Raney Branch (Bones, The Originals) has booked a key recurring role opposite Gabrielle Union on BET's popular drama series Being Mary Jane. Created by The Game's Mara Brock Akil, Being Mary Jane follows the sometimes disastrous personal and professional life of news anchor Mary Jane Paul (Union). Branch will play Aaliyah Luckett, an up-and-coming force of nature. Aaliyah is a junior PR associate with the network's brand strategy firm, and she's been tasked with improving Mary Jane's Q-rating. Convinced that Mary Jane is a little too cool and unapproachable, Aaliyah sees it as her job to present Mary Jane to the viewing public as someone they'd want to watch reality shows like Real Housewives with. Smart, perceptive, and hip to a fault, she wants to boost Mary Jane's likeability factor — and if that means helping Mary Jane get a date, so be it. Branch previously recurred in Bones and The Originals. Additional TV credits include a lead role in TV One's Ringside, Grandfathered, Casual, New Girl and Chasing Life. She's repped by E Cubed Management and Brady, Brannon & Rich.

Falk Hentschel (Transcendance, White House Down) is set to recur in The Alienist, TNT's drama series that premieres in late 2017. Based on Caleb Carr's bestseller, the psychological thriller is set in 1896 New York. When a series of gruesome murders of boy prostitutes grips the city, newly appointed police commissioner Theodore Roosevelt calls upon criminal psychologist — aka alienist — Dr. Laszlo Kreizler (Daniel Brühl) and newspaper illustrator John Moore (Luke Evans) to conduct the investigation in secret. Hentschel will play Biff Ellison, an extremely corrupt mobster who runs illegal brothels and bars in the city. His previous television credits include series regular roles on DC's Legends Of Tomorrow and Reckless. He also co-created a pilot currently in development with UCP, Blumhouse and FlynnCoPictures. Hentschel is repped by APA, Silver Lining Entertainment and Jackoway Tyerman.