Rueben's Ramblings

Hey All,

Here are the news items for the past week:

RENEWALS/SERIES PICK-UP

CBS All Access has given a second season order to the streaming series Strange Angel. (Variety)

BBC America has given the greenlight for the new scripted series The Watch based on the popular Discworld novels by author Sir Terry Pratchett. The 8-episode series is a punk rock thriller inspired by the legendary ‘City Watch’ subset of the novels, centering on misfit cops as they fight to save a ramshackle city of normalized wrongness, from both the past and future in a perilous quest. (Press Release)

CASTING NEWS

FOX has announced the cast of the next upcoming live musical Rent. Recording artist Tinashe will play Mimi Marquez, a dancer who struggles with addiction and catches the eye of musician and recovering addict Roger, who will be played by Brennin Hunt (Nashville and X-Factor contestant). Meanwhile Singer/songwriter Jordan Fisher (Hamilton) will play Mark, Roger’s filmmaker roommate and best friend and Vanessa Hudgens (Grease: Live and High School Musical franchise) will play Maureen Johnson, a performance artist and Mark’s ex-girlfriend. Also, Kiersey Clemons (Extant and Eye Candy) will play Joanne Jefferson, an Ivy League-educated lawyer and Tony Award winner Brandon Victor Dixon (Jesus Christ Superstar Live) will play Tom Collins, a computer scientist who returns to New York after being expelled from MIT. There he meets and falls in love with Angel Dumont Schunard, a young drag queen and street percussionist, who will be played by Valentina from RuPaul’s Drag Race. Additionally, R&B and pop star Mario (Empire) will play Benjamin Coffin III, Mark and Roger’s former roommate-turned-landlord and Mimi’s ex who has married wealthy and now wants to gentrify the building in which he once lived. Lastly, Keala Settle (The Greatest Showman) will perform and join the ensemble in the live musical. (Variety)

Actress Jaime Murray (Dexter, Defiance and Warehouse 13) has landed a key recurring role in the 5th and final season of Gotham, playing Theresa Walker, who emerges as Jim Gordon’s (Ben McKenzie) principal nemesis in the season. She comes to Gotham harboring a dark secret about her past. (Deadline)

Actress Naomi Watts will star in the Game of Thrones prequel pilot at HBO that will take place thousands of years before the events of the original series. Actor Josh Whitehouse (Poldark) will also have a lead role in the prequel pilot. Character details are being kept under wraps, though. (Variety and Deadline)

Actress Kristine Froseth (Sierra Burgess Is a Loser) and actor Charlie Plummer (Boardwalk Empire) have landed the lead roles in the Hulu limited series Looking for Alaska. The 8-episode series, based on John Green novel centers on Miles “Pudge” Halter (Plummer), a teenager from Florida who enrolls at a prestigious boarding school in Alabama hoping to find a deeper perspective on life. He discovers that Culver Creek Academy isn’t that different from his old high school, except for the clique of outcasts that instantly accepts him. The group includes Alaska Young (Froseth), who is mercurial, unpredictable and instantly attractive to Miles. She’s also hiding a troubled past, and when she dies unexpectedly, Miles and his friends try to make sense of what happened. (The Hollywood Reporter)

Netflix has a new anthology series based on the music of Dolly Parton. The 8-episdoe series Heartstrings will feature a different cast and be based on a different song by the country music superstar. The first episode – based on the classic song Jolene – will star Julianne Hough (Grease Live and Footloose) will play the title character, a flirtatious free spirit who wants to escape her hometown of Coventry, Ga. and become a singer-songwriter. The cast will include Kimberly Williams-Paisley (Nashville) as Emily, a mother and wife starting a new chapter in life, who gets pulled into Jolene’s orbit while Dallas Roberts (Insatiable) will play Aaron, a loving husband and father on the verge of a midlife crisis. Parton will play Babe, the owner of Baby Blue’s, a honky-tonk known for its scantily clad servers and eclectic crowd. She looks after all her waitresses but feels especially close to Jolene. Heartstrings is set to premiere in 2019. (The Hollywood Reporter)

MOVIE NEWS

Actress Keesha Sharp (FOX’s Lethal Weapon) has picked up rights to 2013 biography America’s Mistress: The Life and Times of Eartha Kitt. Sharp and her husband will develop and produce the project as a feature film, with Sharp in the titular role. Eartha Kitt is best known for playing Catwoman on the 1960s Batman TV series and for singing hits including “C’est si bon” and the ubiquitous holiday tune “Santa, Baby.” (Deadline)

That’s it. Enjoy!