Rueben's Ramblings

Hey All,

Happy Over the Hump Day! We are that much closer to the weekend. There is a good bit of news, mostly some interesting Q&A’s for upcoming stories for some of TV’s favorite shows among other items. Let’s get into it all:

TELEVISION

Actor Cliff Curtis (Trauma and Body of Proof) has landed the male lead opposite Ashley Judd in ABC action series Missing that centers on Becca Winstone (Judd), a devoted single mom who, after her 18-year-old son disappears in Italy, takes it upon herself to travel to Europe and track him down. It soon becomes clear that Winstone is a former CIA agent who will stop at nothing to bring her son home alive. Curtis will play the director of a CIA branch in London who risks his career to help Becca in her search. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)

The FX series Rescue Me returns on July 12 at 10 PM. In its final season, which consists of nine episodes, will deal with Tommy Gavin’s (Denis Leary) recognition of how deeply he is in need of rescue and how time is running out on his last chances for redemption. (The Futon Critic)

DEVELOPMENT NEWS

Two Dallas alums will be joining the cast for the pilot of the TNT reboot. Charlene Tilton and Steve Kanaly will join Patrick Duffy and Linda Gray for the Ewing family reunion. The network has yet to announce if the pilot will be picked up to series, though. (William Keck at TV Guide)

MADE FOR TV MOVIE NEWS

Young New York stage actor Dan Amboyer has been cast as William in the Hallmark movie entitled William and Kate: A Royal Love Story that follows the “glamorous future royal couple”. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)

BOOK NEWS WITH A TV TIE-IN

The debut novel by actress Lauren Graham (Gilmore Girls and Parenthood) has been acquired by Random House. The semi-autobiographical book entitled You’ll Never Make It is about an actress in New York City in the mid-nineties who waits tables as she hopes for [her] big break. (Vulture)

CONDOLENCES

Tim Hetherington, news photographer and Oscar nominated co-director of the harrowing Afghanistan war film Restrepo, was killed in Libya today while he was chronicling the civil conflict on the front line. He was 41. (E! Entertainment Online, The Wrap and Twitter)

ME: Rest in Peace, Mr. Hetherington. Deepest condolences to his family and friends.

MOMENT OF SILENCE, PLEASE….

BOX OFFICE NEWS

Actor Ben Affleck has dropped out of contention to play Tom Buchanan in the film adaptation of The Great Gatsby due to scheduling conflicts. (Deadline and Dark Horizons)

Actors Rosemarie DeWitt (Mad Men), John Krasinski (The Office) and Olivia Thirlby (Juno) are all in talks to star in the independent film called Nobody Walks that is set over one week and follows a Los Angeles family who invite a young, charismatic artist into their home, only to find her disrupting their lives. (Variety and Dark Horizons)

Actor Justin Long is joining the cast of the independent film called Lumpy. The film is about an Arizona wedding where the groom (Long) and bride (Jess Weixler) are shocked when their fun-loving best man, Lumpy (Tyler Labine), dies at the end of the evening. The newlyweds axe their honeymoon and return to Minneapolis to make funeral arrangements. It’s there that they slowly uncover that Lumpy wasn’t quite who they thought he was. Michael Landes and Shelley Long co-star. (Deadline and Hit Fix)

Actress Catherine Zeta Jones is in final negotiations to join the cast of the film adaptation of the Broadway play Rock of Ages. She will play the villain of the movie, a part that was not in the stage production. (The Hollywood Reporter)

Newcomer Willow Shields will play the role of Primrose “Prim” Everdeen in the upcoming movie Hunger Games. She joins the recently confirmed newcomers Dayo Okeniyi and Amanda Stenberg as well as already announced cast members Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson and Liam Hemsworth. The film is expected to be released on March 23, 2012. (Philiana Ng at The Hollywood Reporter)

Actors Bryan Cranston (Breaking Bad), Ben McKenzie (Southland), Eliza Dushku (Dollhouse) and Katee Sackhoff (Battlestar Galactica) will provide their voices to the animated film Batman: Year One, which is an adaptation of the Frank Miller comic book classic. Cranston is playing Lieutenant Gordon, while McKenzie is Bruce Wayne/Batman. Dushku will be Catwoman, and Sackhoff is Detective Sarah Essen, a Gordon love interest. In Year One, a young Bruce Wayne is first starting out as a costumed vigilante, creating an early bond with Lieutenant James Gordon, whose importance in the tale makes it as much as Gordon’s story as Wayne’s. (Borys Kit at The Hollywood Reporter)

BOX OFFICE TRAILER

Watch: Another New International ‘X-Men: First Class’ Trailer Hits

Q&A SECTION (with Adam Bryant and Natalie Abrams at TV Guide and Michael Ausiello at TV Line with additional reporting by Vlada Gelman and Megan Masters)

Question: Will we learn who killed Joanna Beckett in the Castle finale? — Liza

ADAM: No, but you’ll get another big clue, which will put someone very close to Beckett under suspicion. Meanwhile, while we’ve been focusing on this rumored death, we should have also been telling you about the gunshots that ring out in the episode’s final moments.

Question: When is The Chicago Code going to deal with Wysocki’s brother’s death? They have mentioned it a couple times. — Bryan

ADAM: “There will be some big-time revelations by the end of the season,” creator Shawn Ryan promises. First up: Jarek’s old wounds will be reopened by his father, who will be played by the terrific character actor Chelcie Ross, who most recently played hotelier Connie Hilton on Mad Men.

Question: Will Annie get a love interest on Covert Affairs? — Heather

NATALIE: Yes, in the form of a ruggedly handsome doctor she meets when her niece requires his expertise. Doctor McHandsome is quite smitten with Annie, and his persistence threatens to compromise Annie’s mission to uncover a mole in the CIA.

Question: Please tell me these rumors of a Glee death during May Sweeps aren’t true! –Eric

Ausiello: Rumors of a Glee death aren’t true. Glee DEATHS on the other hand? That’s totally happening. Sources confirm to me exclusively that this season’s penultimate episode, which bears the ominous title “Funeral,” is about the death of several things. One being a beloved character. The other being a major couple.

Question: You’ve been slacking on Chuck scoop lately. Give us something good and maybe I’ll forgive you. —Jeremiah

Ausiello: Despite the fact that Chuck‘s season/possible series finale is titled “Chuck vs. The Cliffhanger,” the episode has its fair share of closure. “It’s a good ending, but it also serves as a good beginning if we do get a fifth [season],” reveals leading lady Yvonne Strahovski. “I feel like every [Chuck finale] has had to be that because we never know, so the writers always plan for both.” Adds Zachary Levi: “It ends in the same Chuck way that we’ve ended any season or half-season that later became a full season. It’s open. You’re going to see the whole team collaborating and working together to make things right and have some closure about certain things that are really big, but also leave the potential for it to be continued later.”

Question: Throw me some Bones, would ya? —Cara

Ausiello: Angela and Hodgins baby is gonna to be delivered by 90210‘s Mrs. Teasley! Actress Denise Dowse — best known as the stern but fair Vice Principal of the original West Bev High — will guest star in the season-ender as Angela’s unflappable baby doc. Speaking of the Bones finale, David Boreanaz confirmed on Twitter that Ryan O’Neal is back for the episode — although he didn’t say why. That’s where exec producer Stephen Nathan comes in. “He is on a bowling team that’s in the same league as our victim,” Nathan explains. “Because Max has had a bedroom-related accident, a space has opened up on the team that Booth fills.”

Question: Any scoop on the next season of White Collar? —Juliet

Ausiello: The future is… the past! The show is planning a flash(way)back episode in which we not only get to see what Willie Garson’s Mozzie was like at ages 5 and 12, we get to see his transformation from bullied youngster to shrewd con artist.

Question: I know you have already given us a lot of tidbits about the upcoming Castle episodes, but we are still dying (no pun intended) for more! Any other items you can share about the upcoming L.A. episode with Castle/Beckett sharing a hotel room, or the explosive season finale? —Cheryl

Ausiello: How about some scoop on the episode sandwiched between those two? “Because the finale is serious and the L.A. episode is very much off-pattern for us, we had a lot of fun with the [penultimate] episode,” explains series creator Andrew W. Marlowe. “It’s about a death at a beauty pageant. We have Michael McKean (Smallville) playing a New York real estate multi-millionaire who runs the beauty pageant. Teri Polo (Meet the Parents) is in it as well. It’s just a fun Castle episode, but it also touches on the Castle-Beckett relationship, and also the Alexis/Ashley relationship, because Ashley is going off to college and that presents a complication for Alexis.”

Question: So… Supernatural. I just love that the brother dynamic has returned now that Sam’s got his soul back. Can we expect some great brotherly love in this season’s remaining episodes? —Julia

Ausiello: You can. As exec producer Bob Singer previews, “Dean is willing to trust him completely. And by season’s end, they are in total lock-step with each other, saving each other’s lives and having that relationship the fans crave.”

That’s it. Enjoy!