Rueben's Ramblings

Hey All,

Here are the entertainment news items for this past week:

SERIES ADAPTATION

Netflix has landed the series adaptation of the Dan Brown novel The Secret of Secrets. The as-yet titled drama, which was given a straight to series order, is set in the world of Brown’s anticipated mystery thriller novel about Harvard professor of symbology Robert Langdon. Brown and Lost EP Carlton Cuse will serve as co-creators, writers and executive producers. In the book, symbologist Robert Langdon races against ancient forces and time to rescue a missing scientist and her groundbreaking manuscript whose discoveries have the power to forever change humanity’s understanding of the mind. (Deadline)

TV CASTING NEWS

Netflix has announced more cast members to the new version of Little House on the Prairie, including New Amsterdam alum Jocko Sims and Hallmark hunk Warren Christie, who will play characters from the books. Sims will play Dr. George Tann, a generous and kind-hearted man with a charming bedside manner that makes him a connector within the community. Christie will play John Edwards, a Civil War veteran from Tennessee, who is a gregarious and mysterious man who catches the eye of every single woman in the county. Also, Wren Zhawenim Gotts (Echo), Meegwun Fairbrother (Burden of Truth), Alyssa Wapanatahk (Peter Pan & Wendy) and Xander Cole (People of the West) will play newly created characters, members of the same extended Osage family. (Deadline)

The Harry Potter small screen adaptation has found its Harry, Ron and Hermione. Newcomers Dominic McLaughlin has landed the title role with Arabella Staton as Hermione Granger and Alastair Stout as Ron Weasley. (TV Line)

NOTE: You can see a picture of the new Harry Potter cast members below:

The one and only J.K. Simmons will play the lead in the MGM+ period crime drama The Westies, which will be set in the early 1980s when the construction of the Jacob Javitz Convention Center on the Westies’ home turf in Hell’s Kitchen promised a financial windfall for the Irish-American organized crime gang. Despite being outnumbered 50-to-1 by the Five Families of the Italian mafia, the Westies’ legendary brutality and cunning have given them the leverage necessary to share the spoils through a fragile détente. But internal conflict between the brash younger generation and the old-school leadership threatens to set a match to this powder keg, which will sweep the Westies into the FBI’s ever-deepening investigation into the Italian mafia. Simmons will play Eamon Sweeney, the charismatic but ruthless leader of The Westies whose old-school charm and neighborhood loyalty mask fierce criminal ambition and calculated brutality. (Deadline)

BOX OFFICE NEWS

Yellowjackets co-stars Courtney Eaton and Sophie Nelisse will star in the box office indie film The Space Program, an adaptation of the Kathleen Glasgow novel “Girl in Pieces.” It follows Charlie Davis, a young woman recently released from a psychiatric ward in Minnesota after a suicide attempt. After a move across the country to Tucson, Ariz., Charlie tries to piece her life back together among a band of artists and musicians while dealing with the trauma of childhood abuse, self-harm and homelessness. A toxic relationship with a local musician and the reappearance of her friend from the psych ward threaten the delicate life she’s putting together. (Variety)