After Nick Robinson starred as Simon Spier in the gay coming-of-age film Love, Simon, teen actor Michael Cimino will now serve as the new lead for the Disney+ TV series.
The Mouse House’s upcoming streaming platform announced Thursday that Cimino, from Annabelle Comes Home and CBS’ Training Day, will star in the half-hour series as Victor.
Love, Simon, which is set in the same world as the 2018 movie of the same name, follows this teen as “a new student at Creekwood High School on his own journey of self-discovery, facing challenges at home, adjusting to a new city, and struggling with his sexual orientation,” a description reads. “When it all seems too much, he reaches out to Simon to help him navigate the ups and downs of high school.”
Robinson will return to produce and narrate the series, but it’s unclear whether or not he will actually appear on screen.
Whiskey Cavalier‘s Ana Ortiz was previously cast as Isabel, described as “Victor’s smart and warm mother who loves her husband and her family, but is under a lot of pressure as they move their family across the country.”
The cast also includes James Martinez (One Day at a Time) as Victor’s “guy’s guy” father Armando, Isabella Ferreira (Orange Is the New Black) as Victor’s younger sister Pilar, newcomer Mateo Fernandez as Victor’s brother Adrian, Johnny Sequoyah (Believe) as Victor’s whip-smart friend Mia, Bebe Wood (The Real O’Neals) as Mia’s social media-obsessed bestie Lake, George Sear (Into the Badlands) as Victor’s confident and charming classmate Benji, Anthony Turpel (The Bold and the Beautiful) as Victor’s awkward new neighbor Felix, and Mason Gooding (Booksmart) as Creekwood’s cocky jock Andrew.
“We could not be more excited to be making Love, Simon for Disney+,” said Isaac Aptaker and Elizabeth Berger, writers on the original film who return to executive produce the series. “Writing Love, Simon was one of the most profound and enjoyable experiences of our careers to date and we are beyond thrilled that we get to revisit this world and tell the story of Victor, a brand new Creekwood student, and his family and friends. We have a phenomenal group of writers with tremendously personal connections to the material crafting our episodes, and have assembled a dream team cast and crew to bring these stories to life, and cannot wait to share what we’re working on with the world.”
Brian Tanen, Jason Ensler, Isaac Klausner, Marty Bowen, Adam Fishbach, Wyck Godfrey, and Pouya Shahbazian also executive produce the Love, Simon series. Amy York Rubin (Casual) directs the first episode, while Rubin’s creative partner, Pilar Boehm, co-executive produces with Adam Londy.