Sean Maher among those cast in contemporary retelling of Shakespeare’s “Much Ado About Nothing”

The Playboy Club may have been quickly canceled by NBC, but that doesn’t mean that one of its stars – out actor Sean Maher – isn’t going to stay busy.

Sean came out as an openly gay man last month in an interview with Entertainment Weekly so it is so nice to be able to track his career developments here on the blog.

Maher is among those who recently finished a 12-day shoot of Joss Whedon’s contemporary retelling of Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing.

Maher plays Don John and other cast members include Amy Acker and Alexis Denisof star as Beatrice and Benedick, Nathan Fillion as Dogberry, Clark Gregg as Leonato, Fran Kranz as Claudio, Tom Lenk as Verges and Reed Diamond as Don Pedro.

The entire production had been completely top-secret until this week.

Maher told The Hollywood Reporter that Whedon made sure to ask everyone to keep it on the down-low before shooting even began. Maher was asked to be a part of the movie about a month ago.

“I had just come out publicly and was doing a lot of press for [his now-canceled series The Playboy Club] at the time, and I knew I was going to be rehearsing for Joss’ film,” Maher said. “So I specifically asked Joss if I could talk about the movie, and he asked me not to: He had a bigger strategy in mind.”

Maher said he was initially nervous about taking part since he’d never done Shakespeare before, though he did jump at the chance to work with Whedon again after starring in his TV series Firefly and its big-screen follow-up, Serenity. He also relished the chance to play a villain for the first time in his career.

“It was so fun; I got to be deliciously mean and manipulative,” he said. “I’m so grateful that Joss thought of me for this; it’s unlike anything I’ve ever done.”