Rueben's Ramblings

Hey All,

Here are the news items for this past week:

RENEWALS

Squid Games, the popular Korean thriller, has been renewed for a second season. (Variety)

NBC has renewed La Brea for a second season. (TV Line)

MADE-FOR-TV MOVIE NEWS

Jane Krakowski has stepped down from the role of Lily St. Regis in the upcoming NBC made-for-TV movie Annie Live! due to being diagnosed with a breakthrough case of COVID. The role will be taken over by Megan Hilty (Smash and Wicked). (Deadline)

TV CASTING NEWS

Colby Lewis (Chicago Med) has been tapped to portray Peter, Alina Park (Laura Sohn)’s protective husband on The Blacklist. (Deadline)

HBO is developing a limited series based on the Mob Queens podcast that will star Lena Dunham and Ruth Wilson. The series tells the story of Anna Genovese (Wilson), most widely known as the second wife of infamous crime boss Vito Genovese and a fixture in the Village’s drag bar scene in the 1930s who later broke Cosa Nostra law when she spilled the illegal dealings of her husband in divorce hearings. (Variety)

The FX eight-episode limited series Class of ‘09 has added new cast members including Jake McDorman (The Right Stuff), Sepideh Moafi (The L Word: Generation Q), Brian J. Smith (Sense8 and Stargate Universe) and Brooke Smith (Grey’s Anatomy) [among others]. The series follows a class of FBI agents set in a near future where the U.S. criminal justice system has been transformed by artificial intelligence. The show already stars Brian Tyree Henry (Eternals) and Kate Mara (A Teacher and Shooter). (Deadline)

City On a Hill has added new cast members in recurring roles for its upcoming third season, which will premiere in 2022. Those cast members include Corbin Bernsen (Psych and L.A. Law), Joanne Kelly (Warehouse 13) and Ernie Hudson (Ghostbusters franchise). Season three brings us to Boston’s high society Beacon Hill. Following his dismissal from the FBI, Jackie Rohr (series lead Kevin Bacon) lands a lavish new gig running security for a wealthy family. Life is good until secrets begin to unravel. When an investigation opens – implicating local and federal authorities – assistant district attorney Decourcy Ward (series lead Aldis Hodge) sees an opportunity to finally rip out the machinery perpetuating a broken system.  Bernsen will play Sinclair Dryden, an old money Beacon Hill socialite and former outstanding FBI agent who has been a mentor to Jackie; Kelly will play Letitia, the strong-willed wife of Sinclair and Hudson will play Franklin Ward, the widowed father of Decourcy, who is a Baptist minister in Brooklyn. (Deadline)

BOX OFFICE NEWS

It looks like MGM is going to remake the Patrick Swayze movie Road House with Doug Liman set to direct and Jake Gyllenhaal set to star. There are no details yet on who Gyllenhaal would play, however. (Variety)

The new rom-com film Loveboat, Taipei, based on the best-selling novel by Abigail Hing Wen, will star Ashley Liao (Fuller House, Physical and Secret Society of Second Born Royals) and Ross Butler (Shazam! franchise, Riverdale and 13 Reasons Why). The movie will center on Ever Wong (Liao), whose summer takes an unexpected turn when her parents surprise her with a trip to Taipei for a cultural immersion program. Ever is surprised to discover that she hasn’t signed up for homework and history lessons, but instead for a summer-long free-for-all the locals and other students call “Loveboat.” It quickly lives up to its name when Ever finds herself trying not to fall for two attractive, but wildly different boys who are vying for her attention, while at the same time finding the courage to defy her parents’ high expectations and pursue her true passion: dancing. Butler will play the dashingly handsome Rick Woo. Embarrassingly nicknamed “Boy Wonder” by the smitten Ever, Rick is an infamous prodigy in both sports and scholastics who has yet to meet his match until he meets her. (Deadline)

STREAMING CASTING NEWS

Netflix fave Noah Centineo (To All the Boys franchise, Charlie’s Angels and The Fosters) will star in a currently untitled Netflix thriller created by Alexi Hawley. The 8-episodes series revolves around a fledgling lawyer (Centineo) at the CIA, who becomes enmeshed 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 of a serious crime. The cast includes Vondie Curtis Hall (Harriet), Kristian Bruun (Orphan Black), Laura Haddock (The Capture) and Colton Dunn (Superstore) [among others]. (Deadline)

Timothy Olyphant has joined the cast of the upcoming Amzon drama Daisy Jones & The Six. Based on the novel by Taylor Jenkins Reid, the 10-episode series focuses on the rollercoaster journey of a 1970s rock band coping with the trials of tribulations of becoming famous. Olyphant will play the character responsible for bringing The Six together. The cast includes Riley Keough, Suki Waterhouse and Sam Coflin [among others]. (The Hollywood Reporter and Outsider)

The upcoming Peacock 8-episode crime drama The Missing from David E. Kelley will star Jeff Wilbusch (from the HBO film Oslo and the Netflix series Unorthodox) in the lead role. Based on the novel by Dror A. Mishani focuses on Avraham Avraham, an NYPD detective with the 77th precinct, whose belief in mankind is his superpower when it comes to uncovering the truth. He is left to question his own humanity when a seemingly routine investigation turns upside down. (Variety)

Paramount+ has ordered a small screen adaptation of the box office film Fatal Attraction that will star Lizzy Caplan (Masters of Sex and Party Down) in one of the lead roles. The series will explore the timeless themes of marriage and infidelity through the lens of modern attitudes towards strong women, personality disorders, and coercive control. Caplan will star as Alex (the role played by Glenn Close in the film), who becomes obsessed with her lover after a brief affair. (Variety)

Michael Ealy (Stumptown and Secretsand Lies) will star opposite Kristen Bell (Veronica Mars and The Good Place) and Tom Riley (Da Vinci’s Demons and The Nevers) in the upcoming Netflix 8-episode limited series The Woman in the House, that is set to premiere in early 2022. The series centers around heartbroken Anna (Bell), for whom every day is the same. She sits with her wine, staring out the window, watching life go by without her. But when a handsome neighbor (Riley) and his adorable daughter (Samsara Yett) move in across the street, Anna starts to see a light at the end of the tunnel. That is until she witnesses a gruesome murder… Or did she? Ealy will play Douglas, Anna’s ex-husband. (Deadline)

Jennifer Garner will take over for Julia Roberts in the upcoming Apple drama The Last Thing He Told Me, which is based on the novel by Laura Dave. The series follows a woman (Garner) who forms an unexpected relationship with her sixteen-year-old stepdaughter while searching for the truth about why her husband has mysteriously disappeared. (Variety)

That’s it. Enjoy!