Rueben's Ramblings

Hey All,

Here are the entertainment news items for this past week:

RENEWALS

CBS has already given the brand new drama, and Yellowstone spin-off series, Marshals a second season renewal. (Deadline)

FOX has given the medical drama Doc a third season renewal. (Deadline)

The new period piece drama The Forsytes, which will debut on PBS next Sunday, has a second and third season coming up in the UK, and hopefully US viewers will eventually get to see those seasons at a later time. (Deadline)

NOT MOVING FORWARD

The Buffy the Vampire Slayer reboot that was to bring Sarah Michelle Gellar back to her role from the original series along with newcomer Ryan Kiera Armstrong in the lead role is not moving forward at Hulu. The news arrives a year after the streamer ordered a pilot for the project. The decision follows weeks of speculation about the fate of the pilot. (Deadline)

DEVELOPMENT NEWS

Fans of Firefly and Serenity have been seeing short videos of Nathan Fillion and several of his cast mates from this classic TV series and its sequel movie on social media recently, and now we know what’s actually going on. Fillion and his production banner Collision33 along with married writing-producing team Marc Guggenheim (Arrow) and Tara Butters (Agent Carter), who will serve as showrunners, are in advanced development on an animated Firefly series that will be set in the timeline between the original 2002 television run and its 2005 feature film continuation, Serenity, expanding the universe while preserving continuity with the established lore. Fillion will be joined by all of his cast members including Alan Tudyk, Gina Torres, Jewel Staite, Morena Baccarin, Sean Maher, Summer Glau and Adam Baldwin. The fully assembled package is expected to be taken out to buyers shortly. (Deadline)

TV CASTING NEWS

Noah Beck (Sidelined and Sidelined 2), Brooks Nader (Love They Nader), Shay Mitchell (the original Pretty Little Liars) and Livvy Dunne (social media star and gymnast) have all been cast in the Baywatch sequel series on FOX, which will star Arrow alum Stephen Amell as the grown-up Hobie Buchannon (small screen son of original series star David Hasselhoff in his legendary role Mitch Buchannon). Beck will play Luke, a rookie lifeguard, and the youngest in a family of firefighters who chose the beach over the firehouse. Nader will play Selene, the sharp-tongued Captain of the Zuma Beach lifeguards; she and Baywatch Captain Hobie Buchannon have a very different approach to saving lives that is a constant source of friction. Mitchell will play Trina, a former lawyer who walked away from a white-shoe law firm to become a full-time lifeguard. And Dunne will have the recurring role of Grace, a highly enthusiastic junior lifeguard. (Deadline and Variety)

Jordana Brewster (Fast & Furious franchise) and Jennifer Jason Leigh (Single White Female) have joined the cast of the upcoming Amazon Prime drama series Bishop, which was recently given a greenlight. Joel Kinnaman (Altered Carbon and The Killing) and legendary actor John Malkovich also star. Kinnaman will play homicide detective Bishop Graves, who puts all of his skills to the test in the hunt for an elusive killer targeting San Francisco’s moneyed class. As this increasingly audacious killer develops a devoted following among the city’s powerless, Bishop becomes convinced these murders connect back to SF’s most powerful man, his own father, Lincoln Graves (Malkovich). Brewster will play Kat Claiborne, a seasoned inspector at the San Francisco Police Department and Leigh will play Lincoln Graves’ sister, and aunt to Bishop. (Deadline)

Zuri Red (National Treasure: Edge of History) will play the younger version of Tasha in the Starz spin-off prequel Power: Origins, which will be centered around the early years of the two lead characters from the original series, James “Ghost” St. Patrick (played by Omari Hardwick) and Tommy Egan (Joseph Sikora), who will be played in their younger years by Spence Moore II and Charlie Mann, respectively. (Deadline)

Jane the Virgin alum Gina Rodriguez will appear in the season finale of Matlock, but what role she will play is being kept under wraps. (Variety)

Oscar winner Tommy Lee Jones will make his first TV appearance in nearly four decades in the FX Ethan Hawke-led drama The Lowdown, but there are no details on what role he will play. (Deadline)

Blair Underwood will join the cast of the FOX medical drama Doc for its newly announced third season, playing Dr. Ben Grant, a world-class trauma and cardiothoracic surgeon with an ego that somehow outpaces even his resume. A once-in-a-generation talent with the swagger to match, he doesn’t just save lives, he owns the OR. Impossibly magnetic and even more confident, he’s never not been the smartest person in the room until he meets Dr. Amy Larsen (series lead Molly Parker). Almost instantly, their approaches clash, egos collide, and sparks fly like Westside has never seen. Together, their brilliance is unmatched —as long as they can survive each other. He will appear in the show’s second season two-hour finale and then will be a series regular in the third season. (Deadline)

9-1-1 alum Lou Ferrigno Jr. has been cast in Season 2 of the HBO Max medical drama The Pitt, playing orthopedic surgeon Dr. Brendon Park. (TV Line)

Brillian Minds – which will be back at the end of May – has announced that Ed Begley Jr., Anne Archer, Mamie Gummer and Ana Ortiz will all appear in the final six episodes of the show’s second season. (Variety)

The Hunting Party over on NBC will see the following appear as escaped “residents” of the pit in upcoming episodes: Piper Perabo (Coyote Ugly and Yellowstone), Kevin McHale (Glee), John Corbett (Sex and the City and My Big Fat Greek Wedding) and ventriloquist comedian Jeff Dunham will be one of the victims. (Variety)

Marco Grazzini and Lauren Hammersley will be leaving Virgin River after the show’s current season which is airing on Netflix, meaning they will not be the show’s 8th season, but both could return in subsequent seasons. (Deadline)

Merle Dandridge (Station 19 and The Last of Us) has joined the cast of the USA Network series The Rainmaker as a series regular, playing Amanda Vonn, a powerhouse attorney who provides a fresh gateway to power for Sarah (Madison Iseman) and a new kind of adversary for Rudy (Milo Callaghan). (Deadline)

BOX OFFICE NEWS

Universal Pictures is working on a biopic on the formative years of Bon Jovi, who emerged from humble beginnings in New Jersey to sell over 130 millions albums. (Deadline)

Aaron Pierre (Rebel Ridge and the upcoming Lanterns) will appear in the Man of Tomorrow, the sequel to the 2025 Superman movie from director James Gunn. (Deadline)

That’s it. Enjoy!