Rueben's Ramblings

Hey All,

Here are the news items for today:

TELEVISION

Actress Sarah Shahi (Fairly Legal) has been promoted to full series regular on Person of Interest when it returns to CBS this fall. (The Futon Critic)

Actor Michael Raymond-James has also been promoted to full series regular on Once Upon a Time when the show returns this fall to ABC. (Matt Mitovich at TV Line)

BOX OFFICE NEWS

Actress Cate Blanchett will star in the upcoming David Mamet box office film called Blackbird that will be a present-day Hitchcockian nail-biter turning on a secret explanation for the 1963 assassination of U.S. president John F. Kennedy. Blanchett will play Janet, who travels to Los Angeles for the funeral of her grandfather, a Hollywood visual effects artist who moonlighted for U.S. special ops agencies. Her grandfather’s well-kept secrets become a threat to her, forcing Janet to discover the truth about a man who dedicated his life to making illusion reality. (John Hopewell at Variety)

BOX OFFICE TRAILERS

Watch: Vin Diesel is a Tough Man to Beat in New Trailer for ‘Riddick’

Shake Your Tail Feather with First Musical Teaser Trailer for ‘Rio 2’

Q&A SECTION (with Natalie Abrams and Adam Bryant at TV Guide)

Question: Any last bits of scoop on the Hawaii Five-0 finale? — Jessica

ADAM: Like last year, the finale will explore all of the team members’ personal issues separately. “We’re going to touch on some questions we’ve had for a while,” executive producer Peter Lenkov says. “Is there more going on between Wo Fat and Doris than we know? What happened the night Michael Noshimuri took Kono’s gun? … [These] are issues that need resolutions. Some of our characters are going to have to make tough choices.” How tough? By the finale’s end, somebody will likely be dead. “The English translation of our finale title is “farewell and take care. You can take want you want from that,” Lenkov teases.

Question: I can’t believe Irene Adler is alive! Got any scoop on the Elementary finale? —Anne

NATALIE: If you’re thinking that the reunion between Sherlock and Irene will be a wholly joyous one, think again. Sherlock will make a surprising, uncharacteristic decision about Irene’s captor.

Question: What can you tell me about the Bates Motel finale? — Brad

ADAM: Norma will struggle to come up with Abernathy’s money before his deadline. So Norman will somehow come to her rescue, right? Maybe not. But Norman’s conspicuous absence won’t actually damage the too-close mother-son relationship. “They’re moving into their separate worlds, but the finale brings them back together, and they both openly reveal stuff about each other that forces them to reconnect and reassert their relationship,” Freddie Highmore tells us. “It’s like an elastic band. No matter how much you stretch [the relationship], it doesn’t snap.”

Question: Ack! Monroe has Nora. What’s going to happen on Revolution? — Ben

NATALIE: Suffice it to say, Nora being in Monroe’s custody is not a good thing, but according to Daniella Alonso, she may use her plight to her advantage. “Even though she’s chained up and has a lot of guards on her, she does her best to try to kill him,” she says. And worry not, though we’ll see moments of weakness, Alonso assures us that there’s no way Nora will be turned to the militia’s side.

Question: What can you tease about this beast-on-beast fight in the Beauty and the Beast finale? — Marion

ADAM: It’s not exactly a fair fight. “Now that Vincent has been taking medication his strength is weakened,” Jay Ryan tells us. “So at the beginning of the fight he doesn’t have his beast qualities and he has to refer back to his military training.” Gabe, meanwhile, is quite a scary contender. He will show us just how vicious the original beast that Muirfield created can be.

Question: I’m so excited about the return of Falling Skies. What’s coming up? — Micah

NATALIE: When it appears that the aliens have a mole within the 2nd Mass, Tom enlists Manchester to track down him/her/it — a job that will have dangerous consequences. With a new, surprising Overlord in place, the mole’s identity will be a huge shocker.

Question: Any word on when Nick’s mother might be returning to Grimm? —Amanda

Ausiello: “There will be references” to the Woman in Black in next Tuesday’s finale, per David Giuntoli. “There will be communiqués involved. I’m not sure in what capacity she’ll be back next season, but I’ve been ‘hearing things.’” (I have too; she’ll be back). Speaking of the finale, Giuntoli offers up the following teases: “There are going to be zombies; one of the main characters kinda-sorta dies and may or may not be coming back; and Nick and Juliet – romance!”

Question: Any information on Once Upon a Time‘s casting of Peter Pan? —George

Ausiello: The role of Peter Pan will be played by… a dude! “I can confirm that it will be a male playing the part,” exec producer Adam Horowitz tells TVLine. Beyond that, “Anything to do with that casting we don’t want to talk about, because that would be a big spoiler. Our approach to Peter Pan is one we’re super-excited about. Since Season 1, the Peter Pan mythology was something we wanted to do, but we couldn’t because of the rights issues. Once they were dealt with, we were able to finally go to town and open that world up. We started with Captain Hook, and we knew we wanted to build to what we’re about to do in Season 3.”

Question: How about a scoop on the Nashville finale? —Missi

Ausiello: “It’s bloody,” reports Sam Palladio, all but confirming reports of multiple season-ending deaths. “It’s shocking, actually. When I read the script, it made me go, ‘Wh-wh-whoa! Wow!’ I can’t wait to see the episode.”

Question: Any Veronica Mars movie spoilers?! — Ted

Ausiello: Before the flick goes into production, it’s looking to cast… well, Rebel Wilson, basically. For the juicy supporting role of Ruby, the powers that be want a plus-sized (check) funny lady (check) who can do a British accent (check). Rebel, you can drop my commission check (check) in the mail.

Question: Please tell me you got some Revolution scoop out of the NBC upfront. Something, anything? — Kyle

Ausiello: Not only did Matt Mitovich score you some scoop, he scored it directly from Giancarlo Esposito, who told him, through the finale, “Tom’s next move is to try and cover his own butt, first. But also, there is a race to figure out who really is in control of the power. The final episode will blow your mind in terms of all of the elements coming together, and some questions you haven’t even thought of asking will be answered.”

That’s it. Enjoy!