Rueben's Ramblings

Hey All,

Here are the news items for this past week:

BOX OFFICE MOVIE CASTING NEWS

Actor Sam Heughan (Outlander) will star as Paul Newman in the untitled biopic about Patricia Neal and Roald Dahl. Bodyguard actress Keeley Hawes will play American actress Neal while Downton Abbey alum Hugh Bonneville will play British children’s author Dahl. (Deadline)

RENEWAL/CANCELLATION NEWS

Starz has cancelled Sweetbitter after two seasons. (Deadline)

The Netflix drama Virgin River, based on the book series by Robyn Carr, has been renewed for a 10-episode second season. (Deadline)

TV CASTING NEWS

Actress Uzo Aduba (Orange Is the New Black) will star opposite Us star Lupita Nyong’o in the HBO Max 10-episode series Americanah based on the best-selling novel by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. The limited series follows the story of Ifemelu (Nyong’o), a self-assured young woman raised in Nigeria, who as a teenager falls in love with her classmate Obinze. Living in a military-ruled country, they each depart for the west. Ifemelu heads for America, where she finds academic success, but is forced to grapple for the first time with what it means to be black. Obinze had hoped to join her, but with post-9/11 America closed to him, he instead begins living undocumented in London. Aduba will play Aunty Uju, Ifemelu’s young aunt and confidant. A highly intelligent doctor, Uju left Nigeria under tumultuous circumstances and has resettled in America to build a better life for herself and her son Dike. The Walking Dead and Black Panther/Avengers franchise actress Danai Gurira wrote the pilot and will serve as showrunner. (Variety)

Actress Jessy Schram (Falling Skies) will appear in a multi-episode arc on Chicago Med, playing Dr. Hannah Asher, a brilliant gynecological surgeon with a secret drug addiction. (Deadline)

Actor Baily Chase (Longmire) will recur in the CBS drama S.W.A.T., playing Owen, an ex-Army Ranger who is in the process of launching a high-end private security firm. (Deadline)

Actress Morfydd Clark (His Dark Materials and the upcoming box office movie Saint Maud) has been cast in lead role in Amazon high-profile Lord of the Rings TV series, which explores new storylines preceding J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Fellowship of the Ring. Clark will play young Galadriel (played by Cate Blanchett in the box office franchise). (Deadline)

Actress Joely Richardson (Nip/Tuck) will appear in an upcoming episode of The Blacklist, playing Cassandra Bianchi, a shrewd criminal who is on the verge of the score of a lifetime, who has a connection with Reddington. (TV Line)

DEVELOPMENT NEWS

EPIX has given a 10-episode straight-to-series order to Jerusalem’s Lot, a drama based on the short story by Stephen King that will star Adrien Brody. Set in the 1850s, the series follows Captain Charles Boone (Brody), who relocates his family of three children to his ancestral home in the small, seemingly sleepy town of Preacher’s Corners, Maine after his wife dies at sea. However, Charles will soon have to confront the secrets of his family’s sordid history, and fight to end the darkness that has plagued the Boones for generations. The show is expected to premiere in the fall of 2020. (Deadline)

A one-hour drama called The Beach, based on the book Beach Lane by best-selling author Melissa de la Cruz, has been put into development at HBO Max with Life Sentence creator Erin Cardillo and Richard Keith at the helm along with Julie Plec (The Vampire Diaries). The series will follow three local teens who work in the Hamptons’ lavish estates, exclusive beach clubs, and breath-taking boats over one magical summer as their lives and hearts become increasingly intertwined with wealthy families who swoop in from the city for the summer season. (Deadline)

Once Upon a Time and Lost EP’s Adam Horowitz and Eddy Kitsis are shepherding a new ABC series called Epic that is set within the Disney fairytale universe. Written by Brigitte Hales the anthology series will take place in a Disney-like Enchanted Forest. (Deadline and TV Line)

That’s it. Enjoy!