Rueben's Ramblings

Hey All,

There is quite a bit of casting news and some interesting film tidbits to share with everyone so let’s get right into today’s news:

TELEVISION

Broadway star and Tony winner Idina Menzel will return to Glee for a season three arc, reprise her role as Rachel Berry’s biological mother, Shelby Corcoran. She is expected to appear in up to 12 episodes throughout the season. (Deadline)

Actor Dillon Casey (Being Erica and The Vampire Diaries) has landed the recurring role on Nikita when it returns for its second season this fall. He will play Sean Pierce, a badass Army special-ops officer assigned by Oversight to both retrieve the stolen black box from Nikita (Maggie Q) and Michael (Shane West), as well as keep a watchful eye on Amanda (Melinda Clarke) as she navigates her newly implemented duties as head of Division. Of course, observing Amanda also means becoming familiar with her latest protégé, Alex (Lyndsy Fonseca), which proves to be quite the task for Pirece once he finds himself intrigued by — and distrustful of — Nikita’s former partner. (Megan Masters at TV Line)

Actor B. D. Wong has confirmed he will be leaving Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. He will next appear in the new midseason series Awake that stars Jason Isaacs as a police detective who’s involved in a traumatic car accident and wakes up in two fractured realities. Wong plays a psychiatrist. (TV Guide)

TNT quietly announced the cancellation of the TNT series Men of A Certain Age at the end of last week. (Twitter)

Actor Giancarlo Esposito (Breaking Bad) has joined the new ABC drama Once Upon a Time in a major recurring role. He will play Sidney/The Magic Mirror. In Storybrooke, he is Sidney: a reporter for the local newspaper The Daily Mirror. In Fairy Tale Land, he is the vaporous visage trapped within the Evil Queen’s Magic Mirror who is always truthful. (Deadline)

Actor Mike Vogel (Miami Medical) is set to star in the new ABC drama Pan Am, which is about a group of pilots and flight attendants working at the iconic Pan Am Airlines in the 1960s. He will play the male lead, the charismatic and confident Dean who had longed to be a pilot since he was a boy and has just been made the captain of the amazing new Pan Am clipper, the Majestic, living every man’s dream, exploring the world and leading the crew. (Deadline)

Tony nominee Kelli O’Hara (South Pacific) will guest star in the season premiere of Blue Bloods when it returns on September 23 for its second season. She will play Lisa, a best friend of Erin (Bridget Moynahan). (Megan Masters and Matt Mitovich at TV Line)

Tony winning actress Julie White (Transformers) will appear as Judge Hockett, a straight-taking and (literally) straight-shooting judge who operates the night courts of Las Vegas in the USA Network pilot Wild Card that revolves around lawyers Eliza Evans (Jennifer Finnigan) and Will Garratt (Ben Lawson) who solve people’s problems overnight in Las Vegas. White will be a series regular should the project be picked up to series. (Lesley Goldberg at The Hollywood Reporter)

The cable network FX has placed a 13-episode order for its next original drama series: American Horror Story, which was co-created by former Nip/Tuck executive producers and current Glee co-creators/executive producers Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk. The new series will premiere in October on the cabler and the series revolves around The Harmons, a family of three who move from Boston to Los Angeles as a means to reconcile past anguish. The cast includes Dylan McDermott (The Practice), Connie Britton (Friday Night Lights), Taissa Farmiga (sister of actress Vera Farmiga), Jessica Lange (Tootsie, Blue Sky, Grey Gardens), Evan Peters (One Tree Hill) and Denis O’Hare (The Good Wife and True Blood). Guest stars for the series include Frances Conroy (Six Feet Under) and Alexandra Breckenridge (Dirt). (TV By the Numbers)

BOX OFFICE NEWS

Actress Amanda Righetti (The Mentalist) has joined the cast of the box office film The Avengers, but her role hasn’t been revealed yet. (The Daily Blam and Dark Horizons)

Actor Rhys Ifans (Notting Hill and Pirate Radio) has signed on to join the cast of the upcoming box office film Bond 23, which stars Daniel Craig, Judi Dench, Ralph Fiennes, Javier Bardem and Naomie Harris. It is not known what role Ifans will play, though. (The Daily Telegraph and Dark Horizons)

Actor Sean Bean (Game of Thrones) has joined the cast of the upcoming as-yet untitled Snow White film that is to star Julia Roberts as the Evil Queen and Lily Collins (Priest and The Blind Side) as the title character. Bean will portray the King (and father of Snow White) who used to the rule the land before the Evil Queen destroyed the kingdom. (Variety and Dark Horizons)

Here are the top 10 box office movies for this past weekend courtesy of Exhibitor Relations and E! Online:

1. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, $168.6 million
2. Transformers: Dark of the Moon, $21.3 million
3. Horrible Bosses, $17.6 million
4. Zookeeper, $12.3 million
5. Cars 2, $8.3 million
6. Winnie the Pooh, $8 million
7. Bad Teacher, $5.2 million
8. Larry Crowne, $2.6 million
9. Super 8, $1.9 million
10. Midnight in Paris, $1.89 million

Actress Emma Watson (the Harry Potter franchise) is set to star in the next film from director Guillermo del Toro, which is an adaptation of Beauty and the Beast. Details on this project, however, are nil. (ComingSoon.net)

That’s it. Enjoy!