HOT GALLERY: Who Makes Snakkle’s List of the Biggest New TV Stars of the Season?

The most harrowing, riveting new series is Showtime’s Homeland, based loosely on an Israeli series with a similar premise: the fraught return of a POW. Claire Danes (My So-Called Life, Romeo + Juliet) stars as Carrie Mathison, a CIA agent obsessed with the idea that Marine Nick Brody, who converted to Islam during his eight years as an Al-Qaeda prisoner in Iraq, has been turned and is plotting against the U.S. “I had one stipulation when I accepted the role, which was that there would be no lazy, easy parallels drawn between violence and Islam,” Damian Lewis (Life, Band of Brothers), who plays Brody, told The New York Times. “I think you see that Brody is nurtured and nourished by his faith.” Also in the mix is Brody’s exceedingly uncomfortable reunion with his wife (an often-topless Morena Baccarin) and Carrie’s declining mental health. Oh, and then there’s the matter of what exactly is going on between Carrie and Brody, who have a “really unhealthy, compulsive, addictive sort of relationship,” according to Lewis. It’s a thrill ride, no doubt about it, and the tense finale has us clamoring for more.

At the center of the new fairytale series Once Upon a Time is Ginnifer Goodwin in the dual role of school teacher Mary Margaret Blanchard and Snow White (yes, the Snow White). Created by Lost writers Adam Horowitz and Edward Kitsis, Once Upon a Time has interwoven stories, unexpected plot twists and alternate realities (sound familiar?). Goodwin, who has previously starred in TV shows like Big Love and Ed, as well as movies like Walk the Line and He’s Just Not That Into You, has said that playing Snow White was her “biggest dream.” Though they face some pretty big obstacles—he’s, um, married ... to a woman she’s accused of murdering—the romance between Mary Margaret/Snow White and David Nolan/Prince Charming (played by Joshua Dallas) is the kind of swoon-worthy star-crossed-lovers stuff of legends.

You’ve gotta love an actor who embraces his own kitsch. In Apartment 23, James Van Der Beek plays, well, James Van Der Beek—or at least an amped up version of himself. The Dawson’s Creek star has made the most of being a teen-drama icon of sorts; when a gif of Dawson crying after Joey breaks up with him became a viral hit, Van Der Beek responded with a site chock full of him emoting in all kinds of ways (Call Me, Slow Clap and You Have a Booger are special favorites). Of course, he’s moved on in movies like Varsity Blues, and guest stints on shows like How I Met Your Mother and One Tree Hill, but you never really leave the Creek—not even if you’ve been nominated for three Oscars, as has Michelle Williams (who played Jen). In fact, Van Der Beek told TVGuide.com, “If we get to go for Season 2, she'll definitely be getting a phone call.”

Yep, she’s the bitch, aka Chloe. She’s the kind of roommate you hope to never have. She lies, steals and is generally despicable. Oh, and her BFF is James Van Der Beek. Yet despite getting the titular warning, sweet June (Dreama Walker) moves in with Chloe—and the two somehow develop a mutual respect and odd sort of friendship. Odd how? For example: In order to dissuade June from getting married, Chloe says, “I knew that the only way you would believe Stephen was a bad dude was to literally walk in on him having sex with your roommate on your birthday cake.” Which is exactly what she does. Ritter has previously appeared in TV series like Breaking Bad and Gilmore Girls as well as movies like Confessions of a Shopaholic.

A classic fish-out-of-water story gets a fresh spin in Suburgatory, as Jane Levy’s Tessa Altman suddenly moves out of New York City with her architect single dad (Jeremy Sisto). She soon finds that life in the ’burbs is its own kind of torment. Levy only had two previous roles before Suburgatory: the series Shameless and the movie Nobody Walks (which was, interestingly, co-written by another of our breakout stars, Lena Dunham). Next up for Levy is the Halloween movie Fun Size with Chelsea Handler and Johnny Knoxville and the remake of The Evil Dead.

This is hardly the first time that Julia Louis-Dreyfus has stolen our hearts. From Elaine’s spastic dance moves on Seinfeld to Christine’s womanly machismo on The New Adventures of Old Christine (a critical darling), Louis-Dreyfus always delights. Now as Selina Meyer in the political satire Veep, she gets to play a whole new kind of crazy: a vice president trying to actually exercise some power. The show is laden with behind-the-scenes maneuvering and totally appropriate profanity (you know that’s what really goes on in the White House!), and the supporting cast (including Tony Hale from Arrested Development) is excellent. Hail to the Veep!

She’s sort of the ultimate quirky sweetheart, the manic pixie dream girl of indie hits like (500) Days of Summer as well as cult faves like The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and the miniseries Tin Man. So it’s probably no surprise that Zooey Deschanel is playing a quirky teacher who catches her boyfriend cheating and makes the quirky decision to move in with three guys who try to help her break out of her shell (and who have issues of their own). Deschanel is also a singer and keyboardist in the (quirkily named) She and Him, and her quirkiness is on display in a new iPhone ad. Check her out in her very first role, getting womanpower advice from Kathy Najimy on Veronica’s Closet!

Most of us who know and love Connie Britton think of her as Tami Taylor in Friday Night Lights, but she’s also starred in TV shows including 24, The West Wing and Spin City and movies like The Brothers McMullen. This season she took on a dramatically different role, in one of the oddest shows on TV. As Vivien Harmon in American Horror Story, a haunted-house family drama, Britton had a storyline involving infidelity, stillbirth, murder and more so-horrifying-you-can’t-look-away themes. Alas, in the second season, there’s no Vivien, and the focus shifts to a new house, new characters and (mostly) new actors (Jessica Lange will return, but as a different character). And that’s how it was always planned: “Just like this year, every season of this show will have a beginning, middle and end,” executive producer Ryan Murphy told E! Online. But don’t fret, Connie fans! She has plenty of projects in the works, including the summer release Seeking a Friend for the End of the World and the TV movie Nashville.

You don’t have to love musical theater to enjoy the drama on Smash—though it doesn’t hurt. American Idol alum and L.A. native Katharine McPhee plays fresh-off-the-bus Iowa girl Karen Cartwright, who competes with Broadway vet Ivy Lynn for the role of Marilyn Monroe in a new musical. The backstabbing, soap operatic story lines and endless struggles to get the show made are interspersed with lush musical numbers. It seems that after a few forgettable films (The House Bunny, Shark Night 3D and You May Not Kiss the Bride with Rob Schneider among them), McPhee has finally found a role that fits her like a glove. As for parallels between the cutthroat world of Broadway and life in Hollywood, McPhee sums it up this way: “The classic thing is the moment you’re not hot, you’re not hot.”

One of the cool things about Smash is how many of its stars actually come from the world of theater—not least of them Megan Hilty. As Ivy Lynn, she’s the chorus girl made for the role of Marilyn who still has to fight tooth-and-nail for the role. Hilty is no stranger to the ways of Broadway; her biggest roles before Smash were as Glinda in Wicked and Doralee in 9 to 5: The Musical. But we have a feeling that whatever happens with Smash, we’ll be seeing a lot more of Hilty.

Though she plays twentysomething aspiring writer Hannah Horvath, New Yorker Lena Dunham is really kind of playing herself in the HBO series Girls. It’s what she does: In her critically acclaimed movie Tiny Furniture, the director-actor-writer told a pseudo-autobiographical story about trying to figure out what to do with her life while living at home in TriBeCa after college (the movie costars her actual sister and mother). In Girls, she plays a would-be writer in Brooklyn who’s cut off financially by her parents and has to figure out what to do with her life. In a recent interview on NPR, Dunham admitted the similarities: “I am a working woman out in the world, but I still live with my parents half the time. I’ve been taking this long, stuttering period of moving out. ... I feel like I’m constantly asking them to please stay out of my work life, but also to please bring me soup. It’s this weird moment where you just don’t have a sense of what age-appropriate behavior is because there is no age-appropriate behavior.” The show is funny, awkward, compelling—Dunham can keep on writing and playing herself, as far as we’re concerned.

CBS, those masters of the crime drama, introduced a compelling new one this season in Person of Interest, starring Michael Emerson as the secretive genius Harold Finch who, with his man-on-the-ground John Reese (Jim Caviezel), tries to stop crimes before they happen. Emerson, who describes himself as “the Broadway actor who plays enigmatic roles on television” on his website, has a history of Broadway and Off-Broadway hits (Hedda Gabler, The Iceman Cometh) and TV guest-stints—including serial killer William Hinks on The Practice. Of course, we’ll always remember him for another Emmy-winning role: island mastermind Ben Linus on Lost. As for why he took the role on Person of Interest ... “I like that it was something that J.J. Abrams was excited about,” Emerson explained about his former Lost boss. “Whether it flies or not, it’s usually something interesting if it has caught J.J.’s eye.”