Rueben's Ramblings

Hey All,

Here are the entertainment news items for this past week:

BOX OFFICE MOVIE NEWS

Gillian Anderson and Jason Isaacs along with Chase Infiniti (One Battle After Another) and Christopher Briney (The Summer I Turned Pretty) will star in the coming-of-age drama The Julia Set. Infiniti will play Julia, a talented mathematician operating within a fiercely competitive academic environment while Briney will play Pascal, the T.A. who conscripts her into an elite prep course for the most challenging math competition in the world, the Putnam Exam. (I)

The follow-up sequel to The Social Network, The Social Reckoning had added Billy Magnussen, Betty Gilpin, Gbenga Akinnagbe and Anna Lambe to its cast. Their character details are being kept under wraps, but the movie will be a companion piece to The Social Network telling the true story of how Frances Haugen, a young Facebook engineer, enlisted the help of Jeff Horwitz, a Wall Street Journal reporter, to go on a dangerous journey that ends up blowing the whistle on the social network’s most guarded secrets. (I)

Kingsley Ben-Adir (Bob Marley: One Love) and Archie Madekwe (See) will star in the box office movie The Arrival, playing two long-lost brothers, Raheem (Madekwe) and Tom (Ben-Adir) in adulthood. Tom, the elder of the two, was given up for adoption as an infant. The film examines the “exhilarating and uncanny experience” of meeting a blood brother for the first time in adulthood. As the two grow closer, seduced by the idea of their shared history finally making sense, they must confront the uncomfortable truths at the heart of their family, and the impossible decision that their parents made thirty years ago. (I)

Callum Turner (Masters of the Air) and Adria Arjona (Hit Man) will star in the film Alone Together that will follow Sam (Turner), a British filmmaker facing a life crisis as he visits the Arabian desert for a job. His career is stalling, he’s on the brink of a divorce, and he’s feeling guilty about being an absent father to his young son. During a freak rainstorm he has a fleeting and powerful connection with the captivating Inma (Arjona), and these two strangers in a strange land are consumed by mutual attraction. But this isn’t a love story. These are adults with baggage, unable to walk away from their pasts. Sam also develops a bond with charismatic local guide Abdullah whose unlikely friendship offers him the chance to further explore his emotions. (Variety)

Johnny Depp is in final negotiations to appear in the latest adaptation of Ebenezer: A Christmas Carol, the classic Charles Dickens story with Depp playing the lead character. (Deadline)

Oscar nominee Colman Domingo will provide the voice of the Cowardly Lion in Wicked: For Good next month. (Variety)

Nashville alum Maisy Stella and Sam Rockwell will star in the psychological thriller Tumor that will delve into the story of a low-level Los Angeles private investigator. When the daughter of a wealthy politico goes missing, the PI embarks on a mission into the world of L.A.’s young, privileged elite to track her down. Battling the debilitating symptoms of a late-stage brain tumor, his grasp on reality becomes increasingly fragile, and as the unlikely duo sets out on the run, old memories blur with the present, dredging up dark secrets from his past. (Deadline)

Elvis star Austin Butler is in early talks to star opposite Michael B. Jordan in a reboot of Miami Vice for Universal Pictures. Butler would play Sonny Crockett while Jordan would play Rico Tubbs. (Variety)

TV SERIES ORDER

CBS has given a series order to Cupertino, a new legal drama from creator Robert and Michelle King, the husband-and-wife team behind The Good Wife. The new series will star Mike Colter from Evil. The series is a David vs. Goliath legal drama set in the heart of Silicon Valley that follows a lawyer (Colter) who is being cheated out of his stock-options by his former employer, a tech start-up. Refusing to back down, he joins forces with another recently fired attorney to represent those taken advantage of by the tech elite and help them fight back in a high stakes battle against the Goliaths controlling Silicon Valley. (Deadline)

Hulu has given a greenlight to a reboot of Prison Break that will star Emily Browning (American Gods), Drake Rodger (The Winchesters), Lukas Gage (The White Lotus) [among others]. The new show will be set in the same world as the original series but will feature different characters and a new storyline focusing on an ex-soldier turned corrections officer (Browning), who takes a job at one of the deadliest prisons in America to prove just how far she’ll go for someone she loves. (Variety)

Netflix has set a new drama series Kennedy that will explore the triumphs and tragedies of the Kennedy family with Michael Fassbender set to play patriarch Joe Kennedy Sr. The eight-episode series will reveal the intimate lives, loves, rivalries, and tragedies that shaped the most iconic dynasty in modern history, and helped create the world we live in today. Beginning in the 1930s, the first season charts the improbable ascent of Joe and Rose Kennedy and their nine children, including rebellious second son Jack, who struggles to escape the shadow of his golden boy older brother. (Deadline)

RENEWAL

USA Network has given The Rainmaker a second season that will air sometime in 2026. (Deadline)

TV CASTING NEWS

Grey’s Anatomy hunk Eric Dane will guest star in a November episode of the NBC medical drama Brilliant Minds, playing a man with ALS, which Dane himself has. Dane will play Matthew, a heroic firefighter who struggles to share his ALS diagnosis with his family and turns to Dr. Oliver Wolf (series lead Zachary Quinto) for help. (The Hollywood Reporter)

That’s it. Enjoy!