Rueben's Ramblings

Hey All,

Here are the news items for the past week:

CASTING NEWS

Actress Britt Robertson (Girlboss, Life Unexpected and Tomorrowland) has taken over the lead role in the new, upcoming Shonda Rhimes drama For the People from Britne Oldford (Ravenswood and Hunters). Robertson will play Sandra, a sensible, fiercely intelligent and independent new public defender who was driven to the law because of an injustice perpetrated on her family when she was a child. (TV Fanatic)

It looks like True Detective will be getting a season 3, starring actor Mahershala Ali (Luke Cage and The 4400). (Entertainment Weekly)

Actress Maria Bello is coming back to the small screen, joining the cast of NCIS for its upcoming 15th season. She will play an NCIS agent who was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the army and served two tours in Afghanistan. After joining NCIS, she built her reputation as the agency’s premier forensic psychologist. Unlike the other agents, she can second-guess and challenge Gibbs (series star Mark Harmon), so there will be friction but also mutual respect. She is a positive force, mischievous and at times acerbic. (The Hollywood Reporter)

Actress Rachelle Lefevre (Under the Dome) and Missy Peregrym (Rookie Blue) will both appear in the fourth season finale of The Night Shift. Lefevre will play Major Natasha Anthony, a new military doctor coming into the San Antonio Memorial Hospital while Peregrym will play Reagan, a female Ranger who comes in as a paramedic and clashes with Drew (series regular Brendan Fehr). (The Hollywood Reporter and The Futon Critic)

Actor Wilson Cruz (My So-Called Life) has landed a role in Star Trek: Discovery, playing Dr. Hugh Culber, medical officer of the Starship Discovery. (CBS TV and The Futon Critic)

Actor Desmond Harrington (Dexter) has landed a series regular role in the upcoming 6th season of Elementary. He will play Michael, a fellow addict in recovery, who once found the inspiration to stay sober in Sherlock’s words at N.A. meetings in the past. He now offers to return the favor and be an ongoing support to Sherlock. (Deadline)

Actress Breeda Wool (UnREAL) will guest star in an upcoming episode of Midnight, Texas. She will play Bowie, a regal, formidable angel warrior (described as a cross between Tilda Swinton and Game of Thrones’ Brienne of Tarth). (TV Line)

Actress Jessica Camacho (The Flash and Sleepy Hollow) has joined the cast of NBC’s Taken for the show’s upcoming 2nd season, which won’t air until mid-season due to massive cast changes and alterations to the show by its new showrunner. (TV Line)

RENEWALS

Lifetime has renewed UnREAL for a fourth season and Mary Kills People for a second season. (Variety)

Animal Kingdom was renewed for a third season by TNT. (Variety)

The Hallmark Channel has official renewed The Good Witch for a fourth season. (Deadline)

Hulu has given its streaming series Harlots a second season renewal. (Deadline)

PROGRAMMING UPDATES

Wonder Woman director Patty Jenkins and actor Chris Pine (who played Steve Trevor) are re-teaming on the new TNT drama series One Day She’ll Darken that was given a straight-to-series, 6-episode order. The drama, inspired by the autobiography of Fauna Hodel, will tell the story of Hodel, who was given away by her teenage birth mother to a black restroom attendant in a Nevada casino in 1949. As Hodel begins to investigate the secrets to her past, she follows a sinister trail that swirls ever closer to an infamous Hollywood gynecologist, Dr. George Hodel, a man involved in the darkest Hollywood debauchery, the spider in the web around the legendary “Black Dahlia” murder of Elizabeth Short in Los Angeles in 1947. Pine will play Jay Singletary, a former Marine-turned-hack reporter and paparazzo. Jay was disgraced over his story about Hodel years prior, but now he sees a glimmer of redemption. Jay sees an opportunity, but is also caught in a moral quandary. A release date is unknown at this time due to Pine and Jenkins current projects, however. (Variety)

Starz has given a series order to the drama thriller The Rook from author Stephenie Meyer (the Twilight franchise). The series will follow a young woman who wakes up in a London park suffering amnesia and surrounded by bodies, all wearing latex gloves. As she attempts to uncover her past and her role as head of Britain’s supernatural secret service, she discovers she has peculiar abilities, all while being pursued by paranormal adversaries. (Variety)

That’s it. Enjoy!