Rueben's Ramblings

Hey All,

Here are the news items for today:

TELEVISION

Actor Enver Gjokaj (Dollhouse) has landed a major recurring role on the new Lifetime drama Witches of East End, playing Mike, a mysterious stranger and novelist who takes a strong interest in Ingrid (Rachel Boston), but his reasons for getting to know her go far beyond her work at the library. (Natalie Abrams at TV Guide)

Actresses Kate Walsh (Private Practice) and youngster Joey King (White House Down) as well as actor Josh Close (The Exorcism of Emily Rose) have joined the cast of Fargo, the first limited series at FX that is a new incarnation of the box office film. The 10-episode series already includes Billy Bob Thornton, Martin Freeman, Oliver Pratt and Colin Hanks. Walsh will play Gina, a trophy wife-type and reluctant mother of twin sons; King will play Greta, the daughter of Hanks’ police deputy, a single father who comes face-to-face with a killer. Close will play Ron, the brother of Freeman’s small-town insurance salesman Lester Nygaard. (The Deadline Team)

The upcoming HBO drama The Money has added to its cast, including Billy Magnussen (The Lost Valentine), Rosemary Harris (Aunt May from the Tobey Maguire Spider-Man franchise), Mamie Gummer (Emily Owens, M.D.) and Ray Liotta. Magnussen will play Greg Castman, the middle, and favorite, child of mogul/patriarch James Castman (Brendan Gleeson), who wields power and influence to expand his media empire and control his clan. Harris will have the recurring role of Ellen Knox, the sharp, fearless, and funny mother of James Castman’s wife Ruth (Laila Robins). Gummer will recur as Tricia Castman, who comes from old New York money and is married to John Castman (Patrick Kennedy), James and Ruth’s dutiful son and key lieutenant in Castman’s empire. Liotta will recur as wealthy, entitled, untouchable Wall Street tycoon George Archer. (The Deadline Team)

ABC has given a full season order to Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD. (AJ Marechal at Variety)

DEVELOPMENT NEWS

Uber-producer Greg Berlanti has teamed with Nicholas Wootton (creator of the short-lived Golden Boy) for an hour-long project at TNT called President X that will center on a former U.S. President who wakes up from a year-long coma and, now out of power, must hunt down the individual who tried to assassinate him. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)

The CW is working on a new futuristic project called Colony, a thriller about a group of explorers sent to colonize Mars, who are willing to leave their lives behind to brave the dangers of another planet, and the terrifying reality they discover. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)

Executive producers Howard Gordon and Evan Katz (24) are going into development together on a new project called Trial of The Century that will be told from the point-of-view of a young Latina attorney working on a unique high-profile case. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)

Actor Peter Jacobson (House) has been cast in the Lifetime pilot HR that will center on Ellen (Alicia Silverstone), the uptight Director of Human Resources for a global company who after a head injury alters her outlook on life, throws standard corporate practices out the window and inspires the business to strive for new ambitions and profits. Jacobson will play Moss Lieber, Ellen’s smarmy boss. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)

Box office film writer-director Mark Steven Johnson is developing a new drama project for CBS called Generation Next that is set a year after a deadly outbreak that caused ordinary citizens to fly into a mindless rage. After a cure is discovered, these “Carriers” are finally allowed to return to society, and to solve crimes committed by or against the infected, the Infectious Crimes Department is formed. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)

BOX OFFICE NEWS

Actress Sophie Turner (Sansa Stark on Game of Thrones) has joined the cast of the upcoming box office film Barely Lethal that will center on a 16-year-old assassin (Hailee Steinfeld) who fakes her own death in pursuit of a “normal” adolescence. Turner will play an undercover agent who enrolls in high school to help capture the teen. (The Deadline Team)

That’s it. Enjoy!