Lennie James Joins AMC Pilot 'Low Winter Sun;' Joe Anderson Joins Untitled Legal Thriller

Two AMC pilots have nabbed new cast members, it was reported on Tuesday. Lennie James (The Walking Dead, Human Target) has been cast in the cop drama Low Winter Sun, while Joe Anderson (Across the Universe) has nabbed a spot in an as-yet untitled legal thriller.

Low Winter Sun, in addition to having one of the coolest TV show titles ever, is a pretty promising new Detroit-set drama series revolving around the murder of a policeman by Detective Frank Agnew (Mark Strong, 'Sherlock Holmes,' 'Kick-Ass'). Agnew finds himself drawn into the Detroit underworld as his crime becomes a catalyst for life-altering events. James will play Joe, a cop with ambiguous morals.

James previously appeared in the first episode of The Walking Dead as Morgan, a character who has been referenced several times since his first appearance and is likely to return sometime in the show's future. James' continued involvement with AMC certainly keeps him available to film a few episodes of the network's hit zombie series, should showrunner Glen Mazzara ever come calling. James' other credits include a recurring roles on FOX's Human Target and HBO's Hung.

Meanwhile, actor Joe Anderson (the memorable Max from the musical film Across the Universe) has been cast in another AMC pilot. This one's a legal thriller about a District Attorney who finds new evidence and re-opens a sensational murder case from years past. Kind of like The Killing meets Cold Case meets Law & Order, I guess. According to Deadline, Anderson will play "Terry Kaminski, a man of Polish descent convicted of a crime." If he was the person wrongfully imprisoned because of this case, this could be a solid role for Anderson, whose other credits include ABC's The River and the 2007 Anne Hathaway film Becoming Jane.

With both shows, AMC is looking for high-rating hits to replace soon-to-be-departing critical heavyweight Breaking Bad and Mad Men, which are eyeing 2013 and 2014 exits, respectively. With Hell on Wheels middling in the ratings and The Killing freshly cancelled, AMC is looking to beef up its original programming so that the high-rated Walking Dead isn't the network's only series come 2015.

We'll let you know if either new show is ordered to series by the network.