Rueben's Ramblings

Hey All,

Here are the news items from April 4 through May 15 (excluding the renewals, cancellation and pick-up orders from the major networks that will be reported on over the course of the next few days):

CASTING

Actress Vanessa Williams is joining the cast of The Librarians. (Dean Devlin via Facebook)

Actress Arden Cho will not be returning for the sixth season of Teen Wolf. (Samantha Highfill at Entertainment Weekly)

Actress Lesley Nicol (Mrs. Pattmore on Downton Abbey) has landed a recurring role on the ABC series The Catch. (Denise Petski at Deadline)

Actor Sebastian Roche (The Originals and Supernatural) has landed a recurring role on the Amazon drama series The Man in the High Castle. He will play Reichminister Martin Hausmann, a wealthy, high-ranking Nazi official based in Berlin. (Denise Petski at Deadline)

Actress Diane Farr (Numb3rs and Roswell) will recur on the upcoming Hulu drama Chance that is about a forensic neuropsychiatrist (Hugh Laurie from House), who gets sucked into a world of mistaken identity, police corruption and mental illness. Farr will appear in multiple episodes as Christina, Chance’s resentful ex-wife. (Deadline and Rebecca Iannucci at TV Line)

Actor Ioan Gruffudd (Forever) will recur on the Lifetime drama UnREAL, appearing as John Booth, a tech billionaire with his eye on Quinn (Constance Zimmer). (Variety and Rebecca Iannucci at TV Line)

Actress Joanne Kelly (Warehouse 13) will have a recurring role on the CBS thriller Zoo, playing Allison, the Deputy Secretary of Defense who is actively seeking a solution to the animal crisis and who shares a surprising history with Mitch (Billy Burke). (Matt Mitovich at TV Line)

Actor Echo Kellum has been promoted to series regular on Arrow. (Matt Mitovich at TV Line)

TV NEWS

The Shannara Chronicles was given a second season order by MTV. (Variety)

Underground was been given a second season renewal by WGN America. (Variety)

Girlfriends’ Guide to Divorce was renewed for a third season by Bravo. (Variety)

Fear the Walking Dead was renewed for a third season. (Variety)

Grantchester, the popular crime-fighting clergyman drama was given a third season renewal. (Nancy Tartaglione at Deadline)

Netflix has given a spin-off order for The Punisher (from Daredevil). Jon Bernthal will reprise his role of solider turned vigilante Frank Castle. (Maane Khatchatourian at Variety)

Actor John Krasinski (The Office) has landed the coveted role of the Amazon TV series that will focus on titular literary character Jack Ryan. (Elizabeth Wagmeister at Variety)

The Hulu streaming series The Path has been renewed for season two. (Variety)

BOX OFFICE NEWS

Actor Scott Eastwood (The Longest Ride) and actress Charlize Theron have joined the Fast & the Furious franchise for the next movie Fast 8. (Mike Fleming, Jr. at Deadline)

Actress Alicia Vikander (The Danish Girl) has landed the plum role of Lara Croft in the upcoming reboot of the Tomb Raider franchise. (Justin Kroll at Variety)

Actor Alden Ehrenreich (Beautiful Creatures and Hail Caesar!) has landed the coveted role of Han Solo in the standalone movie that revolves around that famous character. (Variety)

Actress Emilia Clarke (Game of Thrones) and Jack Huston (Ben-Hur and The Longest Ride will star in the upcoming movie thriller Above Suspicion, the chilling true story of a newly married FBI poster boy assigned to an Appalachian mountain town in Kentucky where he is drawn into an illicit affair with an impoverished local woman who becomes his star informant. She sees in him her means of escape; instead, it’s a ticket to disaster for both of them. This scandal shook the foundations of the nation’s top law enforcement agency, ending in the first ever conviction of an FBI agent for murder. (Variety)

MADE-FOR-TV MOVIE NEWS

The following actors have joined the cast of the upcoming live NBC musical event Hairspray: Jennifer Hudson (as Motormouth Maybelle), Harvey Fierstein (as Edna Turnblad), Martin Short (as Wilbur Turnblad) and Derek Hough (Dancing With the Stars) as Corny Collins. (The Hollywood Reporter and Daniel Holloway at Variety)

That’s it. Enjoy!