Dominic Monaghan, who's coming off a long stint in Middle-earth on the "Lord of the Rings" films, is getting "Lost" with ABC.

Monaghan, who played hobbit Merry Brandybuck in the "LOTR" trilogy, has joined the cast of the J.J. Abrams drama pilot, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Ian Somerhalder ("Smallville"), Jorge Garcia and Evangeline Lilly have signed on as well; they'll all play survivors of a plane crash on a remote island.

The role will be Monaghan's first in an American TV series. He co-starred in the British mystery series "Hetty Wainthropp Investigates" in the late 1990s.

A number of other shows have also added to their casts, with Andy Richter, Mykelti Williamson and Marisa Coughlan among those getting work.

Richter will play the father of teenage quintuplets in a comedy from writer Mark Reisman ("Frasier," "In-Laws"). The show is set up at FOX, home to Richter's critically loved but short-lived "Andy Richter Controls the Universe."

Williamson ("Boomtown") is the latest actor to join ABC's drama pilot "The Secret Service." He'll play a senior agent in the show, which stars "Tarzan's" Sarah Wayne Callies.

Also at ABC, Coughlan ("Wasteland," "Super Troopers") has taken the title role in "Kat Plus One," from "Everwood" creator Greg Berlanti and Maggie Friedman ("Dawson's Creek"). She stars as a New York publicist who takes in her nephew (Jimmy Bennett, "Daddy Day Care") when the boy's parents die. It's one of several single-people-raising-orphans pilots in the works this spring.

The already-deep cast of ABC's "Desperate Housewives" -- which features Felicity Huffman, Marcia Cross and Teri Hatcher -- has added Sheryl Lee ("Twin Peaks," "Kingpin"), Mark Moses ("Saving Jessica Lynch") and Cody Kasch ("Normal, Ohio"). Finally, Mitch Rouse ("Lost at Home") will star opposite Tom Conti in an untitled NBC comedy from "Just Shoot Me" writer-producer Marsh McCall. Conti plays a newly divorced man who has a prickly relationship with his adult son.