Hey All,
Here are the news items for this past week:
RENEWAL
Shadow and Bone has been officially renewed for Season 2 by Netflix. (TV Line)
Apple TV+ has given a season three order to the Jason Momoa sci-fi series See, ahead of the show’s season two premiere, which is set for August 27. (Variety)
CANCELLATION
The NBC music-based drama Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist has been cancelled after two seasons. The network’s streaming service, Peacock, passed on extending it for another season; but TPTB behind the show are shopping it around and leading the social media campaign to find a new home for the fan favorite series. (TV Line and Deadline)
Despite earlier reports, it’s looking like the new thriller drama Clarice, which debuted on CBS during this recent TV season, will not be moving over to Paramount+ after all; and its future on CBS is in doubt as well because the network has already committed to a full slate of shows for this coming TV season. (Deadline)
TV EXITS
Antonia Thomas, who plays Dr. Claire Browne on The Good Doctor, has departed the show following the ABC medical show’s season 4 finale. (TV Line)
LIVE PRODUCTION NEWS
NBC is planning a holiday production of Annie Live! and the big news is that Taraji P. Henson (Person of Interest and Empire) will be taking on the role of Miss Hannigan, the cruel manager of the orphanage where the titular character resides; and, of course, Miss Hannigan hates all children, especially Annie. Henson will lead the musical opposite a soon-to-be-discovered star. NBC is kicking off a nationwide casting search for the redheaded optimist. (Variety)
STREAMING SERVICE MOVIE NEWS
Leighton Meester (Gossip Girl) will star in the twisty Netflix thriller The Weekend Away, an adaptation of the novel by Sarah Alderson. The psychological thriller will take place amid a weekend getaway to Croatia that goes awry when a woman is accused of killing her best friend. As she attempts to clear her name and uncover the truth, her efforts unearth a painful secret. (Variety)
TV CASTING NEWS
More casting announcements have been made for the upcoming FOX drama Our Kind of People that will star Yaya DaCosta (Chicago Med) as Angela Vaughn, a single mom, who risks it all and moves her family to a vineyard with hopes of taking her natural hair care line to the next level by infiltrating the African American elite in Oak Bluffs. The cast already includes Morris Chestnut (The Resident), LeToya Luckett (Greenleaf) and newcomer Alana Bright. Joining the cast is the one and only Joe Morton (Scandal and Eureka), who will play Teddy Franklin, Leah’s (Luckett) father, who was born into money and grew his family’s sanitation company into one of the largest holding companies in the world; and Rhyon Nicole Brown (Empire) who will play Lauren Dupont, Leah (Luckett) and Raymond’s (Chestnut) daughter, a beautiful and ultra-privileged girl who rules the young social set of The Bluffs and is an established social media influencer. (Deadline and The Futon Critic)
Zack Snyder has a new project; and it’s called Twilight of the Gods. The series is one of many at Netflix that will be happening at some soon point, but little is known about the show itself. However, the cast list was just announced, and it’s laced with a lot of familiar faces. That long list includes (in alphabetical order): Pilou Asbæk (Game ofThrones) as Thor; Jamie Chung (Once Upon a Time and The Gifted) as Hel; Jamie Clayton (Designated Survivor and Sense8) as The Seid-Kona; Lauren Cohan (Supernatural and The Walking Dead) as Inge; Kristopher Hivju (Game of Thrones) as Andvari; Sylvia Hoeks (Blade Runner 2049) as Sigrid; Paterson Joseph (Timeless) as Loki; Rahul Kohli (iZombie) as Egill; Stuart Martin (Miss Scarlet and the Duke) as Leif; John Noble (Fringe) as Odin; Corey Stoll (The Strain) as Hrafnke and Peter Stormare (Prison Break) as Ulfr. (Netflix and The Futon Critic)
Aurora Perrineau (Prodigal Son and daughter of Lost alum Harold Perrineau) has landed a recurring role in the 4th season of HBO’s Westworld, but what character she will play is being kept under wraps; however, she is expected to appear in at least five episodes. (Deadline)
A live-action series based on the long-running movie franchise Resident Evil will be coming to Netflix, led by the one and only Lance Reddick (of The Wire and Fringe fame) who will portray Albert Wesker. The 8-episode thriller will also star Ella Balinska (2019’s Charlie’s Angels), Tamara Smart (the box office film Artemis Fowl), Siena Agudong (the TV movie Upside-Down Magic), Adeline Rudolph (Riverdale and Chilling Adventures of Sabrina) and Paola Nuñez (Bad Boys for Life and the TV series The Purge). Details on which characters these ladies will be playing are being kept under wraps, though. (Variety)
Kristin Kreuk will be seen this summer on The CW in the final season of the Canadian series Burden of Truth; but her next gig will have her going to Amazon Prime for the small screen adaptation of the best-selling Jack Reacher novels by Lee Child that will star Kruek’s former Smallville co-star Alan Ritchson in the lead role. The series – simply called Reacher – will be based on the first book in the franchise: the 1997 novel “Killing Floor.” Kreuk will play Charlie, a refined former debutante who is living the Country Club life with her husband Hubble (Marc Bendavid from Good Witch and Syfy’s Dark Matter), but who is much tougher than she appears. The cast will also include Willie C. Carpenter (Devious Maids) as Mosley, a life-long resident of the struggling town of Margrave and the town barber; Currie Graham (Murder in the First) will play Kliner Sr., a formidable businessman who has a very dark side; but is beloved by the townspeople of Margrave for saving the struggling town; Harvey Guillén (What We Do in the Shadows) will play Jasper, the town’s medical examiner who is suddenly overwhelmed and terrified by multiple murders in his small town; and Maxwell Jenkins (Lost in Space) will play Young Reacher. (TV Line and Deadline)
A long list of cast members have been added to the Amazon romantic comedy series With Love that will star Emeraude Toubia (Shadowhunters). The series follows the Diaz siblings, Lily (Toubia) and Jorge (Mark Indelicato of Ugly Betty fame), who are on a mission to find love and purpose. The Diaz siblings cross paths with seemingly unrelated residents during some of the most heightened days of the year — the holidays. Constance Marie (Switched at Birth) and Benito Martinez (The Shield) will play Beatriz Diaz and Jorge Diaz Sr., the siblings’ parents. Vincent Rodriguez III (Crazy Ex-Girlfriend) will play Henry, Jorge’s charismatic boyfriend; Rome Flynn (How to Get Away With Murder) will play Santiago Zayas, a modern Afro-Cuban American Mr. Darcy; Isis King (When They See Us) will play Sol Perez, Lily and Jorge’s cousin, a trans non-binary oncology resident; Todd Grinnell (One Day At A Time) will play Dr. Miles Murphy, a reconstructive plastic surgeon with a good heart who has eyes for Sol and Desmond Chiam (The Falcon & the Winter Soldier) will play Nick Zhao, Jorge’s best friend and roommate. (Deadline)
Jameela Jamil (The Good Place) will be joining Orphan Black alum Tatiana Maslany in the Disney+ superheroes series She-Hulk. The series centers on lawyer Jennifer Walters (Maslany), cousin of Bruce Banner, who inherits his Hulk powers after she receives a blood transfusion from him. Unlike Bruce, however, when she hulks out Jennifer is able to retain most of her personality, intelligence, and emotional control. Jamil will play Mary MacPherran, aka Titania, the supervillain with incredible strength and a frequent rival of She-Hulk. (Variety)
Will Packer Media and Kinetic Content from Red Arrow Studios have secured the film and TV rights to Seven Days in June, the best-selling romance novel by Tia Williams, a June selection by Reese Witherspoon’s book club. The novel follows Eva Mercy, a successful erotica author and the daughter she’s raising on her own in Brooklyn. Unbeknownst to Eva, the love of her life is about to return, and she hasn’t seen him since their affair ended abruptly, fifteen years ago. (Variety)
Matthew Goode (A Discovery of Witches and Downton Abbey) has been cast to play Robert Evans, the film producer and studio executive, in the Paramount+ limited event series The Offer, which is about the making of the legendary film “The Godfather.” The limited event series will consist of 10 episodes, and will also star Miles Teller (The Divergent movie franchise), who is replacing Armie Hammer. The series will also star Giovanni Ribisi as mob boss Joe Colombo, who ran one of the notorious Five Families of the American Mafia, and also founded the Italian-American Civil Rights League; Colin Hanks will play Barry Lapidus, a Gulf & Western executive with a lot of power over Paramount Pictures; and Dan Folger will play Francis Ford Coppola, the legendary director. (Variety)
Lucy Boynton (Bohemian Rhapsody) and Will Poulter (The Revenant) will star in the adaptation of Why Didn’t They Ask Evans?, one of the earliest murder mystery novels by Agatha Christie. The series will be directed by House alum Hugh Laurie; and will appear on Britbox North America in 3-parts. Laurie will play the creepy Dr. James Nicholson, a clinical director of a sanatorium; while Poulter will play Bobby and Boynton will play shrewd socialite Lady Frances, who untangle a murder mystery in 1934. (Variety)
Milo Ventimiglia (This Is Us and Gilmore Girls) has joined the cast of the upcoming fourth season of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, but there are no details about his character. (TV Line)
Kate Mulgrew (Star Trek: Voyager and Orange Is the New Black) has joined the cast of the upcoming Showtime anthology series The First Lady. She will recur in the role of Susan Sher, a longtime friend of the Obamas who worked with Michelle (to be played by Viola Davis) in Chicago health care. Sher was originally hired as the President’s associate counsel but then rejoined Michelle Obama as her closest confidante and chief of staff. The series will be a revelatory reframing of American leadership, told through the lens of the women at the heart of the White House. The first season will1 focuses on Eleanor Roosevelt (Anderson), Betty Ford (Pfeiffer) and Michelle Obama (Davis). (Variety)
Stranger Things has added four cast members to its delayed fourth season. All of the characters will have ties to Hawkins High. Those new recurring characters are: Amybeth McNulty (from Anne with an E), who will play Vickie, a cool, fast-talking band nerd who catches the eye of one of our beloved heroes; Myles Truitt (from Black Lightning), who will play Patrick, a Hawkins basketball star who has friends, talent, and a good life until shocking events send his life spiraling out of control; Regina Ting Chen (from Queen of the South), who will play Ms. Kelly, a popular guidance counselor who cares deeply for her students; and Grace Van Dien (from the short-lived NBC drama The Village), who will play Chrissy, Hawkins High’s lead cheerleader and the most popular girl in school; but beneath the seemingly perfect surface lies a dark secret. (TV Line)
FILM CASTING NEWS
Natalie Portman and Julianne Moore will star in a new drama called May December that will find the pair appearing in the story of a Hollywood actress (Portman), who travels to the picturesque coast of Maine to study the real-life woman (Moore) she’s set to play in a film. The woman in question was the subject of a tabloid scandal two decades prior, for marrying a man 23 years her junior. As Moore’s character and her husband prepare to send their twin girls off to college, the family dynamic begins to unravel under Portman’s outsider lens. (Variety)
That’s it. Enjoy!
Rueben's Ramblings 
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