Every week, The GLAAD Wrap brings you LGBT-related entertainment news highlights, fresh stuff to watch out for, and fun diversions to help you kick off the weekend.
1) Out actor Luke Macfarlane will be returning to NBC's primetime medical procedural The Night Shift in upcoming episodes. His character Rick is an openly gay soldier in a relationship with series regular Dr. Drew Alister (Brendan Fehr) and was last seen about to get a leg amputation. The new season of The Night Shift premieres Monday, February 23 at 10 pm on NBC.
2) NBC upcoming drama pilot Love is a Four Letter Wordhas added actress Nadine Velazquez to its cast. The show, created by renowned playwright Diana Son, will follow three modern couples as they face issues with race, gender and sexuality. Velazquez is set to play a character named Rebecca, whose wife is thinking about leaving her for an ex. Filming on the pilot will start in Chicago next month.
3) Darren Criss has been cast to take over for John Cameron Mitchell as the title role in the Tony-winning revival of Hedwig and the Angry Inch. Criss will lead a performance run of 12-weeks starting on April 29. Besides Mitchell (who also wrote the show), Criss will be walking in the high-stilettos previously worn by Michael C. Hall, and out actors Andrew Rannells and Neil Patrick Harris.
4) Ricky Martin has been announced as the first judge and executive producer of the upcoming Univision singing competition series La Banda. The series will focus on finding the ultimate Latino boyband in the U.S. and Latin America with contestants competiting for a contract with Sony Music Latin and Simon Cowell's SYCO Music, the recording label of the world's biggest selling boyband One Direction. La Banda will premiere in September on Univision.
5) Out actor Michael Willet has released the music video for his newest single "Started Over". Although mostly known for his work on the small screen in MTV's Faking It and on the 2013 film G.B.F., Willett has also been active on the music field, mainly covering famous hits on his Youtube channel.
6) Jodi Savitz is a producer/director from Brooklyn that is currently raising funds for Girl on Girl, an LGBT-themed documentary that tackles "feminine lesbian invisibility— the phenomena in which, due to their feminine or “passing” appearance, many LGBTQ women are assumed to be straight by the outside world and are thus rendered invisible to each other." Money will be used for shooting, post-production and marketing costs. To donate and get additional information, go to the Indiegogo page.