Hi All,
Here are the news items for this past week:
CONGRATULATIONS
Congrats to all the Oscar winners, including (but not limited to) Brad Pitt, Toy Story 4, Parasite, Taika Waititi, Laura Dern, Joaquin Phoenix, Renee Zellweger and director Bong Joon Ho.
CANCELLATIONS
Showtime has pulled the plug on the Showtime drama Ray Donovan after 7 seasons on the air. The news comes just weeks after the series concluded its latest season on January 19. (Variety)
Netflix has canceled the drama Spinning Out after only one season. (Press Release)
The fifth season of If Loving You Is Wrong at OWN, which premireres on March 10, will be its last. (The Hollywood Reporter)
PICK-UP ORDERS
Starz has official ordered three shows set within the world of Power, which comes to an end tonight. In addition to Power Book II: Ghost that was previously announced, Power Book III: Raising Kanan, Power Book IV: Influence and Power Book V: Force have all be commissioned. Raising Kanan is a prequel set in the ‘90s during the early years of “Power” character Kanan Stark. Influence will follow Rashad Tate in his pursuit of political power while Force centers on Tommy Egan after he cuts ties and puts New York in his rearview mirror for good. Larenz Tate will reprise his role as Rashad Tate in Influence, while Joseph Sikora will return as Tommy for Force. Ghost will pick up where the original series leaves off, starring Mary J. Blige, Method Man, and several members of the original Power cast. (Variety)
MOVIE NEWS
The Broadway hit Hamilton will be coming to the big screen. Disney is bringing a film of the musical sensation to theatre in the US starting on October 15, 2021. It’s not an adaptation, but a live caption of a stage performance. (Variety)
Neil Meron (producer on Hairspray Live and Peter Pan Live – just to name a few), will be working on a movie adaptation for Netflix of the Broadway musical 13, which follows Evan Goldman, a young boy who moves from New York City to Indiana after his parents get divorced. Once in the small town, he has to prepare for his Bar Mitzvah, while navigating the social circles at his new school. (Variety)
Actress Maggie Gyllenhaal will play Glady Presley, the King of Rock and Roll’s mother, in Baz Luhrmann’s upcoming bio-pic Elvis, starring actor Austin Butler (The Shannara Chronicles) in the title role and Tom Hanks as Colonel Tom Parker. (Variety)
TV CASTING NEWS
Actress Toni Collette will star in the upcoming Netflix thriller Pieces of Her. The eight-episode series is based on a novel by Karin Slaughter, which centers on Andy Oliver and her mother, Laura (Collette). A random act of violence in their Georgia hometown sets off a chain of events that leaves Andy desperate for answers. She embarks on a dangerous journey that draws her toward the dark, hidden heart of her family. (Variety)
Actors Zach Gilford (Friday Night Lights), Michael Trucco (Battlestar Galactica) Rahul Kohil (iZombie) and Hamish Linklater (Legion) and actress Kristin Lehman (Altered Carbon) are joining Netflix’s Hill House cast members Kate Siegel, Samantha Sloyan, Robert Longstreet, Annabeth Gish and Henry Thomas in the upcoming Netflix 7-episode thriller Midnight Mass that will center on an isolated island community that experiences miraculous events (and frightening omens) after the arrival of a charismatic, mysterious young priest. (TV Line)
Actress Viola Davis (How to Get Away With Murder) will play former First Lady Michelle Obama in the Showtime drama First Ladies that will peel back the curtain on the personal and political lives of First Ladies from throughout history. (Variety)
Actor O’Shea Jackson (Straight Outta Compton) has taken over for actor Winston Duke (Black Panther and Us) in the Apple drama Swagger, which is inspired by NBA champion Kevin Durant’s youth basketball experiences. The series explores the world of youth basketball, and the players, their families and coaches who walk the fine line between dreams and ambition, and opportunism and corruption. Jackson will star as Ike, a youth basketball coach and former star player. (Variety)
Actress Lindsey Morgan (The 100) has joined the cast of the upcoming reboot of Walker Texas Ranger that will star Supernatural alum Jared Padalecki in the lead role. The focuses on Cordell Walker, a widower and father of two with his own moral code, who returns home to Austin after being undercover for two years, only to discover there’s harder work to be done at home. He’ll attempt to reconnect with his children, navigate clashes with his family, and find unexpected common ground with his new partner (Morgan) — one of the first women in Texas Rangers’ history — while growing increasingly suspicious about the circumstances surrounding his wife’s death. (Variety)
Actor Sam Claflin (The Hunger Games franchise and Me Before You) will star opposite Riley Keough (The Girlfriend Experience and granddaughter of Elvis and Priscilla Presley) in the Amazon rock music drama Daisy Jones and the Six. The 12-episode series, based on the novel by Taylor Jenkins Reid, chronicles the rise and fall of a renowned (fictional) 1970s rock band. Claflin will play Billy Dunne, the band’s charismatic frontman. His increasingly complicated feelings for bandmate and songwriter Daisy (Keough) threaten to upend every facet of his life. (The Hollywood Reporter)
Actress Natalie Zea (Justified) will recur on 9-1-1: Lone Star as Zoe, a psychology professor at the University of Texas, who meets Owen (series lead Rob Lowe) at a beauty supply store and they immediately hit it off. (TV Line and The Futon Critic)
Actress Inbar Lavi will return as Eve on Lucifer for the show’s final season on Netflix. (Entertainment Weekly and The Futon Critic)
Actor Mark Feurstein (Prison Break and Royal Pains) and actress Kelli Williams (The Practice) will have recurring roles opposite Michael Chiklis (The Shield) in the upcoming Paramount Network drama Coyote. Chiklis will play Ben Clemens, a former border patrol agent whose balance of right and wrong gets shaken up. After policing the border for 32 years, Ben is forced to work with the very people he spent his career trying to keep out of America. The cast will include Natalia Cordova-Buckley (Marvels Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D), Jose Pablo Cantillo (Six and The Walking Dead) and Drew Powell (Gotham) among others. The show is set to debut in summer 2020. (Deadline)
Actress Amirah Vann (Underground) will appear in Star Trek: Picard, playing Zani, a member of the Qowat Milat, a fierce all-female Romulan religious order who live on the colony planet of Vashti. (Deadline)
Actress Jennifer Esposito (Blue Bloods and NCIS) will star opposite Julia Garner and Anna Chlumsky in the upcoming 10-episode Netflix drama Inventing Anna. The show is about a journalist (Chlumsky) with a lot to prove investigating the case of Anna Delvey (Garner), the Instagram-legendary German heiress who stole the hearts of New York’s social scene – and stole their money as well. Esposito will play Talia Mallay, the famous owner of a lavish lifestyle brand who excels at the social game. (Deadline)
Actress Medalion Rahimi has been promoted to series regular on NCIS: Los Angeles where she has been recurring as Special Agent Fatima Namazi, an all-American LA native from Beverly Hills who is a Middle East specialist and a kickass cryptological technican. (Deadline)
That’s it. Enjoy!
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