How to Get Cast on Netflix’s Myron Bolitar Adaptation

Based on Coben’s popular book series, Netflix’s show will follow Myron Bolitar (Colin Woodell), a basketball player turned sports agent. After an injury ends his hoop dreams, Myron establishes MB Sports, an agency focused on representing overlooked athletes. But Myron soon learns his competitive nature has a place off the court just as much as it did on. Together with his ruthless partner and best friend, Win Lockwood (KJ Apa), and his right-hand woman, Esperanza Diaz (Diane Guerrero), Myron and the MB Sports team must do whatever it takes to keep their clients out of trouble, even if it means risking their own lives in the process.

So far, only the three lead roles have been confirmed ahead of filming for Netflix’s Myron Bolitar adaptation. Woodell (“Pulse”) will star as Myron Bolitar, alongside Apa (“Riverdale”) as Win Lockwood and Guerrero (“Orange Is the New Black”) as Esperanza Diaz. No additional details have been released at this time.

There’s no primary casting director formally attached to the project yet, but we can confirm that Waldron Casting has signed on to assemble background actors and extras. Netflix could turn again to Rapaport/Baldasare Casting given their work on “I Will Find You” and “Riverdale.” After all, David Rapaport and Lyndsey Baldasare are familiar with casting book-to-screen adaptations (“The Summer I Turned Pretty,” “You”), and with Apa already attached to the project, it’s possible that the “Riverdale” alums have already made their influence known.

Until we can confirm our hypothesis, though, we recommend following Waldron Casting on Instagram and Facebook, as the team has expressed excitement about working on the show in the days since the series’ development was announced. CD Dave Waldron and his casting partner, Tony Behringer, explain how background casting differs from principal casting, which could become a helpful distinction to understand as you prepare for your next audition.

Although we can’t be sure of Rapaport’s involvement, that doesn’t make the veteran CD’s insights into the casting process any less valuable. And he’s been quite forthcoming about what he looks for in auditions.

“Once we start casting a role, we’ll have a session in my office, and I’ll send a link of that session to the producers who weren’t there, the director, and the writers,” he explains. “Everyone weighs in, and we narrow it down to final choices, which we then send to the executive producers. Then we narrow that choice down to one, which we then send to the studio for approval and then to the network for approval, and then we go back and negotiate a deal and hire them,” he says.

“It’s really a numbers game. I would say now we’re averaging about 2,500–3,000 submissions per role, which I look through very quickly,” says Rapaport. “ I narrow that down to about 50 people, which I then share with my co-CD, and we decide on an average of 15–20 people to bring in to pre-read for a role. About 10–12 people go straight to producers. From those pre-reads, we’ll pull maybe five people, if that, so we’ll have anywhere from 10–15 people that we bring to producers. Ultimately, we cast one person. It’s quite a task.”  

Of course, there are no guarantees that all the actors will click, but after years of casting, Rapaport has confidence in his ability to assess potential chemistry as he goes. “It kind of falls into place based on the way the casting works,” he shares. “In an ideal world, we’d cast all the roles at the same time, but most of the time it doesn’t work out that way. I really have to take a leap of faith. Sometimes we’ll do chemistry readings for love interests to make sure there’s a palpable onscreen chemistry, but a lot of times, you don’t even get to do that, and actors read with a reader, usually an associate from my office. I’m piecing together the chemistry in my brain; I never quite know what’s going to happen until I get on set or see the first edit of a pilot. We read people so many times to make sure that there are no questions left unanswered.” 

As for background casting, Waldron and his team search far and wide. “We post on all the casting platforms, like Backstage. We [also] have people that can register with us, so we’ll kind of do an internal search of our own database,” Waldron notes. “And we still utilize social media, like [X], Threads, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. We try to utilize every kind of avenue that we possibly can.”

Waldron also notes that the casting process for background talent isn’t quite as formal as it is with leads. “The main thing is, we don’t require a headshot,” he says. “We don’t need a glamour shot. We really just want to know what you look like in the moment. Principal casting, they’re looking off of a headshot and looking off of your skill level as far as what you can bring to that scene. [For extras,] we’re looking for actors that can kind of paint the background and really bring that scene to life,” says Waldron.

“What I always tell anyone that’s getting into [background acting] is don’t worry about getting professional photos. Don’t waste your time unless you know you’re doing it for Broadway or you want to do principal work at the same time,” Waldron added. “Be realistic about what you can portray, like a business [professional] or college [student]—whatever you can play in your mind. Then have a friend take selfies of you. Have a selfie in a cocktail dress. Have a selfie [dressed like] a college student. Just have [these photos] on your phone—basically what you’d put in an [Instagram] post. Just be ready to submit the requested information”—typically name, union status, contact number, clothes size, and last time you worked—“and have those selfies ready.”

Netflix’s adaptation of Myron Bolitar will begin its four-month shoot in July 2026. Filming will take place across New York and New Jersey, according to What’s on Netflix. With a lengthy production schedule ahead, the show isn’t slated to premiere on the streaming platform until 2027, but stay tuned for more details.

There are no known auditions available for Netflix’s Myron Bolitar series at this time. Another Coben book-to-screen adaptation, however, turned to Backstage to cast “Shelter.” Coincidentally, that project brought Myron’s nephew, Mickey Bolitar, to life for Amazon Prime viewers. Keep an eye on our main casting page for access to the latest listings as they become available. You may also want to explore our guides on auditioning for Netflix and background work as you prepare for upcoming opportunities.

As Woodell told Pop Culturalist, getting into acting means trusting yourself—and the process. “I definitely think as an actor, you have to trust way more than you would like to. It requires you to put yourself out there every single time an opportunity or audition comes your way,” Woodell explained. “You don’t know if it’s going to be worth you taking all this time and maybe missing a friend’s birthday or whatever it may be, just for this thing that may or may not work out.”

But even during those periods where all hope seems lost, actors must keep creating any way they can, Woodell told Da Man. “I think it’s crucial to keep creating. Whether it’s writing, taking acting classes, cooking, or painting—it keeps you sharp,” he says. “During those stretches of unemployment, you can feel all that creative energy building up. You need a release valve. Creating something every day, no matter how small, keeps you sane.” 

Plus, creation often begets preparation—something that almost cost Apa his breakout role in “Riverdale.” Rapaport once told Entertainment Weekly he watches every audition that comes his way. “You only have to see one person to play the role, so if I miss that one tape, I'm devastated,” he explained. But when Apa first auditioned for him, Rapaport nearly passed because the actor seemingly wasn’t prepared. Luckily, Apa got a second chance. “He came back in, and his read blew me away,” Rapaport says. “Sometimes people have bad days and you miss something.”

Ultimately, Rapaport wants every audition to succeed, he says. “Selfishly, I want you to do well because it makes me look good. I really want actors to come in and feel comfortable and do their best. It’s a weird process, auditioning. You have to come in and be completely open and vulnerable in front of people you don’t know in a room you’ve never been in before,” he says. “I think some actors assume we want to embarrass them or make them feel less than, when it’s the exact opposite. I want them to feel as safe as possible; I want them to do well; I want them to see it as an opportunity to perform, to act, hopefully to get some direction, workshop it if we can. I think it can be a really fun learning experience.”

For the ultimate learning experience, however, Waldron recommends diving into background acting. It’ll give on-the-job insight as to what goes into casting and production, he says. “It’s like a teaching ground. You’re on the set, you’re watching a director direct, you’re watching the script supervisor take their notes [and] the costume department doing their job,” Waldron explains. “So it’s almost like a schooling ground, where if you’re interested in the industry but maybe you haven’t figured out what part of the industry you want to get into, you can see everyone on the ground level doing their job.” 

“If you really are interested in honing your craft as an actor, being an extra allows you to watch that happen,” he added. “You get to see [other actors] work with the director. You get to see [actors] rehearse. So, really, background work is like a free class that you can get paid for.”