Rueben's Ramblings

Hey All,

Here are the news items for the past week:

TELEVISION

FOX has cut the episode order for Minority Report to 10 episodes. (Variety)

FX has renewed Tyrant for a third season. (Variety)

AMC has renewed Halt and Catch Fire for a third season. (Variety)

Blindspot has received a full season order by NBC. (Deadline)

Rosewood has been an order for 3 more scripts. (Deadline)

Actor Francois Arnaud (The Borgias) has landed a recurring role on Blindspot, playing a mysterious character from Jane’s (series lead Jaimie Alexander) past. Also actor Lou Diamond Phillips (Longmire) will recur in the series as Saúl Guerrero, a feared criminal and pivotal character from Bethany Mayfair’s (series regular Marianne Jean-Baptiste) past that will send shock waves through the FBI. (Denise Petski at Deadline)

Four actors have been added to the cast of Marvel’s Agent Carter, which will return for a second season on ABC later this season. They include actresses Wynn Everett (The Newsroom) and Lotte Verbeek (Outlander) and actors Currie Graham (Pompeii) and Reggie Austin (Devious Maids). Everett will play the storied Marvel comics character Whitney Frost, a Hollywood actress and brilliant inventor; Verbeek will play Ana Jarvis, the free-spirited wife of Edwin Jarvis (series regular James D’Arcy), who immediately befriends Peggy (series lead Hayley Atwell) and helps her to adjust to life in Los Angeles; Graham will play Whitney’s husband Calvin Chadwick, a high-powered businessman and Austin will play Jason Wilkes, a quirky yet charismatic scientist who instantly charms Peggy. (Denise Petski at Deadline)

Actor Carl Lumbly (Alias) will recur on the upcoming NBC spin-off series Chicago Med, playing the recurring role of Bert, husband to Sharon (series regular S. Epatha Merkerson), who is the head of Gaffney Chicago Medical Center, where much of the show’s action takes place. Chicago Med premieres November 17. (Vlada Gelman at TV Line)

Actress Scottie Thompson will be back as Jeanne Benoit on NCIS. (Matt Mitovich at TV Line)

Actor Adrian Pasdar (Heroes and The Lying Game) will guest star in an upcoming episode of the new FOX drama Rosewood, playing Dr. Derek Foster, whom Rosewood and Det. Villa suspect of killing two of his patients. (Rebecca Iannucci at TV Line and Entertainment Weekly)

Actor Paul Reubens (aka PeeWee Herman) will appear on the FOX drama Gotham as the father of Oswald Cobblepot (aka the Penguin). (The Futon Critic via New York Comic Con)

ONLINE SERIES NEWS

Actress Tricia Helfer (Battlestar Galactica) has joined the cast of the Playstation series Powers, playing the recurring role of FBI Special Agent Lange, who, like the comic book character, shares a history and palpable sexual tension with Detective Walker (series lead Sharlto Copley). (Denise Petski at Deadline)

Q&A SECTION (with Matt Mitovich at TV Line)

Question: What is Arrow‘s Diggle willing to do to find the truth about Andy’s death? Will flashbacks with Andy parallel his current life (as Oliver’s tend to)? –Ann

Mitovich: First of all, the possibility of there being Diggle/Andy flashbacks this season is currently at “maybe,” executive producer Marc Guggenheim says, and there’s a reason for that. “In Season 1, we broke format and did a flashback from Moira’s perspective, in Episode 21. That worked out so well, we did more non-island flashbacks in Season 2,” he explains. And that worked so well, we thought, ‘Let’s do more in Season 3’ — but for my money, we ended up doing too many. Every time you did a non-island or non-Hong Kong Flashback, you stop that story so it prevents that story from gaining momentum.” As such, the first flashback to break away from format this season won’t happen until Episode 8.

Question: Any scoop about Felicity’s father on Arrow? –Sara

Mitovich: Like, whether we’ll learn any information about the elusive figure now that Donna Smoak’s visit has been extended? “We’re hoping,” executive producer Wendy Mericle responds. Adds EP Marc Guggenheim: “We’re always talking about it, but we have to find the right story and the right moment. We trust that it will come to us when it’s meant to come to us.” Maybe it’s a good thing the daddy issues haven’t come up yet, because funny Felicity is back “with a vengeance” in Season 4, Guggenheim reports. “[Emily Bett Rickards is] on the top of her game. She’s hysterical. We’re definitely writing jokes for her, but she’s also finding humor in lines that weren’t intentionally humorous.”

Question: We know that Castle‘s Vikram Singh is a tech guy, and he’ll be working with the 12th Precinct. I was wondering if we’re going to see Tory (played by Maya Stojan) again. Is she still at the 12th? –Michelle

Mitovich: “Unfortunately, we might not be seeing Tory” any time soon, co-showrunner Terence Paul Winter reports. As Alexi Hawley explains, “Adding Vikram (as the 12th’s new digital investigator) takes that slot a bit, and because he serves a bigger storyline” — helping Beckett hunt down LOCKSAT — “it’s more productive for us to use him.” But speaking of recurring characters, I do have good news for Inside Line e-mailer Sarah: You’ll “definitely” be seeing Dr. Perlmutter again.

Question: I’m dying for a scoop on the Bones and Sleepy Hollow crossover event. –Cordell

Mitovich: In addition to all that we have reported thus far, the official Fox synopsis for the Oct. 29 event says that in the Bones hour, titled “The Resurrection in the Remains,” Brennan, Booth, Abbie and Ichabod must figure out how to work together to discover the identity of a 200-year-old headless corpse and how it is linked to a contemporary murder victim. Then in the Sleepy Hollow half, “Dead Men Tell No Tales,” Pandora unleashes a force to awaken the dangerous Red Coat General Howe, forcing the two teams of crime solvers to find a way to save the titular town from the British Army of the Undead. “Can the power of Booth and Brennan combined with Abbie and Crane be enough to stop Pandora’s evil forces?”

Question: Loved the season premiere of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Do you have any scoop on what or who is chasing Simmons on that other planet? –Michela

Mitovich: You will get some answers about Jemma’s otherworldly predicament this Tuesday, though I must warn you: The episode’s cold open, which is set a long time ago, will leave you fearing the very worst for Fitz’s “lost” love. Also in the surprisingly eventful Week 2: Ward kicks a whole lotta ass and you will learn what skill May excelled at when she was a young girl. Any guesses?

Question: The Quantico twist that has me most curious so far is the twins (played by Yasmine Al Massri). Any scoop on what that is all about? –Meaghan

Mitovich: Nimah and Raina aka the twins-posing-as-one “were one of the very first things I thought about [when creating Quantico],” showrunner Josh Safran told me. And though the double take may seem far-fetched, Safran says, “It’s based on a KGB tactic that was used during the Cold War as a way to…. Um, I actually don’t want to say any more, because I was about to give it away! But you will discover why they were recruited, and it is very integral to the plot.”

Question: Will we be seeing Lily back on Once Upon a Time this season? –Aidy

Mitovich: Like Eion Bailey’s August, who also was in the mix as Season 4 came to a close, Lily (played by Agnes Bruckner) is theoretically “hanging out there somewhere [in Storybrooke],” series co-creator Adam Horowitz tells me. “We have a plan to pick up her story, though it’s not going to be right away. It may be the second half [of Season 5].”

Question: Will Once Upon a Time‘s 100th episode be the conclusion of the [Dark Swan] arc, or will it be more of a retrospective clip episode? –Linda

Mitovich: The ABC series’ milestone hour in fact will kick off Season 5B in the spring.

That’s it. Enjoy!