Rueben's Ramblings

Hey All,

Here are the news items for the past week:

RENEWALS

NBC has given Midnight, Texas a second season renewal. But, two cast members will not be returning. They are Sarah Ramos and Yul Vazquez. The hope is for them to appear as guest stars, reprising their characters. (Variety and Deadline)

NETWORK SCHEDULE

The CW is planning on launching a two-hour Sunday night primetime block of programming starting next fall season. (Variety)

CASTING NEWS

Actresses Michelle Gomez (Doctor Who) and Lucy Davis (Steve’s secretary Etta in Wonder Woman) have both been cast in the Netflix upcoming Sabrina the Teenage Witch series. Gomez will play Mary Wardell, Sabrina’s favorite teacher and mentor at Baxter High. Davis will play Hilda Spellman, one of Sabrina’s two witch aunts. (Variety and Deadline)

Actor Guy Pearce has joined the upcoming Netflix British supernatural teen series called The Innocents that will explore what happens when teenagers Harry (Percelle Ascott) and June (Sorcha Groundsell) run away from their repressive family lives to be together. They’re quickly thrown into an extraordinary journey of self-discovery that derails their innocent dream. Pearce will play Halvorson. (The Hollywood Reporter)

Actor Damon Dayoub (Stitchers) has landed a multi-episode arc on Chicago Fire, playing Jake Cordova, a confident, rugged man’s man firefighter. (The Futon Critic and Deadline)

Actors Sullivan Stapleton (Blindspot) and Philip Winchester (Chicago Justice) will reprise their roles of Damien Scott and Michael Stonebridge in the new version of Strike Back. They will appear in the final two episodes this season. (The Futon Critic and Deadline)

Actors Richard T. Jones (Wisdom of the Crowd) and Titus Makin (Glee) have landed roles in the ABC drama The Rookie that stars Nathan Fillion in the lead role. Jones will play Sergeant Wade Grey, the station’s Watch Commander, who becomes a nemesis to Fillion’s 40 year-old rookie. Makin will play Officer Jackson West, an eager rookie whose father is a high-level commander in the LAPD. (The Futon Critic and Deadline)

Actress Jessica Szohr (Gossip Girl) has joined the cast of The Orville for its second season. (The Futon Critic and Twitter)

Veteran actress Betty Buckley (Eight Is Enough and Cats on Broadway) and actor Colin Cunningham (Falling Skies) have joined the cast of Preacher. Buckley will play Gran’ma, a spiritist with true powers, who can cast spells and even bring back the dead (for a price) while Cunningham will play TC, a man born of the bayou and the loyal caretaker and soldier for Gran’ma. (The Futon Critic and Deadline)

Actor Bradley Whitford (The West Wing) has landed a major recurring role on the 2nd season of Hulu’s The Handmaids’s Tale, playing Commander Joseph Lawrence, the architect of Gilead’s economy, who is gruff and intimidating, with a disheveled mad genius vibe. (Deadline)

Actor Bruno Bichir (Absentia) will star opposite Brenton Thwaites and Anna Diop in the new live-action series Titans, which is slated to premiere in 2018 as part of the inaugural slate of a new DC-branded direct-to-consumer digital service. Bichir will play Dr. Niles (The Chief) Caulder, a pioneer in medical science, searching the world over for those on the edge of death in need of a miracle. (Deadline)

Actress Alfre Woodard will recur on the FOX drama Empire, playing Renee, the estranged (and extremely formidable) mother of Cookie (Taraji P. Henson). (TV Line)

Actress Bella Heathcote (The Man in the High Castle) will star opposite Jack Reynor in the CBS All Access series Strange Angel, based on the George Pendle book of the same name. The series focuses on the real-life story of Jack Parsons (Reynor), exploring the dramatic intersection between genius and madness, science and science fiction. Heathcote will play Susan Parsons, Jack’s devoted and fiercely intelligent wife. (Deadline)

Actors Ray Fisher (Justice League) has joined the cast of the third season of the HBO crime series True Detective. Fisher will play Freddy Burns, Wayne’s (series lead Mahershala Ali) son. (Deadline)

MOVIE CASTING NEWS

Actress Piper Perabo (Covert Affairs) will star opposite Gerard Butler and Morgan Freeman in the third installment of the Olympus Has Fallen movie franchise: Angel Has Fallen, which follows Mike Banning (Butler) as he continues to be a target of terrorists, this time while mid-flight on Air Force One. (Deadline)

BROADWAY STAGE CASTING NEWS

Actress Katharine McPhee (Scorpion) will make her Broadway debut in April, taking over the lead role of Jenna in Waitress, the Tony-nominated musical based on the movie from Adrienne Shelley that is playing at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre. (Deadline)

TRAILER

First-Ever Footage of Cobra Kai – The Karate Kid saga continues

That’s it. Enjoy!