Rueben's Ramblings

Hey All,

Here are the news items for most of this week:

TELEVISION

Actor Eric McCormack and actress Debra Messing will reunite together (they starred on Will & Grace together back in the day) when McCormack makes a guest appearance on Messing’s new drama The Mysteries of Laura, playing her ex-fiancé who also happens to be a murder suspect. (Lauren Piester at E! Online)

The Fosters has been picked up for season three by ABC Family. (The Futon Critic)

Actor Richard Armitage (The Hobbit franchise) will join Hannibal for the show’s third season, playing Francis Dolarhyde (The Tooth Fairy), a serial killer. (Michael Slezak at TV Line)

Veteran actor John Rhys-Davies (The Lord of the Rings franchise) has joined the cast of the upcoming MTV fantasy drama Shannara, based on the popular book series by Terry Brooks. The series follows the Shannara family that is set thousands of years after civilization’s destruction. He will play King Eventine, the grandfather of the lead character. The cast already includes Poppy Drayton (When Calls the Heart, the Hallmark Channel movie), Austin Butler (The Carrie Diaries) and Manu Bennett (Arrow). (Samantha Highfill at Entertainment Weekly)

Actor David Strathairn (Alphas) and actress Janel Moloney (The West Wing) will appear in the episode of The Blacklist that is set to air after the Super Bowl. Strathairn will play the recurring role of The Director, the high-powered and secretive leader of the US National Clandestine Service while Moloney will play Kat Goodson, the elegant, self-confident and cold liaison to the Director of NCS. (Natalie Abrams at Entertainment Weekly)

Actress Lucy Lawless (Xena) and Stuart Townsend (Betrayal and XIII) have joined the cast of the WGN thriller Salem for the show’s second season. Lawless will plays Countess Marburg, one of the last remaining survivors of the legendary line of ancient German witches while Townsend will have the recurring role of English aristocrat Samuel Wainwright, a doctor looking to uncover the secrets of Salem and keep his own from those who would seek to discover them. (The Futon Critic)

Actress Kristen Connolly (House of Cards) and actor Billy Burke (Revolution) will star alongside James Wolk (The Crazy Ones) in the CBS summer drama series Zoo that is based on the James Patterson book. The upcoming series is a global thriller about a wave of violent animal attacks against humans across the planet. As the assaults become more cunning, coordinated and ferocious, a young renegade biologist, Jackson Oz (Wolk), is thrust into the race to unlock the pandemic’s mystery before there’s no place left for people to hide. Connolly will play Jamie, a passionate young journalist intent on uncovering the story behind the mysterious animal behavior she’s been tracking. Burke will play Mitch, a straight-shooting large animal veterinarian who prefers the simple company of animals to navigating the complexities of humans. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)

Actress Allison Scagliotti (Warehouse 13) has joined the cast of the upcoming ABC Family crime drama Stitchers where she will play a computer-science grad student recruited into a secret government agency. (TV Line)

TV TRAILER

Q&A SECTION (with Kristin Dos Santos at E! Online and Michael Ausiello at TV Line)

Question: Super worried about Alison now that she’s in jail. Please tell me my Pretty Little Liars favorite will be okay! – Lauren

Kristin: Sorry, but we mustn’t tell lies. “I heard people are afraid we’re going to kill Alison. And nobody’s safe in our world,” Marlene King spills. “Nobody and that’s just the cost of living in Rosewood. Nobody is safe.”

Question: Please, Outlander scoop! – Kelly

Kristin: The first episode back starts off from Jamie’s (Sam Heughan) point of view, and we will be hearing a bit more of his perspective on things as the series goes on. It’s not just all about Claire. But this is: There’s also a lengthy upcoming sex scene that pretty much rivals the wedding night!

ME: Swoon! Picking my tongue off the floor and I haven’t even seen the scene yet. I’m going to be a mess when I do.

Question: I cannot wait to see my favorite fictional brothers Wentworth Miller and Dominic Purcell reunited on The Flash, so I’ll take any scoop you are willing to share! – Becky

Kristin: We’ve got good news as the Scofield brothers will be stirring up trouble as Captain Cold (Miller) and Heatwave (Purcell) on the CW series for more than one episode. “Everyone’s very happy with what we’re doing. We’re excited and the fact that Wentworth and I are in the show,” Dominic Purcell tells us. “I know that we will be in the finale. Maybe a few more before that. The possibility for us to keep coming back and forth is high.”

Question: Any info on Castle‘s mid-season two-parter, or any other episodes? —Sandra

Ausiello: So much has already been spilled about the February sweeps event, you instead get this: Matt Mitovich chatted up Stana Katic at HBO’s Golden Globes party, and she teased that Rick and Kate are “going to Mars,” as they (separately?) work a case involving “Mars, spacesuits and space travel.” The episode’s ominous title? “The Wrong Stuff.”

Question: I love Scorpion, and I’d love to hear any scoop you have about this show. —Sara

Ausiello: An origin episode is coming! “We’ve talked about doing an episode that takes place entirely in the past, where we’d get to see when Walter met all these guys for the first time and put together the team,” reveals EP Nick Santora. “Backstory is important to us, and we love that fans of the show care about it.”

Question: I’ll settle for any Flash scoop you have. —Mason

Ausiello: Any Flash scoop is yours for the taking. “There’s an unexpected, accidental time travel coming up,” executive producer Andrew Kreisberg previews. “And it is played both for hilarity and darkness. It happens in an episode we’re really excited it — the first Weather Wizard episode with Liam McIntyre” (AKA Episode 15).

Question: Can you give this Original Team Arrow fan anything to look forward to? It really feels as though Diggle and Felicity are getting lost among this push for the “suits.” H.I.V.E.? Andy Diggle? Felicity’s father? Anything? —Trish

Ausiello: On the topic of Felicity’s dad (versus her returning mom), exec producer Marc Guggenheim tells TV Line that unraveling that mystery is something the show will do “probably further down the line,” rather than this season. “That said, if everything goes according to plan, we will learn a little bit more about dad” before Season 3 wraps. “But we haven’t gotten to the episode yet or written the actual scene, so no specific promises.” As for Dig, David Ramsey confirms, “You’ll see me back in the Arrow suit” after Oliver turns up missing. That same bleak twist also will raise the question, “‘Why does the team stay together?’ If we stay together. This crusade that began with Oliver has become our crusade, but why? What does Oliver mean to me? Why do I love this guy? Some of those questions will be answered during this emotional examination.”

Question: Any Revenge scoop? — Neil

Ausiello: Brace yourself, Neil… As Revenge showrunner Sunil Nayar revealed to TV Line last month, Ben’s ex-wife will soon be making an appearance in the Hamptons — and now, I’ve got more scoop: Her name is April, and she’s currently working as a waitress at a diner. Described as “pretty-but-scrappy,” she’s become quite independent since splitting from her ex. But the question remains: How will she re-enter Ben’s life?

Question: Bridget Regan’s “No. 1 fan” here, hoping you can tell something about her Agent Carter role! —Bill

Ausiello: The White Collar/Jane the Virgin actress debuts this Tuesday as Dottie Underwood, “another one of these kind of softly spoken women who comes along and starts to have a relationship with Peggy,” says Hayley Atwell. “But the thing with Peggy is that she can’t really get close to a lot of the people that are living and working outside of her secret life, so we see her struggling to really want to form intimacy with these women…. You see that she’s kind of missing out on being girly.”

Question: Ugh! I just binge-watched the first two seasons of Orphan Black and was reeling when I found out I would have to wait until April to see more of my favorite clones. Anything you can tell us about Cosima’s fate? Or what will become of Helena? Or scoop on the freaky-looking dude clone doing pull-ups? —Reva

Ausiello: Sarah and that freaky-looking dude AKA Rudy/Scarface are going to have an antagonistic relationship, especially given that he has the 411 on Project Leda while Sarah’s only just learned about Castor. “He knows who he’s talking to,” portrayer Ari Millen says of their confrontation. “He knows her story. And he knows why she’s there. He’s not giving her anything. He’s just going to play the game. He’s just going to have a good time.”

Question: Have you got any exciting spoilers from Grimm? I’ll take anything! —Larsen

Ausiello: Remember how Hank sorta easily accepted the fact that Wesen exist? Don’t expect the same reaction from Wu, portrayer Reggie Lee says, even once the sergeant has fully absorbed the idea. “How he deals with it now, and how [the gang] deal with him, is going to flesh out the next several episodes,” Lee tells TV Line, adding, “It’s so unlike anybody else that has gone through this situation on the show.”

Question: I want to know more about Sadie and Avery working together on Nashville. Please tell me this isn’t going to be a problem for him and Juliette. —Christine

Ausiello: I’ll let Laura Benanti field that one, Christine. “They have a good energy together,” she tells TV Line, but “it’s not romantic. I go on Twitter, and people are like, ‘Leave him alone!’ Everybody, calm down. Men and women can be in a room and no one’s genitals have to touch. It happens in real life.” Their “purely business” arrangement (you’ll remember that Avery is helping produce the new Highway 65 artist’s upcoming album) will result in “a very rootsy vibe that is different from what Rayna and Juliette have going on,” she adds. “It’s a little more Americana, which I appreciate.”

Question: Is Syfy’s 12 Monkeys worth watching? —Janet

Ausiello: Yep. If you’ve seen the 1995 movie, the new series is different enough that it’ll hold your interest. And if you haven’t, the show’s twisty take on time travel — as well as the chemistry between Suits‘ Amanda Schull, who plays a virologist, and Nikita‘s Aaron Stanford, as a man trying to avert a global plague — will quickly pull you in.

That’s it. Enjoy!