Rueben's Ramblings

Hey All,

Here are the news items for this past week:

RENEWAL

Disney+ has given a second season to Loki. (TV Line)

EPIX has given Bridge and Tunnel a second season renewal. (Deadline)

RESURRECTION POSSIBILITY

The short-lived ABC drama Rebel will be heading to IMDb TV in a deal that COULD include a 2nd season order IF “the metrics merit.” The cast are still under option, making a revival a realistic possibility much like how the recently cancelled ABC drama For Life is also available on the streaming service. (Deadline and The Futon Critic)

TV CASTING NEWS

The second season of the Amazon Prime drama Modern Love will premiere on August 13, including among its cast Kit Harington (Game of Thrones), Tobias Menzies (Outlander and The Crown), Garrett Hedlund (Country Strong and Tron), Anna Paquin (True Blood), Minnie Driver (About a Boy) and Sophie Okonedo (Flack). The series is based on The New York Times column of the same name that brings to life several true stories of love and relationships. (TV Insider)

British actor Simon Callow (Outlander) has joined the cast of the Marvel series Hawkeye that finds Jeremy Renner back as the Marvel character. It is believed (but not confirmed) that his role will have ties to the character Jack Duquesne otherwise known as Swordsman, a villain set to appear in the show. (The Direct and The Cosmic Circus)

Oliver Hudson (Splitting Up Together) has joined the cast of the upcoming FOX drama The Cleaning Lady. He will play FBI Agent Garrett Miller, an intensely competitive, brilliant, and chameleonic FBI agent on the trail of Thony (series lead Elodie Yung) and the mob. (Deadline and The Futon Critic)

Actress Ayelet Zurer (Man of Steel and Losing Alice) will star opposite Dominic Monaghan (Lost) in the upcoming AMC drama Moonhaven. She will play Maite Voss, the political leader of Moonhaven, who was chosen and beloved by its citizens. She embodies the lunar mission to save humanity from self-destruction. Haunted by a troubled past, she is drawn into a madness that risks the future of Earth. (Deadline and The Futon Critic)

HBO Max has a drama called DMZ, based on the comic series by Brian Wood and Riccardo Burchielli, set to air with Rosario Dawson and Benjamin Bratt in the lead roles. The series will chronicle the harrowing journey of fearless and fierce medic Alma Ortega (Dawson) as she attempts to find the son she lost in the evacuation of New York City at the onset of a conflict. Throwing gasoline on the flames of that conflict is Parco Delgado (Bratt), the popular, and deadly, leader of one of the most powerful gangs in the DMZ. He wants to rule this new world and will stop at nothing to secure that outcome. Among the new cast members just announced are Rutina Wesley (Queen Sugar and True Blood) who will play Athena, a calculating operative for the separatist Free States of America, and the most effective power broker in the DMZ that no one there has heard of; Mamie Gummer (True Detective and The Good Wife), who will Rose, a jaded medic; Saturday Night Live alum Nora Dunn (The Big Leap), who will play Oona, a powerful fixture of near-mythical stature who oversees an all-female commune and Henry G. Sanders (Queen Sugar) who will play Cedric, a straight-shooting citizen of the DMZ whose only care in the world is protecting his grandson. (Deadline)

Paramount+ has given a green light to a prequel series to the classic 1978 film Grease. The 10-episode series Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies will be set four years before the original movie, before rock ‘n’ roll ruled, before the T-Birds were the coolest in the school. Four fed-up, outcast girls dare to have fun on their own terms, sparking a moral panic that will change Rydell High forever. (Deadline)

Alexa Davalos (The Man in the High Castle) will star opposite Julian McMahon in FBI: Most Wanted for the show’s 3rd season. She will play an FBI agent who joins Jess’ (McMahon’s) team. (Deadline)

The Dexter revival on Showtime will bring back not only John Lithgow but also Jennifer Carpenter, both of whom will (somehow) be resurrected. (TV Line)

Robert Downey Jr. will not only produce but also star in the HBO series The Sympathizer, based on the best-selling espionage thriller by Thanh Nguyen, that is described as a cross-culture satire about the struggles of a half-French, half-Vietnamese communist spy during the final days of the Vietnam War and his resulting exile in the United States. A worldwide search is currently underway for the lead role and the rest of the predominantly Vietnamese ensemble. (Variety)

The HBO Max Sex and the City reveival And Just Like That… has added the following cast members: Nicole Ari Parker (Empire and Soul Food), who will play Lisa Todd Wexley, a Park Avenue mother of three and documentarian; Sarita Choudhury (Homeland), who will play Seema Patel, a single, self-made powerhouse Manhattan real estate broker; and Karen Pittman (The Morning Show), who will play Dr. Nya Wallace, a brilliant, challenging Columbia Law professor. (TV Line)

MADE-FOR-TV MOVIE NEWS

Rebel may be done [for now, see above], but she’s got a new project coming up. She will appear in the EPIX thriller movie Tattered Hearts, which is set to debut sometime in 2022. The movie will follow an up-and-coming country music duo who seek out the secluded mansion of their idol, Harper Dutch (Sagal). But what starts out as a friendly visit devolves into a twisted series of horrors that force the friends to confront the lengths they’ll go to in order to realize their dreams. (The Hollywood Reporter)

STREAMING MOVIE NEWS

Jessica Alba (Dark Angel and L.A.’s Finest) will executive producer and star in the Netflix action film Trigger Warning, which follows a traumatized veteran who inherits her grandfather’s bar, and is faced with a moral dilemma after discovering the truth behind his untimely death. (Variety)

The Netflix film Luckiest Girl Alive, based on the Jessica Knoll bestseller, will feature an ensemble cast that includes Mila Kunis (That 70’s Show), Finn Wittrock (American Horror Story), Scoot McNairy (Narcos: Mexico), Jennifer Beals (The Book of Eli, The Last Tycoon) and Connie Britton (Friday Night Lights, Nashville) [among others]. The movie centers on Ani FaNelli (Kunis), a sharp-tongued New Yorker who appears to have it all: a sought-after position at a glossy magazine, a killer wardrobe, and a dream Nantucket wedding on the horizon. But when the director of a crime documentary invites her to tell her side of the shocking incident that took place when she was a teenager at the prestigious Brentley School, Ani is forced to confront a dark truth that threatens to unravel her meticulously crafted life. (Netflix and The Futon Critic)

BOX OFFICE MOVIE NEWS

Henry Cavill has added another movie to his already busy schedule. He will appear in the film The Rosie Project, which follows an unlucky-in-love university professor who creates an elaborate questionnaire in an effort to find a wife. He meets an unconventional woman who doesn’t match any of his “requirements” but might be the perfect woman for him. (Deadline)

That’s it. Enjoy!

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Hey All,

Here are the news items for this past week:

RENEWALS/CANCELLATIONS

Evil has been renewed for a third season by Paramount Plus. (TV Line)

Netflix has pulled the plug on Cursed after only one season. (TV Line)

CASTING NEWS

Robin Givens (Riverdale) will join the cast of Batwoman for The CW show’s third season. She will play Jada Jet, a powerful CEO for Jet Industries. (Deadline and The Futon Critic)

Henry Simmons (Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD) and Joy Bryant (Parenthood) will star in the second season of Cherish the Day on OWN. The series chronicles the relationship of one couple, with each episode spanning a single day. In season two, the love story of Ellis (Simmons) and Sunday (Bryant), who fell in love in high school but find themselves reunited in beautiful New Orleans. Ellis is a former basketball player who is now a single father of two, and Sunday is a vegan celebrity chef on the cusp of fame. Each episode of the season-long narrative unfolds in a single day to reveal significant moments in a relationship. (Deadline)

Dominic Monaghan (Lost) will star in the 6-episode AMC futuristic space drama Moonhaven from writer-producer Peter Ocko (Black Sails and Lodge 49), which centers on Bella Sway, a lunar cargo pilot and smuggler 100 years in the future who finds herself accused of a crime and marooned on Moonhaven, a utopian community set on a 500 square mile Garden of Eden built on the Moon to find solutions to the problems that will soon end civilization on Mother Earth. A skeptic in Paradise, Bella is sucked into a conspiracy to gain control of the artificial intelligence responsible for Moonhaven’s miracles and teams with Paul Sarno, a local detective (Monaghan), to stop the forces that want to destroy Earth’s last hope before they are destroyed themselves. (TV Line)

The 6-episode Netflix prequel series The Witcher: Blood Origin has added Michelle Yeoh (Crazy Rich Asians) to the cast. The series, set in an elven world 1200 years before The Witcher, will focus on the creation of the first prototype Witcher, and the events that lead to the pivotal conjunction of the spheres, when the worlds of monsters, men, and elves merged to become one. Yeoh will star as Scían, the very last of her nomadic tribe of sword-elves. No one can come close to her artistry with the blade, and no one carries as much loss within their heart. When a chance presents itself to retrieve a stolen sacred sword, taken from her fallen tribe by nefarious means, she launches herself into a deadly quest that will change the outcome of the Continent. (Variety)

The 10-episode HBO Game of Thrones prequel series House of the Dragon has announced new recurring cast members: Milly Alcock and Emily Carey. The series will be set a few hundred years prior to Game of Thrones, telling the story of House Targaryen and the Targaryen civil war that became known as the Dance of the Dragons. Alcock (The Gloaming and A Place to Call Home) will play the young version of Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen, the king’s first-born child, who is of pure Valyrian blood, and is a dragonrider. Meanwhile, Carey (Houdini & Doyle and Wonder Woman) will play the young version of Alicent Hightower, the daughter of Otto Hightower, the Hand of the King, and the most comely woman in the Seven Kingdoms. (Variety)

Kiefer Sutherland (24 and Designated Survivor) will play President Franklin D. Roosevelt opposite Gillian Anderson as Eleanor Roosevelt in the upcoming Showtime anthology series The First Lady. (TV Line)

Luke Kleintank (The Man in the High Castle) and Heida Reed (Poldark) have joined the cast of FBI: International. The unit in this new show in the franchise will travel the world with the mission of tracking and neutralizing threats against American citizens wherever they may be. Not allowed to carry guns, the Fly Team relies on intelligence, quick thinking and pure brawn as they put their lives on the line to protect the U.S. and its people. (TV Line)

Enver Gjokaj (Agent Carter and Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD) and Alex Tarrant (800 Words) have joined the cast of NCIS: Hawai’i, where they will star alongside Vanessa Lachey, Noah Mills, Tori Anderson (and others). Gjokaj will recur as Navy Capt. Joe Milius, a high ranking commander of Pacific Fleet who arrives in Hawaii when a top secret experimental aircraft crashes into a cliff, and he in turn clashes with Tennant (Lachey’s character. Meanwhile, Tarrant will be a series regular, playing Kai, a local who “can blend into any part of the islands. (Variety and TV Line)

Justin Chambers (Grey’s Anatomy) will play legendary Marlon Brando in the Paramount+ limited series The Offer that is based on producer Al Ruddy’s experience of making the 1972 film The Godfather with director Francis Ford Coppola. (TV Line and Variety)

STREAMING SERVICE MOVIE NEWS

Justice League and Army of the Dead director Zack Snyder has landed on his next project: the Netflix sci-fi epic Rebel Moon, a grand fantasy adventure that will center around an enigmatic young woman who is given the responsibility by a peaceful colony on the outskirts of the galaxy to find warriors who can fend off an impending invasion by the despotic Regent Balisariu. (Variety)

The Amazon Studios movie The Tomorrow War is doing THAT well online that there is already talk about a sequel with Chris Pratt returning along with director Chris McKay. (Variety)

BOX OFFICE MOVIE NEWS

Tyrese Gibson, Ray Liotta and Scott Eastwood will lead the box office film April 29, 1992, based on the Los Angeles riots. The film takes place on the first night of the riots, centering on a custodian who brings his son to work. The two quickly find themselves in the middle of a heist gone wrong. Gibson will play opposite on-screen father and son Liotta and Eastwood. (Variety)

Michelle Williams will play Katherine Parr, the last of Henry VIII’s six wives in the planned box office film Firebrand. (Variety)

Henry Cavill, Sam Rockwell, Bryce Dallas Howard, Samuel L. Jackson, Catherine O’Hara, John Cena and Bryan Cranston have all joined the all-star cast of the box office movie Argylle, which is based on the debut novel of the same name by first-time author Ellie Conway, which follows the globe-trotting adventures of a super-spy named Argylle across the U.S., London and other exotic locations. (Variety)

That’s it. Enjoy!

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Hey All,

First of all, I hope all those who celebrate the Happy Fourth of July enjoyed the day!

And now, here are the news items for the past week:

RENEWALS/CANCELLATION

HBO has pulled the plug on Lovecraft Country after only one season. (TV Line)

IMDbTV is eyeing the cancelled ABC drama For Life for a third season, as the streamer is set to air the first (and only) two seasons.  (Variety)

Amazon Prime has renewed Good Omens for a second season. (TV Line)

TV CASTING NEWS

Apple has ordered an 8-episode series adaptation of the book City on Fire by Garth Risk Hallberg. Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage will be in charge of the production that focuses on what happens when an NYU student is shot in Central Park on the 4th of July in 2003. Samantha Cicciaro is alone; there are no witnesses and very little physical evidence. Her friends’ band is playing her favorite downtown club but she leaves to meet someone, promising to return. She never does. As the crime against Samantha is investigated, she’s revealed to be the crucial connection between a series of mysterious city-wide fires, the downtown music scene, and a wealthy uptown real estate family fraying under the strain of the many secrets they keep. (Variety)

The one and only Kelly Bishop (Gilmore Girls) will be joining the cast of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel for the show’s upcoming 4th season. Details, of course, are being kept under wraps as to what role she will play in the series. (TV Line)

The Netflix crime thriller Ozark has added new recurring cast members to its upcoming 4th and final season. They are Veronica Falcon (Queen of the South) and Ali Stroker (Tony-winning Glee Project veteran). Falcon will play Camila, the sister of drug cartel leader Omar Navarro (Felix Solis) whose son Javi Elizonndro (Alfonso Herrera) is scheming to take over his uncle’s cartel. Meanwhile, Stroker will play Charles-Ann, an old friend of Ruth’s (Julia Garner) mother, who lends her a hand when she is in need of some assistance. (The Hollywood Reporter)

The Starz Watergate drama Gaslit, which will star Julia Roberts and Sean Penn has added recurring cast members, including Allison Tolman (Fargo) J.C. MacKenzie (The Trial of the Chicago 7), Chris Bauer (True Blood), Hamish Linklater (Legion) and Chris Messina (Birds of Prey). The series is a modern take on Watergate, focusing on the untold stories and forgotten characters of the scandal – from Nixon’s bumbling, opportunistic subordinates to the deranged zealots aiding and abetting their crimes to the tragic whistleblowers who would eventually bring the whole rotten enterprise crashing down. (Deadline)

DEVELOPMENT NEWS

Netflix has ordered a 10-episode series based on the young adult novel My Life With the Walter Boys by author Ali Novak. The show will follow 16-year old Manhattanite Jackie Howard who, after the loss of her family in a tragic accident, has to learn to adapt to a new life in rural Colorado with her guardian – and 12 very rowdy kids. (Variety)

STREAMING SERVICE MOVIE NEWS

Dwayne Johnson will star in the Amazon Studios film Red One, which is being described as a globe-trotting, four-quadrant action-adventure comedy, which imagines a whole new universe to explore within the holiday genre. (Variety)

BOX OFFICE NEWS

The action thriller Havoc that will star Tom Hardy and Forest Whitaker has added Timothy Olphant (Justified) and Justin Cornwell (The Umbrella Academy) to its cast. The film takes place after a drug deal gone wrong, centering on a bruised detective who must fight his way through a criminal underworld to rescue a politician’s estranged son, while unraveling a deep web of corruption and conspiracy that ensnares his entire city. (Variety)

Oscar-nominated Vanessa Kirby has joined the cast of the film The Son, the follow-up to the Oscar-winning feature film The Father. Kirby will star in the film opposite Laura Dern and Hugh Jackman. The film focuses on Peter (Jackman) as his busy life with new partner Emma (Kirby) and their baby is thrown into disarray when his ex-wife Kate (Dern) turns up with their teenage son, Nicholas. The young man is troubled, distant and angry, playing truant from school for months. Peter strives to be a better father, searching to help his son with those intimate and instinctive moments of family happiness. But the weight of Nicholas’ condition sets the family on a dangerous course. (Variety)

That’s it. Enjoy!

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Hey All,

Here are the news items for this past week:

CANCELLATION NEWS

Good Girls has been cancelled by NBC. The show will not be moving to Netflix, though. (TV Line)

DEVELOPMENT NEWS

AMC is moving forward with a series adaptation of the Anne Rice novel Interview With the Vampire. The cabler has given the series an eight episode order with the intention of debuting the show in 2022 on both AMC and AMC Plus. (Variety)

Jensen Ackles and his actress-wife Danneel Ackles will executive produce a prequel spin-off to Supernatural with the folks at The CW. The Winchesters – which only has a script commitment right now – is described as the epic, untold love story of how John met Mary, and how they put it all on the line to not only save their love, but the entire world. Jensen would narrate from the point of view of his character Dean, John and Mary’s eldest son. (Deadline and TV Line)

NOTE: Yes, there was the short-run online “argument” between Jensen and long-running co-star Jared Padalecki – who played brother Sam Winchester – but the actors quickly reconciled the issue; with fellow co-star Mischa Collins chiming in that he would be interested in being involved in the proposed spin-off.

TV CASTING NEWS

Hanako Greensmith has been promoted to series regular on Chicago Fire where she debuted in season 8 in the then recurring role of Violet Mikami. (Deadline)

CCH Pounder (NCIS: New Orleans) will be joining the cast of The Good Fight for its 5th season for a multi-episode arc. She will play Vinetta, a Chicago native looking for justice after a crime spike in her neighborhood. (TV Line and TV Insider)

CBS has officially announced that Gary Cole has joined the 19th season of NCIS in the role of FBI Special Agent Alden Park; but no other details about the character have been announced. It should be noted that Mark Harmon is NOT leaving the show, but will appear in a small number of episodes next season. (TV Line and Variety)

Lance Gross (House of Payne and Star) has joined the cast of the upcoming FOX drama Our Kind of People that will focus on strong-willed single mom Angela Vaughn (YaYa DaCosta) as she sets out to reclaim her family’s name and make an impact with her revolutionary haircare line that highlights the innate, natural beauty of Black women. But she soon discovers a dark secret about her mother’s past that will turn her world upside down and shake up this community forever. Gross will play Tyrique Freeman, a smooth, handsome man with an edge, who was born into modest circumstances but made a fortune in construction and has gained acceptance in The Bluffs. The cast includes Morris Chestnut and LeToya Luckett. (Deadline)

Cesar Domboy (Outlander) has joined the cast of the BBC 6-episode series SAS: Rogue Heroes in a supporting role. The series will dramatize how Britain’s Special Forces unit was formed in the darkest days of World War II, centering on Stirling, an eccentric young officer, hospitalized after a training exercise went wrong. Convinced that traditional commando units don’t work, he creates a radical plan that flies in the face of all accepted rules of modern warfare. He fights for permission to recruit the toughest, boldest, and brightest soldiers for a small undercover unit that will create mayhem behind enemy lines. The cast includes Jack O’Connell (Unbroken), Alfie Allen (Game Of Thrones), Sofia Boutella (Modern Love) and Dominic West (The Wire). (Deadline)

The limited series Class of ‘09 has been picked up with an 8-episode order and it will air on FX on Hulu. The series will be set in a near future where the U.S. criminal justice system has been transformed by artificial intelligence, following a group of FBI agents who graduated from Quantico in 2009 and are reunited following the death of a mutual friend. It will span three decades and will tell three interweaving timelines, examining the nature of justice, humanity and the choices people make that ultimately define their lives and their legacy. Brian Tyree Henry (Atlanta and the box office movie Joker) and Kate Mara (A Teacher and the box office movie Shooter) will star. Henry will play Tayo Miller, one of the most brilliant and unorthodox Agents ever to join the Bureau while Mara will play Amy Poet, a woman who never imagined joining the world of law enforcement and finds herself at the center of its most pivotal moment of transformation. (Variety)

Additional cast members have been added to the upcoming 3rd season of The Boys. Laurie Holden (The Americans and Proven Innocent) will have the recurring role of Crimson Countess while Miles Gaston Villaneuva (Law & Order True Crime: The Menendez Murders) will play Supersonic; Sean Patrick Flannery (The Boondock Saints and The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones) will play Gunpowder; and Nick Wechsler (Roswell and Revenge) will play Blue Hawk. All three of these characters are original creations. (Entertainment Weekly and Deadline)

Jonny Lee Miller (Eli Stone and Elementary) has joined the cast of The Crown for season 5 where he will appear as Prime Minister John Major, who held the post from 1990 to 1997. (TV Line)

The FX on Hulu limited series Under the Banner of Heaven will star Andrew Garfield (Spider-Man) and Daisy Edgar-Jones (Normal People). Based on the Jon Krakauer novel, the series focuses on what happens when a devout detective’s faith is tested as he investigates a brutal murder that seems to be connected to an esteemed Utah family’s spiral into LDS fundamentalism and their distrust in the government. Garfield will star as Pyre, an LDS elder who is committed to his Church and family but begins to question some of the Church’s teachings through his contact with a suspected murderer. Edgar-Jones will play as Brenda, a young faithful Mormon who is the
victim of a brutal murder. (Variety)

AJ Michalka (The Goldbergs) has joined the cast of the Ray Donovan feature-length film that will air on Showtime, playing the younger version of Abby (played by Paula Malcomson). (Deadline and The Futon Critic)

Dougray Scott will not be returning for season 3 of Batwoman. (TV Line)

BOX OFFICE MOVIE NEWS

Rachel Zegler, the newcomer who will be seen in the remake of West Side Story, has been cast as Snow White in the upcoming remake of the classic Disney fairytale. (Variety)

Lily Collins (Emily in Paris) will play a live action version of Polly Pocket, the popular 1980’s micro-doll. Coming from writer-director Lena Dunham (Girls), this version will center on a young girl and a pocket-sized woman who form a friendship. (Variety)

STREAMING MOVIE NEWS

If you love a good western, look no further than Netflix for the movie The Harder They Fall, which will feature an ensemble cast. Here is the synopsis of the movie: When outlaw Nat Love (Jonathan Majors from Lovecraft Country) discovers that his enemy Rufus Buck (Idris Elba from the Marvel Universe and Luther) is being released from prison he rounds up his gang to track Rufus down and seek revenge. Those riding with him include his former love Stagecoach Mary (Zazie Beetz from Deadpool 2 and Atlanta), his right and left hand men — hot-tempered Bill Pickett (Edi Gathegi from the X-Men franchise and The Blacklist) and fast drawing Jim Beckwourth (R.J. Cyler from Black Lightning and Scream: The TV Series)—and a surprising adversary-turned-ally. Rufus Buck has his own fearsome crew, including “Treacherous” Trudy Smith (Regina King from Watchmen) and Cherokee Bill (LaKeith Stanfield from Knives Out and Judah and the Black Messiah), and they are not a group that knows how to lose. Delroy Lindo also stars. (Yahoo Entertainment)

That’s it. Enjoy!

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Hey All,

Here are the news items for this past week:

RENEWALS/CANCELLATIONS

Peacock has given the comedy Girls5Eva a second season renewal. (Variety)

Hulu has given the latest reboot of The Hardy Boys a second season renewal. (Variety)

Netflix has landed the worldwide rights to the sci-fi sequel Code 8: Part II. (Deadline)

NBC has cancelled Manifest after three seasons. (Deadline)

Freeform has given a second season order to Cruel Summer. (TV Line)

TV MOVIE NEWS

Lifetime is making a reboot of the classic 80’s drama Highway to Heaven that starred Michael Landon as a helpful angel. This new version will feature Grammy winner Jill Scott and 7th Heaven alum Barry Watson in the lead roles. Scott will play Angela, an angel who comes down to Earth to help people in crisis, while Watson will play Bruce, a junior high school principal who becomes aware of Angela’s true identity. The plan is for Lifetime to create multiple movies. (TV Line)

TV CASTING NEWS

It’ll be a Wynonna Earp reunion on the upcoming Syfy thriller SurrealEstate, which stars Wynonna alum Tim Rozon when Melanie Scrofano (Wynonna herself) guest stars in the new series that is set to debut in July. Rozon stars as Luke Roman, a well-dressed real estate agent who specializes in selling haunted homes. Scrofano will play Harper North, a quirky, timid young woman who lives a solitary life in her family’s picturesque lakeside cottage. Unfortunately, her brother hires the Roman Agency to sell the property, and Luke must determine whether Harper is purposely frightening away prospective buyers or something spookier and more troubling is afoot. (Yahoo Entertainment)

A Beauty and the Beast prequel has been ordered to series at Disney+. The live-action musical series will star Luke Evans and Josh Gad, reprising their roles of Gaston and LeFou (Louie) from the 2017 live-action film. Meanwhile, newcomer Briana Middleton will join the show as Tilly, Louie’s stepsister. Set in the iconic kingdom years before the Beast and Belle’s romance, the series will follow Gaston and LeFou as they set off with LeFou’s step-sister, Tilly, after a surprising revelation from her past comes to light, sending the trio off on an unexpected journey. While the mysteries of the past are uncovered and the dangers of the present grow, old friends and new enemies reveal that this familiar kingdom harbors many secrets. (Variety)

The Blacklist will come to a close for another season this Wednesday, and that episode will mark the last episode for Megan Boone, who has played lead character Elizabeth Keen for all 8 seasons. (Deadline and TV Line)

Edi Gathegi (X-Men franchise and the Twilight franchise) has joined the cast of the upcoming 3rd season of For All Mankind, playing Dev Ayesa, a charismatic visionary with his sights set on the stars. (TV Line)

Gary Cole is in talks to join the 19th season of NCIS in a major role, but details on the character he would play are being kept under wraps. (Variety)

BOX OFFICE NEWS

Outlander hunk Sam Heughan will star alongside Ewan McGregor and Mark Strong in the box office film Everest, an adventure thriller to be directed by Doug Liman. Inspired by Jeffrey Archer’s novel Paths of Glory, the story is set in 1921, centering on the real-life George Mallory (McGregor), who is picked by Arthur Hinks (Strong) of the Royal Geographic Society to scale the previously unconquerable Mount Everest. Following World War I, the fading British empire is desperate for a victory, but for Mallory and his rival, the eccentric Aussie George Finch (Heughan), the challenge has nothing to do with patriotism, instead it is a singular test of self. Mallory’s real-life journey ended in mystery, as he died during this third expedition to summit Everest, and it’s unknown whether he ever made it to the top. (Deadline)

That’s it. Enjoy!

Read Full Post »

Hey All,

Here are the news items for this past week:

RENEWAL

Shadow and Bone has been officially renewed for Season 2 by Netflix. (TV Line)

Apple TV+ has given a season three order to the Jason Momoa sci-fi series See, ahead of the show’s season two premiere, which is set for August 27. (Variety)

CANCELLATION

The NBC music-based drama Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist has been cancelled after two seasons. The network’s streaming service, Peacock, passed on extending it for another season; but TPTB behind the show are shopping it around and leading the social media campaign to find a new home for the fan favorite series. (TV Line and Deadline)

Despite earlier reports, it’s looking like the new thriller drama Clarice, which debuted on CBS during this recent TV season, will not be moving over to Paramount+ after all; and its future on CBS is in doubt as well because the network has already committed to a full slate of shows for this coming TV season. (Deadline)

TV EXITS

Antonia Thomas, who plays Dr. Claire Browne on The Good Doctor, has departed the show following the ABC medical show’s season 4 finale. (TV Line)

LIVE PRODUCTION NEWS

NBC is planning a holiday production of Annie Live! and the big news is that Taraji P. Henson (Person of Interest and Empire) will be taking on the role of Miss Hannigan, the cruel manager of the orphanage where the titular character resides; and, of course, Miss Hannigan hates all children, especially Annie. Henson will lead the musical opposite a soon-to-be-discovered star. NBC is kicking off a nationwide casting search for the redheaded optimist. (Variety)

STREAMING SERVICE MOVIE NEWS

Leighton Meester (Gossip Girl) will star in the twisty Netflix thriller The Weekend Away, an adaptation of the novel by Sarah Alderson. The psychological thriller will take place amid a weekend getaway to Croatia that goes awry when a woman is accused of killing her best friend. As she attempts to clear her name and uncover the truth, her efforts unearth a painful secret. (Variety)

TV CASTING NEWS

More casting announcements have been made for the upcoming FOX drama Our Kind of People that will star Yaya DaCosta (Chicago Med) as Angela Vaughn, a single mom, who risks it all and moves her family to a vineyard with hopes of taking her natural hair care line to the next level by infiltrating the African American elite in Oak Bluffs. The cast already includes Morris Chestnut (The Resident), LeToya Luckett (Greenleaf) and newcomer Alana Bright. Joining the cast is the one and only Joe Morton (Scandal and Eureka), who will play Teddy Franklin, Leah’s (Luckett) father, who was born into money and grew his family’s sanitation company into one of the largest holding companies in the world; and Rhyon Nicole Brown (Empire) who will play Lauren Dupont, Leah (Luckett) and Raymond’s (Chestnut) daughter, a beautiful and ultra-privileged girl who rules the young social set of The Bluffs and is an established social media influencer. (Deadline and The Futon Critic)

Zack Snyder has a new project; and it’s called Twilight of the Gods. The series is one of many at Netflix that will be happening at some soon point, but little is known about the show itself. However, the cast list was just announced, and it’s laced with a lot of familiar faces. That long list includes (in alphabetical order): Pilou Asbæk (Game ofThrones) as Thor; Jamie Chung (Once Upon a Time and The Gifted) as Hel; Jamie Clayton (Designated Survivor and Sense8) as The Seid-Kona; Lauren Cohan (Supernatural and The Walking Dead) as Inge; Kristopher Hivju (Game of Thrones) as Andvari; Sylvia Hoeks (Blade Runner 2049) as Sigrid; Paterson Joseph (Timeless) as Loki; Rahul Kohli (iZombie) as Egill; Stuart Martin (Miss Scarlet and the Duke) as Leif; John Noble (Fringe) as Odin; Corey Stoll (The Strain) as Hrafnke and Peter Stormare (Prison Break) as Ulfr. (Netflix and The Futon Critic)

Aurora Perrineau (Prodigal Son and daughter of Lost alum Harold Perrineau) has landed a recurring role in the 4th season of HBO’s Westworld, but what character she will play is being kept under wraps; however, she is expected to appear in at least five episodes. (Deadline)

A live-action series based on the long-running movie franchise Resident Evil will be coming to Netflix, led by the one and only Lance Reddick (of The Wire and Fringe fame) who will portray Albert Wesker. The 8-episode thriller will also star Ella Balinska (2019’s Charlie’s Angels), Tamara Smart (the box office film Artemis Fowl), Siena Agudong (the TV movie Upside-Down Magic), Adeline Rudolph (Riverdale and Chilling Adventures of Sabrina) and Paola Nuñez (Bad Boys for Life and the TV series The Purge). Details on which characters these ladies will be playing are being kept under wraps, though. (Variety)

Kristin Kreuk will be seen this summer on The CW in the final season of the Canadian series Burden of Truth; but her next gig will have her going to Amazon Prime for the small screen adaptation of the best-selling Jack Reacher novels by Lee Child that will star Kruek’s former Smallville co-star Alan Ritchson in the lead role. The series – simply called Reacher – will be based on the first book in the franchise: the 1997 novel “Killing Floor.” Kreuk will play Charlie, a refined former debutante who is living the Country Club life with her husband Hubble (Marc Bendavid from Good Witch and Syfy’s Dark Matter), but who is much tougher than she appears. The cast will also include Willie C. Carpenter (Devious Maids) as Mosley, a life-long resident of the struggling town of Margrave and the town barber; Currie Graham (Murder in the First) will play Kliner Sr., a formidable businessman who has a very dark side; but is beloved by the townspeople of Margrave for saving the struggling town; Harvey Guillén (What We Do in the Shadows) will play Jasper, the town’s medical examiner who is suddenly overwhelmed and terrified by multiple murders in his small town; and Maxwell Jenkins (Lost in Space) will play Young Reacher. (TV Line and Deadline)

A long list of cast members have been added to the Amazon romantic comedy series With Love that will star Emeraude Toubia (Shadowhunters). The series follows the Diaz siblings, Lily (Toubia) and Jorge (Mark Indelicato of Ugly Betty fame), who are on a mission to find love and purpose. The Diaz siblings cross paths with seemingly unrelated residents during some of the most heightened days of the year — the holidays. Constance Marie (Switched at Birth) and Benito Martinez (The Shield) will play Beatriz Diaz and Jorge Diaz Sr., the siblings’ parents. Vincent Rodriguez III (Crazy Ex-Girlfriend) will play Henry, Jorge’s charismatic boyfriend; Rome Flynn (How to Get Away With Murder) will play Santiago Zayas, a modern Afro-Cuban American Mr. Darcy; Isis King (When They See Us) will play Sol Perez, Lily and Jorge’s cousin, a trans non-binary oncology resident; Todd Grinnell (One Day At A Time) will play Dr. Miles Murphy, a reconstructive plastic surgeon with a good heart who has eyes for Sol and Desmond Chiam (The Falcon & the Winter Soldier) will play Nick Zhao, Jorge’s best friend and roommate. (Deadline)

Jameela Jamil (The Good Place) will be joining Orphan Black alum Tatiana Maslany in the Disney+ superheroes series She-Hulk. The series centers on lawyer Jennifer Walters (Maslany), cousin of Bruce Banner, who inherits his Hulk powers after she receives a blood transfusion from him. Unlike Bruce, however, when she hulks out Jennifer is able to retain most of her personality, intelligence, and emotional control. Jamil will play Mary MacPherran, aka Titania, the supervillain with incredible strength and a frequent rival of She-Hulk. (Variety)

Will Packer Media and Kinetic Content from Red Arrow Studios have secured the film and TV rights to Seven Days in June, the best-selling romance novel by Tia Williams, a June selection by Reese Witherspoon’s book club. The novel follows Eva Mercy, a successful erotica author and the daughter she’s raising on her own in Brooklyn. Unbeknownst to Eva, the love of her life is about to return, and she hasn’t seen him since their affair ended abruptly, fifteen years ago. (Variety)

Matthew Goode (A Discovery of Witches and Downton Abbey) has been cast to play Robert Evans, the film producer and studio executive, in the Paramount+ limited event series The Offer, which is about the making of the legendary film “The Godfather.” The limited event series will consist of 10 episodes, and will also star Miles Teller (The Divergent movie franchise), who is replacing Armie Hammer. The series will also star Giovanni Ribisi as mob boss Joe Colombo, who ran one of the notorious Five Families of the American Mafia, and also founded the Italian-American Civil Rights League; Colin Hanks will play Barry Lapidus, a Gulf & Western executive with a lot of power over Paramount Pictures; and Dan Folger will play Francis Ford Coppola, the legendary director. (Variety)

Lucy Boynton (Bohemian Rhapsody) and Will Poulter (The Revenant) will star in the adaptation of Why Didn’t They Ask Evans?, one of the earliest murder mystery novels by Agatha Christie. The series will be directed by House alum Hugh Laurie; and will appear on Britbox North America in 3-parts. Laurie will play the creepy Dr. James Nicholson, a clinical director of a sanatorium; while Poulter will play Bobby and Boynton will play shrewd socialite Lady Frances, who untangle a murder mystery in 1934. (Variety)

Milo Ventimiglia (This Is Us and Gilmore Girls) has joined the cast of the upcoming fourth season of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, but there are no details about his character. (TV Line)

Kate Mulgrew (Star Trek: Voyager and Orange Is the New Black) has joined the cast of the upcoming Showtime anthology series The First Lady. She will recur in the role of Susan Sher, a longtime friend of the Obamas who worked with Michelle (to be played by Viola Davis) in Chicago health care. Sher was originally hired as the President’s associate counsel but then rejoined Michelle Obama as her closest confidante and chief of staff. The series will be a revelatory reframing of American leadership, told through the lens of the women at the heart of the White House. The first season will1 focuses on Eleanor Roosevelt (Anderson), Betty Ford (Pfeiffer) and Michelle Obama (Davis). (Variety)

Stranger Things has added four cast members to its delayed fourth season. All of the characters will have ties to Hawkins High. Those new recurring characters are: Amybeth McNulty (from Anne with an E), who will play Vickie, a cool, fast-talking band nerd who catches the eye of one of our beloved heroes; Myles Truitt (from Black Lightning), who will play Patrick, a Hawkins basketball star who has friends, talent, and a good life until shocking events send his life spiraling out of control; Regina Ting Chen (from Queen of the South), who will play Ms. Kelly, a popular guidance counselor who cares deeply for her students; and Grace Van Dien (from the short-lived NBC drama The Village), who will play Chrissy, Hawkins High’s lead cheerleader and the most popular girl in school; but beneath the seemingly perfect surface lies a dark secret. (TV Line)

FILM CASTING NEWS

Natalie Portman and Julianne Moore will star in a new drama called May December that will find the pair appearing in the story of a Hollywood actress (Portman), who travels to the picturesque coast of Maine to study the real-life woman (Moore) she’s set to play in a film. The woman in question was the subject of a tabloid scandal two decades prior, for marrying a man 23 years her junior. As Moore’s character and her husband prepare to send their twin girls off to college, the family dynamic begins to unravel under Portman’s outsider lens. (Variety)

That’s it. Enjoy!

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Hey All,

Here are the news items for this past week:

RENEWALS

City of a Hill has been renewed for a third season. (The Hollywood Reporter)

Apple TV has given a second season renewal to The Mosquito Coast. (Variety)

Netflix has renewed the drama Virgin River for a fourth season ahead of the upcoming season three premiere that is set to air on the streaming network on July 9. (Production Weekly and Spoiler TV)

CANCELLATION/DEVELOPMENT NEWS

Unfortunately, Netflix has pulled the plug on Jupiter’s Legacy, the small screen adaptation of the Mark Miller and Frank Quitely graphic novels. However, the streamer is keeping the franchise alive with Supercrooks, a new super villain-themed series set in the Jupiter’s Legacy universe, which centers on a ragtag gang of super-villains, con-artists, petty thieves and leg-breakers who all band together for the heist of the century and the most outrageous crime story you’ve ever seen in your life. (TV Line)

Film legend Jamie Lee Curtis’ production banner Comet Pictures and Blumhouse TV are developing a one-hour series based on author’s Patricia Cornwell character Kay Scarpetta, a forensic pathologist at the center of 24 crime thrillers. (Variety)

TV CASTING NEWS

Melissa Barrera (Vida and the soon to be released In the Heights box office movie) has landed the lead role in the Netflix drama Breathe. Barrera will star as Liv, a razor-sharp Manhattan attorney who finds herself profoundly out of her comfort zone when her small plane crashes in the Canadian wilderness and she must battle for survival. (Variety)

Sophie Turner (Game of Thrones and Mrs. Joe Jonas) has joined the cast of the HBO Max TV series The Staircase. The eight-episode series is based on the docuseries of the same name as well as various books and reports about the case of Michael Peterson (Colin Firth), who was accused of murdering his wife, Kathleen (Toni Collette), in 2001. He claimed she died after falling down the stairs at their home, but police suspected he bludgeoned her to death and staged the scene to look like an accident. Turner will play Margaret Ratliff, one of Michael Peterson’s adopted daughters. The cast already includes Parker Posey, Juliette Binoche and Rosemarie DeWitt. (Variety)

Emeraude Toubia (the Freeform fantasy drama Shadowhunters: The Mortal Instruments) has landed the lead role in the Amazon one-hour romantic comedy series With Love, which follows the Diaz siblings, Lily (Toubia) and Jorge, who are on a mission to find love and purpose. The Diaz siblings cross paths with seemingly unrelated residents during some of the most heightened days of the year –the holidays. Lily is a hopeless romantic with a tight knit Mexican-American family who is on a mission to find real love after breaking up with her perfect on paper boyfriend. (Deadline)

Angie Harmon (Rizzoli & Isles) has signed a multi-picture development deal with Lifetime in which she will executive produce, direct and star for the network. The drama that is currently in development is called Barstow (working title). Harmon will star as a single mother/diner owner whose very dark past keeps coming back to haunt her, despite her desire for a quiet life. (Deadline)

Anuja Joshi has been promoted to series regular for season 5 of The Resident where she has been recurring as Dr. Leela Devi since last season. (Deadline and TV Line)

STREAMING NEWS

Teagan Croft (Titans) will star in a new family film True Spirit for Netflix. She will play Jessica Watson in a story based on the real-life memoir of the same title, which details her solo sailing journey around the world. Told from Jessica’s perspective, the movie will recall her travels as a 16-year-old Australian sailor which took her once around the globe in 210 days. Jessica is the youngest person to sail solo, non-stop and unassisted around the world. She took on the massive challenge in 2010 and survived seven knockdowns while at sea. (The Hollywood Reporter and Digital Spy)

BOX OFFICE NEWS

Hamilton alum Phillipa Soo, Simu Liu (the lead in Marvel’s upcoming Shang-Chi movie) and Luke Bracey (Netflix’s holiday film Holidate and the Nicholas Sparks movie The Best of Me) will all star in the film adaptation of One True Loves based on the best-seller by author Taylor Jenkins Reid. The film will follow the moving love story of a woman unexpectedly forced to choose between the husband she has long thought dead and the fiancé who has finally brought her back to life. (Variety)

Tiffany Haddish will star as Florence Griffith Joyner – aka Flo-Jo – the Olympian who set world records in the 1988 games; and who died in ten years later at the age of 38 of an epileptic seizure. (Variety)

Issa Rae (Insecure) has joined the cast of the sequel to the 2018 Oscar-winning animated film Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. She will voice the character Jessica Drew, better known as Spider-Woman. Plot details are being kept tightly guarded, though. (Variety)

Cruella has only been out in theatres for a few weeks, but there is already talk about a sequel. (Variety)

Newcomer Maitreyi Ramakrishnan (who broke out in the Netflix coming-of-age dramedy Never Have I Ever) has landed her first film role. She will star in The Netherfield Girls, a romantic comedy with literary pedigree. The film is described as a fresh and contemporary take on “Pride and Prejudice” in the spirit of the Emma Stone teen comedy “Easy A” and “10 Things I Hate About You.” Ramakrishnan will portray Lizzie Bennet, the protagonist of Jane Austen’s classic novel who eventually discovers the man she thinks is Mr. Wrong is in fact Mr. Right. (Variety)

Hunky cousins Robbie Amell (the Amazon comedy Upload) and Stephen Amell (Arrow) will reprise their roles in the sci-fi sequel Code 8: Part II. The plot of the original movie [financed in great part by fans] centered on the 4% of people living in fictional Lincoln City who possess special abilities and are often confronted by advanced, militarized police technology. The sequel will follow the journey of a teenage girl fighting to get justice for her slain brother at the hands of corrupt police officers. After becoming a witness to the cover-up, she becomes a target and enlists the help of an ex-con (Robbie Amell) and his former partner-in-crime (Stephen Amell). Together, they face a highly regarded and well protected police sergeant who will use every tool to prevent himself from being exposed. (Deadline)

That’s it. Enjoy!

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Hey All,

Here are the news items for this past week:

RENEWAL/CANCELLATION

Netflix has renewed the Katherine Heigl-Sarah Chalke drama ‘Firefly Lane’ for a second season. (TV Line)

The NBC drama Debris has been cancelled after only one season. (TV Line)

CASTING EXIT

Emily Wickersham has confirmed her exit from NCIS, as her character, Eleanor Bishop, embarks on a covert, undercover mission. (TV Line)

TV CASTING NEWS

Rupert Evans (Charmed and The Man in the High Castle) has joined the cast of the Netflix period drama Bridgerton, playing Edmund Bridgerton, the loving and devoted husband of Violet Bridgerton. (Netflix Twitter Account)

After appearing in the short-term recurring role of Phillip on This Is Us, Chris Geere has been promoted to series regular for the drama’s final season. (The Hollywood Reporter)

Freddie Stroma (Bridgerton and the Harry Potter movie franchise) will take over the role of Adrian Chase aka Vigilante in the HBO Max spin-off of James Gunn’s Suicide Squad movie that stars John Cena in that role. This straight-to-series order will explore the origins of the character. (Deadline)

Victor Webster (Matchmaker Mysteries movie franchise) will recur on the second season of the Freeform fantasy series Motherland: Fort Salem. Webster plays Blanton Silver, vice president of the United States. When his daughter is discovered to be a witch, Silver tries to adjust to her newfound identity. (Deadline)

9-1-1: Lone Star has promoted Brianna Baker to series regular for the show’s upcoming 3rd season. Baker portrays paramedic Nancy Gillian, who works at the 126 under Captain Tommy Vega (Gina Torres). (TV Line)

The Good Doctor has promoted cast members Noah Galvin and Bria Samone Henderson to series regular for the show’s upcoming 5th season. They play Drs. Wolke and Allen. (TV Line)

Lucien Laviscount (Katy Keene and Scream Queens) will join the cast of the Netflix dramedy Emily in Paris for the show’s 2nd season, playing Alfie, a sarcastic and charming cynic who refuses to speak French or immerse himself in French culture. He and Emily (series lead Lily Collins) have an antagonist relationship that evolves into something more as the season progresses. (TV Line)

DEVELOPMENT NEWS/PICK-UP ORDERS

The Netflix series Sandman, based on the DC comic book series by Neil Gaiman, which follows the people and places affected by Morpheus (Tom Sturridge), the Dream King, as he mends the cosmic — and human — mistakes he’s made during his vast existence. Some of the new cast member include Kirby Howell-Baptiste (Veronica Mars Season 4), who will play Death, Dream’s wiser sister; Jenna Coleman (Doctor Who), who will play Johanna Constantine, a haunted exorcist and Occult Adventuress for Hire; Joely Richardson (Nip/Tuck), who will play Ethel Cripps, a master thief and woman of a thousand identities; David Thewlis (Harry Potter franchise), who will play John Dee, Ethel’s son; Stephen Fry (Gosford Park), who will play Gilbert, the debonair protector of the character Rose Walker and Patton Oswalt (The King of Queens), who will provide the voice of Matthew the Raven, Dream’s trusted emissary. The series is already set to star Gwendoline Christie, Boyd Holbrook and Charles Dance [among others]. (Variety)

The NBC streaming service Peacock has given a 10-episode, straight-to-series order to Mrs. Davis, a new TV drama from Damon Lindelof (the EP of Lost and Watchmen) and Tara Hernandez (writer on The Big Bang Theory and Young Sheldon. Plot details for the new drama are being kept under wraps, but the show is expected to be an exploration of faith versus technology and an epic battle of biblical and binary proportions. (Variety)

Another Peacock drama is in development with Elizabeth Banks (Charlie’s Angels and The Hunger Games franchise) set to not only co-star, but also direct and executive produce. The series – Red Queen – is based on the best-selling novel by Victoria Aveyard, and is set in a future America where democracy is replaced by a monarchy led by a group of humans with superpowers who rule with an iron fist over those without powers. The story centers on a poor young woman named Mare who discovers that she, too, has powers, which catapults her to become the face of a revolution for the oppressed while searching for the truth behind the greatest mystery of all: how she became so powerful in the first place. Beth Schwartz (EP of Arrow) co-wrote the pilot with author Aveyard and Schwartz will also serve as showrunner.  (TV Line)

Showtime has ordered an anthology series called Super Pumped; with its first season set to focus on the rise of the ride-sharing app Uber with Joseph Gordon-Levitt set to star. Each season will explore a story that rocked the business world to its core and changed culture. (Variety)

Bassett Vance Productions, the production company from Angela Bassett and Courney B. Vance) are teaming up with MTV Entertainment Studios to develop a limited series about the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, which left hundreds of Black people dead and entire homes and businesses destroyed. The series will tell the story of the Greenwood district in Tulsa, which at that time was the wealthiest Black community in the United States and known as “Black Wall Street.” (Variety)

STREAMING SERVICES MOVIE

Believe it or not, but Lindsay Lohan is coming back to acting in the yet-to-be-titled Netflix holiday rom-com, playing a newly engaged, spoiled hotel heiress, who gets amnesia after a skiing accident and finds herself in the care of a handsome, blue-collar lodge owner and his precocious daughter in the days leading up to Christmas (think a Christmas-themed version of Overboard). The rest of the cast has not yet been announced. (Variety)

BOX OFFICE NEWS

Aaron Taylor-Johnson, who played Pietro Maximoff aka Quicksilver, will headline Kraven the Hunter, who has connections to Spider-Man. (Variety)

Victoria Pedretti (You and The Haunting of Bly Manor) will star as Love Quinn in the box office adaptation of the 1999 memoir Lucky from “The Lovely Bones” author Alice Sebold. The film will focus on the 18-year-old Alice, then a burgeoning writer in her freshman year at Syracuse University. After being viciously beaten and raped by a stranger in a tunnel near her college campus, the story explores how the traumatic experience shaped the rest of her life. (Variety)

Timothee Chalamet will play the world’s most famous chocolatier in Wonka, a musical based on the early life of Willy Wonka, a prequel film that will explore the upbringing of the man who later created the famous house of confectionary treats. Reps for Chalamet confirm he will be singing and dancing in the movie. (Variety and Deadline)

That’s it. Enjoy!

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Hey All,

Here are the news items for this past week:

RENEWAL AND RELOCATION

Evil will be moved to Paramount+ (just like SEAL Team and Clarice). (Variety)

The Resident has been renewed for a 5th season by FOX. (TV Line)

TV CASTING NEWS

Greg Germann has left the hospital. The actor who has been part of the cast of Grey’s Anatomy for four season is exiting the series, but he could pop up again as a guest star. (TV Line)

Rebecca Ferguson (The Greatest Showman and Mission: Impossible franchise) will star in the Apple TV series adaptation of Wool the dystopian novel by Hugh Howey. The story is set in a ruined and toxic future where a community exists in a giant silo underground, hundreds of stories deep. There, men and women live in a society full of regulations they believe are meant to protect them. Ferguson will star as Juliette, an independent and hardworking engineer. (Variety)

Jeremy Irvine is expected to join the cast in the role of Alan Scott in the HBO Max upcoming Green Lantern TV series, joining Finn Wittrock, who has the lead role. Scott was Earth’s first Green Lantern, who, true to the comics, is a gay man. (Variety)

You and Jane the Virgin actress Jenna Ortega has been cast in the role of Wednesday Addams in the upcoming Netflix live-action series entitled Wednesday. The 8-episode comedic “coming-of-age tale” charts Wednesday’s years as a student at Nevermore Academy, where she attempts to master her emerging psychic ability, thwart a monstrous killing spree that has terrorized the local town, and solve the supernatural mystery that embroiled her parents 25 years ago — all while navigating her new and very tangled relationships at Nevermore. (TV Line)

A TV adaptation of the Vampire Academy novels by Richelle Mead has been ordered to series at Peacock with Julie Plec, the executive producer of The Vampire Diaries, and The Vampire Diaries actress Marguerite MacIntyre attached to write. A failed box office movie was released in 2014 with 6 books from the franchise published between 2007 and 2010, focusing on two young women’s friendship, which transcends their strikingly different classes as they prepare to complete their education and enter royal vampire society. (Variety)

Morris Chestnut (The Resident) will star opposite Yaya DaCosta (Chicago Med) in the upcoming FOX family drama Our Kind of People. Chestnut will return as a series regular on The Resident, but he will recur on the medical drama. (Deadline and TV Line)

Noah Mills (The Brave and The Falcon and the Winter Soldier) has joined the cast of NCIS: Hawai’i, the new spin-off that will debut this fall. Mills will play Jesse, a former big city homicide detective who’s settled in a new life in Hawai‘i. An expert interrogator with a knack for good old fashioned police work, but he’s also a devoted family man who runs 4-H camping trips for his kid. He knows every nook and cranny of the island’s hiking trails. He’s worked with Jane Tennant, the lead character in the series (Vanessa Lachey), the longest and is her lieutenant and sometimes confidant. (Variety)

Arnold Schwarzenegger is finally coming to the small screen in an untitled global espionage adventure project, which has been ordered to series by Netflix. The show centers on a father and a daughter who learn that they’ve been secretly working as CIA Operatives for years. They realize that their entire relationship has been a lie and that they truly don’t know one another at all. (Variety)

CANCELLATION NEWS

The UK series Bulletproof that has been airing here in the States on The CW has been cancelled because of the multiple allegations of sexual harassment leveled against series star and co-creator Noel Clarke. (TV Line)

YOUR TIME IS UP

Glenn Gordon Caron, the showrunner for the CBS series Bull, is no longer in charge, following an internal investigation by CBS Studios after a number of writers quit the show when it wrapped production on Season 5, accusing Caron of “fostering a disrespectful work environment.” Also, series co-star Freddy Rodriguez is exiting the show, but no reason for his departure has been given. (The Hollywood Reporter and TV Line)

BOX OFFICE NEWS

Hamilton alum Leslie Odom Jr. and actress Kate Hudson have joined the star studded cast of Knives Out 2. (Variety)

The long awaited movie adaptation of the popular BBC TV series Luther, which stars Idris Elba in the lead role is happening with production expected to start in September. (Variety)

Hocus Pocus 2 is going to happen with Bette Midler, Kathy Najimy and Sarah Jessica Parker all set to reprise their roles. Production will begin this fall with the sequel set to debut on Disney+ sometime in 2022. (Variety)

After playing Superman and the lead role in the Netflix sci-fi series The Witcher, Henry Cavill is set to take on another iconic role: Highlander. The 1986 fantasy adventure film spawned an entire pop-culture ecosystem, including sequels, TV series, tie-in novels, comics, and video games. It is being stated that Cavill’s role is unclear, however. (Variety)

Josh Duhamel will join Mel Gibson and Elisha Cuthbert in the box office film Bandit, an action thriller based on the best-selling novel by author Robert Knuckle and interviews by journalist Ed Arnold about Robert Whiteman (nee Gilbert Galvan Jr.) when he was dubbed the Flying Bandit for successfully pulling off 63 bank and jewelry heists during a notorious crime spree. The movie follows the career criminal (Duhamel) after he escapes from a U.S. prison and crosses the border into Canada, where he assumes a new identity. After falling in love and getting married, he claims to take a job as a traveling security consultant, but his daring crimes continue. After he turns to lifetime gangster Tommy (Gibson) for an investment, his career becomes more complicated and he gets embroiled in the biggest heist in Canadian history, one that puts him at the center of a cross-country manhunt. (Variety)

That’s it. Enjoy!

Read Full Post »

Hey All,

Here are the news items for this past week:

RENEWALS/CANCELLATIONS

Hallmark Channel has renewed ‘When Calls the Heart’ for a ninth season. (Entertainment Tonight)

Grey’s Anatomy will be back for an 18th season while Station 19 will be back for its 5th season. (TV Line)

FOX has cancelled Prodigal Son after two seasons. (TV Line)

UPFRONT NEWS

ABC has cancelled the dramas For Life and Rebel, while renewing The Rookie and A Million Little Things. The network has picked up the new drama Queen; and a reboot of the comedy Wonder Years (which I’m including only because of Dule Hill playing the patriarch). (Variety and TV Line)

NBC has announced that This Is Us will come to an end with its sixth season that will air during the 2021-2022 TV season. The shows on the bubble – Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist, Manifest, Debris and Good Girls are currently MIA but they have NOT been cancelled yet. The network has picked up three new dramas: Ordinary Joe, La Brea and the new spin-off Law & Order: For the Defense. (The Hollywood Reporter and TV Line)

CBS has moved SEAL Team and Clarice over to Paramount+ for each show’s new season, and the network has picked up the new drama Good Sam for the fall TV season. Meanwhile, the legal drama All Rise has been cancelled after two seasons. (Variety)

The CW is going to add Saturday night programming to its weekly line-up, finally becoming a seven-nights-a-week network. This will happen starting on October 2. (TV Line)

DEVELOPMENT NEWS

AMC is working with executive producer Peter Ocko (Lodge 49 and Black Sails) on Moonhaven, a new 6-episode suspense thriller set in a utopian community on the moon, centering on Bella Sway, a lunar cargo pilot and smuggler who’s accused of a crime and finds herself marooned on Moonhaven, a 500-square-mile utopian community on the moon that was built to find solutions to problems on Earth. She gets pulled into a conspiracy to control the artificial intelligence that runs the community, teaming with a local detective to stop forces that want to destroy Earth’s last hope. (The Hollywood Reporter)

A spin-off limited series to Bridgerton about a young Queen Charlotte has been ordered to series at Netflix. The series will delve into the origin story of Queen Charlotte as well as young Violet Bridgerton and Lady Danbury. (Variety)

FOX has given a straight-to-series order for Accused, a drama series from show creators David Shore (House) and Howard Gordon and Alex Gansa (both from Homeland) that will be based on the BBC series of the same name. It will be a crime anthology where each episode opens in a courtroom on the accused without knowing their crime or how they ended up on trial; told from the defendant’s point of view. Viewers will discover how an ordinary person got caught up in an extraordinary situation, ultimately revealing how one wrong turn leads to another, until it’s too late to turn back. (Variety)

TV CASTING NEWS

Greg Grunberg (Alias and Felicity) will guest star in this week’s episode of 9-1-1: Lone Star, playing someone who Tommy Vega (Gina Torres) encounters at the hospital while following up on her husband’s emergency that played out in the final seconds of last week’s episode. (TV Line)

Gillian Anderson will move from playing the prime minister of the U.K. to the mother of a future empress in her next TV role. Anderson (The Crown, Sex Education) has joined the cast of Hulu’s The Great in a recurring role. She’s set to appear in two episodes of season two as Joanna, Catherine’s (Elle Fanning) mother. Joanna is a glamorous socialite known as “the maestro of marriage” for her ability to arrange partnerships for her daughters. After hearing rumors of Catherine’s coup, she travels to Russia to see for herself. Though she’s a doting mom and Catherine loves her, Joanna may also have more sinister motives. (The Hollywood Reporter)

More cast members have been added to the HBO 5-episode limited series White House Plumbers based on the book by Egil “Bud” Krogh and Matthew Krogh (as well as public records) that follows how Watergate masterminds E. Howard Hunt (Woody Harrelson) and G. Gordon Liddy (Justin Theroux) accidentally toppled the Nixon presidency that they had been trying to protect. Gary Cole will play Mark Felt, the “incorruptible” deputy director of the FBI; Zak Orth (Revolution) will play Alfred Baldwin, a former FBI agent who answers a want-ad in a trade magazine to operate surveillance equipment, and becomes the Plumbers’ eyes and ears; Tony Plana (Ugly Betty) will play Eugenio “Muscolito” Martinez, a “hardened but melancholy” CIA commando who walks away from a failing marriage to help the Plumbers destroy the Democrats; and John Carroll Lynch will play John Mitchell, Nixon’s formidable and corrupt former Attorney General who is now the head of Nixon’s re-election campaign. The join the cast, which already includes Lena Headey, Domhnall Gleeson, Kiernan Shipka, Ike Barinholtz, Yul Vazquez, David Krumholtz, Rich Sommer, Kim Coates and Liam James. (Variety)

24 and Designated Survivor lead Kiefer Sutherland will star in a new drama series at Paramount Plus that has yet to be titled. The 8-episode series will find private espionage operative James Weir (Sutherland) in the midst of a battle over the preservation of democracy in a world at odds with misinformation, behavioral manipulation, the surveillance state and the interests that control these extraordinary powers. (Variety)

Emily Blunt will star in The English, a 6-part Western series under production by the BBC and Amazon Studios. The series will be set in the mid-American landscape of 1890, following Cornelia Locke (Blunt), an Englishwoman who arrives into the new and wild landscape of the West to get revenge on the man she sees as responsible for the death of her son. Upon meeting Eli Whipp (Chaske Spencer from the Twilight movie franchise and the TV series Banshee), an ex-cavalry scout and member of the Pawnee Nation by birth, they join together and discover a shared history which must be defeated at all costs, if either of them are to survive. The cast will include Rafe Spall (Men in Black: International), Tom Hughes (A Discovery of Witches), Stephen Rea (The Crying Game), Toby Jones (the Avengers franchise) and Ciaran Hinds (Justice League). [among others]. (Variety)

Lauren Lyle (who plays Marsali on Outlander) will play lead character DS (that’s short for Detective Sergeant) Karen Pirie in the small screen adaptation of the Val McDermid novel “The Distant Echo,” a young and fearless Scottish investigator in the ITV (British network) drama series. (The National, National Newspaper in Scotland)

Stacey Abrams, the two-time New York Times best-selling author, fervent voting activist and former member of the Georgia House of Representatives, will see a small screen adaptation of her novel “While Justice Sleeps” that follows Avery Keene, a brilliant young law clerk to Supreme Court Justice Wynn, whose descent into a coma plunges the court, and the country, into turmoil and turns Avery’s life upside down. She is immediately notified that Justice Wynn has left instructions for her to serve as his legal guardian and power of attorney. Plunged into an explosive role she never anticipated, Avery discovers not only that Justice Wynn had been secretly researching one of the most controversial cases before the court — a proposed merger between an American biotech company and an Indian genetics firm, which promises to unleash breathtaking results in the medical field, but also that Justice Wynn suspected a dangerous conspiracy that infiltrates the highest power corridors of Washington. (Variety)

Torrey DeVitto and Yaya DaCosta will both leave Chicago Med at the end of this season, the show’s 6th season. While DeVitto doesn’t have a new TV gig lined up, she will appear in the upcoming indie film Skelly while DaCosta has been cast in the lead role of the upcoming FOX drama series Our Kind of People, that takes place in the aspirational world of Oak Bluffs on Martha’s Vineyard, a historical stronghold where the rich and powerful Black elite have come to play for over 50 years. The series will follow strong-willed, single mom Angela Vaughn (DaCosta) as she sets out to reclaim her family’s name and make an impact with her revolutionary hair care line that highlights the innate, natural beauty of Black women. But she soon discovers a dark secret about her mother’s past that will turn her world upside-down and shake up this community forever. (TV Line, Deadline and Variety)

Jenna Dewan (Witches of East End) was featured in the promo for this Sunday’s season finale of The Rookie, she will play Nolan’s new neighbor and romantic interest. [By the way, The Rookie was renewed for another season.] What wasn’t shown in that promo was that Bob Morley (The 100) will appear as someone “who threatens to be a big problem for Lucy Chen in her undercover operation. (TV Line)

TV MOVIE NEWS

A third Psych movie is coming to Peacock with James Roday Rodriguez and Dule Hill reprising their roles of Shawn and Gus. The movie title is Psych 3: This Is Gus and it picks up on the eve of Gus and Selene’s (Jazmyn Simon) shotgun wedding and the birth of their first child, “Baby Guster.” Before the nuptials can go down, Shawn and ‘Groomzilla’ Gus must embark on a mission to track down Selene’s estranged husband. Meanwhile, Lassiter (Timothy Omundson) grapples with the future of his career. Maggie Lawson, Kirsten Nelson and Corbin Bernsen will also be back too. (TV Line)

Did you watch the Netflix movie Enola Holmes? Well, a sequel is being planned with both Millie Bobby Brown (from Stranger Things) and Henry Cavill (Superman himself) returning in the title role and Sherlock Holmes respectively. (Variety)

The next live TV musical on NBC will be Annie Live, expected to air during the holidays. (Variety)

BOX OFFICE NEWS

Quite a number of stars are joining the cast of Knives Out 2, where they will try to outmaneuver Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig). They include Kathryn Hahn (WandaVision), Dave Bautista (Guardians of the Galaxy), Janelle Monae (Hidden Figures) and Edward Norton (Motherless Brooklyn). Plot details are being kept tightly under wraps, but chances are somebody will die mysteriously and there will be many, many suspects with iffy alibis, delicious backstories and ample motivation to commit murder. (Deadline and Variety)

Actress-director Regina King (A Night in Miami) will be taking the helm of a film adaptation of Bitter Root, the Harlem Renaissance-set comic book series that is set during 1924 that follows a fractured family of once-great monster hunters who face an unimaginable evil that descends upon New York City. For generations, the Sangeryes have hunted and cured those infected by a supernatural force that feeds off the prejudice of the era, transforming humans into monsters. With most of the kin dead, the surviving Sangeryes have the unenviable choice to save or kill the creatures in hopes of thwarting an invasion. (Variety)

James McAvoy (His Dark Materials and X-Men franchise) and Sharon Horgan (the Amazon series Catastrophe) will star in the box office movie Utopia that is set during the first days of the COVID-19 lockdown in March 2020 until the present day, telling the story of a husband and wife who are forced to re-evaluate themselves and their relationship during lockdown. Horgan will play a charity worker who is a coordinator for all of Europe at a refugee charity, while McAvoy will play a self-employed man who runs a boutique computing consultancy. He’s been forced to furlough his staff and take up growing vegetables. The couple share a 10-year-old son, who is the one thing that has kept his parents’ relationship together until lockdown. (Variety)

Gemma Arterton (Prince of Persia and Black Narcissus) and Shazad Latif (Star Trek: Discovery) will join James Norton (The Nevers and Grantchester) in the thriller Chasing Agent Freegard, based on the story of British conman Robert Hendy-Freegard, who masqueraded as an MI5 agent and fooled several people into going underground for fear of assassination by the IRA. (Variety)

Oscar Isaac (Star Wars franchise) will star in the revenge thriller The Card Counter. The story follows Tell (Isaac), whose spartan existence on the casino trail is shattered when he is approached by Cirk (Tye Sheridan), a vulnerable young man seeking help to execute his plan for retribution on a military colonel (Willem Dafoe). Tell sees a chance at redemption through his relationship with Cirk, but keeping him on the straight-and-narrow proves impossible and drags Tell back into his dark past. Tiffany Haddish also stars. (Variety)

Boyd Holbrook (the Quibi series The Fugitive and the box office film Logan) and Shaunette Renee Wilson (The Resident) have joined the cast of the upcoming box office film Indiana Jones 5, but no details are available about what roles they will play. The film will be release in July 2022. (Deadline)

That’s it. Enjoy!

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