Zach Galifianakis, Kumail Nanjiani Among Six Cast in FX’s ‘Very Young Frankenstein’

FX is moving ahead with Very Young Frankenstein, giving the project a pilot order and casting six actors in the comedy based on Mel Brooks’ Young Frankenstein.

Zach Galifianakis, Dolly Wells, Spencer House, Nikki Crawford, Kumail Nanjiani and Cary Elwes will star in the pilot, which FX began developing in June. Details on the characters they’ll be playing are under wraps for the moment, as are plot specifics.

Brooks is an executive producer of Very Young Frankenstein along with writer/showrunner Stefani Robinson and director Taika Waititi, both alumni of FX’s What We Do in the Shadows. Garrett Basch (also a WWDITS veteran), Brooks’ producing partner Kevin Salter and Michael Gruskoff, who produced Young Frankenstein, are also EPs.

Young Frankenstein, released in 1974, is considered a comedy classic and parodied monster movies of the 1930s, Universal’s Frankenstein films in particular. The film starred Gene Wilder (who co-wrote the screenplay with Brooks), Cloris Leachman, Marty Feldman, Teri Garr, Peter Boyle, Madeline Kahn and Kenneth Mars.

Elwes (Stranger Things, Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning) and Nanjiani (Silicon Valley, Only Murders in the Building) have both appeared in other Brooks productions: Elwes starred in Robin Hood: Men in Tights, and Nanjiani had a role in Hulu’s History of the World, Part II.

Galifianakis is coming off of Disney’s live-action Lilo & Stitch. Wells is known for HBO’s Doll & Em, which she also co-created. House’s credits include Tell Me Lies at Hulu and Netflix’s The Society. Tony nominee Crawford has appeared on screen in Tracker, Elsbeth and Days of Our Lives, among other roles.

Galifianakis is repped by UTA, Brillstein Entertainment Partners and Yorn Levine; Wells, by UTA in the U.S., Independent Talent in the U.K. and manager Heather Nunn; House, by Gersh; Crawford, by Artists & Representatives and The Zachary Co.; Nanjiani, by Mosaic, UTA, and Origin PR; and Elwes, by IAG, Link Entertainment, attorney Lev Ginsburg and Hamilton Hodell in the U.K.