Rueben's Ramblings

Hey All,

Here are the entertainment news items for this past week:

TV CASTING NEWS

William H. Macy (Shameless) has joined the cast of the as-yet-untitled Hulu drama from Dan Fogelman, This Is Us and Paradise series creator, that will be set inside the world of the NFL with a generational family component. Macy will play Hank Durkin. He joins the previously announced series lead Law & Order alum Christopher Meloni, who will play Danny Roarke, the head coach of an NFL team. (Deadline)

Merrin Dungey (Alias) is among the new cast members of the upcoming Buffy the Vampire reboot, which has a pilot order at Hulu and will find Sarah Michelle Gellar back in her signature role of Buffy Summers as well as working as executive producer. Dungey will play Ms. LaDuca, the College Counselor at New Sunnydale Academy. The baton of the slayer has been passed to Ryan Kiera Armstrong (Skeleton Crew) as an introverted high-school student named Nova. (Deadline)

Lindsay Lohan and Shailene Woodley will star together in the upcoming Hulu limited series Count My Lies, which is based on the recently published novel by Sophie Stava. The series is about what happens when compulsive liar Sloane Caraway (Woodley) fibs her way into a nanny position for the gorgeous and charismatic Violet (Lohan) and Jay Lockhart, it seems she’s finally landed her dream job. But little does Sloane know, she’s just entered a household brimming with secrets that are about to explode — with potentially catastrophic consequences for all. (Deadline)

The one and only John Malkovich has joined the cast of the upcoming rom-com Apple TV+ series Prodigies that will star The Bear alum Ayo Edebiri as Didi. The series focuses on two ex-child prodigies who have been together since they were children. Now in their early 30s, they are starting to question whether their very ordinary existence is living up to the extraordinary promise of their childhood. Inevitably, they find themselves asking the same questions of their relationship. Details about Malkovich’s character have not yet been announced, though. (Variety)

NCIS Hawai’i alum Noah Mills has landed a recurring role in the CBS medical drama Watson for the show’s upcoming second season. Mills will play Beck Wythe, who has newly returned to his hometown of Pittsburgh after blowing up a career in Silicon Valley with reckless, risk-seeking behavior. He meets Ingrid Derian (Eve Harlow) in group therapy for people trying to manage their Cluster B personality disorders. The two of them form a bond that may be exactly what they need to rebuild their lives or might be just the latest dangerous indulgence for both. (Deadline)

Corinne Massiah and Elijah M. Cooper, who play May and Harry Grant (respectively) – the grown children of Athena Grant (Angela Bassett) – on 9-1-1 have been promoted to series regulars for the show’s upcoming 9th season. (Deadline)

TV SERIES ORDER

Disney+ and Disney Channel have given a greenlight to Coven Academy, a dramedy about a group of young witches in New Orleans. White Collar alum Tiffani Thiessen will star along with Malina Pauli Weissman (A Series of Unfortunate Events), Malachi Barton (Zombies 4: Dawn of the Vampires), Louis Thresher (Boarders) and Jordan Leftwich (Family Switch) [among others]. (The Hollywood Reporter)

BOX OFFICE MOVIE NEWS

Maggie Grace (Lost and the Taken movie franchise), Devon Sawa (Nikita and Final Destination), Tiffany Haddish (Girls Trip) and Ralph Macchio (Cobra Kai) will star in the upcoming indie crime thriller The Girl in the River, which is about a seasoned criminologist and a young female psychologist who are lured to a remote Mississippi town to investigate the murder of a little girl and the disappearance of her twin sister. (Deadline)

Sarah Gadon (Ferrari), Max Martini (The Unit and Castle), Dianna Agron (Glee), Mike Vogel (Under the Dome) and Charles Esten (Outer Banks and Nashville) will star in the indie Western film Flint that will also star Lost and Duster alum Josh Holloway. The film, based on the Louis L’Amour novel, centers on James Kettleman (Holloway), a hardened East Coast businessman who returns to the Montana frontier under the name Flint, the alias of the notorious killer who raised him. As he’s pulled into a violent range war, a chance encounter with a strong-willed rancher forces him to reckon with the man he’s become — and the legacy he hopes to leave behind. Gadon will play Nancy Kennigan, a strong, single woman forced to step into her father’s shoes after his passing to take over his ranch. Martini will play Porter Baldwin, a cutthroat East Coast businessman clawing his way back to respectability through a land swindle in the West. Agron will play Lottie Kettleman, an East Coast socialite who traveled West after being abandoned by her wealthy husband. Vogel will play Buck Dunn, a long-range assassin. And, Esten will play Flint, the hired killer who, in taking young Kettleman in, is forced to become a father figure. Hallmark star Kristoffer Polaha and Bailey Chase (Longmire) also star. (Deadline)

Captain Marvel star Brie Larson, Lily Collins (Emily in Paris), Jack Quaid (The Boys) and Henry Golding (Crazy Rich Asians) will star in the upcoming box office film Close Personal Friends. Plot details are being kept under wraps, though. (Deadline)

That’s it. Enjoy!