PBS Announces New Talent and Directors For MERCY STREET Season Two

(L-R) Br an F. O'Byrne, Patina Miller, Bryce Pinkham

- Br an F. O'Byrne, Patina Miller, Bryce Pinkham Join the Cast -

- Award-Winning Creative Team Adds Stephen Cragg and Laura Innes -

ARLINGTON, VA; April 26, 2016 - PBS announced today that MERCY STREET is adding new actors and directors to the series' robust talent list for Season Two, which is currently in production in Richmond and Petersburg, Virginia.

MERCY STREET's new cast members:

Tony Award-winner and Emmy Award-Nominee Br an F. O'Byrne ( Mildred Pierce, Aquarius ) is Allan Pinkerton, head of the Union Intelligence Service, based on the real Pinkerton.

Tony Award-winner Patina Miller (Pippin, Madam Secretary, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Parts 1 & 2) is Charlotte Jenkins, a black Northern abolitionist and former slave who escaped to freedom years before through the Underground Railroad (a composite of numerous historical figures, most prominently Harriet Jacobs).

Tony Award-nominee Bryce Pinkham (A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder, The Heidi Chronicles) is Maj. Clayton McBurney III, the new hospital chief.

MERCY STREET's new directors:

Stephen Cragg, who is directing episodes one and two, is an Emmy Award-winning director. His directing credits include episodes of Scandal, Nashville, How to Get Away With Murder, ER, Boston Legal, Greys Anatomy, Southland, Doogie Howser, MD and many others.

Laura Innes, who is directing episodes three and four, is best known for her long-running role as Dr. Kerry Weaver on ER. She has directed episodes of How to Get Away With Murder, The Affair, Brothers & Sisters, The West Wing, Grey's Anatomy and others.

Director of episodes five and six to be announced.

The returning ensemble cast for Season Two of MERCY STREET includes Mary Elizabeth Winstead (10 Cloverfield Lane, The Returned, The Spectacular Now) as nurse Mary Phinney, Josh Radnor ( How I Met Your Mother, Liberal Arts, Broadway's Disgraced) as Dr. Jedediah Foster, Gary Cole ( Veep, The Good Wife, Entourage ) as James Green, Sr., Hannah James as Emma Green, Brad Koed Jr. as James Green, Jr., Norbert Leo Butz ( Bloodline ) as Dr. Byron Hale, Tara Summers ( You're the Worst, Rake, Boston Legal ) as nurse Anne Hastings, McKinley Belcher III ( Show Me a Hero, Chicago PD ) as Samuel Diggs, Jack Falahee ( How to Get Away With Murder ) as Frank Stringfellow, AnnaSophia Robb ( The Carrie Diaries, The Way, Way Back, Bridge to Terabithia) as Alice Green, Donna Murphy ( Resurrection, Hindsight, Broadway's Passion and TheKing and I) as Jane Green, L. Scott Caldwell ( Southland, Lost, ER, The Fugitive) as Belinda, Suzanne Bertish ( Rome ) as Hospital Matron Brannan and Luke Macfarlane ( Brothers and Sisters, Over There ) as Chaplain Hopkins.

The first season, executive produced by Ridley Scott (The Martian, Gladiator, Thelma and Louise); David W. Zucker ( The Good Wife and The Man in the High Castle ) of Scott Free; Lisa Q. Wolfinger ( Desperate Crossing, The untold story of the Mayflower ) and David Zabel ( ER ), drew a 3.85 rating (Nielsen Live + 7) for the January 17, 2016, premiere, reaching more than 5.7 million viewers (persons 2+). The series' six episodes have streamed more than two million times (from January 14-March 6) across all platforms, including PBS station websites, PBS.org and PBS apps for iOS, Android, FireTV, ROKU, Apple TV, Xbox 360 and Windows 10.

We are thrilled to add these talented actors and directors to the MERCY STREET production, both behind and in front of the camera, said co-creator and executive producer Lisa Q. Wolfinger. They each individually bring a new perspective to the series, and together, will take Season Two to new heights.

It has been a privilege for all of us on MERCY STREET to be able to tell these stories at the intersection of drama and history. This new season, with new faces, presents an exciting opportunity to build on all we've accomplished in Season One, said co-creator and executive producer David Zabel. Having worked with Stephen Cragg and Laura Innes for many years at ER,' and then on many projects since, I am eager to bring their considerable talents to this great ensemble.

We're thrilled to welcome a new set of actors, directors and historical advisors to the MERCY STREET family for Season Two, as well as introduce viewers to compelling new characters with captivating story lines, said executive producer David W. Zucker.

Season One of MERCY STREET received such a positive response, and PBS is delighted to add these new members to our talented and diverse cast and crew for Season Two, said Beth Hoppe, Chief Programming Officer and General Manager, General Audience Programming, PBS.

To ensure historical accuracy of the first season, the producers engaged a team of advisors headed by noted historian Dr. James M. Jim McPherson and including leading experts on Civil War medicine, military history, African-American history, women in the Civil War era and more. McPherson will return for Season Two, along with Shauna Devine (Learning From the Wounded, the Civil War and the Rise of Medical Science), Jane Schultz (Women at the Front: Hospital Workers in Civil War America), Audrey Davis, director of the Alexandria Black History Museum, and Anya Jabour (Scarlett's Sisters, Young Women in the Old South). New additions for Season Two include James Downs (Sick From Freedom: African American illness and suffering during the Civil War and Reconstruction), an Andrew Mellon New Directions Fellow at Harvard University; Dr. Anthony Tizzano, a member of the clinical faculty of obstetrics and gynecology at Case Western Reserve University and Cleveland Clinic's Lerner College of Medicine; Walton Owen, former curator of the Fort Ward Museum in Alexandria, VA;

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