'Veronica Mars' cast to star in web series spinoff

LOS ANGELES, Aug. 15 (UPI) -- Veronica Mars cast members will portray their characters and fictionalized versions of themselves in meta web series spinoff Play It Again, Dick.

Creator Rob Thomas described the program in January as having "more in common with Party Down tonally, but it will be about Ryan Hansen, or at least a version of Ryan Hansen, deciding to capitalize on the current Veronica Mars heat to get his own series on the air. He'll try to pull his actor pals into the venture with varying degrees of success."

The series recently finished filming, and new details have emerged about the cast and plot.

Kristen Bell will reprise the role of Veronica Mars, and will also portray a version of herself who has begrudgingly agreed to be involved in the new series. Other returning cast members include Ryan Hansen as Dick Casablancas, Jason Dohring as Logan Echolls, Enrico Colantoni as Keith Mars, Percy Daggs III as Wallace FennelI, Daran Norris as Cliff McCormack, Francis Capra as Eli "Weevil" Navarro, Kyle Gallner as Cassidy "Beaver" Casablancas, Christopher B. Duncan as Clarence Weidman, and Ryan Devlin as Duncan Kane instead of Mercer Hayes.

Amanda Noret and Lisa Thornhill will only portray their characters, Madison Sinclair and Celeste Kane, and not themselves, while Chris Lowell and Ken Marino will only portray themselves and not their characters. New cast members include Robert Buckley as flamboyant choreographer Gaston and Rose McIver as "Skank With Attitude" and "Horny Mourner."

Veronica Mars had a three-season run between 2004 and 2007 on UPN and The CW. The series revolved around the title character, a high school student and private investigator in the fictional town of Neptune, Calif., and inspired the 2014 movie of the same name set nine years later. Play It Again, Dick will premiere September 15 on CWSeed, The CW's digital network.