Rueben's Ramblings

Hey All,

Here are the entertainment news items for this past week:

RENEWALS/CANCELLATION

Criminal Minds: Evolution will come to an end after its upcoming fifth season on Paramount+. (The Hollywood Reporter)

Freeform has given the fantasy series Coven Academy a second season renewal. (Variety)

Netflix has given The Diplomat a fifth season renewal. (Deadline)

TV CASTING NEWS

Veteran actor Bill Nighy has joined the upcoming horror thriller Apple TV series Ascension, which will star Outlander alum Caitriona Balfe. The series will follow Rose (Balfe), a relentless documentary filmmaker and recently divorced mother, who is brilliant at uncovering others’ truths but struggles to resolve her own. When Rose begins a project on a mysterious 20th-century cult known as the Church of Ascension, she finds unexpected refuge in its teachings – until she discovers something far more insidious beneath.” Details on what role Nighy will play is being kept under wraps, though. (Variety)

Yellowjackets alum Melanie Lynskey will star in the Paramount+ limited drama Mushroom Murders that will be set in Australia, focusing on the infamous Leongatha mushroom murders. Lynskey will play Erin Patterson who had been convicted in the case. In 2023, Erin Patterson served individual beef wellingtons to her estranged in-laws and their relatives at a lunch in her Victoria home in Australia. Unbeknownst to her guests, Patterson allegedly prepared the food with highly toxic death cap mushrooms, resulting in the deaths of three guests. The series will depict the 97 days between the now infamous lunch and Patterson’s subsequent arrest. Patterson’s trial drew nationwide attention with her 2025 sentencing broadcast live where she was sentenced to at least 33 years in prison. (Deadline)

John Goodman has joined the second season of the Netflix drama The Beast in Me, playing Jack the father of Aggie, who is played by Claire Danes who will be reprising her role. Exact plot details are currently under wraps, though. (Variety)

Camryn Manheim (The Practice) will have a key recurring role in season two of ABC’s drama 9-1-1: Nashville where she will play Dr. Marcia Zellner, a brilliant, emotionally complex clinical therapist and crisis manager who joins the call center to support the dispatchers as they deal with the mysterious Pharaoh killer terrorizing Nashville with his Biblical Plagues. However, as we’ll soon discover, Dr. Zellner harbors a dark grudge and is far more twisted and conniving than anyone can possibly imagine. (Deadline)

Lanterns alum Poorna Jagannathan has joined the upcoming Hulu pilot Young Americans that will star Scandal alum Scott Foley. The series will follow what happens as the children of the nation’s elite battle it out at Capitol Crest Academy in Washington, D.C. Their teenage dramas begin to mirror the larger political games of their parents. Amidst the secrets, scandals, and deadly ambitions, a forbidden romance between two students from opposing political families threatens to escalate tensions to a breaking point. Jagannathan will play Maya Washburn. Once a close friend and political ally of the President (Foley), Maya is now a controversial senator galvanizing a disillusioned electorate just as her son is falling in love with the President’s daughter. (Deadline)

Veteran actor Alfred Molina has joined the cast of the upcoming Paramount+ series Ascent, which will star Viola Davis and Outlander alum Sam Heughan. The series will be a character-driven thriller set in the dangerous world of global corporate crisis and damage control. Molina will play Sebastian, the formidable head of Ascent Ventures who has begun to consider which of his top agents might succeed him while Heughan will play Conal, one of Ascent Ventures top agents and Davis will play Catriona is an elite corporate fixer who must weaponize the ruthless skills that have made her indispensable to billion-dollar clients when her estranged daughter is in danger. (Deadline)

BOX OFFICE MOVIE NEWS

Star Trek alum Michael Dorn will star in the sci-fi flick Life 2.0 for which he also wrote and directed. His cast members will include Star Trek vets Marina Sirtis, Michelle Hurd and Dominic Keating. Dorn will play an operative in deep-space isolation, with only an AI hologram for company, until an enigmatic new companion arrives. An accident uncovers the truth about their origins, forcing a fight for survival against motives engineered back on Earth. Details on who the other cast members will play has yet to be announced. (Deadline)

STREAMING MOVIE NEWS

Hailee Steinfeld and Miles Teller will star in the 2027 rom-com Netflix movie Winter Games that will be set in the high-stakes arena of the Winter Olympic Games A perpetually overlooked skier and a self-sabotaging hockey legend collide at their breaking points. Their unexpected connection threatens her medal chances and his shot at a comeback as they navigate romance and redemption in the Olympic Village. (What’s on Netflix)

That’s it. Enjoy!

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Hey All,

Here are the entertainment news items for this past week:

RENEWAL

The Apple TV drama starring Tatiana Maslany, Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed has been given a second season renewal. (The Hollywood Reporter)

TV PILOT NEWS

Moana star Catherine Laga’aia and Deacon Phllippe (son of Reese Witherspoon and Ryan Phillippe) are set to star in the Disney+ TV pilot Spaceship Earth, which is inspired by the Disney World EPCOT attraction of the same name. Character details are being kept under wraps, though, but the story will follow what happens when a mission to avert an imminent global cataclysm goes awry, a small band of teenagers from Earth’s past and future must join forces to confront a threat as vast and mysterious as time itself. (Deadline)

PICK UP ORDER

The X-Files reboot from director Ryan Coogler has been picked up to series by Hulu. The reimagining of the 1990s sci-fi drama will star Danielle Deadwyler and Himesh Patel as two highly decorated but vastly different FBI agents who form an unlikely bond when they are assigned to a long-shuttered division devoted to cases involving unexplained phenomena. (Variety)

TV SERIES ORDERS

Hallmark+ has announced the new series Change of Heart which will premiere on the streaming service sometime next year. The series will center around Charlie Wyatt (Sam Jaeger), the most unlikely of romantic heroes: a renowned divorce attorney known for winning no matter the cost. When a life-altering heart transplant cracks something wide open inside him, Charlie finds himself pulled— almost against his will—toward a more hopeful way of moving through the world. One where he’s compelled to help others find their way back to each other in ways he can’t explain. And alongside it all is his younger sister, Brit (Modern Family alum Ariel Winter). An unexpected anchor, and partner-in-matchmaking that represents the emotional truth Charlie can’t out-argue: that love isn’t something you win or lose, but something you deserve and choose. Other cast members of the show include Hallmark alums Rachel Boston and Julie Gonzalo). (Just Jared)

The upcoming Paramount+ series Laird, set in the Scottish Highlands will star Kenneth Branagh and Peter Sarsgaard as well as Jennifer Ehle (Lioness), Holliday Grainger (C.B. Strike) and Queen Charlotte alum Corey Mylchreest [among others]. The story will follow a proud Scot and Laird of Castle Drummoch (Branagh) who defies a shadowy American billionaire (Peter Sarsgaard) hellbent on buying up the glens. Amidst family feuds, buried secrets and star-crossed romances, he remains determined to protect his ancestral lands from oligarchical land grabbing. (Variety)

BOX OFFICE NEWS

Garrett Hedlund (Tulsa King), Jake Lacy (Furious) and Jessica Biel (Matchbox: The MOvie) are set to star in the dramedy film Downriver about a recently divorced writer and his surgeon best friend who head to Montana for a week of fly-fishing and martinis. Their friendship is put to the test when they meet a beguiling fishing guide and their relaxing getaway begins to unravel in ways neither of them saw coming. (Deadline)

Milo Manheim (School Spirits, who will also be seen in the upcoming live-version of Tangled and is the son of actress Camryn Manheim) has landed arole in the “redo” of the box office rom-com Serendipity, but there are no character or scripts details just yet. (Deadline)

Wicked star Cynthia Erivo along with Hamilton star Jonathan Groff, Aussie singer Kylie Minogue as well as comedian and Doctor Who alum Catherine Tate will provide their voices to the upcoming animated musical comedy Bad Fairies, which is set to premiere on May 21, 2027. The movie will be set in contemporary London, following a delightfully subversive gang of fairies as they shake up their magical world. Minogue will voice Clowder, the Cat Witch; Groff will voice Robin Goodfellow while Tate will voice the Fairy Gothmother. Meanwhile, Erivo will play the lead character of Jayne Staplegun. (Deadline)

Another animated film Lizard Music will feature voices provided by Colman Domingo, Jeff Goldblum, Rachel McAdams and David Krumholtz. The film will follow a boy (Theo Leber), left to his own devices, who stumbles upon a secret late-night broadcast of lizards playing otherworldly music. Thus, a hidden door to the extraordinary swings open. Leber’s search for answers leads him to an eccentric and whimsical old man nicknamed The Chicken Man (Dwayne Johnson) and his beloved companion, an 85 year-old chicken named Claudia. The boy and the old man become two kindred spirits who found each other at just the right time. United by a shared vision, they set off on an adventure that begins as a hunt for a hidden society but blossoms into something far greater: a voyage through invisible worlds, unexpected harmonies, and the unbreakable bond between lost souls who discover magic not only in what they find, but in each other. Other voices will be provided by Alicia Silverstone, Regina Hall and Andrew Dice Clay. (Deadline)

TV CASTING NEWS

Veteran actor Bill Nighy and Rosemarie DeWitt (Untamed) will guest star in the upcoming second and final season of Star Trek: Starfleet Academy on Paramount+. Nigy will play Nyk Ake, Nahla’s (series lead Holly Hunter) estranged father while DeWitt will play Laytha Sadal, the First Lady of Betazed, the mother of Tarima (cast member Zoe Steiner). (Deadline)

Pretty Little Liars alum has joined season 9 of The Rookie, playing Stevie, the latest LAPD rookie for John Nolan (series lead Nathan Fillion). Meanwhile, Psych and The West Wing alum Dule Hill will play the new watch commander. It should also be noted that Fillion, Melissa O’Neil and Eric Winter will all be doing crossovers with the new spin-off series The Rookie: North. (Entertainment Weekly)

Film veteran Antonio Banderas will join Nicolas Cage for the upcoming 5th season of True Detective. Few character details are known, but Banderas will play Rai García while Cage will play Henry Logan. (Variety)

That’s it. Enjoy!

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Hey All,

Here are the entertainment news items for this past week:

RENEWALS

Netflix has given The Hunting Wives a third season renewal ahead of its upcoming second season premiere. (Deadline)

The USA Network has given Anna Pigeon a second season renewal. (Deadline)

Apple TV has given the limited series Imperfect Women an unexpected second season renewal with Kerry Washington the only original main cast member reprising her role. (The Hollywood Reporter)

Paramount+ has given the Sylvester Stallone-led drama Tulsa King a 5th season renewal. (Variety)

GREENLIGHT ORDERS

Netflix has given a greenlight to an untitled Bridgerton spin-off series that will chronicle the early life of young Lady Violet and her romance with Viscount Edmund Bridgerton. (Deadline)

Amazon has given a greenlight to a drama series about Karen Read with Elizabeth Banks set to star in the lead role. When a Boston police officer is found dead in the snow during a blizzard, all eyes are on his girlfriend, Karen Read (Banks), but when she and her legal team claim she’s not only innocent, but that she’s the victim of a conspiracy protecting the real assailants, the story spreads like wildfire, dividing a community in ways they’ve never seen. (Variety)

DEVELOPMENT NEWS

Scott Bakula just might be back on CBS in an untitled project from Dean Devlin (The Ark, Independence Day) that is being developed. The drama will be a high-concept detective procedural that will be set in Los Angeles. (Deadline)

TV CASTING NEWS

It’s been 8 years since Crazy Rich Asians hit the big screen and now fans of the franchise will get to see returning cast members Constance Wu, Henry Golding and Ronny Chieng back for a small screen one-hour original drama series. This 8-episode series will move forward on HBO with Oscar winner Michelle Yeoh also reprising her role as a recurring guest star. (Variety)

Former late night talk show host and actor James Corden and his creative partner Ruth Jones (they created the British series Gavin & Stacey together) will star in the new Apple TV series The Choir, playing estranged siblings Ben and Lisa. Ben has been living abroad, while Lisa has carried on in their small English town where nothing ever happens. But when events take a sorry turn, Ben is forced to return to a life he never wanted, a town he never liked and a family from which he’s estranged. Among the guest stars planned for this new series will be Hannah Waddingham, James McAvoy, Jim Broadbent and David Harewood [among others]. (Deadline)

LIMITED SERIES NEWS

Pretty Little Liars alum Lucy Hale is set to star and executive produce the limited series Scarlett Holmes that is set to air on the Roku Channel. The series will revolve around the titular character played by Hale, a modern descendant of Sherlock Holmes who has inherited his legendary powers of observation, but instead of solving crimes, she takes on mysteries of love, dating and relationships. (Deadline)

That’s it. Enjoy!

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Hey All,

Here are the entertainment news items for this past week:

RENEWALS

Amazon has given Reacher a 6th season renewal as well as giving Neagley a second season renewal. (Variety)

SERIES ORDER NEWS

Peacock has given a greenlight to a small screen adaptation of the long-running box office movie franchise Fast & Furious. (Deadline)

TV CASTING NEWS

House star Hugh Laurie has joined the cast of the HBO limited series The Trial of Louise Woodward that will tell the shocking true story of how, in 1997, an 18-year-old British au pair (Catriona Chandler) was accused of shaking to death a baby left in her care by her American host family, setting off an international media firestorm as the trial unfolds in full view of both the British and American public. Laurie will play Judge Hiller B. Zobel, of the Massachusetts Superior Court, who presided over the murder trial. The cast includes Downton Abbey alum Joanne Froggatt as Louise’s mother Susan; Meghann Fahy (The White Lotus and Drop) will play the mother of the victim and Chloe Sevigny will play Louise’s defense attorney, Elaine Whitfield Sharp. (Deadline)

STREAMING MOVIE CASTING NEWS

Lindsay Lohan and Henry Golding (Crazy Rich Asians) will star in the upcoming Netflix rom-com flick Return to You, which follows a powerful but lonely female attorney (Lohan) who mistakenly receives a very emotional DVD sent by a dying woman to her husband (Golding). With only the clues from the DVD as her guide, she sets out to find him. (Deadline)

BOX OFFICE MOVIE NEWS

Bradley Cooper will star as Duke, the military unit leader in the latest G.I. Joe film based on the Hasbro toy line. (Deadline)

Justified and Fallout alum Walton Goggins has joined the cast of the upcoming film version of Miami Vice that will be called Miami Vice ‘85, starring Michael B. Jordan and Austin Butler. Unconfirmed sources tell Deadline that Goggins would play one of the henchmen to John Leguizamo’s cartel king. (Deadline)

That’s it. Enjoy!

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Hey All,

RENEWALS/CANCELLATION

The Marvel reboot Daredevil: Born Again will come to an end after its upcoming third season which is expected to premiere on Disney+ sometime in 2027. (Variety)

Netflix has given the new drama Crew Girl a second season renewal. (The Hollywood Reporter)

Despite being announced as a limited series, Netflix has given a second season order to The Beat in Me with Claire Danes returning as Aggie Wiggs. (Variety)

TV CASTING NEWS

Jensen Ackles is set to star in and executive produce the original drama Rules of Prey for MGM+. The series will be based on the first novel by author John Sandford from his Prey book series that follows Lucas Davenport (Ackles), formerly a detective in the Minneapolis Police Department, drawn out of seclusion back into law enforcement to investigate a series of confounding murders designed to send a message specifically to him. (Deadline)

Deborah Ann Woll and Luke Kirby will join the cast of The Testaments, the prequel series to The Handmaid’s Tale, for its second season. They will recur respectively as Sylvia, whose work as a seamstress keeps her in close proximity to the Wives and daughters of Gilead’s Commanders and the literal-minded Commander Fletcher, who lives as a recluse on a farm in one of Gilead’s Colonies, where his eccentricities have made it difficult to find a wife. (Deadline)

British broadcaster Sky is working on a TV adaptation of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by late author Stieg Larsson with David Oyelowo and rising star Viola Prettejohn set for the lead roles of Mikael Blomkvist and Lisbeth Salander, setting the story in present day and focusing on the same story line as the original first book in the Millennium trilogy. (Deadline)

PILOT/DEVELOPMENT NEWS

Scott Foley is set to star in the Hulu drama pilot Young Americans as Judd Burchfield, the President of the United States and leader of the free world, a principled politician who rose to office by trusting his heartland instincts. His steady hand has been shaken by the tragic death of his firstborn daughter. As he struggles to hold his family and the country together. (Deadline)

Hulu is working on a drama series called The Parsifal Mosaic based on the Robert Ludlum spy novel with Sam Worthington and Sofia Carson set to not only star in but also executive produce. The tagline for the series is what happens after years of dangerous field work for the CIA, Michael Havelock (Worthington) is ready to get out of the game when he learns that his partner Jenna Karas (Carson), secretly the love of his life, has betrayed him, and begins unravelling a powerful conspiracy that reaches around the globe. (Variety)

Looks like a Mary Poppins TV series in the works, but rather than retelling the classic story as depicted by Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke, the live action TV adaptation plans to go back to P. L. Travers’ original eight Mary Poppins books, opening up the larger, stranger world she created. The Mary Poppins of the novels is often noted for being more mysterious, mercurial and dangerous than her film incarnation and the adventures in the books are magical, surreal and sometimes frightening. (Deadline)

That’s it. Enjoy!

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Hey All,

Here are the entertainment news items for this past week:

CANCELLATIONS

Peacock has pulled the plug on the new drama M.I.A. after only one season. (Deadline)

Netflix has canceled the drama Ransom Canyon after two seasons. (Deadline)

GREENLIGHT ORDERS

Looks like Netflix has given a greenlight order to a new small screen adaptation of the legendary Larry McMurtry book Lonesome Dove, which followed Gus McCrae and Woodrow Call who renew their spirit of adventure as they face an uncertain future, embarking on one final, perilous cattle drive from the Rio Grande to the untamed wilderness of Montana in pursuit of a dream that they have perhaps already outlived. These two former Texas Rangers lead an unforgettable cast of characters across the American west in this sweeping odyssey defined by unrequited longing, unbreakable friendship, brutal frontier justice, and an unwavering pursuit of a meaningful life. There are no casting details as yet. (Deadline)

Another blast from the past is the greenlight order by AMC and AMC+ for a series based on the 1991 box office movie Point Break, which starred Keanu Reeves and the late Patrick Swayze. The series will be set in the same world as the original film but no casting has been announced. (The Hollywood Reporter)

BOX OFFICE NEWS

Looks like comedian and actor John Mulaney just might star in a reboot of the classic TV series Get Smart, playing lead character Agent Maxwell Smart. The 1960’s series was a James Bond spoof which focused on Agent 86, aka Maxwell Smart, and Agent 99 who worked for a secret U.S. government counterintelligence agency called Control, which was in constant battle with the evil organization Kaos. (Deadline)

Laura Linney, who is currently recurring in the HBO series Lanterns, will join Michael Keaton and Morgan Freeman in the upcoming Western thriller flick Rode to Ruin that will be set in the Old West, following a retired U.S. Marshal whose 40-year search for his wife’s killer leads him to an aging outlaw losing his memory, and to a buried truth neither man may survive. Linney will play Hedda Tessman, a frontier trader who works the territory alone. (Deadline)

The 2005 holiday film The Family Stone is getting a sequel with nearly the entire cast returning, including Claire Danes, Rachel McAdams, Dermot Mulroney, Craig T. Nelson, Sarah Jessica Parker, Luke Wilson, Tyrone Giordano, Elizabeth Reaser, Paul Schneider and Brian White. The new film, titled The Families Stone, will seemingly pay loving tribute to the original and to the late Diane Keaton. The movie picks up 20 years after the death of her character, matriarch Sybil Stone — something that was depicted in the original film — as the Stone family again reunites for Christmas, only to face the season’s biggest surprise: their father (Nelson) has unexpectedly invited the woman he’s fallen in love with to meet the family. (Deadline)

TV CASTING NEWS

Alexandra Metz, who plays Dr. Yolanda Garcia on The Pitt, has joined the cast of the ABC drama Will Trent for its fifth season. She will appear in the series regular role of Birdie Palmer, the newly appointed Deputy Director of the GBI following the untimely death of Amanda Wagner (played by former cast member Sonja Sohn). (Deadline)

Jack Ryan and Lioness alum Michael Kelly will next be seen in the Paramount+ drama Landman, playing William Crockett, the leader of the largest oil management firm in the world. (The Hollywood Reporter)

Schitt’s Creek alum Noah Reid will appear in one episode of the CBS drama Sheriff Country as Dr. Hudson “Hud” Henshaw and, if all goes well, will be the star of the medical drama spin-off series that has been in development at CBS that is currently untitled but is being informally referred to as Edge Med. The Henshaw character is the Chief of Emergency Medicine at Edgewater Memorial Hospital a/k/a “Edge Med.” Charming and quick-witted, but rough-around-the-edges, Hud was born and raised in the outlaw hinterland known as Deadwater. He is the proud son of convicted felons, yet refused to take the family’s drug money to pay for medical school. He is a passionate doctor who embodies his oath to “first do no harm,” yet is not one to shy away from a good bar fight. A man deeply committed to the community he grew up in, he is a restless soul all the same. (Deadline)

That’s it. Enjoy!

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Hey All,

Here are the entertainment news items for this past week:

RENEWAL/CANCELLATION

Paramount+ has given MobLand a third season renewal before the show’s second season is set to premiere on September 18. (Deadline)

Amazon Prime Video Spider-Noir has been cancelled after only one season. (The Hollywood Reporter)

BOX OFFICE NEWS

Miles Teller, Jason Momoa, Momoa’s real-life girlfriend Adria Arjona and Kiefer Sutherland will star in the upcoming box office thriller Copperhead that focuses on what happens when an undercover drug deal explodes into violence, and a veteran detective is forced to team with a young federal agent to unravel the conspiracy within their elite task force. Character details for the cast have yet to be announced, though. (Deadline)

Michael Keaton and Morgan Freeman will star in the Western box office thriller Rode to Ruin with Keaton playing retired U.S. Marshal Henry Tillman and Freeman playing wanted outlaw Joseph Mulberry. The marshal searched 40 years for his wife’s killer and the cold trail finally heats up and leads him to an aging outlaw losing his memory and to a buried truth neither man may survive. (Deadline)

Golden Globe winner Teyana Taylor (One Battle After Another) will make her directorial debut with the upcoming box office movie Get Lite that will star Broadway star Leslie Odom, Jr. (Hamilton), Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor (King Richard) and Storm Reid (Euphoria), which follows a talented but sheltered dance student who finds inspiration, love and family in the last place he expected: the subways of New York City. (Variety)

Broadway’s Aaron Tveit (Moulin Rouge) has landed a role opposite Jane Krakowski and Angourie Rice in the upcoming indie drama Nice Eggs that watches as a young woman (Rice) come of age by overcoming a turbulent relationship with her loving but erratic mother (Krakowski), fighting to end a generational cycle of broken relationships to find her own voice. Tveit will play Marty, a handsome divorcee from Queens who’s made good as a corporate attorney. (Deadline)

Box office newcomer Inde Navarette, who recently turned heads in the horror flick Obsession, was a regular cast member on The CW’s superhero drama Superman & Lois and just landed the role of Rogue in the upcoming X-Men movie, has landed another box office role. She will appear in The Waffle House Index, but plot details on this new film are being kept under wraps. (Deadline)

Desperate Housewives alum and multi-hyphenate Eva Longoria will star alongside Mexican actor-comedian Eugenzio Derbez in Marcelo in the Real World, the film adaptation of the novel by Francisco X. Stork that will explore the challenges faced by a young man with autism spectrum disorder as he navigates his place in today’s highly competitive society. (Deadline)

Oscar and Emmy winner Melissa Leo has joined the cast of the upcoming action-thriller flick Supermax that will star Will Smith. The movie follows two FBI agents investigating a seemingly impossible murder within the impenetrable walls of a maximum-security prison. The cast of the film includes AnnaSophia Robb, Jason Clarke and Jaafar Jackson, who starred as his real life uncle in the 2026 box office flick Michael. (Variety)

Halle Berry, Colin Firth, Zoe Kravitz and Jack Whitehall will star in the upcoming rom-com movie Otherwise Engaged that finds Charlie (Whitehall) ready to marry the love of his life, Gabby (Kravitz), until his estranged father (Firth), a fallen business tycoon fresh out of prison, shows up on their doorstep and soon falls for Gabby’s fiercely independent mother (Berry). Now, their parents’ unlikely romance threatens to turn Charlie and Gabby’s dream wedding into their worst nightmare. (Deadline)

The hybrid box office movie Lincoln in the Bardo, which will be both stop-motion animation and live action, has added Meryl Streep, Colman Domingo, Bill Hader and Tom Waits to its cast. The movie will star Tom Hanks as U.S. President Abraham Lincoln with Bridgerton’s Jonathan Bailey and Game of Thrones Peter Dinklage to its voice cast. Streep will voice four parts in the film: Abigail Blass, Elizabeth Crawford, one Angel sent to lure lost souls out of the bardo and a Demon trying to trap Willie Lincoln in the cemetery forever. Domingo will voice Thomas Havens, the ghost of a former slave seeking a history-changing union with Lincoln, while Hader will voice Eddie Baron and one of the Three Rakes and Waits will voice Jaspar Randall, the ghost of a former dancehall performer and one of the Demons trying to capture Willie Lincoln. (The Hollywood Reporter)

TV CASTING NEWS

The reboot of Prison Break which will air on Hulu has added new cast members including, but not limited to Noah Emmerich (The Americans), Brad Beyer (Jericho) and Michael Mosley (Ballard and Castle). The series, that will be set in Los Angeles, will focus on a soldier-turned-corrections officer who takes a job at one of the deadliest prisons in America to prove just how far she’ll go for someone she loves. Emmerich will recur as Callum Faulls, Jackson’s (series regular Lukas Gage) father, a highly respected West Virginia power broker; Beyer will recur as Captain David Ryan, a corrections officer captain and Mosley will recur as Maynard Gibbs, a by-the-book lieutenant suspicious of Cassidy (series lead Emily Browning). (Deadline)

The Walking Dead alum Norman Reedus and Paradise alum James Marsden are set to star in the upcoming Apple TV spy thriller Disavowed that will feature Marsden, who will also executive produces the series, as Brad Griffin, a CIA case officer who’s fired in the middle of a global manhunt for an assassin who killed one of Brad’s colleagues. Cast out from the intelligence world, Brad decides to go freelance and try to collect a $15 million bounty on the assassin. No details have been given on who Reedus will be playing, however. (The Hollywood Reporter)

Wayne Brady and Selma Blair will guest star in the upcoming new season of Criminal Minds: Evolution, but details on what characters they will be playing are being kept under wraps. (Deadline)

Casting for season two of the small screen adaptation of the Harry Potter franchise has added the following: Lenny Rush will play Dobby; Bonnie Hill, taking over for the departing cast member Gracie Cochrane, will play Ginny Weasley and Billy Barratt will play Tom Riddle. (Variety)

Former late night host James Corden, and an actor in his own right, has joined the cast of the second season of the Matthew Goode-led Netflix crime thriller Dept. Q, which is based on the novels by author Jussi Adler-Olsen. Corden will play Dr. Ben Smith, an eccentric but brilliant forensic psychologist. (What’s On Netflix)

Zoo and Happy Face alum James Wolk has been cast in the upcoming new season of Grey’s Anatomy, playing Seth Norton, a surgeon-turned-businessman who owns Olympic Regent Health, “a luxury care medical center where patients pay out of pocket for elevated care. (Deadline and People)

Season two of the HBO Max drama Heated Rivalry has added Kevin Zegers (The Rookie: Feds), Paul Gross (Due South) and Milla Jovovich (the original Resident Evil franchise) to its cast. Zegers will play Coach Weibe, the head coach of Ottawa’s professional team; Gross will play the professional hockey league’s commissioner Roger Crowell and Jovovich will play Dr. Galina Molchalin, Ilya’s (series lead Connor Storrie) therapist. (The Hollywood Reporter)

STREAMING MOVIE NEWS

Vanessa Kirby (The Fantastic Four and The Crown), Yahya Adbul-Mateen II (Wonder Man and Aquaman), Tom Pelphrey (Task), Franka Potente (The Bourne Supremacy) [among others] will star in the upcoming Apple TV film Liminal, which is based on the graphic novel Telepaths by J. Michael Stracynski. The story is set in a time where a small percentage of the world’s population gains telepathic abilities, primarily focusing on a Boston police department tasked with tracking down a group of these recently-powered individuals that are led by a wrongly-convicted prisoner. The catch is that certain members of the Boston police department also have these new powers. (SFF Gazette and FilmCrave)

TV DEVELOPMENT NEWS

Netflix is developing a live-action TV series – to be called Ravenloft -based on the popular gothic horror setting of Dungeons & Dragons that is being described as a prestige fantasy series where adventure collides with gothic horror and tragic romance. Ravenloft and its Domains of Dread tackle adventure through character-driven stories of dark magic and supernatural intrigue. At its heart, the series follows the making of the vampire Darklord Strahd von Zarovich, whose story of power, love, obsession, and undead transformation charts his origins from tragic antihero to one of Dungeons & Dragons’ most notorious villains. (Deadline)

Disney+ is developing a live-action series adaptation of The Kane Chronicles by Rick Riordan (author of the Percy Jackson franchise) and Angela Robinson. Based on Egyptian mythology that is set in the same universe as Camp Half-Blood from his Percy Jackson books. The book series takes the Kane siblings on adventures where they are forced to contend with the Egyptian gods and goddesses in the modern world. (Deadline)

That’s it. Enjoy!

Read Full Post »

Hey All,

Here are the entertainment news items for this past week:

RENEWAL

Hulu has given the Emmy Rossum-lead drama thriller Furious a second season order. (Variety)

TV CASTING NEWS

Game of Thrones alum Kit Harington will be taking over the role of Gilderoy Lockhart from Nicholas Hoult in the upcoming second season of the HBO series Harry Potter. (Variety)

The new fall NBC drama Line of Fire will see Sam Waterston (Law & Order), Campbell Scott (Dying Young) and Chris Chalk (Perry Mason) making guest appearances, playing former President Thomas Barnes, a U.S. Senator named Terry and current President Kayana respectively. (Deadline)

Netflix has given a greenlight to a spin-off to the drama series Manifest (which started out on NBC before moving to the streamer). Arrivals: A New Manifest Mystery will focus on what happens when a mysterious plane crash-lands in Denver. The passengers emerge with no memory of who they are, where they came from, or why they’re here. A young social worker and a novice Homeland Security agent team up with the new arrivals in an attempt to stop a humanity-ending catastrophe, discovering along the way that they are all part of the very puzzle they’re trying to solve. (Variety)

Netflix has a new, currently untitled, drama based on the short stories for adults by Roald Dahl. The series will find Bridgerton star Nicola Coughlan, The Crown star Imelda Staunton and The Wire star Dominic West appearing alongside previously announced cast members Carmen Ejogo, Clark Peters and Toby Jones (among others). The logline for the upcoming series is: A young couple, marooned in a faded seaside town, navigate conmen, adulterers, murderous mothers and snake charmers as they attempt to escape before their own fate is sealed. (Deadline)

Kate Winslet will star in the new limited series The Unheard at Netflix from Adolescence writer Jack Thorne. The series will be about two sisters who go on the run after an act of vengeance goes wrong. As they are desperately pursued, we ask the question: What pushed them to this reckless act, and was it ever their intention to get away with it? (Variety)

Downton Abbey alum Dan Stevens will play the titular hero in the upcoming Amazon Prime Video series RoboCop based on the box office movie. This 8-episode series will focus on how a giant tech conglomerate persuades the city to place a powerful robot on its police force – a robot implanted with the consciousness of a beloved fallen officer, Alex Murphy (Stevens). (Deadline)

BOX OFFICE MOVIE NEWS

The box office movie Lincoln in the Bardo that will star Tom Hanks as Abraham Lincoln has added Willem Dafoe, Jonathan Bailey and Peter Dinklage to its voice cast. The movie will explore one of the most intimate moments of Lincoln’s life, centering on his relationship with his recently deceased 11-year-old son. The feature mixes history and imagination in a story that unfolds through an ensemble of characters – living and dead, historical and invented – to explore themes of love, empathy and the human capacity for connection in the face of unimaginable grief. (Deadline)

Looks like Paramount is working on a sequel to the box office movie How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days with original star Kate Hudson attached to produce. This sequel is in the early stages of development, though, so there aren’t many details. (Variety)

Anne Hathaway will star alongside Tom Cruise in the upcoming sequel film Days of Thunder 2 that will be released in June of 2028. (Deadline)

SERIES PICK-UP

Looks like the USA Network is getting back into the groove of airing TV dramas, as the cabler has picked up a medical drama called Diplomatic Immunity about a doctor assigned to the U.S. embassy in Rome, who finds himself encountering challenging medical cases that require him to navigate diplomacy, government personalities and geopolitical situations — all while managing the romantic entanglements set against the thrill of a new life in a new country. Casting details have not been announced. (The Hollywood Reporter)

MGM+ has picked up the five-part Gemma Arterton-led drama series Secret Service. Arterton will star as senior MI6 officer Kate Henderson as a covert investigation uncovers evidence that a high-ranking UK politician may be working as a Russian asset. With trust shattered and her career on the line, Kate must navigate the shifting sands of political loyalty, international threat, and personal sacrifice as she races to uncover their identity before it’s too late. (Deadline)

DEVELOPMENT NEWS

Peacock is developing an all-new spin-off series to Bel-Air (which was a dramatic reimaging of the Will Smith-led comedy The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air). This spin-off called Hilary will focus on Bel-Air cast member Coco Jones’s character. (CBR)

BROADWAY NEWS

Harry Potter alum Rupert Grint will reprise his role of Ron Weasley as he is joining the cast of the Broadway play Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. He will play an adult version of Ron in a story that focuses on the next generation of Hogwarts students. (Variety)

That’s it. Enjoy!

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Hey All,

Here are the entertainment news items for this past week:

RENEWAL

The new Amazon Prime drama Sterling Point has been given a second season renewal. (Variety)

TV CASTING NEWS

New cast members for the upcoming FOX reboot of Prison Break have been announced. Joining the cast include Sam Trammell (True Blood), Robin Weigert (Deadwood and Tracker) and Kerry Bishe (Halt and Catch Fire) [among others. They join current cast members Emily Browning, Drake Rodger, Lukas Gage, Clayton Cardenas, JR Bourne, Georgie Flores, Kelli Berglund and Myles Bullock. In the new version, an ex-soldier turned corrections officer takes a job at one of the deadliest prisons in America to prove just how far she’ll go for someone she loves. (Deadline)

Shadowhunters alum Matthew Daddario will join season 15 of Chicago Fire as Da’Vinchi, a new firefighter candidate. (Deadline)

The Apple TV sci-fi/comedy series Murderbot that stars Alexander Skarsgard in the lead role has added new cast members for its upcoming second season, including Steve Buscemi, Wanda Sykes, Patton Oswalt, Martha Plimpton, Bridget Everett, Michael Sheen, Tramell Tillman and Blair Underwood [among others], but there are no storyline details yet for that anticipated second season. (Deadline)

STREAMING MOVIE NEWS

Extraction 3, the latest in the Netflix action movie franchise that stars Chris Hemsworth, has added Pierce Brosnan [among others] to its cast, but no word on what character he will be playing or what the storyline will be for this installment. Idris Elba has already been announced as part of this cast too. (Deadline)

LIMITED SERIES NEWS

It looks like Sons of Anarchy will be reuniting for an FX limited series called Legends which will find much of the main cast back together, including Charlie Hunnam, Ron Perlman, Katey Sagal, Maggie Siff, Mark Boone Junior, Tommy Flanagan, Kim Coates and Theo Rossi. The logline for the show states, When the cast of “Sons of Anarchy” reunites at a fan convention after more than a decade, the line between life and art blurs as the fractured brotherhood finds itself up against a real-world threat more dangerous than anything they ever faced in their show. (Variety)

BOX OFFICE MOVIE NEWS

Mireille Enos (The Killing) [taking over for Leslie Bibb], Ella Bright (Off Campus) and Jake Picking (Running Point) [taking over for KJ Apa] will star in the upcoming indie film Gable, which will tell the true story of Olympic gold medalist wrestler Dan Gable Enos will play Gable’s mother Katie while Bright will play his sister Diane. No word yet on who Picking will be playing as yet. The movie will tell the story of a working-class kid from Waterloo, Iowa who overcame an unthinkable family tragedy to become one of the most dominant athletes in the history of combat sports, compiling a 181-1 record throughout high school and college and ultimately facing off against the powerful Soviets at the height of the Cold War. (Deadline)

That’s it. Enjoy!

Read Full Post »

Hey All,

Here are the entertainment news items for this past week:

RENEWAL

Even before the first season has aired, S.W.A.T. Exiles has been given a second season renewal. (TV Insider)

TV CASTING NEWS

The new high-school hockey drama The Sticks will debut online on Netflix with Michelle Monaghan starring alongside newly announced cast members Scott Bakula and Marshals alum Logan Marshall-Green. The series will focus on what happens after tragedy shatters a small Minnesota hockey town, with a grieving wife (Monaghan) stepping behind the bench of the team her husband built, guiding a found family of wounded young athletes through a season of loss, love, and rivalry that will decide whether South Dorothy has anything left to believe in, and who will lead it into its next chapter. Bakula will play Coach Brody while Marshall-Green will play Coach Sully.  (Deadline)

Nicholas Hoult will take on the role of Gilderoy Lockhart in the second season of the HBO small screen adaptation of Harry Potter. (Variety)

Station 19 alum Boris Kodjoe has joined the second season of the FOX drama Memory of a Killer in the recurring role of Tré, Angelo (series star Patrick Dempsey), Dutch (Michael Imperioli), and Michael (Richard Clarkin)’s closest childhood friend, often referred to as the “Fourth Musketeer.” (TV Line)

Wonder Woman star Connie Nielsen and Castle alum Stana Katic have joined the upcoming Apple TV series Monsterverse that will star Wyatt Russell, who plays Col. 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. The character originated in the series Monarch: Legacy of Monsters, with Russell’s father Kurt Russell playing the older version of Lee Shaw. The characters Nielsen and Katic will be playing are being under wraps, though. (Deadline)

BOX OFFICE NEWS

Jane Krakowski and The Last Thing He Told Me alum Angourie Rice will star in the indie coming-of-age flick Nice Eggs, which will watch as a young woman comes of age by overcoming a turbulent relationship with her loving but erratic mother, and fights to end a generational cycle of broken relationships to find her own voice. They play the mother and daughter. (Deadline)

More cast members of the upcoming X-Men movie were announced at D23 this past week, including Christopher Abbott (Poor Things) as Charles Xavier (Professor X), Inde Navarette (Obsession and Superman and Lois) as Rogue, Adam Driver as Mister Sinister (aka Nathaniel Milbury) and Broadway star Maya Boyd as Storm. (Deadline)

Outlander star Caitriona Balfe and Elliot Cowan (The Crown) have been cast as Queen Arianna and King Frederic, respectively, in the upcoming live-action version of the popular animated movie Tangled. (Deadline)

Jodie Foster and Walton Goggins will lend their voices to the upcoming Disney animated movie Hexed, which will focus on an awkward teen (voiced by Hailee Steinfeld) and her Type-A mother, who learn her peculiarities might be magical powers, transforming their lives and revealing a hidden magical realm. Foster will play Queen Celeste, the main “baddie” in the film while Goggins will play Beef Roger, a three-eyed cat who is a witch’s sidekick. (Deadline)

That’s it. Enjoy!

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