Yvonne Senat (The Orville) has joined the cast of Disney+’s upcoming basketball drama The Crossover in a recurring role, Deadline has learned.
The Crossover is a drama series based on the critically acclaimed bestselling novel in verse by Kwame Alexander, a Newbery Medal-winning and Coretta Scott King Book Awards’ Author Honoree. The series follows teen brothers Josh and JB Bell, widely considered a basketball phenomenon. Through his lyrical poetry, Josh narrates the story of their coming-of-age, on and off the court, as their former professional basketball player father adjusts to life after basketball, and their mother finally gets to pursue dreams of her own.
Senat will play Janice, Filthy & JB’s English teacher at Hughes Middle School. She’s a great teacher, and a close, supportive friend of their mom, Crystal.
She joins a cast that also includes Jaylyn Hall as Josh Bell, Amir O’Neil as JB Bell, Derek Luke (The Purge) as Chuck Bell, Sabrina Revelle (Zac & Mia) as Crystal Bell, Skyla I’Lece (Turn: Washington’s Spies) as Alex, Deja Monique Cruz (Law & Order: SVU) as Maya, and Trevor Raine Bush (After) as Vondie. Daveed Diggs (Hamilton) will narrate the series.
The pilot episode was directed by George Tillman, Jr. (The Hate U Give, For Life) and was written by Kwame Alexander and Damani Johnson (All Rise). Production on the series will begin this month with LeBron James, Maverick Carter, and Jamal Henderson of The SpringHill Company joining as executive producers.
