Smash's upcoming second season has added a dream girl.
Oscar winner Jennifer Hudson has landed a multiple-episode arc on the NBC Broadway drama, the network announced Friday.
Hudson, who won a supporting actress Academy Award for the big-screen musical Dreamgirls, will play Veronica Moore, a Tony-winning Broadway star who impacts Karen (Katharine McPhee) and Ivy's (Megan Hilty) lives.
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"We're thrilled to have Jennifer Hudson coming to ‘Smash,’” NBC Entertainment chairman Robert Greenblatt said. “This series is a showcase for some of the best musical talent in the business and that's a fitting description for Jennifer Hudson. Her character will represent someone who reached their Broadway dream but also paid a price for it."
Hudson will make her debut in the Season 2 premiere, which is slated for midseason. The former American Idol Season 3 finalist, in addition to her Oscar, is also a Golden Globe and Grammy winner and joins an already impressive cast of Broadway stars including Tony nominee Jeremy Jordan, who will play a Brooklyn-born singer with a self-destructive streak.
“First Dreamgirls,’ now Smash. I have no doubt Jennifer will continue to deliver even more inspiration to the audience responsible for giving us a second season on NBC. It's wonderful to be reunited with her at DreamWorks Television and NBC," executive producer Steven Spielberg said.
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Hudson's casting comes after the NBC musical drama gave walking papers to four stars from its freshman run, including Jaime Cepero (Ellis), Raza Jaffrey (Dev) and Brian D'Arcy James (Frank), the latter of whom will return in some capacity to wrap up his story line opposite Debra Messing's Julia and mere months after Gossip Girl's Josh Safran boarded the series as showrunner.
Hudson's credits include the Sex and the City feature and The Secret Life of Bees. The Grammy winner for her self-titled debut is repped by Overbrook Entertainment and Abrams Garfinkel.
Email: Lesley.Goldberg@thr.com; Twitter: @Snoodit
