Parenthood is adding two familiar faces as guest stars for its upcoming fifth season. The Office's David Denman and Lost's Sonya Walger have both signed on to play roles in the family-focused NBC drama. For Denman, it's an arc involving Julia and for Walger, it's a spot opposite Julia's husband Joel. Is there cause to worry about the future of Julia and Joel's marriage here? Possibly…
E! Online posted that David Denman has signed on to play the recurring role of Ed in Parenthood next season. The site reports that Ed is a newly unemployed stay-at-home dad who meets Julia while the two are tasked with an unpopular volunteer job at their kids' school. Meanwhile, Sonya Walger will play "the sexy and confident Meredith" for multiple episodes in the series. Meredith is an architect who ends up working with Joel on a longterm project. And it sounds like she says or does something that makes Julia feel embarrassed about being a stay-at-home parent. Given that Julia was previously a practicing attorney, it's not hard to imagine her taking issue with anyone who might think less of her for no longer having a profession, beyond the duties of tending to young ones 24/7. With that in mind, it's not difficult to imagine how Julia might bond with Denman's character Ed, who may be dealing with his own insecurities and frustration being unemployed.
Denman's a familiar face for anyone who's seen him in The Office, playing Pam's long-time fiance Roy in the earlier seasons of the comedy. He also appeared in Drop Dead Diva, Traffic Light and a number of other big and small screen roles. Speaking of Drop Dead Diva, another vet from the Lifetime series, Josh Stamberg, is also set to appear in Parenthood, playing a potential new love interest for Sarah. He apparently lives in the apartment that Sarah's residing in and attempting to manage.
Walger is probably best recognized as Penny from Lost. More recently, she played Dr. Elise Ryan in USA's short-lived cop drama Common Law. I can see both actors fitting in nicely on Parenthood, though their roles do cause me to wonder if Joel and Julia are in for some marital troubles. Their work/home situations have occasionally been a source of tension for them in their marriage and with their family. Now we're factoring two very pretty people into the equation. Who knows what will happen?
This latest bit of casting news follows word that Matt Lauria is set to return to the series, as is Ray Romano. NBC has Parenthood set to return Thursday, September 26. As you may note, that's a day-change for the series, which used to air on Tuesdays. It'll be interesting to see how the show does in that time-slot. We haven't really seen any drama thrive there at NBC since ER aired.
