Rueben's Ramblings

Hey All,

Here are the few news items for yesterday:

DEVELOPMENT NEWS

Development of a new potential series is underway based on the best-selling book “Eighty Days: Nellie Bly and Elizabeth Bisland’s History Making Race Around the World” by Matthew Goodman. For those not in the know, Nellie Bly (real name Elizabeth Jane Cochrane), working as a journalist for the New York World newspaper and Cosmopolitan reporter Elizabeth Bisland competed in a trip around the world based on the Jules Verne classic back in 1889. The race started on November 14 with each reporter leaving New York, going the opposite way around the world. They used mainly railroads and steamships, spanning 24,000 miles, reporting along the way and enthralling readers across the globe. Bly won the race, going around the globe in 72 days. (Anita Busch at Deadline)

ME: On a personal note, Nellie Bly spent a portion of her life in my small hometown of Apollo, Pennsylvania before becoming a journalist; and the house where she lived is still standing and is a historical landmark back there.

MINI-SERIES NEWS

Brit actors Olivia Colman (Broadchurch) and Tom Hollander (Pride & Prejudice) will star in the AMC-BBC One co-production The Night Manager alongside Hugh Laurie (House) and Tom Hiddleston (Loki in the Marvel movies). The mini-series is based on the John le Carre novel that follows former British soldier Jonathan Pine (Hiddleston), who is recruited by an intelligence operative named Burr (Colman) to navigate the shadowy recesses of Whitehall and Washington where an unholy alliance operates between the intelligence community and the secret arms trade. To infiltrate the inner circle of lethal arms dealer Richard Onslow Roper (Laurie), which includes an associate named Corcoran (Hollander), Pine must himself become a criminal. (Laura Prudom at Variety)

Actor John Barrowman (Arrow and Torchwood) is developing a mini-series adaptation of The 49th Key, the story by Erika Lewis from a recent issue of fantasy comic magazine Heavy Metal that is based on the 16th century legend of Enochian magic, telling the story of a secret language of angels. It follows a rogue archeologist and a young mute autistic boy on a treacherous journey through England. The boy is the key to a gateway between our world and that of a magical society that exists below the Earth’s surface. Barrowman will executive produce and star. (Heat Vision and Dark Horizons)

BOX OFFICE NEWS

Actors Dan Stevens (Downton Abbey) and Luke Evans (The Hobbit and Dracula Untold) will star alongside Emma Watson (Harry Potter franchise) in the Disney film Beauty and the Beast. Stevens will play the Beast while Evans will play Gaston. Watson will play Belle. (The Hollywood Reporter and Dark Horizons)

That’s it. Enjoy!

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Hey All,

Here are the news items from the last three days:

TELEVISION

Actress Claudia Black (Stargate SG1) will be appearing on The Originals the role of Dahlia, the mysterious aunt of the Mikaelson siblings. (The Hollywood Reporter)

Actor-singer Jeremy Jordan (Smash) will guest star in the upcoming CBS drama Supergirl, playing Winslow “Winn” Schott, a tech-savvy colleague of Kara’s (Melissa Benoist from Glee). (Kimberly Roots at TV Line)

The 10-episode WGN America straight-to-series drama Underground has announced its cast, including Christopher Meloni (Law & Order: Special Victims Unit), Jurnee Smollett-Bell (Friday Night Lights and True Blood), Aldis Hodge (Leverage) and Jessica De Gouw (Arrow and Dracula). This new series will follow a group of slaves, who plan a daring escape from a Georgia plantation to cross 600 miles to freedom, aided along the way by a secret abolitionist couple running a station on the Underground Railroad, as they evade those tasked with bringing them back, dead or alive. Smollett-Bell will play Rosalee, a shy house slave with a powerful inner strength and courage; Hodge will play Noah, a brave and clever slave on the plantation with dreams of freedom and a dangerous plan to escape; Meloni will play August, a secretive mercenary who walks a tightrope between survival and morality and De Gouw will play Elizabeth, a socialite who shares her husband’s abolitionist ideals. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)

Actor Geoff Stults (Enlisted) has landed a multi-episode arc on the summer CBS series Zoo, that is based on the James Patterson book that will star James Wolk as a young renegade biologist, who is thrust into a race to unlock the mystery of why animals are suddenly and violently attacking humans before there’s no place left for people to hide. Stults will play Agent Ben Shafer, a rogue FBI agent who is investigating the wave of bizarre animal attacks, but whose methods and motivation complicate things greatly for our heroes. Also, actor Carl Lumbly (Alias) has also joined the cast of this new show where he will play Delavane, an enigmatic, veteran Interpol agent embedded within the hierarchy of the General Secretariat, who takes matters into his own hands, when faced with what he believes to be a global animal crisis. The series will debut on June 30. (Natalie Abrams at Entertainment Weekly and Denise Petski at Deadline)

Actor Eric Mabius (Ugly Betty) has landed a major recurring role on Chicago Fire, playing Tom Nesbitt, a high-end strip club owner. (Denise Petski at Deadline)

Actor Zachary Quinto (Heroes, The Slap and Star Trek) will guest star in Hannibal, playing a patient of Dr. Bedelia Du Maurier (Gillian Anderson). (Entertainment Weekly and Michael Slezak at TV Line)

Actor James Remar (Dexter and State of Affairs) will be starring in the MTV series The Shannara Chronicles that is being adapted from the Terry Brooks fantasy book series that follows the Shannara family, whose members can tap into ancient magic to help reshape the world’s future. Remar will play Cephelo, the leader of the Rovers, who roam the Four Lands. (Aaron Couch at The Hollywood Reporter)

TV TRAILER

BOX OFFICE NEWS

It looks like a sequel to Independence Day is going to happen with Liam Hemsworth (The Hunger Games franchise), Jessie Usher (Survivor’s Remorse) and original cast member Jeff Goldblum will star. Usher will play the son of Will Smith’s character. (Lily Harrison at E! Online)

Actress Blake Lively (Gossip Girl) and actor Jason Clarke (the upcoming Terminator: Genisys) will star in the upcoming box office film All I See Is You, a new psychological drama that follows a blind woman and her husband who upon restoration of her sight begins to discover previously unseen and disturbing details about themselves, their marriage and their lives. (Ethan Anderton at First Showing)

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

1. Focus – 18.7 million
2. Kingsman: The Secret Service – 11.9 million
3. The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water – 10.8 million
4. Fifty Shades of Grey – 10.6 million
5. The Lazarus Effect – 10.2 million
6. McFarland, USA – 7.8 million
7. American Sniper – 7.4 million
8. The DUFF – 6.9 million
9. Still Alice – 2.7 million
10. Hot Tub Time Machine 2 – 2.4 million

BOX OFFICE TRAILERS

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

Question: I need scoop on The 100! – Claire

Kristin: Tonight is the beginning of the two-part season finale, and Alycia Debnam-Carey, aka Commander Lexa, describes the two episodes in three words: “Hopeful, explosive and thrilling.”

Question: Can you provide some Beauty And the Beast scoop! – Beth

Kristin: Expect one of our four main heroes to end up in the hospital after being severely injured. Like, life-or-death here, people.

Question: This separation of Deacon and Rayna on Nashville is killing me! Please tell me they’re going to get back together and soon! – Alex

Kristin: Although Deacon’s health is deteriorating fast, there’s hope for these two to finally reconcile if only Deacon can bring himself to tell Rayna about his health problems. But you know the saying “when it rains it pours?” Deacon’s about to find out that’s extremely true about good luck. Take that as you will!

Question: Loving Arrow right now. What’s coming up for Thea? – Tess

Kristin: Though it may seem like Thea’s trying to get herself killed by telling Nyssa she killed Sara and then letting the grieving assassin out of her cage, this isn’t the end of her story. “We’re working towards telling a different story with Thea, it won’t always be just her acting out,” executive producer Marc Guggenheim says. “She’s processing a huge amount of guilt and regret. At the end of [episode] 15, she’s essentially attempting suicide by Nyssa. It’s a continuing progression. It won’t just be a repetition of her acting out. In [episode] 16, she looks for closure in another way because spoiler alert, Nyssa’s not going to kill [Thea].”

Question: Anything cool coming up on Arrow? —Julie

Ausiello: The show’s Season 3 finale will introduce a major, formidable, fierce new foe for Oliver, and his reign of terror will continue well into Season 4. The mysterious character is being referred to internally as “Damian Dark,” which got Matt Mitovich and I (but mostly MM) pulling up and skimming the Wiki page of one Damian Wayne. Get it? Damian Wayne. Son of the Dark Knight. They’d probably have to tweak the Bruce Wayne connection, but it’s a plausible theory, no?

UPDATE: Readers better-schooled than Matt Mitovich and I (but mostly MM) notes that Damien Darhk is a H.I.V.E. operative per DC lore, and thus is more likely to be introduced.

Question: Are we going to see ATF Agent Zoe Keates again on NCIS? I really like her and actress Marisol Nichols! —Lori

Ausiello: As a matter of fact yes, I can confirm that 24 alum Nichols will again reprise her role as DiNozzo’s former colleague, in an episode airing this spring.

Question: Any new scoop on NCIS? —Marsha

Ausiello: How about another casting tidbit — and this one’s near and dear to my heart. A Martinez, former star of Santa Barbara, TV’s greatest soap ever and one of my favorite shows ever, will guest-star in a late March episode titled “Patience.” Says EP Gary Glasberg of the ep: “It deals with the mystery surrounding a decades-old airport bombing. When new evidence surfaces, the NCIS team follows a cold clue trail that turns red hot. We were thrilled when A took the role of Orlando. His South American-based character is full of surprises and brings some real twists and turns to the investigation.”

Question: There are rumors going around that the sixth season of Downton Abbey will be its last. Do you have any concrete scoop on this? —Kristen

Ausiello: The actors’ contracts expire at the end of Season 6 and, save for one or two possible exceptions, they want outta there (with Maggie Smith leading the charge). So, short of them being offered $1 million an episode, the show’s done after one more “series” (as they say across the pond).

Question: Anything on Grimm? —Thomas

Ausiello: I hear that the NBC drama is mulling going dark — really, really dark — as it approaches season’s end. Gruesome dark. Death-of-a-major-character dark. (Fill the comments with your guesses on who it might be.)

Question: Do you have any scoop on what’s going with Once Upon a Time’s Hook? —Jessica

Ausiello: Episode 15 (airing March 15) will reveal why the pirate has a quite complicated past with sea witch Ursula — and the nature of it is “far worse” than any romantic indiscretion, says co-creator Eddy Kitsis. “When you think about what would be worse than having your heart broken, I would say having your soul crushed. You’re going to see the entire flashback of what happened, with the origin of Ursula.”

Question: Is Once Upon a Time actually considering a Belle/Hook pairing or are they just keeping the two busy, while Rumple and Emma are busy with the Queens of Darkness? —Linda

Ausiello: No, no, no. They’re not hinting at a Belle/Hook pairing. Belle and Will Scarlett, however, may be a different story, as you’ll see teased this Sunday. As series co-creator Eddy Kitsis notes, Belle and Will, after all, have “a lot in common,” in that “they both fell in love with villains (Rumple and Wonderland’s Red Queen, respectively), and they both hoped that these villains would be redeemed.” And they both were let down. With Rumple banished (as far as Belle knows!) and Anastasia MIA, “Anytime you have your heart broken,” Kitsis says, “you look for a way to smile again.”

Question: Any Once Upon a Time scoop you can share about the infamous Cruella de Vil? –Mason

Ausiello: If you’re wondering how Cruella wound up in Long Island, N.Y. while her previous associates Rumplestiltskin and the Charmings landed in Storybrooke, Maine, co-creator Adam Horowitz promises that in an upcoming episode “all the pieces on the chessboard are laid out,” explaining “who wound up where and why.”

Question: The synopsis for Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Episode 13 says that Cal assembles a team of super-villains. Any idea who they are? —Joseph

Ausiello: As revealed in our Season 2B preview, Cal rounds up other “misfits” on the Index who aren’t happy with S.H.I.E.L.D., including, EP Jeph Loeb says, Karla Faye Gideon, “a dark character” played by The Sopranos’ Drea de Matteo. As such, Coulson would be prudent to keep his guard up. Says Clark Gregg, “[Cal] is not so happy with how their last fight went,” interrupted as it was by daughter Skye/Daisy. “There’s a score he wants to settle.”

Question: On Sleepy Hollow, what is Grace Dixon? Is she a witch? —Reagan

Ausiello: Well, you’ll remember that Jenny and Abbie weren’t activated as witches when Henry rang the enchanted bell, leading us to believe that their colonial ancestor wasn’t part of the Pointy Hat Crew. But to be sure, we asked showrunner Mark Goffman to weigh in on the matter. “Grace was a keeper of witchcraft,” he says, couching his answer by saying that the magic she oversaw “could be of a different type” from the dark mojo Katrina practiced. “That’s something we can learn a lot more about in the future.”

Question: Can I have some Sleepy Hollow scoop, please? —Alexsandra

Ausiello: Remember when Moloch told Henry, “There were horsemen before you, there’ll be horsemen after” (or something to that effect)? Now that Henry is dead — and stripped of his Horseman of War status shortly before that — it’s likely that we’re back to only knowing who one of the four Horsemen of the Apocalypse are. We ran our theory by Goffman, who coyly replied, “That very well could be the case. I think that’s a very astute reading of Moloch’s comment.”

Question: Is it too early to ask for any spoilers for Season 2 of The Last Ship? –Heather

Ausiello: It’s never too early! (Except when it is.) That said, I have learned exclusively that Stephen Monroe Taylor (Anger Management, History’s upcoming Texas Rising mini) is set to recur during Season 2 of the TNT drama as Flea, a captured prisoner who has survived by weaseling his way into safe positions.

That’s it. Enjoy!

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