Rueben's Ramblings

Hey All,

Here are the news items for this past week:

TELEVISION

Actor Chris Chalk (12 Years A Slave) has been cast as Lucius Fox, the resident genius at Wayne Enterprises, on Gotham while Jada Pinkett Smith will be gone from the show at the end of the first season, as she only “signed (on) for a year”). (Nellie Andreeva and Lisa de Moraes at Deadline)

Actress Rachel Skarsten (Lost Girl) will appear as Queen Elizabeth, Mary’s cousin on Reign. She will appear in the season two finale and then become a series regular in season three of the show. (Carissa Pavlica at TV Fanatic)

Syfy has given their new thriller series 12 Monkeys a second season order. (Carissa Pavlica at TV Fanatic)

The CW has canceled the dramedy Hart of Dixie after four seasons with the series finale set to air on March 27. (Tierney Bricker and Sydney Bucksbaum at E! Online)

Actress Izabella Miko (Clash of the Titans and Coyote Ugly) will have a recurring role on Chicago Fire, playing Katya, a sexy, alluring, and flirtatious stripper from Eastern Europe who dreams of a future beyond working at a club but gets in a dark situation. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)

Actress Tania Raymonde (Lost and Chicago Fire) will have a recurring role (that could become permanent) on the TNT drama The Last Ship that returns for its second season this summer. She will play Domino, a genius, edgy and attractive hacker who has lived off the grid and will become an asset to the crew of the ship. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)

Actor Dylan Walsh (Nip/Tuck and Unforgettable) will have a recurring guest role on NCIS: New Orleans, playing Sheriff Jim Lemieux, a friend of Special Agent Dwayne Pride (series lead Scott Bakula) and a lifelong law enforcement officer in the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)

Actress Kerry Washington (Scandal) will appear in the upcoming HBO telefilm called Confirmation that will focus on the scandal surrounding Clarence Thomas’ appointment to the U.S. Supreme Court. Washington will play Anita Hill. (Kimberly Roots at TV Line)

Actress Lauren Bowles (True Blood) will guest star in an upcoming episode of Scandal, appearing as the sister of Mellie Grant (series regular Bellamy Young). (Lesley Goldberg at The Hollywood Reporter)

TV TRAILERS

Finding Carter

DEVELOPMENT NEWS

Actress Callie Thorne (Rescue Me) has joined the cast of the TNT drama pilot Breed that tells the wild and chilling story of a series of brutal murders in the Pacific Northwest and the mysterious race of creatures who may be committing them. Thorne will play Emme Haladjian, the beautiful, charismatic, highly-accomplished prosecutor whose appearance hides her vicious secrets, and the danger she poses to Cooper and the city. (Denise Petski at Deadline)

ONLINE SERIES

Netflix has given a season three order to The Fall that stars Gillian Anderson (The X-Files) and Jamie Dornan (Fifty Shades of Gray and Once Upon a Time). (Nancy Tartaglione at Deadline)

ONLINE SERIES TRAILER

BOX OFFICE NEWS

Here are the top 10 box office films from this past weekend courtesy of Box Office Mojo:

1. Chappie – 13.3 million
2. Focus – 10 million
3. The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel – 8.6 million
4. Kingsman: The Secret Service – 8.3 million
5. The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water – 7 million
6. Fifty Shades of Grey – 5.6 million
7. McFarland, USA – 5.3 million
8. The Lazarus Effect – 5.1 million
9. The DUFF – 4.9 million
10. Unfinished Business – 4.8 million

BOX OFFICE TRAILER

Q&A SECTION (with Michael Ausiello at TV Line)

Question: Revenge is on fire this season! Do you have any scoop? —Julius

Ausiello: I don’t think you realize how perfect your question is, Julius. Episode 20, appropriately titled “Aftermath,” deals with the fallout from a devastating fire at a yet-unknown Hamptons residence. What I do know, however, is that both Emily and David will try to enter the home looking for answers — and they’ll both be turned away by the authorities.

Question: Do you have any scoop on the season finale of Grimm or anything for the episode(s) leading up to the finale? —Jordan

Ausiello: Co-creator David Greenwalt promises that the next few episodes will show us “Juliette like you’ve never ever seen her, and the captain like you’ve never ever seen him. Just wild stuff.” “Wild” as in “we once hooked up and now we’re moving toward it again?,” we wonder. “Always a possibility between those two,” co-creator James Kouf cagily allows.

BONUS SCOOP: The soon-to-arrive new prince, Kenneth, “is much more direct” than Viktor, Greenwalt says. And the recently added Royal and Adalind “have a very funny connection” that “goes to a place you won’t see coming,” Kouf adds.

Question: I would love some Scandal scoop! —Kyle

Ausiello: Hopefully this guy digs Girls, because I’ve got Guillermo Diaz dishing best he can on Lena Dunham’s mystery role, airing later this month. “She’s really sassy,” is all he would say about Dunham character. As for the guest star herself, “She got used to speaking really fast, like we do on the show, very easily,” Huck’s portrayer reports. “She’s a huge fan of Scandal, and we’re all a big fan of Girls, so it was exciting to have her on set.”

Question: Is there any scoop you can share on Scandal? —Logan

Ausiello: If you thought that Virginia senator Susan Ross — regardless of her bout of foot-in-mouth — was a shoo-in to replace Andrew as VP, think again. As POTUS himself, Tony Goldwyn, tells us, “There are real complications about Susan Ross. So, I can’t say that it’s a done deal. When we last left Fitz, that was his decision [to pick her], but it might not be as easy as it seems.”

Question: Do we have any idea who knocked up Once Upon a Time’s Maleficent? —Andrew

Ausiello: Series co-creator Eddy Kitsis says that the baby daddy will be revealed, “If there is one.” Meaning? Meaning, he notes, “This is a show where dwarves are hatched from an egg.”

Question: I’m looking for some Merry Men scoop! Any info on either Once Upon a Time‘s Will Scarlett or Robin Hood? –Brittani

Ausiello: During this second half of Season 4, “We’ll get a look at a bit of the past between Will Scarlett and Robin Hood,” co-creator Adam Horowitz shares. “We’ll learn they had adventures both in and out of Sherwood Forest. And no look at the Merry Men would be complete without a return of the Sheriff of Nottingham.”

Question: Do you have any info at all on the upcoming season of Suits? —Jack

Ausiello: While Mike and Rachel’s engagement doesn’t mean we’re in for “the season of wedding planning,” the upcoming nuptials “will bring up issues in their relationship,” executive producer Aaron Korsh previews. On a different front for the couple, “[Rachel’s father] Robert Zane is going to become involved in a legal case with Mike and that’s going to have some impact on all of their relationships with each other.”

BONUS SCOOP: The show is looking for an actress in her late 30s to early 60s to play Harvey’s new, no-nonsense shrink.

Question: Got anything on Arrow? —April

Ausiello: Ra’s al Ghul’s offer to Oliver to replace him as the leader of the League of Assassins will shake things up for his daughter Nyssa in a big way. “She’s no longer heir to the demon,” notes her portrayer, Katrina Law. “She no longer has her lover, who I’m sure she was thinking about keeping around forever. She’s essentially lost everything. For the first time in her life, she is vulnerable and she feels weak and useless; it’s very jarring. You’re going to see Nyssa trying to figure out who she is and what she stands for now.” And that journey could lead her to find an ally in fellow daddy issues-plagued Laurel. Teases Law: “The two of them may have more in common than Nyssa originally thought.”

Question: Obsessed with Jane the Virgin. Any scoop on this season’s final episodes? —Caroline

Ausiello: Mean Girl alert! Season 1’s penultimate episode will mark the introduction of Jane’s beyotch of a high school nemesis Stephanie, and sources confirm to me exclusively that Mariah Buzolin of All My Children and (ha!) Jane by Design fame has snagged the role.

Question: I’d love to read anything new you have for Castle! Please?! –M.

Mitovich: This is a bit interesting: I asked showrunner David Amann – on behalf of a reader, maybe? I forget – if there might ever be an episode that pits the men against the women, sort of how that one Lisa Edelstein episode did, but sticking with the regular cast. Think: Beckett, Lanie, Gates and Tori (and you could even throw in Alexis) vs. Castle, RySpo and a reluctant Perlmutter. And Amann said, “There may be something like that, where there’s a different configuration to the investigative team that emphasizes a couple of the women. That’s something to look for around [Episode] 21.”

Question: When Haven returns, how is Duke going to handle knowing he’s unleashed all those troubles? –Aimee

Mitovich: As we await word on when Season 5 of the Syfy drama will resume, I hope I can tide you over with this: Presented with your question, executive producer Matt McGuinness answers, “Duke will struggle with the guilt of causing some serious pain to the town, and deal with it in a very Duke way: By being selfish, noble, clever, and brave — in that order.”

Question: Any scoop on Strike Back, Grey’s Anatomy or Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.? –Alamin

Mitovich: I choose SHIELD, and in turn will tease that Drea de Matteo’s “gifted” baddie when we first meet her on Tuesday is a bit more “Edward Scissorhands” than the new promo suggests; Jemma and Bobbi bond some over the “comes with the job” aspect of colleagues lying to each other; and May’s ex (played by Blair Underwood) gives her some guff when they reunite, stemming from an unreturned phone call.

Question: Desperately seeking some Stydia hope on Teen Wolf. Can you give me any? –Mary

Mitovich: I’m not sure if this qualifies as “hope,” but Stiles and Lydia will be spending quite a bit of (platonic) time together in Season 5. “[They’re] at the forefront of … trying figure out the next mystery,” Holland Roden says of her and Dylan O’Brien’s characters. Lydia will also be heavily “involved” with Deputy Parrish, whom she vowed to help at the end of Season 4. In terms of romance, though, exec producer Jeff Davis teases, “She may not end up with the person you think she does at first” — so who knows?

Question: Any news on Teen Wolf‘s new villains or new creatures? –Tom

Mitovich: How about the skinny on Cody Christian (Pretty Little Liars), who’s joining Season 5 as new werewolf Theo? “He’s a lone wolf that comes into Beacon Hills, and he’s got sort of a cloudy, mysterious past,” EP Jeff Davis says. “He’s looking for a pack, and he’s looking to be a part of Scott’s pack. Whether they accept him and whether they trust him is something that’s debated in the first few episodes.”

Question: What are the chances for SmoaknLance happening on Arrow? –Nikki

Mitovich: I like your thinking, giving Laurel’s sad dad some happiness in the form of Felicity’s got-it-going-on mom. And Paul Blackthorne himself noticed that when he tweeted out this selfie of him and Charlotte Ross, “It did seem to go down well!” He thus seconds the “SmoaknLance” idea, saying, “I think that Lance deserves some loving in his life, don’t you? And I think it’d be hilarious. He’d be sitting there across from her at dinner thinking, ‘What is this in front of me?’ and at the same time, ‘Why am I so attracted to what’s in front of me?’ I think it’d be a brilliant couple, because they’re obviously so different yet seemingly so perfect in a crazy way, so I hope it happens.” As for whether it does happen during Ross’ Episode 18 encore, you’ll just have to stay tuned.

Question: Now that Jane the Virgin is back, anything new and fun to share? –Gina

Mitovich: Our interest was piqued after these comical-looking photos of Rafael, his ex and a pooch, so we asked Justin Baldoni what exactly is going on. “There’s a celebrity that comes to stay at the Marbella, and Petra and Rafael are entrusted to watch his dog,” he describes. “You have some Lucy and Desi moments between the two of them. It’s very slapstick. It’s fun.”

That’s it. Enjoy!

Have a great weekend!!