For many devoted fans of the Portland-set series, "Grimm," the end of the show in March 2017 left them missing the storylines and the cast, including star David Giuntoli. Now comes word that Giuntoli has been cast in the pilot for a proposed new ABC series, "A Million Little Things."

As Deadline and other industry sources report, Giuntoli was in high demand during the TV pilot season. The "Grimm" leading man chose "A Million Little Things," a project Deadline's Nellie Andreeva reports is described as a drama "with comedy elements" about friends whose routine is shaken when one of the group dies unexpectedly.

No wonder Andreeva notes that the tone has been compared to "The Big Chill" and "This Is Us."

Writer DJ Nash, whose other credits include "Truth Be Told" and "Up All Night,"created "A Million Little Things" and wrote the pilot.

"Giuntoli will play Eddie, the former front man of a local band turned music teacher and stay-at-home dad. His marriage is in trouble, and although he loves being a dad, he wonders what his life would have been like had he made different choices."

As The Hollywood Reporter notes, after wrapping "Grimm," Giuntoli was cast in a CBS pilot, "Mission Control," but the network didn't greenlight it as a series.

"Grimm" fans will recall that Giuntoli played Portland Police Detective Nick Burkhardt, who inherited the ability to see the supernatural creatures lurking beneath the surface of ordinary seeming humans. In its six seasons on NBC, Nick discovered Portland was a hotbed of Wesen, as the supernatural creatures were known.

Even Nick's fiancee, Juliette (Elizabeth Tulloch) turned into a witchy Hexenbiest, which really added to Nick's headaches. While filming "Grimm" on location in Portland, Giuntoli and Tulloch became a couple, and the two got married in 2017.

-- Kristi Turnquist

kturnquist@oregonian.com

503-221-8227

@Kristiturnquist