Rueben's Ramblings

Hey All,

Here are the news items for this past week:

EARLY RENEWALS

The CW got a late start with their new season for the 2020-2021 TV season, but the network has already given the following shows a renewal for the next TV season: The Flash (Season 8), Riverdale (Season 6), DC’s Legends of Tomorrow (Season 7), All American (Season 4), Charmed (Season 4), Legacies (Season 4), In the Dark (Season 4), Roswell, New Mexico (Season 4), Batwoman (Season 3), Nancy Drew (Season 3) and Dynasty (Season 5). (TV Line)

CANCELLATION

The cult favorite, supernatural Western series Wynonna Earp is coming to an end on Syfy. First, though, the final episodes of the current 4th season will get started on March 5 with the series finale set for April 9. (Deadline)

NEW DEVELOPMENTS

Paramount Plus (formerly CBS All Access) is setting up a prequel series to the Paramount Network’s Kevin Costner-led drama Yellowstone. Y: 1883 will follow the Dutton family as they embark on a journey west through the Great Plains toward the last bastion of untamed America. The series will be a stark retelling of Western expansion, and be an intense study of one family fleeing poverty to seek a better future in America’s promised land — Montana. The show is set to debut on the streaming service Paramount Plus sometime this year. (Variety)

Starz has ordered period drama series The Serpent Queen, which is based on the life of Catherine de Medici via the book “Catherine de Medici: Renaissance Queen of France. Considered an immigrant, common and plain, Catherine de Medici is married into the 16th century French court as an orphaned teenager expected to bring a fortune in dowry and produce many heirs, only to discover that her husband is in love with an older woman, her dowry is unpaid and she’s unable to conceive. Yet, only with her intelligence and determination, she manages to keep her marriage alive and masters the bloodsport that is the monarchy better than anyone else, ruling France for 50 years. The series will consist of 8 episodes. (Variety)

The All American spin-off to be titled All American: Homecoming will be moving forward, focusing on the character Simone Hicks (played by Geffri Maya). The series will be set against the backdrop of the historically Black college and university (HBCU) experience, following a young tennis hopeful from Beverly Hills (Maya) and an elite baseball player from Chicago as they contend with the high stakes of college sports, all while navigating the highs and lows of unsupervised early adulthood at a prestigious historically Black college. (TV Line)

Disney+ has a series set in Wakanda (the fictional African nation from which Black Panther is based) in development. (Variety)

SMALL SCREEN CASTING NEWS

Actress Lana Condor (the star of the Netflix movie franchise To All The Boys, based on the popular book franchise) is set to star in and executive produce the comedy series Boo, Bitch,” which has been ordered to series at Netflix. The comedy series will consist of 8 half-hour episodes that, over the course of one night, will follow a high school senior (Condor) who’s lived her life safely under the radar; but she seizes the opportunity to change her narrative to start living an epic life, only to find out the next morning that she’s a ghost. (Variety)

Actress Emily Hampshire (12 Monkeys and Schitt’s Creek) will executive producer AND star as the title character in an updated version of the Norman Lear 1970s syndicated hit Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman. The show will be shopped around to buyers in the coming weeks. (Variety)

Actress Tamara Taylor (Bones) has landed a lead role in the upcoming NBC spin-off Law & Order: Organized Crime. Details on her character are being kept under wraps though. The latest spin-off will follow Christopher Meloni’s SVU character Elliot Stabler as he returns to the New York City police department following a devastating personal loss as he starts to put the pieces of his life back together, joining a high-level task force set on dismantling the city’s biggest crime syndicates. (TV Line)

Actress Neve Campbell (Party of Five and the recent box office movie Skyscraper) has landed a leading role in the Netflix small screen adaptation of The Lincoln Lawyer, playing Maggie McPherson. She joins Manuel Garcia-Rulfo, who will star as Mickey Haller, who runs his law practice out of the back seat of his Lincoln Town Car. Maggie is Mickey’s first ex-wife, a passionately committed Deputy District Attorney known to colleagues as “Maggie McFierce” for her unwavering dedication to her job. (Variety)

Amazon has a new 7-part anthology series called Solos that will include a star-studded cast that will include Morgan Freeman, Anne Hathaway, Helen Mirren, Uzo Aduba, Nicole Beharie, Anthony Mackie, Dan Stevens and Constance Wu. The series is described as exploring the deeper meaning of human connection, as explored through the lens of the individual. It will tell stories, each from a different perspective and moment in time, that illuminate that even during our most seemingly isolated moments, in the most disparate of circumstances, we are all connected through the human experience. The series is slated to debut sometime in 2021. (Variety)

Actor Chiwetel Ejiofor (12 Years a Slave) will star in the Paramount Plus (formerly CBS All Access) original series The Man Who Fell to Earth based on the novel by Walter Tevis made icon in the movie starring David Bowie. The series will follow a new alien character who arrives on Earth at a turning point in human evolution and must confront his own past to determine our future. (The Futon Critic)

Cast members have been added to the upcoming Netflix dramatic thriller Pieces of Her that already announced Belle Heathcote and Toni Collette in the lead roles. Actors Gil Birmingham (Yellowstone and Siren), Terry O’Quinn (Lost) and Calum Worthy (Austin & Ally and The Act) have recurring roles in the series set in a sleepy Georgia town where a random act of violence sets off an unexpected chain of events for 30-year-old Andy Oliver (Heathcote) and her mother Laura (Collette). Desperate for answers, Andy embarks on a dangerous journey across America, drawing her towards the dark, hidden heart of her family. Birmingham will play Charlie Bass, a protective family friend of Laura (Collette) and Andy Oliver (Heathcote) while O’Quinn will play Martin Queller, the charismatic, billionaire founder of pharmaceutical giant QuellCorp; and Worthy will play young Jasper, the eldest of the three Queller siblings. (Deadline)

BOX OFFICE CASTING NEWS

Actress Michelle Williams will portray entertainment icon Peggy Lee in the biopic called Fever. Lee was born Norma Deloris Egstrom in 1920, who is best known for her sultry version of the song “Fever,” which was recorded in 1958. Lee began singing professionally at 16, recording her first number one hit “Somebody Else Is Taking My Place” at 22. Her career, which included an Oscar-nominated performance in the 1955 movie Pete Kelly’s Blues and several roles in the 1955 Disney animated feature “Lady and the Tramp” — spanned into the 1990s. (Variety)

Actress Emma Corrin (who plays Princess Diana on The Crown and was in the first season of Pennyworth) will star alongside British singer Harry Styles in the Amazon Studios romantic drama My Policeman based on the acclaimed novel by Bethan Roberts. The story takes place in the late 1990s, when the arrival of elderly invalid Patrick into Marion and Tom’s home, triggers the exploration of seismic events from 40 years previous: the passionate relationship between Tom and Patrick at a time when homosexuality was illegal. Styles and Corrin are set to star as Tom and Marion, respectively. (Deadline)

Actress Serinda Swan (Coroner and Graceland) will star as a young Elizabeth Taylor in the war movie Devotion that is set to star Jonathan Majors, Glen Powell, Christina Jackson, Joe Jonas and Thomas Sadoski. The aerial epic will chart the true story of U.S. Navy fighter pilots, Jesse Brown and Tom Hudner, two young men from different worlds. Initiated together into the VF-32 squadron, they are pushed to their limits flying a new design of fighter jet. But their friendship is tested when one of them is shot down behind enemy lines. Swan will play the iconic actress, who encounters the 32s during their shore leave in Cannes, France. (Deadline)

That’s it. Enjoy!