Rueben's Ramblings

Hey All,

Here are the news items for this past week:

TELEVISION

Actor Travis Van Winkle (The Last Ship) will guest star in an episode of Scorpion this fall, playing Ensign Nathan Hall, who gets trapped with Walter (series lead Elyes Gabel), Happy (series regular Jadyn Wong) and Cabe (series regular Robert Patrick) in a downed submarine and must figure out how to escape before they run out of air. (Natalie Abrams at Entertainment Weekly)

Actress Pamela Reed (Parks and Recreation) will guest star in an episode of NCIS: Los Angeles, playing Marty Deeks (series regular Eric Christian Olsen) mom. (Matt Mitovich at TV Line and Entertainment Weekly)

Actor Matt Cohen (Supernatural) will have a recurring role on How To Get Away With Murder, playing Levi, an edgy working class guy, who will be introduced in the second episode. (Denise Petski on Deadline)

Actress Brit Morgan (True Blood) has been cast as DC Comics villain Leslie Willis aka Livewire on this fall’s Supergirl. (Laura Prudom at Variety)

Actress Rutina Wesley (True Blood) has landed a recurring role on Arrow, playing Liza Warner (aka Lady Cop), who will play a spin on the character, as she will be a member of the anti-vigilante task force. Also, actor Matt Ryan will reprise his role of John Constantine on the show to provide critical support to Oliver (series lead Stephen Amell) when arrows aren’t enough. And, actress Elysia Rotaru (Supernatural and iZombie) will play a new love interest for Oliver – but have no fear Olicity fans – she will only be featured in flashbacks as someone from his past. (Natalie Abrams at Entertainment Weekly and Laura Prudom at Variety)

Pop singer Britney Spears will be appear as an arch nemesis to Rogelio on Jane the Virgin when it returns this fall for season two. (Carissa Pavlica at TV Fanatic)

Actress Annabeth Gish will reprise her role of Agent Reyes in the upcoming The X-Files event series. (Carissa Pavlica at TV Fanatic)

TNT has renewed The Last Ship for a third season. Meanwhile, Showtime has renewed Ray Donovan and Masters of Sex for another season each. (Variety)

Actors Jay Karnes (The Shield) and Brendan Coyle (Downton Abbey) will appear in the second season of the Syfy series 12 Monkeys. Karnes will recur as a savvy FBI agent in the 1940s named Robert Gale, who believes a series of grisly murders may have something to do with a man named James Cole (series lead Aaron Stanford), an outsider who Gale suspects might not be from this time. Coyle will appear as Dr. Benjamin Kalman, a former Markridge bio-engineer racked with guilt over the deadly virus his team gave birth to. Also, actor Michael Hogan (Battlestar Galactica) will play Dr. Vance Eckland, a charismatic and intelligent scientist from the future. (Natalie Abrams at Entertainment Weekly)

Actor Adrian Pasdar (Heroes) and Kathryn Morris (Cold Case) will appear in the new USA Network series Colony, as Nolan and Charlotte, a married power couple. (Laura Prudom at Variety)

Actress Jaime Ray Newman (Drop Dead Diva and Grimm) will play a series regular on the upcoming ABC anthology crime drama Wicked City that will focus on a case from a different era in Los Angeles. The first season will follow a 1982 murder case centered on the rock ’n’ roll, drug-fueled Sunset Strip. Newman will play Allison Roth (there are no other details on her character). (Denise Petski at Deadline)

Actress Torrey DiVitto (Pretty Little Liars and The Vampire Diaries) has been cast in the new NBC drama Chicago Med where she will play Dr. Lilly Manning, a pregnant ER physician on Chicago Med, the highly anticipated Chicago Fire spinoff that will begin airing on NBC. Also, actress Rachel DiPillo (Jane the Virgin) has joined the cast of the show, playing Dr. Reese, an emergency room intern fresh out of medical school. (Carissa Pavlica at TV Fanatic and Kate Stanhope at The Hollywood Reporter)

Actor Gabriel Mann (Revenge) will appear in The Mysteries of Laura, playing Shane Parker, a charismatic entrepreneur who co-founded a billion dollar nano-tech company. (Andy Swift at TV Line)

Actors Jesse Metcalfe (Dallas and Desperate Housewives) and Treat Williams (Everwood) have been cast in the upcoming Hallmark Channel series Chesapeake Shores based on the books by Sherryl Woods.  (Facebook)

MADE-FOR-TV MOVIE NEWS

Sugarland lead singer Jennifer Nettles and actors Gerald McRaney (Longmire) and Ricky Schroder (Silver Spoons alum) have joined the cast of the upcoming Dolly Parton NBC TV movie called A Coat of Many Colors. The telefilm will be set in 1955 in the Tennessee Great Smokey Mountains centered on the legendary country singer’s life as a 9-year-old. Nettles will play Avie Lee (Parton’s mother); Schroder will play Lee (Parton’s dad) and McRaney will play Jake Owens (Parton’s grandfather). (Kate Stanhope at The Hollywood Reporter)

Singer-songwriter Ne-Yo and actors Elijah Kelley (Hairspray), Common (Hell on Wheels) and David Alan Grier (In Living Color) have joined the cast of the upcoming NBC TV live production of The Wiz. Ne-Yo will play the Tin Man; Kelley will play the Scarecrow; Common will portray the gatekeeper to Oz and Grier will play the Cowardly Lion. (Lesley Goldberg at The Hollywood Reporter)

BOX OFFICE NEWS

Actor Tobias Menzies (Outlander) has landed a major role in the upcoming Underworld V film that will find Kate Beckinsale back in the lead role. Menzies will play Marius, a mysterious new Lycan leader. (Mike Fleming, Jr. at Deadline)

Q&A SECTION (with Michael Ausiello at TV Line and Natalie Abrams at Entertainment Weekly)

Question: Is there going to be a time jump when Castle returns? If so, how long? —Gabi

Ausiello: “Only a few months” will have passed since the events of the Season 7 finale, co-showrunner Alexi Hawley says. And that’s not even to mention the new little one Ryan and Jenny have on the way.

Question: What information can you give us on the upcoming season of NCIS? —Marsha

Ausiello: This much you probably know: With Gibbs having been shot, “The premiere picks up right at that moment, and [guest star] Jon Cryer is coming in to do his darnedest to save Gibbs’ life,” Brian Dietzen shared with Matt Mitovich. But this next bit is probably news to the NCIS faithful: “Jimmy Palmer is some of the glue that keeps the characters together — meaning he’s the confidant, he’s the friend,” Dietzen reminds. “But by the end of the year, his friendships versus his professional obligations are really going to be tested, specifically with DiNozzo. That friendship will be super-tested.”

Question: How will Arrow’s Captain Lance and Laurel react to Sara returning, again? —Jake

Ausiello: Frankly, it could be the last thing Sara’s family needs! “Thanks to Laurel helping him see the light at the end of last season, Lance is back on the wagon for now, trying to keep on the straight and narrow,” Paul Blackthorne previews. “But that will of course be tested when Sara comes back from the dead. Because I think when your daughter’s coming back from the dead, she may not necessarily come back as quite the same person. Yeah, that’s going to be an issue for the family to deal with!’

Question: Any scoop on how The Flash‘s Wally will be related to the Wests? Brother? Cousin? And how he will appear on the show? —Cilla

Ausiello: It sounds like the spinoff will be putting its own twist on Keiynan Lonsdale’s junior speedster when it returns on Oct. 6. “We are a doing our special Flash magic where we take a comic book character and give it just a little bit of a ‘Hmmm,’ so that you’re like, “Oh!” showrunner Gabrielle Stanton says. And while she’s mum on specifics, Stanton did tease that Wally will be incorporated “in a really, really cool way… that I don’t think the audience will see coming. He will definitely have a very interesting and close relationship with Team Flash.”

Question: The Flash scoop, please! —Tatiana

Ausiello: Arrow addicts may recall Cisco and Caitlin making mention of ex-S.T.A.R. Labs employee Doctor Light when they first appeared in Season 2’s “The Man Under the Hood.” Turns out, that was some stealthy foreshadowing. Stanton tells us that the metahuman will turn up this season on The Flash — but “it’s going to be the female version” of the character.

Question: I spent the entire weekend catching up on Jane The Virgin, and I need some scoop! —Dominic

Ausiello: Just as Jane’s pregnancy served as the CW dramedy’s main storytelling engine last year, Season 2 will have an equally compelling A-story. Or two. “There’s definitely a long-term mystery that has to do with Sin Rostro,” executive producer Jennie Urman previews, adding that the season will be “building” to Jane’s wedding — but to whom? “She makes a choice in the first five [episodes]. Whether that’s the choice or a choice, I can’t say,” Urman teases of Jane’s Rafael-Michael dilemma. “We play a little bit [with the] who, and then she realizes who she wants to be with at this moment.”

Question: I’m excited for the new Prison Break series, but I still don’t quite understand how they’re going to get around the fact that Michael is dead. Any insight? —Ed

Ausiello: According to star Dominic Purcell, “When you see it, it makes perfect sense… It’s justified.”

Question: I’m psyched that Constance Zimmer is getting more work, but I’m also a huge UnREAL fan — please tell me that her S.H.I.E.L.D. gig won’t affect my new favorite show! —Janna

Ausiello: I’m happy to report that won’t be the case. “She’s committed to us and the show,” UnREAL boss Marti Noxon says. But here’s the bummer: The reason the double-duty won’t be a problem is because the Lifetime dramedy probably isn’t going to start shooting “until next spring,” Noxon laments.

Question: I was wondering if you have any new Downton Abbey scoop. —Kristen

Ausiello: I do! Michelle Dockery tells us that Mary will be in “business mode” when the sixth and final season bows in January, adding that her perpetually messy “romantic life” takes a backseat, initially. “She’s taken on the role of the estate agent because Branson’s left, so she’s a working girl. She’s not really actively looking for anyone.” Well, not until Matthew Goode’s Henry Talbot re-enters the picture. “He comes back into her life [and] it’s complicated as it always is,” Dockery shares. “It’s never plain sailing in her love life.”

Question: Any FitzSimmons spoilers for Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. please? — ditchthel

Natalie: You won’t have to wait very long to find out what happened to Simmons. However, you might not be happy about what Chloe Bennet told me in regards to the search for their missing team member. “There’s been such a big time gap, so one of the main focuses is that some of the characters have almost — not given up, but have been like, ‘We’ve tried everything,’” Bennet says, noting that Fitz will still hold the candle of hope: “Fitz is that one person who’s like, ‘Not everything!’”

Question: Do you have any scoop on Heroes Reborn? — June

Natalie: This is just a theory, but the more I hear about Kiki Sukezane’s character Miko, the more I think she’s Hiro’s daughter — yes, it’s only been five years, but he’s a time traveler, so what if she’s his daughter from the future? “I’m not going to answer that question, but it’s an interesting theory,” EP Tim Kring told me when I pressed him on her identity. “His sword is in her possession somehow and that’s one of the threads we’re going to follow. She’s searching for her father. You will know the answer to that question in the very first episode.”

Question: If Barbara is over at Arkham, what’s going on with Jim Gordon when Gotham returns? — Kyle

Natalie: He’ll be trying to navigate his new position with the GCPD and his relationship with Leslie in the wake Barbara’s meltdown. “Jim has been demoted so he’s dealing with some stuff,” Morena Baccarin teases. For her part, Leslie is “a little rattled with what happened with the whole Barbara situation. They’re trying to stay steady. It’s good right now, but it seems like there might be some trouble ahead.”

Question: Is Nostradamus returning next season on Reign? — Sheri

Natalie: As exciting as it was to see Nostradamus in the season 2 finale, he’s not coming back for good. “He will be in the series intermittently, but he’s still really pissed at Catherine, so I don’t think he really feels a great desire to be under her thumb again,” showrunner Laurie McCarthy says, adding that he’s “a visitor to court.” However, Queen Elizabeth herself, Rachel Skarsten, revealed to my colleague Samantha Highfill that there will be a surprise return to French court. (And no, it’s not Condé.)

That’s it. Enjoy!