Rueben's Ramblings

Hey All,

Here are the entertainment news items for this past week:

RENEWAL/CANCELLATION

CBS has renewed Fire Country already for a 3rd season. (TV Line)

Power Book II: Ghost will come to an end after its upcoming 4th season on Starz. (TV Line)

TV CASTING NEWS

Alice Lee (Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist) will guest star in the pilot episode of the Suits spin-off, Suits L.A., and if they show is ordered to series, she will recur as Leah, a young associate attorney at Black Lane Law who has been assigned to work with (or, as it turns out, for) entertainment attorney Erica Rollins (Lex Scott Davis). (TV Line)

Mariel Molino (The Watchful Eye) will play the female lead opposite Austin Stowell in the spin-off prequel NCIS: Origins, which will be narrated by Mark Harmon, who originated the role of Leroy Jethro Gibbs, to be played by Stowell. Molino will play Special Agent Lala Dominguez, a former Marine who navigates her 1990s male-dominated field with a steely resolve and a dark sense of humor. When a tormented Leroy Jethro Gibbs joins her team, the ensuing story between these two enigmatic outsiders is filled with sparks and turns that will keep the audience guessing. (Deadline)

Eric Bana will star in, and executive producer, the Netflix limited series Untamed, a character driven mystery thriller, playing Eric Inman, a special agent for the National Parks Service who works to enforce human law in nature’s vast wilderness. The investigation of a brutal death sends Inman on a collision course with the dark secrets within the park, and in his own past. (Variety)

Jurnee Smollett (Lovecraft Country has joined the cast of the Apple TV+ series Firebug that will star Taron Egerton. She will play Michelle, a rising star detective. The series will be loosely based on true events and inspired by a podcast of the same name. Egerton will star as an enigmatic arson investigator. They will pursue two serial arsonists. (Variety)

The 1000th episode of the NCIS franchise will feature guest stars Daniela Ruah, from the now defunct NCIS: Los Angeles and Vanessa Lachey from NCIS: Hawai’i. Also, Spence Moore II (All American and Superman & Lois) will appear in the episode as well as Jared, Director Leon Vance’s son. (TV Line)

DEVELOPMENT NEWS

Starz is developing another series in the Power franchise. This time it will be a prequel called Origins, which will follow the beginning story of characters Ghost and Tommy. (Variety)

ORDERED TO SERIES

Netflix has announced the following new shows set for 2025:

The Undertow, a crime noir series, to star Jamie Dornan;
The Choice, a high-stakes political thriller, to star Surane Jones (Vigil) and Julie Delpy as the French President and British Prime Minister respectively; and,
Black Rabbit, a limited series that will star Jason Bateman and Jude Law. (Variety)

MOVIE NEWS

Zachary Levi, Zooey Deschanel, Lil Rel Howery and Jemaine Clement will all star in the box office film Harold and the Purple Crayon, based on the 1955 picture book by Crockett Johnson with Levi playing an adult version of the titular character, setting the stage for an adventure filled with imagination, color and bringing a world of fantasy to life in the modern day. (Collider)

Arnold Schwarenegger will star with Alan Ritchson in the family Christmas comedy The Man With the Bag from Amazon MGM Studios. The film will center on Santa Claus learning that his magic bag has been swiped, leading Old St. Nick to team up with Vance, a reformed thief and denizen of the naughty list, to get it back. The duo also enlist Vance’s daughter and a team of misfit elves to help them save Christmas. (The Hollywood Reporter)

That’s it. Enjoy!