Rueben's Ramblings

Hey All,

Here are the few entertainment news items for this past week:

TV CASTING NEWS

Season 3 of Percy Jackson and the Olympians will find Holt McCallany (Mindhunter and The Waterfront), Jesse L. Martin (The Irrational) and David Costabile (Billions) appearing. McCallany will have the recurring role of Titan, the Bearer of Heaven, who was condemned by Zeus to hold up the celestial heavens after the last Titan war against the Olympians. Costabile will recur as Dr. Thorn, a stern military academy headmaster who demands obedience from his students while Martin will guest star as Annabeth’s mortal dad Frederick Chase, a sometimes absentminded but truly brilliant military historian that Athena deemed worthy to parent her daughter. (Variety)

Thomas Jane (The Expanse) will play Dr. Leonard “Bones” McCoy in the upcoming season of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. (The Hollywood Reporter)

MADE-FOR-TV MOVIE NEWS

Holland Roden and Niall Matter will take on the lead roles inthe sequel love story to the 2023 Hallmark Channel movie A Biltmore Christmas with Jonathan Frakes reprising his role of Winston. The new movie will be part of 2026 Countdown to Christmas that will focus on the Biltmore House as it opens for the first time on Christmas Eve 1895. 13-year-old Elizabeth and her family are holiday guests. When she notices Michael, a fellow teen caught trespassing by the staff, Elizabeth comes to his rescue by claiming to know him, much to his relief. The two share an instant connection and set out to explore Biltmore but Michael inexplicably vanishes. Twenty years later, Elizabeth is spending Christmas at Biltmore and this time, is accompanied by James, a suitor her Aunt Maysilee is keen for her to wed. When a stranger asks Elizabeth to dance at the Christmas gala, she’s shocked to discover it’s Michael. Thrilled to reunite with her friend, she throws herself into his arms. But the world around her changes in an instant when Elizabeth is transported into the modern world with Michael, a tourist from the present day who had traveled to the past 20 years prior with the help of a magical hourglass in Biltmore’s library. Now, Elizabeth and Michael must find a way to send her back to her time, while not arousing the suspicion of Michael’s mother and sister during their family vacation. As Elizabeth experiences life and Christmas in the 21st century, she and Michael become close. When the time comes for her to return to 1915, Elizabeth must decide whether she’ll resume the life that’s been chosen for her or if her heart will lead her down a new path in the present. (Variety)

That’s it. Enjoy!

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Hey All,

Here are the entertainment news items for this past week:

CANCELLATIONS

Apple TV has pulled the plug on the drama The Last Frontier after one season. (Variety)

Paramount+ has pulled the plug on NCIS: Tony & Ziva after only one season. (Variety)

TV CASTING NEWS

Heels and Vikings star Alexander Ludwig and AJ Michalka, from The Goldbergs, have joined the cast of season four of The White Lotus that will take place in France, but plot details as well as who Ludwig and Michalka will play are being kept under wraps. (Variety)

Harry Potter and The White Lotus alum Jason Isaacs has joined the cast of the upcoming live-action Amazon MGM series Tomb Raider that will star Sophie Turner (Game of Thrones) in the lead role of Lara Croft. There are no details on what character Isaacs will play, though. (Deadline)

The second season of The Pitt will find Travis Van Winkle (Fubar and The Last Ship), Meta Golding (Ransom Canyon and Rabbit Hole) joining the cast. They will play Curtis Larson, an aggressive patient of the ER and Noelle Hastings, a nurse, respectively. (Deadline)

Power franchise star Naturi Naughton-Lewis is coming back to Starz in the new 6-part drama The Nowhere Man will focus on Lukas (Bonko Khoza from The Woman King), a former Special Forces mercenary crippled by PTSD, who has turned his back on his violent past and is operating as a junk collector on the streets of Johannesburg. But when he witnesses a home invasion and intervenes, he is dragged back into the world he’s spent years trying to escape. To survive, he will have to come face-to-face with his demons and confront the dark secrets of his old life. (Deadline)

SERIES PICK-UP NEWS

Apple TV has picked up the dramedy Beat the Reaper to series. The show will star Guardians of the Galaxy alum Will Poulter as Dr. Peter Brown, an intern at Boston’s worst hospital, with a talent for medicine, a shift from hell, and a past he’d prefer to keep hidden. But when a patient recognizes him from his dangerous past, Brown has eight hours to elude the government, mob hitmen, quack surgeons, and a trail of dead gangers to somehow beat the reaper. (Variety)

A new prequel series to Monarch: Legacy of Monsters is in the works at Apple TV. The new spinoff series will follow the story of Colonel Lee Shaw, an American operative who in 1984 went on a secret mission behind enemy lines in an attempt to stop the Soviets from unleashing a horrific new Titan big enough to destroy the U.S. and turn the tide of the Cold War. (Deadline)

FX has a new drama that has been ordered to series Seven Sisters, starring Marvel’s alum Elizabeth Olsen, The Penguin alum Cristin Milioti and Succession alum J. Smith-Cameron, will follow a large, tight-knit family that begins to unravel when one sister, Adrienne (Olsen), starts communicating with a voice no one else can hear, forcing them to confront long-buried secrets. The cast also includes New Amsterdam lead Ryan Eggold and ER alum Anthony Edwards. (Deadline)

Amazon has given a series order to a small screen adaptation of the Wendy Wunder novel The Probability of Miracles that will follow Campbell Cooper, an acerbic teenager dying of cancer who, after receiving a terminal diagnosis, moves with her mom and younger sister to the town of Promise, where miracles are said to happen. Cam, however, doesn’t believe in miracles. How could she when science says she’s definitely going to die? But as she spends her summer in this quirky, mystical town, she discovers that miracles — and falling in love — are still possible, no matter how improbable they may seem. (Deadline)

MGM+ has given a greenlight to a small screen adaptation of the box office movie The Magnificent Seven. Set in the 1880s American frontier, the series will follow a group of mercenaries who are hired to protect a peaceful Quaker village after it is massacred by a land baron’s hired guns. As the flawed but gifted mercenaries embed with the Quakers, they must grapple with the question of whether it is acceptable to use violence to defend a people whose faith is based on nonviolence. The series will explore each member of the Seven, exploring what’s at stake and why they chose to take on this mission. (Variety)

BOX OFFICE NEWS

Johnny Depp will star in the box office movie Ebenezer: A Christmas Carol in the lead role with Harry Potter alum Rupert Grint, Star Wars alum Daisy Ridley and The Hunger Games alum Sam Claflin joining the cast. Grint will play Bob Cratchit, Scrooge’s selfless employee, but it is unknown who the others will be playing. (Deadline)

STREAMING MOVIE NEWS

Matthew McConaughey and Zoe Saldana are in talks to star in the upcoming Netflix film Positano, but plot details are being kept under wraps. However, the movie is being described as a romantic caper set in the Italian town the film is named after. (Deadline)

That’s it. Enjoy!

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Hey All,

Here are the entertainment news items for this past week:

RENEWAL/CANCELLATIONS

Apple TV has renewed Down Cemetery Road for a second season. (Variety)

Sadly, Leverage: Redemption will not be getting a fourth season, as it has been cancelled. (TV Insider and TV Line)

The Amazon Prime series Hotel Costiera has been cancelled after one season. (Deadline)

TV CASTING NEWS

Kathleen Robertson (Beverly Hills, 90210 and Murder in the First) and Mark Engelhardt (American Horror Story: Asylum) have joined the cast of Tracker in recurring roles. Robertson will play Maxine, a successful attorney at a major firm looking to engage Reenie (Fiona Rene) on what Maxine assures her is simply grunt work for an upcoming class action suit. It quickly becomes clear, however, that Maxine may have an entirely different game that she’s playing; meanwhile, Engelhardt will play Emile Lang, a man with his own moral code. (Deadline)

Matlock has added Sarah Wright Olsen (Parks and Recreation) and newcomer Henry Haber in recurring roles. Wright Olsen will play Gwen, an efficiency expert analyzing the firm; while Haber will play Hunter, a younger associate from the floater pool who is a total bro. (Deadline)

Jamie-Lynn Sigler (Big Sky and The Sopranos) will have a guest-starring role in Grey’s Anatomy, playing Dr. Laura Kaplan, a urologist living with Multiple Sclerosis, who visits Grey Sloan at the request of Catherine Fox (Debbie Allen) and offers Richard (James Pickens Jr.) a unique perspective on his case. The role was created for Sigler, who has lived with MS for more than two decades and marks her return to television after a three-year break. (Deadline)

BOX OFFICE NEWS

LaKeith Stanfield will play NBA legend Dennis Rodman in the upcoming box office movie 48 Hours in Vegas that is inspired by the untold story of Dennis Rodman’s legendary trip to Las Vegas during the 1998 NBA Finals. (Variety)

Freddie Highmore (The Good Doctor) is attached to star in the rom-com flick Life on Other Planets, but details about the movie are being kept under wraps. (Deadline)

Jennifer Garner (Alias) has signed on to star in and produce One Attempt Remaining, a new comedy movie that follows an ex-couple who, years after their acrimonious divorce, learn that the cryptocurrency they won on a crazy night on a cruise is now worth millions, but they’ve forgotten the password. With only three days left before the account expires, they must retrace their steps that night, not just to find the password to their fortune, but also why they fell in love in the first place. (Deadline)

The Netflix film Don’t Ever Wonder that will star Nia Long and Larenz Tate have added a slew of additional cast members, including Blair Underwood, Laz Alonso, Susan Kelechi Watson, Pauletta Washington, Dennis Haysbert, Chante Adama, Algee Smith and more. Details about the movie are being kept under wraps, though. (Deadline)

GREENLIGHT ORDER

Looks like the world of the Hallmark Channel series When Calls the Heart will be expanding. A prequel series Hope Valley: 1874 has been greenlit at Hallmark+. The cast will include Bethany Joy Lenz, Benjamin Ayres, Jill Hennessy, Roan Curtis and Lachlan Quarmby that is set to debut in March 2026. Lenz will play Rebecca Clarke, who travels from Chicago to the Western Canadian frontier with her 11-year-old daughter. But when her wagon breaks down, she has no choice but to accept help from local rancher and confirmed bachelor, Tom Moore (Ayres). Despite Rebecca’s best intentions to remain unattached, the future she dreams of for her and her daughter, along with the people she meets in this fledgling town, including the guarded Tom and tenacious pioneer woman Hattie Quinn (Hennessy), ultimately compel her to put down roots and make a fresh start.” Curtis will play Hattie’s daughter while Quarmby will play Constable Alexander Vaughn, a member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. (Variety)

TV SERIES ADAPTATION

Amanda Seyfried is attached to star in a series adaptation of the Carl Hiaasen novel Skinny Dip. She will star as Joey Perrone in a story about a woman who is pushed off a cruise liner by her marine scientist husband but survives and plots revenge with a former cop. (Deadline)

That’s it. Enjoy!

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Hey All,

Here are the entertainment news items for this past week:

RENEWALS

When Calls the Heart has been renewed for season 14 by the Hallmark Channel. (Entertainment Now)

Hulu has given a second season renewal to the Glen Powell-led football comedy Chad Powers. (Variety)

CBS has given both new dramas Sheriff Country and Boston Blue season two renewals. (Variety)

Paramount+ has given a third season renewal to Landman. (Deadline)

TV SERIES PICK-UP

MGM+ has picked up the TV series Legacy of Spies based on the John le Carre novel with Matthew Macfadyen playing the legendary spymaster George Smiley. The cast of the new series will also include Sons of Anarchy start Charlie Hunnam as British intelligence officer Alec Leamas and Daniel Bruhl (Captain America: Civil War) as East German spy Jens Fielder. (Variety)

TV CASTING NEWS

Richard Armitage (The Hobbit movie franchise) and Annabel Scholey (Rivals) will star in the police procedural Winter over on PBS that is about one of the most gifted pathologists of his generation. Based on the long-running French crime series Balthazar, the series follows the titular Ethan Winter, who possesses an analytical mind capable of deductive reasoning, which perfectly complements DI Lauren Bell (Scholey), a no-nonsense detective who is as driven as Winter when working on a case. Together they use Winter’s genius and insight into the victims alongside Bell and her murder squad detectives. Yet Winter is harboring a secret. The unsolved murder of someone close to him still haunts his every move. (Deadline)

Game of Thrones alum Kit Harington will star opposite Shailene Woodley and Lindsay Lohan in the limited series Count My Lies over on Hulu. The tagline for the new series: “When compulsive liar Sloane Caraway (Woodley) fibs her way into a nanny position for the gorgeous and charismatic Violet (Lohan) and Jay Lockhart (Harington), 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)

Recent Emmy winner Shawn Hatosy (from The Pitt) will star opposite Olivia Colman and Brie Larson in the FX limited series Cry Wolf that will be a psychological family thriller, following a social worker, Kath (Colman), and a mother, April (Larson), thrust into crisis when the mother’s teenage daughter, Mia, alleges abuse, pushing both women to their limits as they navigate an impossible situation. Hatosy will play April’s husband and Mia’s stepfather who is at the center of the girl’s abuse allegations. (Deadline)

Season two of the Paramount+ crime drama MobLand has added to its cast with Johnny Flynn (Beast) and Ophelia Lovibond (Minx) joining as series regulars. Also returning for Season two are Janet McTeer, Toby Jones and Alex Fine, who will reprise their original Season 1 roles. (Deadline)

The Fed Five, as featured in the 11th episode of season two of NCIS: Origins, has found its other members, including Adam Kulbersh (Modern Family and SVU) as NIS Special Agent Felix Betts and Mark Deklin (Blue Bloods) as NIS Special Agent Dan McLane. (Deadline)

BOX OFFICE MOVIE NEWS

To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before star Lana Condor will be joined by Jack Whitehall (Jungle Cruise and Malice), Robbie Amell (Upload), Lizzie Broadway (Gen V), Elizabeth Mitchell (Lost) and Randall Park (Fresh Off the Boat) in the upcoming indie rom-com Whodunnit, which follows Tess Klein (Condor), whose life was supposed to follow the plan: love by 25, marriage by 30, baby by 34. But after a spectacularly failed marriage proposal and one wild rebound weekend where her best friend Kelsey tells her “the only way to get over someone is to get under someone else,” Tess finds herself pregnant and clueless about who the father is. As she sets out to solve the mystery, she discovers that sometimes, the right family finds you. (Deadline)

Cailee Spaeny (Civil War and Priscilla) and Drew Starkey (Queer) will star in Deep Cuts, the adaptation of the Holly Brickley novel that is a love story about two music-obsessed twentysomethings navigating the messy realities of ambition, belonging and adulthood over the course of an era-defining decade. They will be taking over for Saoirse Ronan and Austin Butler, who both left the production due to scheduling conflicts. (Deadline)

MADE-FOR-TV-MOVIE NEWS

Hallmark Channel will be teaming with Walt Disney World for a new original holiday movie called Holiday Ever After: A Disney World Wish Come True that will star Lacey Chabert and The Last Ship alum Travis Van Wickle. The official logline for the movie is: “Lindsey (Chabert) and her extended family head to Walt Disney World to spend a magical Christmas together. But the dream of a jolly holiday gets quickly dashed when Lindsey discovers her room is next door to Philip (Van Winkle), a disastrous first date she recently had, who’s also there on a family trip. As Lindsey and Philip’s paths cross throughout their stay, the frost starts to thaw as they learn they’re not so different from each other after all. Thanks to some Walt Disney World magic, the holiday wish Lindsey made in Cinderella Fountain just might turn their rivalry into romance.” (Variety)

That’s it. Enjoy!

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Hey All,

Here are the entertainment news items for this past week:

RENEWAL

Hulu has given a second season order to the Ryan Murphy legal drama All’s Fair. (Variety)

TV CASTING NEWS

Penny Dreadful alum Eva Green has joined the cast of season 3 of the Netflix hit series Wednesday. She will play the much-talked-about Aunt Ophelia, the siter of Morticia Adams (series regular Catherine Zeta-Jones). The character was seen only from the behind in the second season finale writing “Wednesday must die” on the wall of a cell. (The Hollywood Reporter)

Shea Buckner (Only Murders in the Building) has landed the role of a younger version of Dwayne Pride in NCIS: Origins. This role was originated by the one and only Scott Bakula in the now defunct NCIS: New Orleans. A former Sheriff’s Deputy, NIS Special Agent Dwayne Pride, is a newly minted Probationary Special Agent from the NIS Panama office in the prequel series. He has a history with Gibbs (series lead Austin Stowell), and the two must resolve their past tension as they go undercover on a case. (Deadline)

NEW SERIES NEWS

House of Cards alum Corey Stoll and Julia Stiles (10 Things I Hate About You) will star in Recap, a psychological thriller series which is the latest fully financed independent series from K Period Meida, founded by Manchester by the Sea producer Kimberly Steward. There are no other details available about the project, though. (Deadline)

The long-gestating project The Rookie: North, yet another spin-off of the Nathan Fillion-led series The Rookie has been picked up as a pilot for ABC now that Jay Ellis (All Her Fault and Running Point) has been cast in the lead role. This spin-off will follow closely to the premise of the mothership series, focusing on a middle-aged guy who becomes the oldest rookie cop in rural Washington State. Ellis will play Alex Holland, who believed his mid-life wasn’t worthy of a crisis. But after a violent home invasion ignites a dormant purpose, Alex battles a lifetime of failed commitments by joining the Pierce County Police Department as its oldest rookie. Policing from the urban coast to the rural forest where backup isn’t just 5-minutes away, Alex must prove to his skeptical training officer, his fellow rookies, and himself, that he’s finally found something worthy of the fight. (Deadline)

BOX OFFICE NEWS

Riverdale and Maintenance Required star Madelaine Petsch and The Summer I Turned Pretty and Walker hunk Gavin Casalengo will star in the upcoming feature film, young adult romance Chasing Red, which became a major hit on the online platform Wattpad. The story will follow straight-A student Veronica (Petsch), who refuses to be college heartthrob Caleb’s (Casalegno) next “conquest,” even after a chance encounter sparks an undeniable attraction between them. On the run from a painful past and with nowhere to go, Veronica ends up under Caleb’s roof. As their chemistry turns electric and secrets unravel, love and betrayal collide in this addictive, slow-burn romance. (Variety)

Felicity and Scandal alum Scott Foley, Amy Brenneman (Judging Amy and The Old Man), Meta Golding (Empire) and Sydney Taylor (American Born Chinese) will star in the upcoming box office film Keep Coming Back. Foley will play Miles, a busy television director and loving father with a controlling nature motivated by good intentions, who discovers his 17-year-old daughter Zoe (Taylor) has been using hard drugs. When Miles sends Zoe to a rehab facility in Utah, he learns he must also attend a four-day workshop, or else his daughter will not be able to stay. In Utah, Miles joins a group led by Gillian (Brenneman), a no-nonsense leader who dishes out authoritative wisdom with a quirky passion born from her personal experiences. Through her insightful and unconventional techniques, Miles learns that he also needs to examine his behavior and change. Golding will play Shelby, a single mother grappling with her son’s substance use disorder. (Deadline)

That’s it. Enjoy!

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Hey All,

Here are the entertainment news items for this past week:

RENEWALS/CANCELLATION

Peacock has given the Anthony Mackie-led series Twisted Metal a third season renewal. (Variety)

While a fourth season of the Hallmark Channel series The Way Home is upcoming, that will be the show’s final season. (People)

Wild Cards has been renewed for season 3 at the CW. (Deadline)

HBO has given the Mark Ruffalo-led series Task a second season renewal with Ruffalo set to return. (Deadline)

Ahead of its January 18 premiere on HBO, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, the prequel to Game of Thrones has been given a second season renewal, which is expected to happen in 2027. (Deadline)

PBS has given a 7th AND 8th season renewal to the PBS Masterpiece series All Creatures Great and Small. (Deadline)

BOX OFFICE MOVIE NEWS

Star Wars alum Daisy Ridley will star in the upcoming action-thriller flick The Good Samaritan that will have her playing successful entrepreneur Dr. Rosalind Carver. Together with her husband Mark, she rescues a wounded man drifting off the coast of Indonesia, believing she’s saving a life – not stepping into a deadly conspiracy. Within hours, their yacht vanishes, Matt is abducted, and paradise turns into a trap. Hunted by pirates and imprisoned by corrupt officials, Rosalind’s only hope lies in Sean Fuller, a private military contractor whose motives are as mysterious as his past. Together, they must navigate a maze of deceit and violence in a land where no one can be trusted. (Variety)

Betty Gilpin will star alongside Adam Driver and Anne Hathaway in the Ron Howard-directed flick Alone at Dawn based on the 2019 book by Dan Schilling and Lori Longfritz, which tells the true story of U.S. Air Force Combat Controller John Chapman and his fight to the death to save his fellow soldiers during the 2002 Battle of Takur Ghar in Afghanistan. Years later, an intelligence officer works to prove his valor, leading an investigation that would ultimately secure Chapman the Medal of Honor. There is no word, yet, on what part Gilpin will play in the film. (Deadline)

Harry Lloyd (Game of Thrones) will play legendary producer of The Beatles George Martin in the upcoming four-part biopic from director Sam Mendes. He joins Paul Mescal as Paul McCartney, Harrison Dickinson as John Lennon, Barry Keoghan as Ringo Starr and Joseph Quinn as George Harrison. (Variety)

TV CASTING NEWS

Season 2 of the Keira Knightley and Ben Whishaw-led Netflix series Black Doves will include new cast members Ambika Mod (One Day), Babou Ceesay (Alien: Earth) and Neve Campbell (Scream franchise and Party of Five). This time around Knightley’s super-spy Helen is still betraying her nation’s secrets to the covert Black Doves organization, but this time with her in-the-dark husband Wallace (Buchan) preparing to become U.K. Prime Minister. As her enigmatic handler Mrs Reed (returning cast member Sarah Lancashire) is ensnared in a ruthless plot to undermine her position, Helen is reunited with her best friend Sam (Whishaw). But the once high-end triggerman is now reduced to lonely drinks in Soho bars and low-rate hits. As they search for answers, loyalties are weaponized, trust is shattered, and the fight to protect the people they love could cost everything. Mod will play Laila, an acerbic and anarchic Black Doves agent who is sent to help Knightley’s agent Helen on a mission; Ceesay will play Mr. Conteh, a Black Doves executive with suspicious motivations and Campbell will play Cecile Mason, but there are no other specifics on this character. (Variety)

Kevin Costner is reportedly circling the role of former U.S. President Bill Clinton in the political drama series United that is in early development with Coster also serving as executive producer. (Variety)

Gretchen Mol has joined the cast of the Paramout+ drama Tulsa King. She will appear as a series regular opposite Sylvester Stallone, playing Amanda Clark, a Tulsa politician. (Deadline)

All’s Fair alum Niecy Nash-Betts and Will and Grace star Eric McCormack and his real-life son Finnigan McCormack are all set to guest star in season two of the NBC drama The Hunting Party, which stars Melissa Roxburgh (Manifest) as FBI profiler Bex Henderson, who is part of a team of investigators who have been tasked to track down and capture the most dangerous killers the world has ever seen. In the season premiere, Eric McCormack will play Ron Simms aka the “Boogeyman” killer, who is at large and targeting women who are searching for love. Finnigan McCormack will make his acting debut as a younger version of Simms in a flashback. Meanwhile, Nash-Betts will appear in the second episode as Erica Burke, a detective with a past connection to rural New Mexico serial killer Adrian Gallo, who “preserved his victims in acrylic resin, the same way people preserve insects. Bex must work with Erica to find Gallo before it’s too late. (Variety)

Looks like there will be a SEAL Team reunion on Fire Country when Alona Tal joins the series in the recurring role of Chloe Mackenzie, everyone’s favorite teacher, who Bode (series lead Max Thieriot) encounters during a drunk-driving safety drill at a local high school. (iNews)

Necar Zadegan (NCIS: New Orleans) has joined the upcoming drama series CIA as a series regular, playing one of the leads in the FBI spin-off. She will take over for actress Michael Michele who left the series earlier this month. The series will center on two unlikely partners – a fast-talking, rule-breaking loose cannon CIA case officer (Lucifer’s Tom Ellis), and a by-the-book, seasoned and smart FBI agent (Chicago Med’s Nick Gehlfuss) who believes in the rule of law. When this odd couple are assigned to work out of CIA’s New York Station, they must learn to work together to investigate cases and criminals posing threats on U.S. soil, finding that their differences may actually be their strength. (Deadline)

That’s it. Enjoy!

Read Full Post »

Hey All,

Here are the entertainment news items for this past week:

RENEWAL/CANCELLATION NEWS

FX has given Alien Earth a second season renewal. (Deadline)

In a very expected move Peacock has pulled the plug on the Natasha Lyonne series Poker Face after only two seasons (and quite the cliffhanger ending). But series creator Rian Johnson is shopping the series around to other broadcasters for a two-season commitment, but with one change: Peter Dinklage would take over the role of Charlie Cale, the sleuth whose superpowers is an innate ability to detect liars. (Deadline)

IN DEVELOPMENT

Apple TV is working with Jason Momoa (again) for a new drama Nomad that will be set in the violent underworld of New Zealand’s outlaw bikers where a warrior is torn between two lives, two callings and two families and he must decide which path defines his true destiny. Sons of Anarchy Kurt Sutter is one of the co-creators. (Deadline)

Anna Fricke, executive producer and showrunner on The CW’s Walker and actor Jared Padalecki (Supernatural and Walker) are re-teaming for a new, untitled medical drama at CBS. (Deadline)

BOX OFFICE MOVIE NEWS

Singer Sabrina Carpenter will star in and produce an untitled musical that will be inspired by Alice in Wonderful, making this her first attempt at anchoring a major studio picture. Plot details are under wraps. (Deadline)

Looks like Idris Elba will be back as Luther in a new movie that will have him reuniting with Ruth Wilson in the second Netflix feature film for the popular BBC series. In this new movie, Luther is secretly called back into service when a new wave of brutal, seemingly random murders hits London. But how can he save London when everyone on all sides seems to want him dead? (Variety)

Grammy-winning singer Adele will make her acting debut in the new Tom Ford film Cry to Heaven, an adaptation of the 1982 novel by Anne Rice that is set in18th century Italy, following two men, a Venetian noble and a castrated Opera singer, whose lives become unexpectedly intertwined. The cast includes Nicholas Hoult, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Ciarán Hinds, George MacKay, Mark Strong, Colin Firth, Paul Bettany, Owen Cooper and Thandiwe Newton [among others]. (Variety)

Lana Condor (To All the Boys franchise) will star in Whodunnit, a new rom com flick that will follow Tess Klein, whose life was supposed to follow the plan: love by 25, marriage by 30, baby by 34. But after a spectacularly failed marriage proposal and one wild rebound weekend where her best friend Kelsey tells her the only way to get over someone is to get under someone else, Tess finds herself pregnant — and clueless about who the father is. As she sets out to solve the mystery, she discovers that sometimes the right family finds you. (Deadline)

Elsa Pataky (Fast & Furious franchise and the real-life wife of Thor star Chris Hemsworth) will star in the upcoming spy thriller The Mask, which follows Eden (Jessica Alba), an enigmatic spy on a covert and dangerous mission. When she pulls single father Ben Dawson (Tom Hopper) into her world of high-stakes espionage, his life is turned upside down. Mistaken for the world’s deadliest assassin, Ben becomes the perfect decoy for Eden. She uses the mix-up to expose a powerful network of corrupt politicians, placing Ben in the crosshairs of ruthless crime syndicates and the CIA, led by the seasoned Special Operative Len Milton (Angus Sampson). With enemies closing in from all sides, Eden must keep Ben alive long enough to complete her mission — while Ben must summon his inner action hero to stay alive and return to the person who matters most: his daughter. There are no details yet about what role Pataky will play, though. (Deadline)

TV CASTING NEWS

Omar Epps (House) has joined the cast of the upcoming Hulu football drama from This Is Us creator Dan Fogelman. Epps will have a recurring role in the as-yet-titled series that will be set inside the world of the NFL and has a generational family component to it. Law & Order: Organized Crime star Christopher Meloni will play the team’s head coach Danny while William H. Macy will play the team owner Hank, Mandy Moore and Chloe Bennet will play Hank’s daughters, and Chace Crawford will play the team’s new General Manager. Epps will play a former NFL player who is now Offensive Coordinator. (Deadline)

Station 19 star Jaina Lee Ortiz has joined the cast of the upcoming ABC drama RJ Decker that will star Grey’s Anatomy and Felicity star Scott Speedman. The series centers of the eponymous RJ Decker (Speedman), a disgraced newspaper photographer and ex-con who starts over as a private investigator in the colorful-if-crime-filled world of South Florida. Ortiz will play Emi Ochoa, the shrewd-if-unpredictable daughter of a very powerful, very corrupt state senator with ties to RJ’s (Speedman) past. (Deadline)

Michelle Monaghan (The White Lotus) will star in a new untitled hockey drama from Netflix that will take place in the small working-class town of South Dorothy, Minnesota, where the high school hockey team has been churning out out-of-state championships and NHL stars for decades with their legendary Coach “Sully” Sullivan at the helm. When a bus crash claims the lives of several players and Sully himself, the town looks to Harper Sullivan (Monaghan) — Coach Sully’s widow — to coach a new team of battered and broken young men. What unfolds is the hopeful and unforgettable story of an underdog team that comes together to galvanize their town, reclaim their way of life, and turn their shared grief into an unstoppable superpower. (Deadline)

Castle star Stana Katic is set to star in the new drama project Entangled, which is inspired by the story of real-life CIA intelligence officers Meredith and Freddie Woodruff, one of the Agency’s first undercover husband-and-wife teams, who conducted their overseas covert operations while also raising a family. Working across Europe, Africa and the Middle East, they tracked down international terrorists, recruited and handled spies and survived a sudden and violent coup in one of the countries they were stationed in. The TV series follows married couple Abby (Katic) and Jim Sullivan, deep-cover CIA officers who must juggle their responsibilities as spies and parents while stationed overseas in one of the world’s most dangerous countries. (Deadline)

Lucifer cast member Lesley-Ann Brandt has been cast as a series regular in the upcoming second season of the Apple TV series Presumed Innocent that includes among its cast Rachel Brosnahan, Matthew Rhys, Courtney B. Vance, Fiona Shaw and Jack Reynor (among others). Details around the plot of the second season have yet to be released. (Deadline)

That’s it. Enjoy!

Read Full Post »

Hey All,

Here are the entertainment news items for this past week

RENEWAL

Netflix has given the Kristen Bell and Adam Brody-led rom-com series Nobody Wants This a third season renewal. (Deadline)

BOX OFFICE MOVIE NEWS

Daisy Ridley (Star Wars) will star in the true story of an ICU nurse, Bryony Tyrell, a mother of two with a master’s degree in nursing and a degree in molecular biology who worked at the ICU by day and at night transformed into one of Britain’s leading cage fighting prospects. Tyrell began kickboxing at university and worked her way up to black belt before branching out into martial arts, competing as an amateur before moving to the professional ranks and has won multiple belts. (Deadline)

Jennifer Lawrence, Emma Stone and Broadway’s Cole Escola will be joining forces to give Muppet’s “Queen” Miss Piggy the movie-star treatment, as they are in early development with Disney on a movie about the legendary character. (Variety)

Toni Collette and Supergirl star Milly Alcock will appear in the survival thriller Hot Mother, which will focus on a mother and daughter who visit a remote wellness spa for the weekend in an attempt to reconnect; but their time together quickly turns into a physical and psychological fight for survival when they get trapped in a sauna where no one can hear their cries for help. (Deadline)

Sir Ian McKellen, Andrea Riseborough and Severance star Tramell Tillman will star alongside Johnny Depp in the classic Charles Dickens story Ebenezer: A Christmas Carol. No details have been released on which characters they will be playing, though. (Deadline)

It’s looking like Brendan Fraser and Rachel Weisz will be back on the big screen together as they are set to reprise their roles in another movie in The Mummy franchise. (Variety)

The Duchess of Sussex, Meghan Markle, will take on her first acting role in over seven years in the upcoming comedy flick Close Personal Friends that will star Brie Larson, Lily Collins, Jack Quaid and Henry Golding. The film will center on a “regular” couple who meet a celebrity couple while on a trip to Santa Barbara. The two couples end up becoming friends, and lines are crossed, making things awkward. There are no details on the role Markle is playing in the film though. (TV Insider)

Emily in Paris hunk Lucas Bravo and Emma Roberts will appear in the rom-com A Murder Uncorked that will have Bravo playing the handsome Derek, who has recently inherited a prestigious Napa Valley winery. He meets Nikki (Roberts), a recently fired TV actress working as a waitress in a restaurant he is dining at. With sparks immediately flying, Derek offers Nikki a dream job working at the winery, but when a murder rocks the winery, the police suspect Derek and it is up to he and Nikki to find the real murderer and keep their budding romance alive. (Deadline)

Hayley Atwell and Gerard Butler will star in the hostage crisis action-thriller Empire City that will center around what happens when a hostage crisis erupts inside New York’s landmark Clybourn Building. Firefighter Rhett (Butler), his squad, and his NYPD wife Dani (Atwell) must fight and navigate their way through the building to rescue the captives. (Deadline)

TV SHOW CASTING NEWS

Steve Howey, who is currently recurring in High Potential, will have a recurring role in season two of the Netflix series Ransom Canyon, playing Levi, the half-brother of Staten (series lead Josh Duhamel). (Variety)

Season 3 of the AMC thriller series Mayfair Witches will see Game of Thrones hunk Michiel Huisman joining the cast as Michael, a carpenter who built an inn that he runs himself. Though he hides a dark secret, his carefully constructed life begins to crumble when he falls in love with Rowan Mayfair (series lead Alexandra Daddario). (Variety)

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Hey All,

Here are the entertainment news items for this past week:

RENEWAL

Hulu has renewed Only Murder in the Building for a 6th season. (Hulu)

TV SERIES NEWS

The truth has come out. Disney+ is officially exiting Doctor Who after only a two-year partnership with the BBC. The British network will be moving forward with a new Christmas special next year, but it remains to be seen as to who will actually be playing the iconic Doctor since current lead actor Ncuti Gatwa has left the series. (Variety)

Michael Michele has dropped out of the cast for the FBI spin-off series CIA. (Deadline)

Steven Pasquale (Rescue Me) has joined the cast of the Netflix comedy-drama The Four Seasons for its second season. He will play Mark Brett, a new friend who meets the gang at the Jersey shore during their summer vacation. (Deadline)

Betsy Brandt has joined the cast of Mayfair Witches for its upcoming third season. She will play a character named Katherine, but any other plot details are being kept under wraps. (Deadline)

Twin Peaks alum Madchen Amick will not only guest star in but also direct an episode of Brilliant Minds on NBC. She will direct episode 7 that is set to air on November 3, and she will guest star in the November 24 episode, playing Alicia Ramati, a strong-willed woman who wears her emotions on her sleeve, especially when it comes to her firefighting ex-husband, Matthew (Eric Dane from Grey’s Anatomy). She’s not afraid to state her opinion and care for the ones she loves.” (Variety)

Mark Harmon will actually appear as Leroy Jethro Gibbs in another episode of NCIS: Origins, his first on-screen appearance since the new show’s series premiere. (Variety)

MADE FOR TV MOVIE NEWS

Netflix has locked in the cast for the next Christmas movie – that will actually air next year, including Dennis Quaid, Milo Ventimiglia, Jennifer Tilly and Mary Steenburgen. A Dog’s Perfect Christmas follows a family in crisis where a teenager, her grandfather, and his trusty basset hound struggle to keep the household together at Christmas. Character details for the cast have not yet been disclosed. (Deadline)

BOX OFFICE MOVIE NEWS

Anthony Mackie, Pablo Schreiber and Ben Foster will appear in the box office movie Raven along with Ron Livingston. The movie follows Fay Darrow (Schreiber), a former Detroit cop turned hitman for the New Jersey mob, who is ready to walk away from a life of violence. But when his final job goes sideways, a volatile mob underling with something to prove (Mackie) and a ruthless enforcer known as the Taxman (Foster) are sent to kill him. Fay survives only for the mob’s retaliation to take his girlfriend and destroy his chance at a new life. With nothing left to lose, he launches a brutal campaign of revenge. (Deadline)

Jason Statham will star in the next Guy Ritchie film Viva La Madness. Plot details are under wraps, but the movie is based on the J.J. Connolly novel. (Variety)

Brendan Hines, Cush Jumbo, Heather Graham, Johnny Knoxville and Tatiana Maslany will join Lola Tung (The Summer I Turned Pretty) and Nico Parker for the upcoming box office movie The Young People. Plot details are currently under wraps. (Deadline)

Ebon Moss-Bachrach (The Fantastic Four: First Steps and The Bear) and Caitriona Balfe (Outlander) have joined the cast of the upcoming box office film A Long Winter, which will be set in the mountains as fall comes to an end, and a family prepares for the long winter ahead. (Variety)

Daisy Edgar-Jones (Twisters) and Emilia Jones (CODA) will star in the box office movie Bad Bridgets, which will be set in the 19th century against the backdrop of a famine-ravaged Ireland, the story focuses on two sisters who make a treacherous journey to America to escape an abusive father, poverty and hunger. Once in New York, they join the ranks of Irish so-called “Bridgets” creating mayhem in the city. (Variety)

Alicia Vikander (The Danish Girl), Jamie Dornan (Belfast), Jodie Turner-Smith (Tron: Ares) and Gillian Anderson (The X-Files) have joined the cast of the upcoming box offic emovie The Turning Door, which follows a young girl called Ariadlyn, who is sent to bed as a party rages downstairs. Escaping her bedtime, she slips into her parents’ room, where she discovers an ornate wooden box, opening a door to a magical world called The Turning. To find her way back home and save her parents — now frozen in the real world — Ariadlyn must seek out a sorceress and her crystal vial. Along the way, she will encounter giants, whales, armies, shapeshifters and acrobatic monkeys as she discovers what it means to grow up. (Variety)

Ryan Kiera Armstrong (who will be seen in the reboot of Buffy, the Vampire Slayer alongside returning lead cast member Sarah Michelle Gellar) will star with Gellar’s real-life husband Freddie Prinze Jr. in the upcoming movie Road to Receovery. The movie follows a father and his terminally ill daughter who embark on a cross-country trip to find the boy she loves. Along the way, the two are forced to confront their shared grief and redefine what it means to hold on and let go. (Deadline)

That’s it! Enjoy!

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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!

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