Rueben's Ramblings

Hey All,

Here are the news items for this past week:

RENEWALS/CANCELLATIONS/PICK-UPS

PBS has given a second season order to the period drama Vienna Blood. (The Futon Critic and Deadline)

The Crown was to end after the upcoming fifth season, but Netflix has given it a 6th season order because series creator Peter Morgan wants to do “justice to the richness and complexity of the story. The 6th season will now serve as the show’s final season. (Variety)

Netflix is pulling the plug on Chilling Adventures of Sabrina after two super-sized seasons. The final 8 episodes will premiere later this year. (TV Line)

A 2nd season of Stargirl has been ordered, and the show will now exclusively air on The CW. The current first season of the series has been airing on both DC Universe and The CW. (Variety)

Netflix has announced that Dead to Me has been given a third season renewal, but that will be its final season. (Variety)

Hulu has given a second season renewal to their new period piece drama The Great. (Variety)

Ozark has been given a 4th season renewal by Netflix, which will also be its last. The streaming service has also renewed Never Have I Ever been renewed for a second season. (Variety)

Katy Keene has been canceled after one season at The CW. (Variety)

The new streaming service Peacock (which will debut on July 15) has added both seasons of the Facebook Watch series Sacred Lies to their line-up. (The Hollywood Reporter)

NEW SERIES ORDER

NBC has ordered the alien spacecraft drama pilot Debris to series. This is the only pilot that managed to complete shooting before the production shutdown. The new series follows two agents from two different continents, and two different mindsets, who must work together to investigate when wreckage from a destroyed alien spacecraft has mysterious effects on humankind. Actor Jonathan Tucker (Kingdom and Westworld) will play agent Bryan Beneventi, a headstrong, smart CIA operative while British actress Riann Steele (The Magicians) will play MI6 agent Finola Jones. (Variety)

Star Wars alum Oscar Isaac and Michelle Williams will star in the HBO limited series adaptation of Scenes From a Marriage from legendary director/writer Ingmar Bergman that examines the depiction of love, hatred, desire, monogamy, marriage and divorce through the lens of a contemporary American couple. (Variety)

Actors Damian Lewis (Billions) and Dominic West (The Affair) are expected to star in and executive produce an adaptation of the novel A Spy Among Friends: Kim Philby and the Great Betrayal, for Spectrum Originals and UK streamer BritBox. The 6-episode Cold War espionage thriller follows the defection of notorious British intelligence officer and KGB double agent Kim Philby (West) through the lens of his complex relationship with MI6 colleague and close friend Nicholas Elliott (Lewis). The series is slated to premiere in fall 2021. (Deadline and TV Line)

Freeform has announced the cast of the upcoming limited series event Love in the Time of Corona that was filmed using remote technologies and shot in the actual homes of the cast members. This 4-part series follows four interwoven stories about the hopeful search for love and connection during this time of quarantine. Real-life couple Leslie Odom Jr. (Hamilton and Smash) and Nicolette Robinson (Hart of Dixie and The Affair) [who also serve as executive producers] will play James and Sade, a couple who have been living somewhat separate lives: He has a busy career that keeps him on the road, and she is at home raising their daughter. Once the pandemic puts them under one roof, their time together leads them to reevaluate their relationship and their priorities. Tommy Dorfman (13 Reasons Why and Jane the Virgin) will play Oscar, a successful non-binary stylist, and Rainey Qualley (daughter of Andie MacDowell) will play Elle, an aspiring singer-songwriter. With the uncertainty of the pandemic, Oscar and Elle’s mostly platonic friendship becomes increasingly complicated as Oscar’s latest online date progresses toward relationship territory just as Elle’s neighborly crush starts to blossom. Gil Bellows (Ally McBeal) will play Paul, his real-life wife Rya Kihlstedt (Heroes: Reborn and Dexter) will play Sarah, and their daughter Ava Bellows will play Sophie. After quietly separating months earlier, Paul and Sarah reluctantly decide to quarantine together when their sweet yet intense daughter returns home from college. But when Sophie’s high school sweetheart suddenly breaks up with her, Paul and Sarah struggle to continue their “happy couple” ruse for their daughter’s sake. L. Scott Caldwell (Lost and All Rise) will play Nanda, a headstrong woman determined to celebrate her 50th wedding anniversary with her husband, Charles (Charlie Robinson, Charles is unable to come home from a rehab facility when COVID-19 causes them to go into lockdown. The limited series will premiere in August. (The Futon Critic)

CASTING NEWS

Actress Javicia Leslie (God Friended Me) has landed the coveted lead role in The CW’s Batwoman, playing the new character Ryan Wilder, who spent years as a drug-runner, dodging the Gotham City Police Department and masking her pain with bad habits. Today Ryan lives in her van with her plant. She is the most dangerous type of fighter: highly skilled and wildly undisciplined. She is an out lesbian, athletic, raw, passionate, fallible, and very much not your stereotypical All-American hero. (Variety)

Actress Lesley Manville (Phantom Thread and the PBS mini-series World on Fire) will take over from actress Helena Bonham-Carter in the role of Princess Margaret in The Crown. (Variety)

That’s it. Enjoy!