Rueben's Ramblings

Hey All,

Here are the news items for today:

TELEVISION

Actor Robert Buckley (One Tree Hill) will guest star in an upcoming episode of Hart of Dixie, playing Peter, a sweet and ordinary guy who has a chance encounter with Lemon (series regular Jamie King) while passing through Bluebell. (Small Screen Scoop and Vlada Gelman at TV Line)

Actor Alexis Denisof (Angel and Much Ado About Nothing) will have an arc on NBC’s Grimm this fall, playing Viktor, Albert Wilhelm George Beckendorf, the cunning, smart, funny and ruthless first cousin to Eric Renard (James Frain). (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)

Actor Stephen Moyer (True Blood) has been cast opposite singer-actress Carrie Underwood in the upcoming live holiday production of The Sound of Music that will air on NBC on December 5. He will play World War I hero and single father Capt. Georg Von Trapp, who is living in Austria on the cusp of World War II. He falls for his governess, Maria (Carrie Underwood), who he hires to take care of his children. Apparently Moyer has musical experience from his days working in London theatre and recently appeared in a staging of Chicago at the Hollywood Bowl. (James Hibberd at Entertainment Weekly)

NOTE: Not sure how well this will work; and we can harken back to the days when all the Broadway fans were up in arms when Gerard Butler was cast as the Phantom in the box office adaptation of Phantom of the Opera opposite Emmy Rossum. Let’s see if Moyer can hold his own in this role or not.

Actor and former James Bond portrayer Timothy Dalton has been cast in the upcoming Showtime drama Penny Dreadful, which is a frightening psychological thriller that will star Josh Hartnett and Eva Green. Dalton will play Sir Malcolm, a hardened African explorer on a deeply personal quest. (The Futon Critic)

Actress Sophia Bush (One Tree Hill) and actor Patrick Flueger (The 4400) have joined the cast, as series regulars, of the Chicago Fire spin-off called Chicago PD that is expected to air mid-season. The series follows the workings of the Chicago police department’s investigative team. Bush will play Erin Lindsay, a member of the team with an unexpected past while Flueger will play Kyle Ruzek, a hotheaded rookie plucked by Voight (Jason Beghe) from the Academy for dangerous, delicate undercover work for the Intelligence unit. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)

DEVELOPMENT NEWS

Actor Jonathan Tucker (Parenthood and The Black Donnellys) and actress Charity Wakefield (the failed Mockingbird Lane pilot) have been cast in the 90-minute Syfy pilot High Moon, which comes from Bryan Fuller (the man behind Pushing Daisies and Dead Like Me). The pilot explores what happens when the countries of Earth establish colonies to mine the moon’s resources and discover a new form of life. Wakefield will have the guest-starring role in the pilot of smart and savvy Eve St. John-Smythe, the CEO of the world’s most profitable corporation that is responsible for opening up the moon by providing oxygen to the various countries there. Tucker will play Stanislav “Stan” Stavin, a handsome and outgoing miner for the Russians who may be hiding something. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)

Actress LisaGay Hamilton (The Practice) will co-star in the AMC drama pilot called Line of Sight that tells the story of Lewis Bernt, a National Transportation Safety Board investigator who survives a mysterious plane crash, bringing him on an emotionally disorienting quest to discover the accident’s cause. Hamilton will play Ruby Jensen, an NTSB rep sent to investigate the crash. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)

NBC is now jumping on board a project inspired by the Wizard of Oz (much like what CBS, Syfy and some of the crew of Heroes are all working on and/or developing). This NBC version is called Emerald City is being described as a dark reimagining of the classic tale of Oz in the vein of Game Of Thrones, drawing upon stories from Baum’s original 14 books. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)

BOX OFFICE NEWS

Actress Natalie Dormer (Game of Thrones and Elementary) has joined the cast of the much-anticipated 2-part adaptation of the Suzanne Collins book Mockingjay (the last book in the Hunger Games franchise). Dormer will play Cressida, a defector from the abusive overlords in the Capitol. (Justin Kroll at Variety)

BOX OFFICE TEASER TRAILER

DIVERGENT Official First Look Tease

SCOOP NEWS (from Sandra Gonzalez at Entertainment Weekly)

REVENGE EXECUTIVE PRODUCER ON JACK IN SEASON 3

Put yourself in the shoes of poor Jack Porter for a hot second. Your wife is dead. Your brother is dead. You have a newborn. And your friend just revealed that she’s actually your former childhood BFF who’s been posing as someone else. What are you going to do? GET THE HELL OUT OF TOWN, of course. But it won’t stay that way.

Over the course of Revenge’s season 3 premiere, Jack will return to the Stowaway and the ghosts of the town that took so much from him. And Sunil Nayar, the show’s new incoming showrunner, says Jack has a tough road ahead. “He has an absolute lot to synthesize for himself and, especially as a person who is so inherently moral and good, to have so much bad and betrayal enacted upon him has been a journey. And when we see him in the premiere, he’s obviously still on that journey, but also has asked himself a lot of questions and come up with answers to a few.” Which begs the question, though, why did Jack return at all? “You will get a sense of why that is,” Nayar teases. “And the other thing is, there’s a real connection to the Stowaway. It’s the bar his father created and it is where the memories of those he’s loved and lost lived. It’s the one anchor he has. In some ways, it represents his past, what happened with Emily represents his present and Carl represents his future.”

Throw him a bone, though, Nayar! Jack needs SOMETHING good to come his way. What about a new dog? “It’s funny you should say that,” he laughs. “You’ll see him explore that early in the season.” (Jack + puppy = best thing ever?)

TEEN WOLF: MORE SCOOPS ON SEASON 3B

I’ve made no secret of the fact that I loved the Teen Wolf finale. But here are three outtakes from my post-mortem with Executive Producer Jeff Davis.

Question: On Isaac and Allison: Are they a ‘thing’ yet?

JEFF DAVIS: “It’s not officially a thing, but it’s definitely a relationship that’s complicated. So it’s going to cause a lot of complications for people and for their own lives. I think it’s interesting to show a different kind of love triangle where it’s not necessarily the two guys fighting over one girl but what you see is one guy doing his best to let go while realizing his best friend might be in love with his former girlfriend. And his girlfriend is trying to figure out, ‘how do I date my former love’s best friend?’ Those things are interesting to me. Not necessarily the pull of jealousy. It’s about, ‘How do we make this work and still stay friends?’ That’s hard to do in high school. That’s teenagers having to start acting like adults.”

Question: Will be a time jump between season 3A and 3B?

JEFF DAVIS: Just a few weeks, like 3 weeks.

Question: On the Halloween episode in the second half of the season:

JEFF DAVIS: “It is the fourth episode. We do the first two episodes are a two-parter. They tell one story so we can get some breathing room in that story and the [next] episodes revolve around both mischief night and Halloween. Things move very fast in Beacon Hills and you’ll see a lot of danger. I don’t want to see too much about them….You may not see them in quite the costume you think. And I’ll leave that up to your interpretation. You’ll see what I mean when it [airs].”

Q&A SECTION (with Matt Mitovich at TV Line, TV Scoop Team at E! Online and Sandra Gonzalez at Entertainment Weekly)

Question: Any fresh Once Upon a Time scoop??? Need something to hold me until the premiere! –@Bezi12

Mitovich: During my long, in-depth Fall Preview chat with the series’ creators, Eddy Kitsis excitedly touted Season 3’s 11-episode trip to Neverland “as its own season, like one giant movie. And like any adventure movie, there’s romance, there are things that are terrifying, and there are things that are heartbreaking. That was always our goal, to have that big, summer movie feel.” Promising a mix of “uplift, romance, action and quieter moments,” Adam Horowitz added, “The best kind of roller coaster is the one that goes through all of that stuff.”

Question: On Once Upon a Time, magic always comes with a price, so did the magic that Robin Hood used to heal Marian come with a price? –Mirza

Mitovich: Damn straight it did. ‘“There’s a price — and a debt,” Adam Horowitz teases of Sean Maguire’s upcoming, Fairytale Land-based arc as the Prince of Thieves.

Question: Lanie and Esposito are my favorite Castle characters. Is there anything you can tease about what will happen for them this season? –Marine

Mitovich: I just spoke to Jon Huertas (who was busy the day I was on set), and while he has yet to shoot any such scenes, I am assured that there is Lanie-Esposito stuff coming up this fall. But here’s the possible run: Castle creator Andrew Marlowe also tells me that Tori Ellis, the tech forensics expert Javy seemed to take a shine to at the end of Season 5, is set for an encore.

Question: I’d like some Revolution scoop on the new actors. –Chris

Mitovich: You will get scoop on one of the new players — and only one. (For now.) With Rachel in a very bad place in the wake of the season finale, Aaron and Miles will bring her to Texas to reunite with her father Gene, played by 7th Heaven‘s Stephen Collins. And “this role is unlike anything Stephen’s ever done before,” says showrunner Eric Kripke. “He’s gruff and pissed off and tough. It’s really fascinating to see Stephen playing this part, all whiskered and haggard. I think people are going to be blown away by the work he’s doing.”

Question: Thanks for all the Teen Wolf scoop lately! I’m excited for the Kitsune to come in, but can we expect any other monsters to be introduced in the new season? – Thomas L.

E! Online: Executive producer Jeff Davis, take it away: “You may see others, but it revolves around the Kitsune myth. You’ll see, but we have some great new bad guys this season that we’re excited about.”

Question: Any scoop on Dean on Supernatural? Love me some Jensen Ackles? – Maddie

E! Online: If you didn’t love you some Jensen Ackles we’re pretty sure you’d be banished by the TV Gods, just saying. As for Dean, fans will get to meet Robin, an attractive waitress at a diner she inherited from her father who happens to have shared a sweet puppy love-style romance with Dean almost two decades ago. All together now: Awww!

Question: You guys are severely lacking in the Falling Skies scoop department. Any season four teases? – Amy

E! Online: A major new recurring character will be introduced in the season four premiere: Mira, a young East Indian girl who is being brain-washed with Espheni propaganda, but has a bit of a rebellious streak in her. Expect to see her team up with Matt and a few other kids in order to fight back.

Question: Will we actually get to meet Baby Ryan on Castle or only be told he/she was born? — @ToZiKa

Sandra: I have no solid answer for you yet on that front — mostly because EP Andrew Marlowe reports they’re “just starting to explore that.” But, he adds, “my assumption is we will get to meet the baby and that that episode will be late this fall.”

Question: I was SO excited about to hear about the Castle episode with Josh Gomez! Can we expect any more fun ones or will they be mostly darker episodes? — Marsiella

Sandra: Same combo as usual. A few serious (the premiere) and a few funny (the Saved by the Bell-paroding episode). Plus some adventure, too! Marlowe told me that one episode during the first half of the season will have a “Da Vinci Code/National Treasure” feel to it.

Question: I’m going to bug you with this NCIS: LA question until I get the answer. WHEN ARE WE GOING TO SEE WHAT’S INSIDE THE BOX? — Rosie

Sandra: Persistence is key. And luckily, it sounds like Shane Brennan has a plan. “I can absolutely that you will see the box in every episode, where Deeks left it. It’s still there. There may be a moment this season where — because of what he’s been through and because of the kiss and because of the delicate nature of the relationship between Kensi and Deeks — that Deeks gets that box down, and picks up those scissors, and maybe opens the box or maybe doesn’t.” Tease.

That’s it. Enjoy!

Have a great weekend!!

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Hey All,

Here are the news items for today:

TELEVISION

Actor Wes Ramsey (CSI: Miami) will have a recurring role in Pretty Little Liars during the end run of the shows current season that will air in early 2014. He will play Rosewood High’s newest guidance counselor Jesse. The summer finale of the show airs this coming Tuesday. (Leanne Aguilera at E! Online)

Actor Shaun Sipos (Life Unexpected and the rebooted Melrose Place) will have a recurring role on The Vampire Diaries this fall, playing Aaron, who comes to college to escape his tortured past. It’s there that he meets Elena and the two will bond over the fact that they’ve both experience and survived dark family tragedies. (Jenna Mullins at E! Online)

Actor Nicholas Gonzalez (Off the Map) will have a recurring role on the new FOX thriller Sleepy Hollow, playing Luke, Abbie’s (series lead Nicole Beharie) ex-boyfriend who works for the Sleepy Hollow Police Department. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)

Actress Meta Golding (The Hunger Games) has been cast in the new CW drama The Tomorrow People, playing a sexy intimidating new partner to series lead Robbie Amell. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)

Actor Joshua Gomez (Chuck) will make a guest appearance on Castle this fall as a murder suspect who claims to have traveled from the future to prevent a cataclysmic event from happening. (Matt Mitovich at TV Line)

Actor Navid Negahban (who played Abu Nazir on Homeland) will play the latest “big bad” on Arrow this fall. He will play a new villain named Al-Owal, who has major ties to a group of baddies DC Comics fans know very well, which also connects him to Malcolm Merlyn (John Barrowman). (Tierney Bricker at E! Online)

Legendary actor Keith Carradine (Dexter) has joined the cast of The Following in the recurring role of Barry, a friend of Ryan Hardy (series lead Kevin Bacon). (Liz Raftery at TV Guide)

DEVELOPMENT NEWS

The Discovery Channel has ordered a remake of the classic mini-series North and South based on the book trilogy by John Jakes. The original made-for-TV movie aired on ABC back in 1985, starring the late Patrick Swazye as well as James Read in the lead roles. The story follows the epic storyline of two families – the Hazard family, northern factory owners from Pennsylvania, and the Main family, southern plantation owners. (Lesley Goldberg at The Hollywood Reporter)

BOX OFFICE NEWS

Actress Hayley Atwell (Captain America: The First Avenger) has joined the cast of the upcoming Cinderella film to be directed by Kenneth Branagh. She will play Cinderella’s real mother at the beginning of the story. (NME.com and Dark Horizons)

Actress Maria Bello (A History of Violence) is set to play the wife of actor Kevin Costner in the true story sports drama called McFarland that follows high school coach Jim White (Costner), who loses his job as a football coach. He moves his family to the predominantly poor Latino-dominant town of McFarland where he creates a championship-winning cross country team. (Deadline and Dark Horizons)

BOX OFFICE TRAILER

First Teaser Trailer for Paul W.S. Anderson’s ‘Pompeii’ Action Movie

Q&A SECTION (with E! Online)

Question: Clearly, Emily is faking her own death this season of Revenge, because there is no way they would kill off the star, right? – Phoebe

E! Online: We wouldn’t be so sure about that. Emily VanCamp did tell us that this season is “the beginning of the end of Emily Thorne.” Ominous, no? True, it’s a long shot that ABC would ever get rid of their leading lady, but it sounds like the writers do have some old tricks up their sleeves. “It’s going back to season one,” VanCamp says, adding that the love square or “rhombus” is back in full force. “It refocuses her conflict with the Graysons,” she reveals. As for Nolan, Gabriel Mann tells us that his character’s new trend this season will be “orange for prison jumpsuits.” Orange Is the New Nolan? We dig it.

Question: Any romance scoop on Teen Wolf? – Keegan

E! Online: Anyone else shipping Mama McCall and Sheriff Stilinski? ‘Cause we are! And yes, executive producer Jeff Davis is aware that fans want to see BFF Scott’s and Stiles’ parents get together. “We have talked about that. We’ve talked about it a lot in the writers’ room,” he tells us. “We’re not sure yet. though. I can say maybe, maybe not. If the chemistry builds and it’s there, who are we to stop it?”

Question: What is going to happen in Hart of Dixie, Parenthood or Castle? Ahhhh, withdrawals going on! – @Reneebrown84

E! Online: Eenie, meenie, miney… Hart of Dixie! By episode five, we’ll be meeting a number of new Bluebell residents, including Maisie, a gossipy tween who less interested in school and is more interested in Zoe and George’s love lives. There’s also a new member of the Belles sashaying into the group, tulle and all. Sadie is a bubbly yet quick-witted southern sweetheart who takes her position as one of Bluebell’s elite very very seriously

Question: Anything Pretty Little Liars-related will make my day! – Angela

E! Online: Red Coat may still be on the loose, but that’s not the only problem that the liars will be facing when the show returns in January. It’s easy to forget, but in between their text-message tormenting, our pretty little foursome are still in their senior year of school. And who is feeling the brunt of the scholastic pressures? Spencer, of course! Cue Brenda, an academic overachiever with a dirty little secret for her success. She’s willing to share of course, but only for a hefty price. Let’s just say that soon Emily won’t be the only Rosewood student with a history of popping pills.

Question: Any White Collar scoop would make me happy! (Anything on Peter getting out of prison would make me VERY happy!) – @Coffee2Go_Girl2m

E! Online: You would think that Peter would be giving Neal the silent treatment for that whole murder charge thing, but we hear by the middle of the season at the latest, Peter will not be in prison and the guys will be back on speaking terms. Those speaking terms might be of the angry and pissed off persuasion, but speaking terms nonetheless.

Question: That teaser you guys shared for Ravenswood was so good! I can’t wait to finally see how creepy that town really is! Any scoop to tide us till October? – Chloe

E! Online: According to Ravenswood creator Marlene King, the mysterious new cast is gearing up for their first official day of filming for the highly anticipated pilot, but we’re already focusing all our attention on the second episode! Why, you ask? Brace yourselves, PLL fans, because it looks like Ravenswood is going to be a billion times darker than those silly antics we’ve been following in Rosewood. Prepare to meet Olivia and Luke’s mother, Rochelle Matheson, a once confident woman who is now the main suspect in her husband’s murder. Damn! They’re really not messing around in Ravenswood.

That’s it. Enjoy!

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Hey All,

Here are the news items for today:

TELEVISION

Actor Tahmoh Penikett (Battlestar Galactica and Dollhouse) will have a recurring role in the mid-season alien drama Star-Crossed that will debut mid-season on The CW. He will play the mysterious SEU (Sector Enforcement Unit) Officer Jack Beaumont, who is responsible for the supervision within the Atrian (aka alien) sector walls. (Kristin Dos Santos at E! Online)

Actor Cole Hauser (Olympus Has Fallen) has joined the cast of the DirecTV series Rogue, which will be back for a second season sometime in 2014. Season two of the series will continue to focus on Grace Travis (Thandie Newton) as she moves forward with her life after finally avenging her son’s death in season one. Opting for a stable position, Grace has been assigned, as a handler, to an FBI task force investigating a local prostitution ring. Hauser will play
Ethan, a former soldier who left law school to enlist in the military after 9/11. Ethan is the founder of a security consulting firm in San Francisco, which he runs with three former military buddies. This band of brothers is united by a terrible secret, a dark event that has quietly haunted them for years. (DirecTV and The Futon Critic)

Actor Eric Johnson (Rookie Blue and Smallville) has been cast in the upcoming 10-part Cinemax series called The Knick that will star Clive Owen. The series will be set in downtown New York in 1900, centering on the Knickerbocker Hospital and the groundbreaking surgeons, nurses and staff who push the bounds of medicine in a time of astonishingly high mortality rates and zero antibiotics. Johnson will play Everett Gallinger, the talented, young protégé of The Knick’s groundbreaking Chief Surgeon (Owen), who finds himself to not be quite talented enough, when challenged by a new doctor who arrives at the hospital. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)

DEVELOPMENT NEWS

Actress Rashida Jones (Parks and Recreation) and her older sister Kidada [both daughters of legendary composer Quincy Jones and legendary actress Peggy Lipton] are developing an hour-long dramedy for The CW that would revolve around two twenty-something estranged friends in search of love in New York who are reunited after learning that they’ve been dating the same guy. When their plot to humiliate the two-timer goes viral, they realize the “payback” business is a lucrative one and set up a clandestine business to continue bringing down the hand of justice for those who have been wronged. (Lesley Goldberg at The Hollywood Reporter)

Jerry Bruckheimer Television and writer Aron Eli Coleite are developing a drama with FOX called Home that is a family thriller/soap that delves into the secrets lingering behind the facade of a suburban family. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)

Fame just might be coming back to TV in the form of an as-yet-untitled drama that will include former Fame alum and legendary dancer/actress Debbie Allen as one of the executive producers. This version would be set at a Los Angeles-area performing arts school. (Lesley Goldberg at The Hollywood Reporter)

MADE-FOR-TV MOVIE NEWS

Stage, film and TV actress and singer Donna Murphy has joined the cast of the upcoming Lifetime made-for-TV movie House of Versace that will bring to light the story of Donatella Versace (Gina Gershon), who, following the brazen murder of her brother, world-renowned designer Gianni Versace (Enrico Colantoni of Veronica Mars fame) at the height of his success, is suddenly thrust into the spotlight as head designer of his fashion empire. Murphy will play Maria, the loved and trusted head seamstress who has been with Versace from the start. Legendary actress Raquel Welch and actor Colm Feore (Revolution) are also part of the cast, playing Aunt Lucia and brother Santo respectively. (The Futon Critic)

BOX OFFICE NEWS

Actress Marion Cotillard will star opposite actor Michael Fassbender in yet another adaptation of Macbeth that is expected to hit the big screen in the not-too-distant future. (Nancy Tartaglione at Deadline)

BOX OFFICE TRAILER

Hot Trailer: ‘Parkland’

Watch: Geoffrey Rush & Emily Watson in First ‘The Book Thief’ Trailer

Q&A SECTION (with E! Online, Natalie Abrams and Adam Bryant from TV Guide and Michael Ausiello at TV Line)

Question: Hardcore member of the Clone club over here, so any Orphan Black spoilers would be more appreciated than Alison appreciates headbands. – Ingrid

E! Online: If you ship Paul and Sarah, then you’d better avert your eyes for this next part. In season two, a new dude is joining the cast, and he’ll definitely be giving Paul a run for his money in terms of chemistry with Sarah. Remember all those hot love scenes between Paul and Sarah? Think along the lines of that.

Question: Counting down the days until the Castle premiere! Everyone’s talking about Beckett’s reaction to the proposal, but what’s Castle feeling? — Cindy

ADAM: Creator Andrew W. Marlowe says that those fans questioning the intent behind Castle’s proposal should probably rethink things. (In other words, he didn’t just pop the question to get her to stay in New York.) “He asked his question out of emotion and passion and the circumstances of the moment,” Marlowe says. “He was challenged to think about what he really wanted in life. His preferred version is that he has this woman in his life.” But does this mean the twice-married Castle is truly matured to a place of being able to make a marriage work? “I think he very much likes to think that is the case,” Marlowe says. “But he is who he is…” Why does there always have to be a “but”?

Question: So excited about JoAnna Garcia as Ariel on Once Upon a Time. Do you have any scoop? — Nina

NATALIE: As the producers previously teased, Ariel has ties to a character we already know. “She’s somebody who wants to see the world,” executive producer Edward Kitsis says. “That spirit will run in her DNA still, but we’ll meet her in a surprising way.” We hear that will take place in Neverland, where other mermaids may not be so nice. But the good news is that we’ll also likely meet Prince Eric!

Question: I need more NCIS: Los Angeles scoop. How will Kensi and Deeks’ kiss affect the two of them in the premiere? — Becky

ADAM: Kensi will certainly find it hard to focus on the task at hand. “He fired something up in her,” executive producer Shane Brennan says with a laugh. Of course, it doesn’t help that the task is rescuing Deeks from Sidorov. “It’s not just her partner she’s saving; it’s this guy she might have a future with!” Daniela Ruah says. But once Deeks is safe and sound, the couple will have lots to discuss — which might not be a good thing. “There are changes in these relationships because of these catastrophic events,” Eric Christian Olsen hints. “Kensi and Deeks have one of the most heartbreaking scenes we’ve ever seen them do. It’s one of the few times that Deeks is able to… says exactly what he means.”

Question: Is Rachel actually going to Stanford on Suits? — Neil

ADAM: Well, she has to get in first, right? But it sounds like she will. “That’s going to take a little bit, as law schools do. She is going to keep pursuing this and it will build through the fall [episodes],” executive producer Aaron Korsh tells us. “We have decided what she will do and we will answer that before the season is over. That won’t be [a cliff-hanger].”

Question: Will Jasika Nicole return to Scandal this season? —Tammy

NATALIE: Executive producer Shonda Rhimes agrees with our assessment that Huck deserves something nice and shiny at the end of the rainbow, like a reunion with his wife Kim. But not yet. “It remains to be seen whether he is healthy enough for that to be a thing,” she says.

Question: Do you have any scoop on the Suicide Squad on Arrow? —Sam

NATALIE: Executive producer Marc Guggenheim teases that the first five episodes of Season 2 make the case that there are both heroes and villains coming into Starling City as a direct result of what The Arrow did in Season 1. Among the villains are the previously announced Bronze Tiger, who will team up with Deadshot, the leader of the Suicide Squad in the world of Arrow — and there could be others down the line. But never fear, help is on the way: “We’ll be seeing more of A.R.G.U.S. this season,” executive producer Andrew Kreisberg adds.

Question: Any spoilers on Once Upon a Time? —Patti

Ausiello: Matt Mitovich just got off the horn with series creators Adam Horowitz and Eddy Kitsis, and they caught us up on some of the back-story gaps that will be filled in via flashbacks during Season 3. Episode 2 is Snow/Charming-centric, covering the time between the former’s awakening from the sleep curse and when they encountered Regina on the battlefield. “How did the queen react to that? And who first told her?” Horowitz wonders. Episode 3 will relate Tinkerbell’s origin, featuring The Blue Fairy (but not Amy Acker’s Nova) and addressing the question: “What makes a fairy?” Also on tap for fall is a new chunk of Rumple’s past, the tale of how Hook became a pirate and the self-explanatory Episode 6, titled “Ariel” (and yes, Eric is being cast/will not be an existing character).

Question: I’d like some Once Upon a Time in Wonderland scoop, please. —Mason

Ausiello: The Once spin-off will, in its third episode, sic no less than Beowulf‘s Grendel on Alice and The Knave. Envisioned (via an actor in prosthetics) as a “large, warted, ogre-like beast,” the cannibalistic Grendel will pose a mortal threat to the genie-seeking pair — though in typical Once fashion, there is more to this beast than meets the eye. But don’t go brushing up on your Old English just yet. “It’s a wink-and-a-nod, as opposed to a real deep-dive into Beowulf,” says series co-creator Adam Horowitz of the creature’s clash with Alice.

Question: Any details on how Ashley will be written off Revenge? —Geoffrey

Ausiello: Despite portrayer Ashley Madekwe’s very public plea that her character “die in a blaze of glory,” showrunner Sunil Nayar tells us that Ash — who will depart in the show’s Sept. 29 opener —will live to see another day. “We’re not killing her,” he reveals. “We’d never do that! She’s too great a character. As sad as we are to bid her farewell at the moment, you’ll see that the way we resolve her storyline now gives her an opportunity to come back with her own revenge agenda.”

Question: Can you tease any good Emily-Victoria moments in the Revenge premiere? —Joyce

Ausiello: I could, but I’m going to let Emily VanCamp do the honors. “We have a moment where we actually band together,” previews the actress. Of course, like most of the truces forged by the sworn enemies, this one is short-lived. “We put up this united front and then, after whatever it is is taken care of, it’s like, ‘OK, I’m outta here,’” VanCamp says with a laugh. “But it’s nice to be able to play something [civil] with Madeline [Stowe] because [Emily and Victoria] are always at odds each other. And I hate it because I love Madeline so much. We’re so evil to each other.”

Question: Do you have any news on Arrow? —Calum

Ausiello: Quite interestingly, the title for this season’s fifth episode, “The Demon’s Head,” is the translation of Ra’s al Ghul — as in Batman’s infamous mentor-turned-adversary. Thus, it kinda sorta makes sense that the hour will introduce the apprentice of a most menacing man — Awwal, a scimitar-wielding protege of Dark Archer Malcolm Merlyn.

Question: Do you have any scoop on one of my absolute favorite shows, Covert Affairs? —Carol

Ausiello: This Tuesday’s episode is tense with a capital T-E-N. It finds Annie working with a familiar face, FBI agent Vincent Rossabi (Rookie Blue‘s Noam Jenkins), on the murder of CIA agent Seth Newman (aka the one who fell off the bridge). But while the G-man wants to uncover the truth, Annie’s trying to suppress it by swapping out any incriminating evidence. Still, that’s not the story you’ll be talking about after the hour’s end. Let’s just say we haven’t heard the last of a certain secret that someone was keeping from the spy gal.

Question: Now that Laura Bell Bundy is on Anger Management, what will this mean for her role as Shelby on Hart of Dixie? —Vanessa

Ausiello: It means you’ll probably see her less. But rest assured you will see her. “We are definitely having Laura back for a few [episodes],” confirms EP Leila Gerstein, adding that Shelby won’t resurface “until a few episodes in.” In other Bluebell casting news, although Claudia Lee is a series regular on Fox’s Surviving Jack, Gerstein remains hopeful that Lemon’s little sis will make an appearance this season, too. And if not? “Well, she goes [away] to boarding school,” laughs the EP.

That’s it. Enjoy!

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