The Bold and the Beautiful News Update: Joanna Johnson Coronavirus Series Gains Cast

Time will tell whether or not daytime soaps incorporate the real-life coronavirus into storylines, but The Bold and the Beautiful actress-turned-TV writer/producer Joanna Johnson (ex-Caroline/Karen) is doing a whole show about it!

Joanna Johnson: New Series Is Coming Together

As previously reported, Johnson, the creative force behind The Fosters and its spin-off Good Trouble, has developed Love in the Time of Corona, a limited series for Freeform that will examine how people are coping with love in these challenging times.

Appearing in the series are actors Ava Bellows (& This Too Shall Pass), Gil Bellows (Ally McBeal), L. Scott Caldwell (Lost), Tommy Dorfman (13 Reasons Why), Rya Kihlstedt (One Mississippi), Leslie Odom Jr. (Hamilton), Rainey Qualley (Mad Men), and Nicolette Robinson (The Affair). Shooting began this week in Los Angeles.

The performers’ actual homes will serve as the backdrop for their on-screen residences. In order to maintain social distancing, remote technologies will be used to capture the episodes on camera.

Showing potential intimate moments won’t be an issue as the casting process has taken into account the off-screen relationships between the players. Odom Jr. and Robinson are a real-life duo. (They also serve as executive producers on the series.) They play James and Sade, a couple living separate lives who are forced to re-examine their dynamic after being quarantined.

Meanwhile, Dorfman plays Oscar, a successful nonbinary stylist, and Qualley plays Elle, an aspiring singer-songwriter. The pair’s platonic friendship is complicated as Elle’s crush with a neighbor starts to blossom.

Gil Bellows plays Paul; his real-life wife Rya Kihlstedt portrays his on-screen mate Sarah, and their real-life daughter, Ava Bellows, plays their daughter Sophie. Following a separation, Paul and Sarah opt to quarantine together. Can they keep what’s really going on from Sophie?

Additionally, Caldwell plays Nanda, a headstrong woman determined to celebrate her 50th wedding anniversary with her husband, Charles (Charlie Robinson). Alas, Charles is unable to come home from a rehab facility when COVID-19 causes a lockdown. The Joanna Johnson series Love in the Time of Corona debuts this August on Freeform. The Bold and the Beautiful airs weekdays on CBS. Check local listings for air times.