Rueben's Ramblings

Hey All,

Here are the entertainment news items for this past week:

RENEWALS

MGM+ has given the western period piece drama Billy the Kid a third and final season renewal. (The Hollywood Reporter)

Apple TV+ has given the Colin Farrel-led drama Sugar a second season renewal. (TV Line)

OFFICIAL SERIES ORDER

Amazon Prime has given an official series order to a spin-off to Reacher, the series starring Alan Ritchson in the lead role. The spin-off will be centered around Maria Sten, played by Frances Neagley in both the 1st and 2nd season of Reacher. It will follow Neagley as a private investigator in Chicago. (TV Line)

The FX drama series The Sensitive Kind, that will star Ethan Hawke, has been ordered to series, but exact plot details are being kept under wraps other than the show being a Tulsa noir about a guy (Hawke) who knows too much. Among the cast members are Keith David, Jeanne Tripplehorn, Tim Blake Nelson and Kyle Maclachan [among others]. (Variety)

FX has also given a series order to the drama The Beauty from uber-producer Ryan Murphy. Evan Peters, Ashton Kutcher and Anthony Ramos will star in a series being described as focusing on modern society and its obsession with outward beauty. (Variety)

SPIN-OFF NEWS

Looks like the 9-1-1 franchise is growing with Ryan Murphy confirming he has plans to expand with another spin-off. He and series co-creator Tim Minear are working on a new spin-off that they hope will air next fall, but no specific location has been announced yet. (Variety and TV Line)

TV CASTING NEWS

Elizabeth Henstridge (Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD) has not only directed an episode of Superman & Lois in both seasons two and three, but she will now play a pivotal role in the show’s final season; that of Lex Luthor’s daughter. (ComicBook.com)

Trevor Donovan has joined the cast of When Hope Calls, which will now air its second season on Great American Family (instead of Hallmark Channel). He will play Constable Jim Reynolds, an experienced Mountie who is known for his strong presence and skills in the field. (MSN)

CSI alum Matthew Gray Gubler has been cast in the upcoming CBS procedural Einstein, which is based on the German dramedy of the same name that focuses on Albert Einstein’s brilliant but directionless great-grandson Lew, who spends his days as a comfortably tenured professor until his bad boy antics land him in trouble with the law and he is pressed into service helping a local police detective solve her most puzzling cases. (TV Line)

Gossip girl alum Leighton Meester has joined the cast of the second season of The Buccaneers on Apple TV+. Details on what character she will be playing are being kept under wraps. (The Hollywood Reporter)

The Hallmark+ drama Ripple, which will explore how unexpectedly connected we are as human beings through the eyes and stories of its four main characters, has announced its lead cast members. Nate will be played by Pretty Little Liars alum Ian Harding; Walter will be played by veteran actor Frankie Faison; Kris will be played by British actress Julia Chand and Aria will be played by Sydney Agudong. (Deadline)

Brittany Snow, Natalie Morales, David Lyons and Tim Guinee will star in the upcoming Netflix limited drama series The Beast in Me. The tagline for the show is: Since the tragic death of her young son, acclaimed author Aggie Wiggs (Claire Danes) has receded from public life, unable to write, a ghost of her former self. But she finds an unlikely subject for a new book when the house next door is bought by Nile Jarvis (Matthew Rhys), a famed and formidable real estate mogul who was once the prime suspect in his wife’s disappearance. At once horrified and fascinated by this man, Aggie finds herself compulsively hunting for the truth – chasing his demons while fleeing her own – in a game of cat and mouse that might turn deadly. Snow will play Nina, Nile’s spouse; Morales will play Shelley, Aggie’s ex-wife; Lyons will play FBI agent Brian Abbot and Guinee will play Wrecking Ball, an intimidating presence in Nile’s life. (Variety)

It looks like Meryl Streep has found her next TV role. She will star in the series adaptation of The Corrections based on the novel by Jonathan Franzen. No streaming service nor network is attached yet, but the series will be taken to market soon. The series will follow an elderly Midwestern couple who try to hold a Christmas reunion with their three adult children due to the father’s failing health. (Variety)

BOX OFFICE NEWS

John Boyega and Danielle Deadwyler will star as the late soul legend Otis Redding and his widow Zelma Redding respectively in the upcoming biopic Otis & Zelma. Redding’s burgeoning superstar career was tragically cut short when he died at the age of only 26 in a 1967 plane crash, leaving behind Zelma and three young children. (Variety)

Kirsten Dunst will star opposite Channing Tatum in the upcoming true crime film Roofman that is based on the remarkable story of Jeffrey Manchester, an eccentric and charming serial robber who broke into more than 60 McDonald’s overnight via their roofs, then emptied the cash register in the morning after herding staff into freezers. (Deadline)

Reacher star Alan Ritchson will appear in the box office adaptation of the Nicholas Sparks best-seller Counting Miracle that finds a former Ranger (Ritchson) returning to his small hometown with one mission: to find the father he never knew. While there he crosses paths with a doctor who is balancing her own life as a single mother of two and a reclusive old man with a mysterious past, leading to unexpected connections and a journey toward belonging. (Variety)

Fran Drescher will play the mother of Timothee Chalamet in the upcoming table tennis movie Marty Supreme that will follow Chalamet as a young ping pong pro. (Variety)

Katy O’Brian (Love Lies Bleeding and The Mandalorian) will join Glen Powell in the reboot of The Running Man, to be directed by Edgar Wright and based on the novel by Stephen King. (Deadline)

J.K. Simmons and Tony winner Nina Arianda will star in the magical realism dramedy 109 Billion Followers that will follow a film student (Olivia Simmons, the real-life daughter of J.K. Simmons) who makes a documentary about a homeless man (J.K. Simmons) who is convinced that he’s the Grim Reaper. Her cameraman and unlikely love interest (Jake Ryan) adds laughs and heart, while her broken but loving mother (Nina Arianda) adds drama and mess. (Variety)

That’s it. Enjoy!