutherland…
  Comment by DL – June 10, 2011 03:32 PM PST Reply To This Post
Well lets say goodbye to the show now. She wasn’t good at all in Undercovers. Bad choice FOX.
Comment by Guy – June 11, 2011 06:40 AM PST Reply To This Post
great addition to this, she was great on udercovers, even though the concept was sketchy… congratulatiosn to her… danny glover also is in the project …
Comment by teniba – June 11, 2011 07:41 AM PST Reply To This Post
Good 4 her. As for Undercovers’ not working, I think it was a cool premise & written OK. However Mbatha-Raw was poorly cast as the ex-CIA agent with years of experience so profound the “company” hires her & hubby out of retirement for off-the-book cases.
She’d have been better cast as the little sister who takes care of the restaurant/catering business while big sis goes off on missons. A 40-something actress — e.g., Nia Long; Nicole Ari Parker, Michael Michele — would have been more believeable. A woman under 30 as a CIA retiree was simply not very realistic.
Good luck with the new show Gugu!
Comment by theManwhoLaughs – June 11, 2011 01:31 PM PST Reply To This Post
- I never thought about it like that, but you’re right. She was way too young to be considered a retiree. I did think the show was fun and enjoyed the escapism of it all, and never really gave it that much serious thought. On another note, Gugu Mbatha-Raw is absolutely gorgeous (not to mention she is on my celebrity exemption list) and very talented so I will watch this show with the hopes that she will get past the bad stain of Undercovers.
  Comment by the girl – June 13, 2011 08:36 AM PST Reply To This Post
  - C’mon, give me a break. No matter how the good the script was, it was going to fail, because 2 african americans were cast. People are not ready to see black people in “serious roles”, plus romantically involved. When I saw it debut, I said let me enjoy it while it’s on, because it will be cancelled, and it’s not like “Chuck” which is considered so great. I understand the racism, OOOPs, the polictics of Hollywood. I tip my hat to J.J. Abrams for wanting to do it at all.
    Comment by Don W – November 20, 2011 09:01 AM PST Reply To This Post
She’s a fabulous performer given the right material, which “Undercovers,” sadly, was not. I’m not convinced this one is either, though; I still think the premise sounds unworkable in the long term.
Comment by Amy – June 12, 2011 09:43 PM PST Reply To This Post

Undercovers Star Gugu Mbatha-Raw Set As Female Lead In Fox's Pilot Touch

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