Rueben's Ramblings

Hey All,

Here are the news items for this past week:

PICK-UP NEWS

FOX has ordered the one-hour dramedy The Big Leap for the 2021-2022 TV season. The show is inspired by the UK docuseries Big Ballet about a diverse, down-on-their-luck characters, who are attempting to change their lives by participating in a potentially life-ruining reality dance show. What this group of underdogs lack in dance training, they make up for with their edge, wit and desire. The cast includes Scott Foley (Scandal), Piper Perabo (Covert Affairs), Teri Polo (The Fosters), Mallory Jansen (Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD), Ser’Darius Blain (Charmed and the Jumanji movie remakes) [among others]. (Variety)

TV CASTING NEWS

Odette Annable has been promoted to series regular for the 2nd season of Walker. (Variety and The Futon Critic)

Vincent Kartheiser (Angel and Mad Men) has joined the cast of the HBO Max (formerly DC Universe) series Titans, appearing as Dr. Jonathan Crane, who – in DC lore – becomes the unhinged supervillain Scarecrow. (Variety and CBR.com)

Josh Hartnett (Penny Dreadful) will star in the original thriller series The Fear Index, based on the best-selling novel by Robert Harris. Hartnett will play Dr. Alex Hoffman, a computer scientist and genius who is ready with a new AI product launch that promises big returns, but whose roll-out plans go awry. What follows is a journey through the worst 24 hours of his life — cutting across reality, memory and paranoid fantasy, forcing him to question everything he sees with his own eyes. (Variety)

The Apple TV series The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey has added new cast members, including Walton Goggins (Justified and The Unicorn), Omar Miller (Ballers), Damon Gupton (Black Lightning) [among others]. They join a cast that already includes Samuel L. Jackson and Dominique Fishback. The show is based on the novel by Walter Mosley, which finds Jackson playing 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, Grey 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. Goggins will play Dr. Rubin; Gupton will play Coydog, Grey’s childhood mentor and Miller will play Reggie Llyod, Grey’s grand nephew. (Variety)

FOX is planning a reboot of Fantasy Island that will debut on August 10. Roselyn Sanchez (Grand Hotel and Devious Maids) will star as Elena Roarke, a descendant of Mr. Roarke from the original series. Elena set aside her own ambitions, and even the love of her life, to uphold her family’s legacy. The new show is described as a modern semi-anthology series that delves into the “what if” questions, both big and small, that keep us awake at night. Each episode will tell stories about people who walk in with a desire, but end up reborn to themselves through the magical realism of Fantasy Island. (Variety)

Domhnall Gleeson (Star Wars) will play a key Watergate figure in the upcoming HBO limited series The White House Plumbers, joining already announced cast members Woody Harrelson and Justin Theroux. The 5-part series will tell the story of how President Richard Nixon’s own political saboteurs and Watergate masterminds, E. Howard Hunt (Harrelson) and G. Gordon Liddy (Theroux), accidentally toppled the presidency they were zealously trying to protect. Gleeson will play John Dean, the brilliant, ambitious and youthful White House Counsel that ultimately orchestrates the illegal cover-up that brought down Nixon and his administration. Also, Lena Headey (Game of Thrones) will also appear in the limited series, playing Dorothy Hunt, the wife of E. Howard Hunt. (Variety)

Toni Collette will star alongside Colin Firth in the HBO Max limited series The Staircase. The 8-episode series is based on the docuseries that focused on the case of Michael Peterson (Firth), who was accused of murdering his wife, Kathleen (Collette), in 2001. He claimed she died after falling down the stairs at their home, but police suspected he bludgeoned her to death and staged the scene to look like an accident. (Variety)

JK Simmons will now star opposite Sissy Spacek in the Amazon sci-fi series Lightyears, taking over the lead role from Ed O’Neill who exited the production “for personal reasons.” The series will follow Irene (Spacek) and Franklin (Simmons) York, a couple who years ago discovered a chamber buried in their backyard which inexplicably leads to a strange, deserted planet. They’ve carefully guarded their secret ever since, but when an enigmatic young man enters their lives, the Yorks’ quiet existence is quickly upended and the mysterious chamber they thought they knew so well turns out to be much more than they could ever have imagined. (Variety)

Finn Wittrock (American Horror Story and Ratched) will star as Guy Gardner in the HBO Max 10-episode series Green Lantern, which is based on the DC superhero. (Variety)

The first casting announcement for the new spin-off series NCIS: Hawaii has been made. Vanessa Lachey (BH90210) will star as Jane Tennant, the first woman SAC of NCIS: Hawaii. She is as diplomatic as she is hard-charging. A woman in a male-dominated profession, she’s thrived in a system that’s pushed back every step of the way through equal parts confidence and strategy. But Tennant is more than just a job and a title. She’s a mother raising her kids mostly on her own. Like any parent who loves their career and their family – she’s a master juggler – balancing the duty to both her children and her country. Also, Yasmine Al-Bustami (S.W.A.T. and The Originals) will play Lucy. Confident in the way that reflects a lifetime of achievement and youthful enthusiasm, Lucy is the junior member of Tennant’s NCIS team. She is eager to be the first one to find that key piece of evidence, create a workaround in the bureaucracy, or tackle a suspect down a flight of stairs. And, Jason Antoon (Claws and Fresh Off the Boat) will play Ernie, the Cyber Intelligence Specialist, who is a polyglot with a keen mind for technology, history, literature and all things Hawaiian. He’s an essential component of the team, who can trace an anonymous ip address or profile a suspect using only their social media footprint. Ernie doesn’t have family on the island so he’s invited himself to join his Team’s families. (Variety)

The Rookie creator Alexi Hawley will be working with Netflix “golden boy” Noah Centineo (To All the Boys movie franchise and the Freeform drama The Fosters) in a new drama, tentatively titled Graymail where Centineo will play a fledgling CIA lawyer who becomes involved in dangerous international power politics when a former asset threatens to expose the nature of her long-term relationship with the agency, unless they exonerate her for a serious crime. It should also be noted that Centineo will appear in the upcoming box office movie Black Adam alongside Dwayne Johnson; he will appear as He-Man in a new Masters of the Universe reboot and a new GameStop movie at Netflix. (Cinema Blend)

BOX OFFICE CASTING NEWS

Netflix has another film that will be added to its burgeoning roster. Gunpowder Milkshake will focus on three generations of female assassins who fight to stop a vicious cycle of violence that has haunted their lives. The cast includes Karen Gillan, Lena Heady and Angela Bassett as well as Paul Giamatti, Carla Gugino and Michelle Yeoh. (Deadline)

That’s it. Enjoy!