Rueben's Ramblings

Hey All,

Here are the news items for the past week:

TELEVISION

Actress Laura Vandervoot (Bitten and Smallville) has landed the role of Indigo in the CBS series Supergirl. [Viewers will recall that Vandervoot starred as Kara on Smallville.] Indigo is a living, strong-willed supercomputer that was sentenced to Fort Rozz after turning against the people of Krypton. Now on Earth, Indigo will let nothing stand in her way. Also actor Jeff Branson (The Young and the Restless) will have the recurring role of Master Jailer, the forceful and unrelenting jail guard on Fort Rozz, who showed no mercy. Also now on Earth, he is hell-bent on catching all of the Fort Rozz escapees and brutally bringing them to justice. (Carissa Pavlica at TV Fanatic)

Actors Jim Beaver and Steven Williams will be reprising their roles of Bobby and Rufus (respectively) on Supernatural, appearing in flashbacks. (Samantha Highfill at Entertainment Weekly and TV Line)

Actor Aaron Douglas (Battlestar Galactica) will appear in The Flash as villain The Turtle, a meta-human who can slow time. It turns out that Cisco (series regular Carlos Valdes) has been hunting this villain the entire series, but keeping it secret from Barry (series lead Grant Gustin). (Natalie Abrams at Entertainment Weekly)

Actor B.J. Britt (Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD) has been cast in the Lifetime drama UnREAL as Darius Hill, a professional quarterback who is the first black suitor on the fictitious reality series Everlasting. (The Futon Critic)

Actress Rutina Wesley (True Blood) will star in the OWN original series Queen Sugar, which is about Nova Bordelon, a formidable journalist and activist based in New Orleans, who undergoes a significant change when her sister, Charley, returns to Louisiana from Los Angeles to help run the family sugarcane farm. (The Futon Critic)

Actress Eva Longoria will guest star in the Lifetime drama Devious Maids (for which she is one of the executive producers. She will be joined by former Desperate Housewives’ co-star James Denton, who will have a recurring role in the show’s upcoming fourth season. There are no details as to what role Longoria will play but Denton will play Peter, the charming, confident head of a movie studio who falls hard and fast into a new relationship this season. (Denise Petski at Deadline)

Actor Giles Marini (Switched at Birth) will guest star in an upcoming episode of Teen Wolf on MTV, playing Sebastien, a French soldier who returns home to the countryside of Gévaudan, only to discover that a vicious beast has been terrorizing the people he loves, including his younger sister. (Andy Swift at TV Line)

Veteran actor Danny Glover will guest star in an upcoming episode of Criminal Minds, playing the father of Shemar Moore’s character, who has been long established as dead. It will be interesting to see how that story plays out. (Matt Mitovich at TV Line)

Actress Brooke Shields will guest star in the last two episodes of When Calls the Heart on the Hallmark Channel, playing the mother of Mountie Jack Thornton, an Annie Oakley-type frontier woman who’s well-versed in sharpshooting, horsemanship and the ways of the West. (Riely Haven at Parade Magazine)

Scream Queens has been renewed for a second season by FOX. The network also renewed Empire for a third season. (Variety)

FOX has official announced that Prison Break will return as an event series with Wentworth Miller and Dominic Purcell reprising their roles as brothers Michael Scofield and Lincoln Burrows. No premiere date has been set yet though. Nor have any plot details been released as yet. (Elizabeth Wagmeister at Variety)

Jessica Jones has been given a 13-episode second season renewal by Netflix. (Variety)

Actor Boris Kodjoe (Undercovers and Resident Evil movies) has landed a recurring role on Code Black, playing Dr. Will Campbell, a suave surgeon whose surgical skills and personal charm are only outweighed by his ego. (The Futon Critic)

Actor Matt Cedeno (Days of Our Lives and Devious Maids) will guest star in an upcoming episode of The Originals, playing a callous, smart and manipulative vampire from the Mikaelsons’ past who comes to New Orleans seeking vengeance. (Andy Swift at TV Line)

MADE-FOR-TV MOVIE NEWS

Actress Debra Messing (The Mysteries of Laura) will star opposite Abigail Breslin (Scream Queens) in the 3-hour remake of Dirty Dancing coming to ABC. She will play Marjorie Houseman, mother of Baby (Breslin) and Lisa, a meticulous 1960s housewife who takes great pride in her family and is using their summer vacation to try to rekindle her romance with her workaholic husband. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)

The next NBC live musical franchise movie will be Hairspray, which tells the story of Tracy Turnblad, an overweight Baltimore teen with dreams of landing a spot on a TV dance show and bringing racial integration with her. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)

BOX OFFICE NEWS

Actress Connie Nielsen Connie Nielsen (The Following) has landed the role of Hippolyta, the queen of the Amazons and mother of Princess Diana, aka Wonder Woman, who will be played by Gal Gadot (from the Fast and Furious franchise). The much anticipated Wonder Woman movie will be out in June of 2017. (Justin Kroll at Variety)

Q&A SECTION (with Natalie Abrams at Entertainment Weekly)

Question: Do you know who this Reverse-Flash is that’s popping up on The Flash this season? — Claire

Natalie: Despite theories that he hails from Earth-Two, this actually is the Reverse-Flash we’ve come to know and hate — but with a twist. “Time on our show does not unfold linearly,” EP Andrew Kreisberg says. “Sometimes you’ve seen events from one direction and then you start to see them from the other. This Reverse-Flash is not exactly the Reverse-Flash that we saw disintegrate at the end of the year. It’s a Reverse-Flash from an earlier timeline. It’s not the Earth-Two Reverse-Flash, it’s the Reverse-Flash. That is, hands down, one of our best episodes.”

Question: How will Regina handle facing the people she killed when Once Upon a Time goes to the Underworld? — DJ

Natalie: Though it will be a little overwhelming considering how many lives Regina is responsible for taking, she is ready to face them. “She wants to confront these souls and these people that she has hurt, that she has killed,” Lana Parrilla says. “She’s on the right path, and she’s still on the path of redemption. She still wants to make amends with people and still trying to do the right thing. She’s really embracing the hero within her.”

Question: Anything on Scandal? — Raina

Natalie: In case you missed it, Scandal will be jumping ahead six months, where we’ll find that Fitz is very much alone in the White House — Olivia has moved on, and Mellie is campaigning for presidency. So, how will America feel about a divorced POTUS? “It’s an interesting question that is dealt with,” Tony Goldwyn says. “It is discussed. We don’t know yet what the public response is, but it’s an issue we do talk about.”

Question: Any Blacklist scoop outside of Liz now being a free woman? — Jenny

Natalie: Yeah, Red will soon be in hot water over his suspected connection to the FBI. “There is an episode coming up which shines a light on the way that criminals communicate and network in an odd way,” EP Jon Bokenkamp says. “We posit that perhaps criminals that have business interests aligned would get together and solve differences. There is a really interesting look behind the curtain of the way that Red operates and works with some of his criminal counterparts.”

Question: Elizabeth Henstridge says Jemma’s feelings for Fitz get stronger on Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Anymore scoop on that? — Ditchthel

Natalie: It’s been roughly three months since the events that happened on Maveth, but Simmons is “still in the grieving process,” Elizabeth Henstridge tells me. “She’s experiencing some survivor’s guilt. Fitz has been so supportive throughout the whole thing. She’s going further down that path with him and her feelings. She loves him and wants to be with him. She hasn’t forgotten about Will, but it’s more the guilt she’s carrying. They’re taking things slowly on whether they’re going to get together or not.”

Question: Did any of the Quantico characters we actually care about die in that explosion? — Jayma

Natalie: Bad news, Jenna: Not everyone made it out alive. “There will be people who you know who won’t be a part of this anymore,” Priyanka Chopra reveals, “and that will affect Alex and her friends in a huge way.”

Question: The Factory on Colony does not sound like a fun place to be. Will we get to see what happens there? — Mike

Natalie: Yes, and much sooner than you think. “You’ll learn more about it, for sure,” executive producer Carlton Cuse says. “It’s a little bit like North Korea. If you step out of line, you and your family get sent to reeducation farms and labor camps. That’s a great stick to wield for control.”

That’s it. Enjoy!

Read Full Post »