Mike Faist to Star in Amazon's Young Adult Pilot, PANIC

Dear Evan Hansen's Mike Faist has been cast in Amazon Studios' Young Adult pilot, PANIC, according to Deadline. Olivia Welch and Ashlei Sharpe Chestnut have also landed lead roles in the pilot, which is based on Lauren Oliver's best-selling book.

Panic centers on a forgotten rural town where every year the graduating seniors risk their lives in an illegal, high-stakes game to win life-changing money-and a chance to escape. Anonymous judges force the players through a series of challenges that will compel them to confront their deepest fears - and upend their ideas of who they are, who to trust, and who they might become. This year, 47 players will compete for the biggest pot ever. All of them will be changed. Only one will win.

Faist plays Dodge Mason, the "new kid" in town, one of the only kids who wasn't born a local. He's maintained a distance from the others, but still holds his head high with confidence. Dodge enters the competition, to everyone's surprise.

Welch will play Heather, a talented writer who is deeply uncomfortable in her own skin and nowhere near realizing her full potential. She thinks her only chance of a decent life is to save up what money she can and go to Accounting school. When Heather realizes her mother has stolen all of the money she has saved, something changes inside her, compelling her to join the deadly competition and prove to everyone in town that they are wrong about her.

Chestnut will play Natalie. To the point with a dry wit, Natalie is determined and focused: her mind is made up to join the potentially deadly competition and maybe leave the town of Carp forever. Despite putting all of her eggs in one basket, Natalie is realistic and supportive of her friends, hoping she can enjoy a summer with them before everything changes.

Oliver will executive produce the pilot with Joe Roth & Jeff Kirschenbaum. Leigh Janiak is directing the pilot.

Mike Faist is a Tony-nominated actor. Originally from Columbus, Ohio he moved to New York at 17 to pursue acting. Mike made his Broadway debut in Newsies-as an original cast member, he created the role of Morris Delancey for the regional premiere and continued through the Broadway transfer. He starred opposite Taylor Schilling andPeter Dinklage in A Month in the Country at Classic Stage Co (Dir. Erica Schmidt). Other theatre: Appropriate (Signature Theatre Company, Dir. Liesl Tommy), and originated the role of Connor Murphy in Dear Evan Hansen for which he was Nominated for a Tony award for Best Featured Actor in a Musical. Films include: Mania Days (Dir. Paul Dalio, Prod. Spike Lee), Lake City (Dir. Aaron Fisher-Cohen), License Plates (Dir. Marc Lucas) and The Grief of Others (Dir. Patrick Wang)-which recently premiered this year at SXSW and had its international premiere in L'ACID program in the Cannes Film, and I Can I Will I Did (Nadine Truong).

Read the original article on Deadline.