Rueben's Ramblings

Hey All,

Here are the news items for this past week:

RENEWAL

Netflix has given Sex/Life, starring Sarah Shahi and Mike Vogel, a second season renewal. (TV Line)

Disney+ has given The Mysterious Benedict Society a 2nd season renewal. (Variety)

Starz has given the new series BMF a second season renewal. (TV Line)

Bounce has given a second season renewal to the original series Johnson. (The Futon Critic)

PICKED-UP

It’s official! OWN has picked up the cancelled CBS legal drama All Rise for a third season. The new season is anticipated to air in 2022; meanwhile the first two seasons will start streaming on both Hulu and HBO Max as well as on OWN starting on December 1. (TV Line)

DEVELOPMENT NEWS

A series adaptation of the 1999 film Cruel Intentions (which starred Reese Witherspoon and Ryan Phillippe (before they were married in real life) and Buffy alum Sarah Michelle Gellar) is being developed by IMDbTV. A failed attempt at a small screen adaptation at NBC took place 5 years ago. This time around the series adaptation would be set in Washington, D.C., following two ruthless step-siblings who will do anything to stay at the top of the Greek Life hierarchy at their elite college. When a brutal hazing incident threatens the entire Panhellenic system, they’ll do whatever is necessary to preserve their power and reputations, including seducing the daughter of the U.S. vice president. (TV Line)

RETURNING TO PRIMETIME

For whatever reason more than a DECADE after it was pulled from the air, NBC is bringing Law & Order, the original flagship series, back for a 21st season. It is unclear which cast members will be back, however. (TV Line)

SPIN-OFF NEWS

Amazon has officially order a spin-off to The Boys with Michele Fazekas and Tara Butters taking over as showrunners from exiting Craig Rosenberg.  The planned spinoff of “The Boys” has officially been ordered to series at Amazon. In addition, Michele Fazekas and Tara Butters (Reaper and Emergence) will take over as showrunners following the exit of Craig Rosenberg. Rosenberg is an executive producer on “The Boys” but departed the spinoff over creative differences. The spin-off will be set at America’s only college exclusively for young adult superheroes that will explore the lives of hormonal, competitive Supes as they put their physical, sexual and moral boundaries to the test, competing for the best contracts in the best cities. (Variety)

REBOOT NEWS

Viewers will be getting ANOTHER reboot. This time Babylon 5 will be back, airing this time on The CW. Series creator J. Michael Straczynski will be back at the helm with the reboot planned to follow John Sheridan, an Earthforce officer with a mysterious background, who is assigned to Babylon 5, a five-mile-long space station in neutral space. (TV Line)

TV CASTING NEWS

Susan Sarandon’s daughter, Eva Amurri (Californication),will join her mom in the upcoming FOX drama Monarch, recurring as a younger Dottie Cantrell Roman, Sarandon’s character. (Deadline)

Apple has ordered the new series Amber Brown, based on the best-selling book by Paula Danziger, that is an unfiltered look at a girl finding her own voice through art and music in the wake of her parents’ divorce. Relative newcomer Carsyn Rose will play the lead while Sarah Drew (Everwood and Grey’s Anatomy) will play Amber’s mother Sarah. (The Futon Critic)

Ian Bohen (Yellowstone and Teen Wolf) will have a recurring, multi-episode arc in the upcoming 2nd season of Superman & Lois on The CW. He will play Lt. Mitch Anderson, the metaphorical “new sheriff in town” at the DOD. His worldview divides into two types: those you serve and those who serve you. He doesn’t like that Superman exists outside that paradigm and tries to bring the Man of Steel under his authority officially. (Deadline)

Russell Hornsby (Grimm and The Bone Collector) will play Don King in the upcoming Hulu limited series Iron Mike that will be about legendary boxer Mike Tyson, who will be played by Trevante Rhodes (box office film Moonlight and The United States vs. Billie Holliday). The series is said to be an exploration of the wild, tragic and controversial life and career of Tyson, one of the most polarizing figures in sports culture. Production on the eight-episode series is currently underway. (Variety)

More cast members have been added to the HBO Max reimagining of Pretty Little Liars that will be called Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin. Sharon Leal (the box office film Dreamgirls), Elena Goode (Straight Outta Compton), Lea Salonga (Mulan), Zakiya Young (Orange Is the New Black) and Carly Pope (Popular and The Good Doctor). Leal, Goode and Salonga will be series regulars, while Young and Pope will be recurring. They join previously announced cast members Chandler Kinney, Bailee Madison, Maia Reficco, Malia Pyles, Zaria, Mallory Bechtel, Alex Aiono and Eric Johnson. The series will be set in the present, 20 years after a series of tragic events almost ripped the blue-collar town of Millwood apart. Now, a disparate group of teen girls find themselves tormented by an unknown “Assailant” and made to pay for the secret sin their parents committed two decades ago, as well as their own. Leal will play Sidney, Tabby’s (Kinney) single mother who works in real estate to provide for her daughter and Imogen (Madison), another girl in town. Goode will play Marjorie, a nurse at Millwood General who is hiding a secret that threatens her relationship with her daughter Noa (Reficco). Salonga will play Elodie, Minnie’s (Pyles) overbearing mother who works overtime to protect her daughter from her childhood trauma. Young will play Corey, Faran’s (Zaria) newly single mother who takes a job as a paralegal, though she tells everyone she’s a lawyer. Pope will play Davie, Imogen’s (Madison) mother, whose dark past upends her and her daughter’s lives. (ComicBook.com)

Joel McHale has been promoted to series regular for season 3 of DC’s Supergirl on The CW where he has been recurring as Starman since the show’s debut. (TV Line)

Outlander star Sam Heughan and Richard E. Grant (Loki) [among others] will star opposite James Nesbitt (The Hobbit movies) in the British TV 8-part crime thriller Suspect. Nesbitt will star as veteran detective Danny Frater who gets a devastating shock when he turns up at a hospital mortuary for what he thinks is a routine ID check but the corpse turns out to be his estranged daughter, Christina. There are no details on who Heughan or Grant will portray or when (if) the series will find a broadcast home in the States. (Digital Spy)

BOX OFFICE NEWS

Rege-Jean Page (Bridgerton) will star in an yet to be titled Netflix film that will be written and directed by Noah Hawley (Fargo and Legion). Details on the film are being kept under wraps, but the thriller will be based on an original idea from Hawley. (Variety)

Michaela Conlin (Bones and For All Mankind) will star alongside Philipa Soo (Hamilton) Simu Liu (Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings) and Luke Bracey (the remake of Point Break) in the box office film One True Loves that is a moving love story about a woman unexpectedly forced to choose between the husband she has long thought dead and the fiancé who finally has brought her back to life. (Deadline)

STREAMING MOVIE NEWS

Enola Holmes 2 is coming to Netflix with Millie Bobby Brown returning in the title role along with Henry Cavill back as her older brother Sherlock. It’s been announced that Helena Bonham Carter will also be back playing the mother of the siblings Eudoria Holmes. The films are based on the beloved books by Nancy Springer that tell the story of Enola, the rebellious teen sister of Sherlock Holmes, who is a gifted super-sleuth in her own right and often outsmarts her famous siblings. (Variety)

LIMITED SERIES CASTING NEWS

FX is making another adaptation of Shogun, based on the best-selling novel by James Clavell. This version will be a limited series on the cable network and will feature among its cast Hiroyuki Sanada (Revenge), Cosmo Jarvis (the box office film Lady Macbeth) and newcomer Anna Sawai in the lead roles. (The Futon Critic)

That’s it. Enjoy!