EXCLUSIVE: Billions’ David Costabile, Transparent’s Amy Landecker and Parenthood’s Matt Lauria have joined the cast of Sky Atlantic period drama Little Birds alongside Juno Temple.

The Dirty John star is fronting the adaptation of Anais Nin’s infamous collection of erotic short stories, which is set in Tangier in 1955, in the famous international zone, one of the last outposts of colonial decadence and follows troubled Temple’s American debutante Lucy Savage as she faces a culture shock.

Costabile, who also starred in Breaking Bad, plays Lucy’s larger than life father, Grant Savage, an arms manufacturer who wants to control his daughter, while Landecker, who also starred in Doctor Strange, plays his loquacious wife Vanessa. Having set Lucy up with an English Lord, Hugo Cavendish-Smythe, played by Hugh Skinner, Grant thinks he has a malleable, potentially useful son-in-law but unbeknownst to the Savages, Hugo has already lost his heart to someone else.

Lauria, who also starred in Kingdom, takes on the role of the elusive Bill. A bartender and bohemian artist, Bill works in neighbourhood nightclub El Sirocco and soon becomes a confidante of both Lucy and Hugo. Although he is not what he seems and his flirtation and the hand of friendship offered to Lucy and Hugo is very much a cover for some more nefarious motivations.

As Lucy fights to carve out her independence and identity, her life becomes intertwined with Cherifa Lamour, played by Submarine star Yumna Marwan, a Moroccan dominatrix who services the diplomats and foreigners of this colourful, bohemian world and Egyptian Aristocrat Adham Abaza, played by 24: Legacy star Raphael Acloque, and they all become entangled with some very dangerous characters. Nina Sosanya (Killing Eve), Rossy De Palma (Broken Embraces), Jean Marc-Barr (The Cellar) and Raphael Acloque (Humans) also star.

Written by The Girl Who Fell to Earth author Sophia Al-Maria and directed by Billions and House of Cards director Stacie Passon, Little Birds is produced by The Last Panthers and This Is England producer Warp Films. Executive producers are Ruth McCance, Peter Carlton and Mark Herbert for Warp Films and Kara Manley for Sky.

The six-part series, which will air on Sky Atlantic in the UK and will also be available on-demand via Sky in Spain, is exec produced by Warp Films’ Ruth McCance and Peter Carlton and will film in Spain and Manchester. Airing in 2020, the series will be distributed by ITV Studios Global Entertainment.