Hey All,
Here are the news items for this past week:
RENEWALS/CANCELLATION
The Wilds has been renewed for a second season by Amazon. (Variety)
Locke & Key has been given a third season renewal well ahead of its season 2 premiere that is set for sometime in 2021. (TV Line)
The Flight Attendant has been renewed for a second season by HBO Max. (Variety)
Hulu has cancelled the thriller series Helstrom after only one season. (Variety)
Virgin River has been given a third season renewal by Netflix. (TV Line)
DEVELOPMENT NEWS
Disney+ has picked up the action-adventure drama Secret Guide to Celestial Creatures, which will center on a Korean American family of legendary guardians who protect the supernatural community that lives among us in plain sight. (The Futon Critic and Deadline)
The CW is considering a spin-off of its drama All American, which would be set at a historically Black university, following college-bound Simone Hicks (Geffri Maya, who joined All American in its second season). (TV Line)
The CW is also developing an adaptation of the book The Disasters by M.K. England that is described as The Breakfast Club meets Guardians of the Galaxy, as it’s set in a near-future where humans have colonized space to save Earth from climate crisis. It follows a group of washouts from Earth’s prestigious military academy who are framed for treason and forced to go on the run to the Colonies to clear their names. (Deadline)
SERIES PICK-UP
Actress Alicia Vikander is working with French director Olivier Assayas on the HBO series Irma Vep, loosely based on the 1996 film of the same name. Assayas will write and direct while Vikander will play the lead role. The project revolves around Mira (Vikander), an American movie star disillusioned by her career and a recent breakup, who comes to France to star as “Irma Vep” in a remake of the French silent film classic, “Les Vampires.” Set against the backdrop of a lurid crime thriller, Mira struggles as the distinctions between herself and the character she plays begin to blur and merge. (Variety)
Showtime has given a series order to the drama Yellowjackets, an epic, psychological horror story and coming-of-age drama about a team of wildly talented high school girls soccer players who become the (un)lucky survivors of a plane crash deep in the remote northern wilderness. The series chronicles their descent from a complicated but thriving team to savage clans, while also tracking the lives they’ve attempted to piece back together nearly 25 years later. The cast will include Melanie Lynskey, Juliette Lewis, Christina Ricci and Tawny Cypress as well as Ella Purnell, Sammi Hanratty, Sophie Nelisse and Jasmin Savoy Brown (among others). (Variety)
TV CASTING NEWS
Actors Russell Hornsby and Steve Harris will star in the Starz original series Black Mafia Family, which is inspired by the true story of two brothers who rose from the decaying streets of southwest Detroit in the late 1980’s,giving birth to one of the most influential crime families in this country. Hornsby will play Charles Flenory, the principled patriarch of the Flenory family; a struggling musician who uses faith, fortitude and humor to keep his family on the straight and narrow. Harris will play Detective Bryant, a 20-year veteran of the Detroit Police Department, who has a longstanding relationship with Charles’s brother Demetrius Flenory. (The Futon Critic)
Actor Matthew Rhys will star in the FX series Wyrd, which is the story of the ultimate immigrant, an extraterrestrial in exile. The series centers on Wyrd (Rhys), who was sent to earth in an attempt to better understand humanity. When his people don’t come back for him, he’s forced to assimilate – all while investigating paranormal activity and searching for a way home. (The Futon Critic and Deadline)
Actor Adam Rayner (Tyrant) will appear as sinister media mogul Morgan Edge in the upcoming CW series Superman & Lois. (ComicBookMovie.com)
Actor Jeffrey Nordling (Big Little Lies) will recur in the upcoming CW series Walker as Stan Morrison, a businessman and networker who is a close friend of the Walker family. (TV Insider and TV Line)
Actress Merrin Dungey (Alias) will appear in the 6th and final season of Lucifer (airing now on Netflix). She will play Sonya, a no-nonsense cop who forms an unlikely bond with Amenadiel (DB Woodside). (Netflix and TV Line)
Actress Jessica Lucas (Gotham and Gracepoint) will appear in The Resident, playing Billie, who was once a top neurosurgery resident at Chastain who was cut after a tragic error and left under a cloud. (Deadline)
Actor Ray Fisher (Justice League) will appear in the ABC limited series Women of the Movement that centers on Mamie Till-Mobley (Adrienne Warren), who devoted her life to seeking justice for her son Emmett Till (Cedric Joe), following his brutal killing in the Jim Crow South. Fisher will play Gene Mobley, the man who would have been Emmett Till’s stepfather, if not for his murder. A devoted partner to Emmett’s mother, Mamie, Gene was considered the love of her life. They later married. (Deadline)
Actor Samuel L. Jackson will star in the Apple limited series The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey, based on the novel of the same name by Walter Mosley. He will play Ptolemy Grey, a 91 year old man forgotten by his family, by his friends, by even himself. On the brink of sinking even deeper into a lonely dementia, Ptolemy experiences a seismic shift when he’s given the tremendous opportunity to briefly regain his memories, and uses this precious and fleeting lucidity to solve his nephew’s death and come to terms with his past. (Variety)
Additional cast members have been added to the HBO Max Suicide Squad spin-off series Peacemaker, including Loclyn Munro and Christopher Heyerdahl, but exact character details have yet to be announced. (Variety)
Hulu is planning a limited series centered around Baywatch babe Pamela Anderson and rocker Tommy Lee focusing on their salacious relationship in the 1990s, including the leak of their private honeymoon video and the legal battle that ensued. Lily James (Downton Abbey and Cinderella) and Sebastian Stan (The Falcon and the Winter Soldier) have been cast in the lead roles. (Deadline and TV Line)
Actress Michaela Conlin (Bones) has joined the cast of Apple TV’s upcoming 2nd season of For All Mankind, playing Helena Webster, a former pilot who is now an astronaut. (Deadline)
Actors David James Elliott (JAG) and Joel Murray (Mad Men) will have recurring roles in the 8-episode Starz drama series Heels that is set in the outrageous world of independent professional wrestling, following a family-owned wrestling promotion as two brothers and rivals, Jack Spade (Stephen Amell from Arrow) and Ace Spade (Alexander Ludwig from Vikings), war over their late father’s legacy. Elliott will play patriarch Tom Spade, a former wrestler and proprietor of the Duffy Wrestling League (DWL); and the father of Jack and Ace. Murray will portray Eddie Earl, a local proprietor and sponsor to the DWL, and one of the most successful and determined men in town. (Deadline)
STREAMING MOVIE NEWS
Jennifer Lopez will be working with Netflix on the film adaptation of the best-selling book The Cipher. Lopez will executive produce and star in the series, playing FBI agent Nina Guerrera, who finds herself drawn into a serial killer’s case after he strategically posts complex codes and riddles online. The codes correspond to recent murders, designed to lure her into a cat-and-mouse chase. (Variety)
BOX OFFICE CASTING NEWS
Actress Kiersey Clemons (the thriller box office movie Antebellum) will star in the darkly comic thriller Susie Searches, which centers on Susie (Clemons), an awkward college student who seizes the opportunity to bolster her popularity and her under-the-radar true-crime podcast by solving the disappearance of a classmate. Her investigation reveals that the truth and Susie aren’t at all what they seem to be. (Variety)
Actor Jeffrey Donovan (Burn Notice) has joined Letitia Wright (Black Panther) and actor Jamie Bell (the box office movie Rocketman) in the film Surrounded that follows former Buffalo Soldier Moses “Mo” Washington (Wright) who, five years after the Civil War, travels West to lay claim on a gold mine bequeathed by her late slave owner father. Donovan will play Wheeler, a successful rancher who finds himself in the wrong place at the wrong time. (Deadline)
Actress Naomi Ackie (Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker) will play Whitney Houston in the Sony-Tristar biopic I Wanna Dance With Somebody. (Deadline)
Actress Rachael Leigh Cook has joined the cast of He’s All That, the gender role-flipped remake of She’s All That in which Cook starred as Laney Boggs. In this new version Addison Rae will play Padgett Sawyer, who accepts a challenge to turn the school’s least popular boy (Tanner Buchanan from Cobra Kai) into prom king, attempting to avenge herself following a humiliating fallout with her boyfriend. Cook will play Padgett’s wise and caring mother. (Deadline)
Actress Eiza Gonzalez will star alongside Jake Gyllenhaal and Yaha Abdul-Mateen II (Aquaman and Watchmen) in the action-thriller Ambulance, an action thriller along the lines of Speed and Bad Boys, but the storyline is being kept under wraps. (Deadline)
Actress Florence Pugh (Black Widow and Little Women) will play the title character in the upcoming film The Maid that is set at the Regency Grand Hotel, where Molly the maid leaves every room perfect and pristine, while getting to know each guest’s dirty secrets. A Clue-like, locked-room whodunnit, the movie explores Molly’s descent into the murderous underbelly of her gilded workplace, while telling a timely story about the strengths of our differences. (Deadline)
Actor Simu Liu (who will star in the upcoming Marvel film Shang Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings) will next appear in the Mark Wahlberg flick Arthur the King. Inspired by a true story, the film will follow Lindnord, captain of a Swedish adventure racing team who met and befriended a wounded stray dog during a 400-mile race through the Ecuadoran jungle where they crossed rivers and battled illness and injury through some of the world’s toughest terrain. Wahlberg will play the Swedish adventurer, while Liu will play the role of Liam. (Deadline)
Actor Chirs Pine is anticipated to star in a film adaptation of the popular fantasy role-playing game Dungeons and Dragons. (Variety)
That’s it. Enjoy!
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