Rueben's Ramblings

Hey All,

Here are the news items for this past week:

CASTING NEWS

The Grey’s Anatomy fire fighters spin-off has announced its premise and cast. The 10-episode series will be set in Seattle, focusing on firefighters from the captain down the ranks to the newest recruit in their personal and professional lives. The cast includes Jaina Lee Ortiz (Rosewood), Jason George (Grey’s Anatomy) Miguel Sandoval, Danielle Savre (Too Close to Home), Jay Hayden (The Catch) [among others].  (The Hollywood Reporter)

Actress Sara Ramirez (Grey’s Anatomy) has joined the cast of Madam Secretary, playing Kat Sandoval, a brilliant political strategist, legendary in D.C. for her talent and for abruptly dropping out of politics until Elizabeth (Tea Leoni) manages to coax her back into the State Department. (The Hollywood Reporter)

Actor Vincent D’Onofrio will reprise his role as Wilson Fisk on the Netflix series Marvel’s Daredevils when it returns for season 3, which will air in 2018. (The Futon Critic)

Actor Yancey Arias (Bosch) has been promoted to series regular on Queen of the South. (Deadline)

Actress Hannah Ware (Betrayal) has landed a role in the Hulu/U.K.’s Channel 4 series The First that will follow the first human mission to Mars, exploring the challenges of taking the first steps toward interplanetary colonization. The story focuses not only on the astronauts, but also on their families and loved ones, as well as the ground team on Earth. Her role is being kept under wraps, though. (Deadline)

Actress Tamlyn Tomita (The Good Doctor) has landed a recurring role in The Man in the High Castle for its upcoming 3rd season. She will play Tamiko, an Okinawan-American woman born in Hawaii who was an American citizen before the war. Now living in San Francisco, she is Tagomi’s (series lead Cary Hiroyuki-Tagawa) neighbor. (Deadline)

Actor Scott Cohen (Gilmore Girls) has booked a recurring role on the 6th and final season of The Americans. He will play Glenn Haskard, a member of a State Department negotiating team that Russian secret agent Elizabeth Jennings is covertly working against. (The Hollywood Reporter and TV Line)

Actress Bethany Joy Lenz (One Tree Hill) has landed a role in Grey’s Anatomy for the show’s current season in an as yet-to-be-announced role. (The Hollywood Reporter and The Futon Critic)

Actress Olivia Colman (Broadchurch) will play Queen Elizabeth in season three and season four of Netflix’s The Crown, taking over the role from Claire Foy. The second season is set to debut on December 8th on Netflix. Seasons 3 and 4 have not been officially ordered, but early production is said to be underway. (Variety)

Actor Nathan Fillion (Castle) will star in the ABC straight-to-series ordered series The Rookie, which focuses on John Nolan, the oldest rookie in the LAPD. At an age where most are at the peak of their career, Nolan cast aside his comfortable, small town life and moved to L.A. to pursue his dream of being a cop. Now, surrounded by rookies twenty years his junior, Nolan must navigate the dangerous, humorous and unpredictable world of a “young” cop, determined to make his second shot at life count. (Deadline and TV Line)

Ryan Murphy – the man behind Glee and American Horror Story – has another new series coming to FX: Pose, which will examine everything from New York City’s art and ballroom scene to the late-’80s financial boom. The cast will include Evan Peters (a mainstay on American Horror Story), James Van Der Beek (Dawson’s Creek), Tatiana Maslany (Orphan Black) [among others]. (TV Line)

RENEWALS/CANCELLATION

Zoo has been canceled after three seasons on CBS. (Variety)

Ray Donovan has been renewed for a sixth season by Showtime. (Variety)

Star Trek: Discovery has been renewed for a second season by CBS All Access. (Variety)

AMC has renewed Preacher for a third season. (Variety)

MOVIE CASTING NEWS

Actor Zachary Levi (Chuck) will play the title character in the New Line and DC Entertainment’s film Shazam! that follows a boy named Billy Batson who can transform into an adult superhero by uttering the magic word Shazam!, the name is an acronym of the ancient gods and historical figures Solomon, Hercules, Atlas, Zeus, Achilles, and Mercury, from whom Batson derives his heroic attributes from when in adult form. (Variety)

That’s it. Enjoy!