Rueben's Ramblings

Hey All,

Here are the news items for today:

TELEVISION

Latina actress Angelica Celaya (Dallas) has landed the female lead role of Mary “Zed” Martin on this fall’s new NBC drama Constantine. Zed is an artist who becomes John Constantine’s (lead Matt Ryan) lover and joins his fight against the forces of darkness. (Laura Prudom at Variety)

Actresses Zuleikha Robinson (Lost and Homeland) and Cynthia Stevenson (Dead Like Me and Men in Trees) and actors M. C. Gainey (Justified and Revolution) and Bryan Callen (In Plain Sight) have joined the cast of the DirecTV series Kingdom, the mixed martial arts drama that will star Frank Grillo (The Gates and Captain America franchise), Matt Lauria (Friday Night Lights) and Kiele Sanchez (The Glades). Robinson will play Allison, a charming and ultimately ruthless woman looking to go into business with MMA gym owner Alvey (Grillo). Stevenson and Gainey will play the parents of Ryan Wheeler (Lauria), a world-class athlete who had it all, including Lisa Prince (Sanchez), until his spiraling drug addiction landed him in prison. Callen will play Garo, a fight promoter who is a little “street” but also a savvy businessman. (Michael Ausiello at TV Line and The Hollywood Reporter)

Actor Raza Jaffrey (Smash) will show up on Elementary this fall, playing Andrew, Joan Watson’s (series lead Lucy Liu) new boyfriend. (Natalie Abrams at TV Guide)

Legendary actor Ben Kingsley will star in the Spike TV event series Tut, playing Ay, the Grand Vizier to King Tutankhamun, who wields tremendous power and influence as the top advisor to the young Egyptian ruler. (The Futon Critic)

Actress Kristen Connolly (House Of Cards) has landed a series regular role on the ABC thriller The Whispers, replacing Brianna Brown (Devious Maids and Graceland), who played the role in the pilot but exited the drama in June. The series focuses on an unseen force that is manipulating society’s most innocent – our children – to act in favor of its cause. Connolly will play Lena Lawrence. (The Deadline Team)

Veteran actor William Sadler will appear in the new fall drama The Flash, playing ruthless CEO Simon Stagg. (Twitter and Dark Horizons)

Actress Keisha Castle-Hughes (Whale Rider) will appear in next season’s Game of Thrones as one of three daughters of slain Oberyn Martell. (New Zealand Herald and Blastr)

LIVE TV SPECIAL

Legendary actor Christopher Walken will play Captain Hook in the planned Peter Pan live musical special set for this fall on NBC. (James Hibberd at Entertainment Weekly)

DEVELOPMENT NEWS

The cable network Pivot has announced their first original scripted drama called Fortitude that will star fan favorite actor Stanley Tucci. The 12-episode series will tell the story of the small, Arctic town of Fortitude whose peaceful existence is shattered after a brutal and shocking murder. Sheriff Dan Anderssen (Richard Dormer from Game of Thrones) leads the investigation and is forced to work alongside DCI Morton (Tucci), a detective who’s flown into Fortitude. As the search for the killer progresses, the list of suspects – and suspicions – grows. The cast will include Michael Gambon (Harry Potter), Christopher Eccleston (Thor: The Dark World and The Leftovers), Sofie Grabol (The Killing) and Jessica Raine (Call the Midwife). (The Futon Critic)

AMC has given a straight-to-series order to the new drama Badlands that will be very loosely based on the Chinese tale “Journey to the West”. It will tell the story of a great warrior and a young boy who embark on a journey across a dangerous land to find enlightenment. (James Hibberd at Entertainment Weekly)

The USA Network has given a pilot order to the drama Mr. Robot that will center on a young programmer named Elliot, who suffers from a debilitating anti-social disorder and decides that he can only connect to people by hacking them. He wields his skills as a weapon to protect the people he cares about. Elliot will find himself in the intersection between a cybersecurity firm he works for and the underworld organizations that are recruiting him to bring down corporate America. (Lesley Goldberg at The Hollywood Reporter)

TV TRAILER

BOX OFFICE NEWS

Actress Rose Leslie (Game of Thrones and Downton Abbey) has landed the female lead role opposite Vin Diesel in the upcoming box office film called The Last Witch Hunter that will find Diesel playing a semi-immortal witch hunter wandering the streets of modern New York City who is forced to partner with his natural enemy, a female witch (Leslie). The two must stop a villainous witch queen from obtaining a relic and unleashing plague upon humanity. (Heat Vision and Dark Horizons)

Here are the top 10 box office films courtesy of Box Office Mojo:

1. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes – 73 million
2. Transformers: Age of Extinction – 16.5 million
3. Tammy – 12.9 million
4. 22 Jump Street – 6.7 million
5. How to Train Your Dragon 2 – 5.8 million
6. Earth to Echo – 5.5 million
7. Deliver Us From Evil – 4.7 million
8. Maleficent – 4.1 million
9. Begin Again – 2.9 million
10. Jersey Boys – 2.5 million

That’s it. Enjoy!