Rueben's Ramblings

Hey All,

Here are the news items for this past week:

RENEWAL

Netflix has renewed the drama You for a fourth season. (TV Line)

Jack Ryan has been renewed for a 4th season by Amazon. (Variety)

Titans and Doom Patrol have both been given a 4th season renewal by HBO Max. (DC Fandome 2021)

Sweet Tooth officially announced it will be back on Netflix for a second season. (DC Fandome 2021)

Pennyworth has been renewed for a 3rd season and heading to a new home. It will now air on HBO Max (moving over from EPIX). Seasons 1 and 2 will also stream on HBO Max early next year. (TV Line and DC Fandome 2021)

FULL SEASON ORDER

CBS has given full season order to NCIS: Hawai’i and FBI: International, the first broadcast network to do so. (TV Line)

CANCELLATION

Y: The Last Man has ended on FX on Hulu after only one season, but executive producer Eliza Clark hopes the show will find a new outlet. (TV Line)

BOX OFFICE MOVIE NEWS

Will Poulter (Dopesick) has landed the role of Adam Warlock in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. (Variety)

Jensen Ackles (Supernatural and The Boys) has joined the ensemble cast of the upcoming Western feature film called Rust that will star Alec Baldwin. The film follows an infamous Western outlaw Harland Rust (Baldwin) who has a bounty on his head for as long as he can remember. When his estranged 13-year-old grandson Lucas is convicted of an accidental murder and sentenced to hang, Rust travels to Kansas to break him out of prison. Together, the two fugitives must outrun the legendary U.S. Marshal Wood Helm (Ackles) and bounty-hunter Fenton “Preacher” Lang (Travis Fimmel from Vikings) who are hot on their tail. Deeply buried secrets rise from the ashes and an unexpected familial bond begins to form as the mismatched duo tries to survive the merciless American Frontier. (Deadline)

Jesse Metcalfe (Chesapeake Shores) has joined the cast of the new faith-based family drama On a Wing and a Prayer that will also star Dennis Quaid and Heather Graham. Based on a true story, Quaid stars as Doug White, who’s forced to fly a plane after the pilot dies unexpectedly mid-flight. (Variety)

Millicent Simmonds (A Quiet Place) and Rachel Brosnahan (Marvelous Mrs. Maisel) will play Helen Keller and her teacher Anne Sullivan in the upcoming feature film Helen & Teacher. (Variety)

Louis Partridge (from the Netflix film Enola Holmes) will appear in the epic fantasy romance film Ferryman, which is adapted from the best-selling young adult novel trilogy by author Claire McFall that follows Tristan, a mysterious being tasked with leading departed souls through limbo and into the afterlife. When a train crashes in the Scottish Highlands, he meets Dylan, a spirited young woman struggling against her fate. While Tristan’s duty is to protect Dylan from an encroaching darkness, his task and their journey become increasingly perilous as they find themselves falling in love and Dylan refuses to leave Tristan behind. (Deadline)

TV CASTING NEWS

It’s official: Mark Harmon is exiting NCIS after 19 long seasons. (TV Line)

Patricia Clarkson (Six Feet Under and Sharp Objects) and Nathalie Emmanuel (Game of Thrones and the Fast & Furious franchise) will star in the espionage thriller series Gray, based on an original concept by best-selling novelist David Baldacci. Clarkson will play CIA spy Cornelia Gray, who is coming in from the cold after 20 years in hiding, dodging the government agents who suspected her of being a traitor. She returns to her old life just as it is discovered that there is a new mole within her old spy network putting her and her network in jeopardy. (Variety)

Starz has announced the recurring cast members for the upcoming original series Gaslit, the untold story of Martha Mitchell’s role in exposing Watergate. Those cast members include Patton Oswalt, Nat Faxon, Raphael Sbarge, Anne Dudek and Reed Diamond [among others]. They join Julia Roberts and Sean Penn, who are the leads, in a modern take on Watergate, which focuses on the untold stories and forgotten characters of the scandal – from Nixon’s bumbling, opportunistic subordinates, and the deranged zealots aiding and abetting their crimes, to the tragic whistleblowers who would eventually bring the whole rotten enterprise crashing down. (The Futon Critic)

Common (Hell on Wheels) has joined the cast of the Apple TV+ dystopian drama Wool that will also star Rebecca Ferguson, Tim Robbins, Rashida Jones and David Oyelowo. The series is set in a ruined and toxic future where a community exists in a giant underground silo, hundreds of stories deep. There, men and women live in a society full of regulations they believe are meant to protect them. (Deadline)

Kathleen Robertson (Northern Rescue and Murder in the First) has joined the sixth and final season of the Amazon (formerly Syfy) sci-fi drama The Expanse where she will play Rosenfeld Guoliang, a cynic and fierce believer in Belter independence who is a key member of insurgent leader Marco Inaros’ inner circle. (Deadline)

That’s it. Enjoy!

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Hey All,

Here are the news items for this past week:

RENEWAL/CANCELLATION

Apple TV+ has given the sci-fi series Foundation a second season renewal. (TV Line)

Dash & Lily has been cancelled after only one season by Netflix. (TV Line)

DEVELOPMENT NEWS

HBO Max is developing a series adaptation of the upcoming novel “A Flicker in the Dark” by Stacy Willingham that is slated for publication in January 2022. The production will hail from Emma Stone’s production company Fruit Tree and the independent production company A24. The novel follows Chloe Davis, who was shocked to discover at 12 years old that her own father confessed to the murder of six teenage girls in their small Louisiana town. Twenty years later, Chloe is a psychologist in Baton Rouge whose life begins to unravel when local teens start to go missing. (Variety)

BROADWAY NEWS

James D. Stern, the veteran producer and director, who won best musical Tonys for The Producers and Hairspray, has acquired the rights to develop the 2012 motion picture Silver Linings Playbook for the Broadway stage. The film told the story of two fragile people coming together. Pat Solatano, Jr. loses his job and his wife, spending eight months in a mental facility and then moves back in with his parents. While trying to win back his wife, he meets Tiffany, a widow who offers to help him in his effort if he will be her partner in a dance competition. Along the way, they find silver linings in their troubles and new ways of looking at their lives. (The Hollywood Reporter)

MUSIC NEWS

Adele, the 15-time Grammy-winning singer will have a new single out this coming Friday (October 15); her first single since 2016. (Variety)

TV CASTING NEWS

Another Outlander cast member will appear in the Game of Thrones spin-off called House of Dragons. Former cast member Graham McTavish and Bill Paterson were announced earlier, and now it’s been seen in the show’s trailer that Wil Johnson, who played Joe Abernathy, is part of the cast. He will play Ser Vaemond Valaryon, the younger brother to Coryls Velaryon and commander in the Valaryon navy. (Daily Record)

Newcomer Bailey Bass, who will appear in the upcoming THREE Avatar films, has landed the key role of Claudia in the upcoming AMC small screen adaptation of Interview With the Vampire that will star Jacob Anderson (Game of Thrones) and Sam Reid (The Astronaut Wives Club), who will play Louis and Lestat respectively. (Variety)

Wentworth Miller will reprise his role of Leonard Snart aka Captain Cold in the October 27 episode of DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, which will mark the show’s 100th episode on The CW, which will also be directed by leading lady Caity Lotz. (TV Line)

Claire Foy (The Crown) will play Sheryl Sandberg, the COO of Facebook in a scripted series adaptation of the best-selling book “An Ugly Truth: Inside Facebook’s Battle for Domination. The series, which doesn’t have a designated home network yet, will be called Doomsday Machine, and will lift the veil on the relationship between Mark Zuckerberg and Sandberg and the obstacles Facebook has faced on its relentless quest for growth. Several journalists will serve as consultants to ensure the plot’s accuracy. (Variety)

Damian Lewis (Homeland and Billions) and Guy Pearce (Mare of Easttown) will appear in A Spy Among Friends, the upcoming limited series for BritBox U.K and Spectrum based on the 2014 best-selling book by Ben Macintyre that will dramatize the true story of spies and lifelong friends Nicholas Elliott (Lewis) and Kim Philby (Pearce), one of whom was betraying the other all along. (Variety)

Kiernan Shipka, who starred on Netflix’s Riverdale spinoff Chilling Adventures of Sabrina from 2018 through to its 2020 series finale, is bringing her titular character to Riverdale in Season 6. (TV Line)

STREAMING SERVICE NEWS

Sterling K. Brown (This Is Us) will star in and executive produce the Hulu series adaptation of the novel Washington Black that will follow the 19th-century adventures of George Washington “Wash” Black – an 11-year-old boy on a Barbados sugar plantation who must flee after a shocking death threatens to upend his life. Brown will play the gregarious, larger-than-life Medwin Harris, who traveled the world after a traumatic childhood as a Black refugee in Nova Scotia as the de facto Mayor of Black Halifax prioritizes the community over everything except Washington Black, his young protégé. (Variety)

Jessica Biel (The Sinner) will replace Elisabeth Moss (The Handmaid’s Tale) in the upcoming Hulu scripted true crime series about Candy Montgomery, a Texas housewife who infamously murdered her friend Betty Gore with an ax in 1980. (Variety)

Kathryn Hahn will return as Agatha Harkness in the proposed WandaVision spin-off at Disney+ that will focus on her Agatha persona who was trapped inside the town of Westview by Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen). (TV Line and Variety)

Luke Grimes (Yellowstone) will appear in the Netflix rom-com Happiness for Beginners, which is based on the Katherine Center novel that tells the story of Helen, a recently divorced woman who’s struggling with her new reality and reluctantly agrees to sign up for a wilderness survival course. Three weeks in the mountains of Wyoming spent battling swarms of mosquitos, one annoying male companion (expected to be played by Grimes), and her own inner demons. In the end, Helen figures out how to survive plenty more than just a surprise snowstorm or an insect bite. (Yahoo Entertainment)

That’s it. Enjoy!

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Hey All,

Here are the news items for this past week:

RENEWAL

Netflix has given Sex/Life, starring Sarah Shahi and Mike Vogel, a second season renewal. (TV Line)

Disney+ has given The Mysterious Benedict Society a 2nd season renewal. (Variety)

Starz has given the new series BMF a second season renewal. (TV Line)

Bounce has given a second season renewal to the original series Johnson. (The Futon Critic)

PICKED-UP

It’s official! OWN has picked up the cancelled CBS legal drama All Rise for a third season. The new season is anticipated to air in 2022; meanwhile the first two seasons will start streaming on both Hulu and HBO Max as well as on OWN starting on December 1. (TV Line)

DEVELOPMENT NEWS

A series adaptation of the 1999 film Cruel Intentions (which starred Reese Witherspoon and Ryan Phillippe (before they were married in real life) and Buffy alum Sarah Michelle Gellar) is being developed by IMDbTV. A failed attempt at a small screen adaptation at NBC took place 5 years ago. This time around the series adaptation would be set in Washington, D.C., following two ruthless step-siblings who will do anything to stay at the top of the Greek Life hierarchy at their elite college. When a brutal hazing incident threatens the entire Panhellenic system, they’ll do whatever is necessary to preserve their power and reputations, including seducing the daughter of the U.S. vice president. (TV Line)

RETURNING TO PRIMETIME

For whatever reason more than a DECADE after it was pulled from the air, NBC is bringing Law & Order, the original flagship series, back for a 21st season. It is unclear which cast members will be back, however. (TV Line)

SPIN-OFF NEWS

Amazon has officially order a spin-off to The Boys with Michele Fazekas and Tara Butters taking over as showrunners from exiting Craig Rosenberg.  The planned spinoff of “The Boys” has officially been ordered to series at Amazon. In addition, Michele Fazekas and Tara Butters (Reaper and Emergence) will take over as showrunners following the exit of Craig Rosenberg. Rosenberg is an executive producer on “The Boys” but departed the spinoff over creative differences. The spin-off will be set at America’s only college exclusively for young adult superheroes that will explore the lives of hormonal, competitive Supes as they put their physical, sexual and moral boundaries to the test, competing for the best contracts in the best cities. (Variety)

REBOOT NEWS

Viewers will be getting ANOTHER reboot. This time Babylon 5 will be back, airing this time on The CW. Series creator J. Michael Straczynski will be back at the helm with the reboot planned to follow John Sheridan, an Earthforce officer with a mysterious background, who is assigned to Babylon 5, a five-mile-long space station in neutral space. (TV Line)

TV CASTING NEWS

Susan Sarandon’s daughter, Eva Amurri (Californication),will join her mom in the upcoming FOX drama Monarch, recurring as a younger Dottie Cantrell Roman, Sarandon’s character. (Deadline)

Apple has ordered the new series Amber Brown, based on the best-selling book by Paula Danziger, that is an unfiltered look at a girl finding her own voice through art and music in the wake of her parents’ divorce. Relative newcomer Carsyn Rose will play the lead while Sarah Drew (Everwood and Grey’s Anatomy) will play Amber’s mother Sarah. (The Futon Critic)

Ian Bohen (Yellowstone and Teen Wolf) will have a recurring, multi-episode arc in the upcoming 2nd season of Superman & Lois on The CW. He will play Lt. Mitch Anderson, the metaphorical “new sheriff in town” at the DOD. His worldview divides into two types: those you serve and those who serve you. He doesn’t like that Superman exists outside that paradigm and tries to bring the Man of Steel under his authority officially. (Deadline)

Russell Hornsby (Grimm and The Bone Collector) will play Don King in the upcoming Hulu limited series Iron Mike that will be about legendary boxer Mike Tyson, who will be played by Trevante Rhodes (box office film Moonlight and The United States vs. Billie Holliday). The series is said to be an exploration of the wild, tragic and controversial life and career of Tyson, one of the most polarizing figures in sports culture. Production on the eight-episode series is currently underway. (Variety)

More cast members have been added to the HBO Max reimagining of Pretty Little Liars that will be called Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin. Sharon Leal (the box office film Dreamgirls), Elena Goode (Straight Outta Compton), Lea Salonga (Mulan), Zakiya Young (Orange Is the New Black) and Carly Pope (Popular and The Good Doctor). Leal, Goode and Salonga will be series regulars, while Young and Pope will be recurring. They join previously announced cast members Chandler Kinney, Bailee Madison, Maia Reficco, Malia Pyles, Zaria, Mallory Bechtel, Alex Aiono and Eric Johnson. The series will be set in the present, 20 years after a series of tragic events almost ripped the blue-collar town of Millwood apart. Now, a disparate group of teen girls find themselves tormented by an unknown “Assailant” and made to pay for the secret sin their parents committed two decades ago, as well as their own. Leal will play Sidney, Tabby’s (Kinney) single mother who works in real estate to provide for her daughter and Imogen (Madison), another girl in town. Goode will play Marjorie, a nurse at Millwood General who is hiding a secret that threatens her relationship with her daughter Noa (Reficco). Salonga will play Elodie, Minnie’s (Pyles) overbearing mother who works overtime to protect her daughter from her childhood trauma. Young will play Corey, Faran’s (Zaria) newly single mother who takes a job as a paralegal, though she tells everyone she’s a lawyer. Pope will play Davie, Imogen’s (Madison) mother, whose dark past upends her and her daughter’s lives. (ComicBook.com)

Joel McHale has been promoted to series regular for season 3 of DC’s Supergirl on The CW where he has been recurring as Starman since the show’s debut. (TV Line)

Outlander star Sam Heughan and Richard E. Grant (Loki) [among others] will star opposite James Nesbitt (The Hobbit movies) in the British TV 8-part crime thriller Suspect. Nesbitt will star as veteran detective Danny Frater who gets a devastating shock when he turns up at a hospital mortuary for what he thinks is a routine ID check but the corpse turns out to be his estranged daughter, Christina. There are no details on who Heughan or Grant will portray or when (if) the series will find a broadcast home in the States. (Digital Spy)

BOX OFFICE NEWS

Rege-Jean Page (Bridgerton) will star in an yet to be titled Netflix film that will be written and directed by Noah Hawley (Fargo and Legion). Details on the film are being kept under wraps, but the thriller will be based on an original idea from Hawley. (Variety)

Michaela Conlin (Bones and For All Mankind) will star alongside Philipa Soo (Hamilton) Simu Liu (Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings) and Luke Bracey (the remake of Point Break) in the box office film One True Loves that is a moving love story about a woman unexpectedly forced to choose between the husband she has long thought dead and the fiancé who finally has brought her back to life. (Deadline)

STREAMING MOVIE NEWS

Enola Holmes 2 is coming to Netflix with Millie Bobby Brown returning in the title role along with Henry Cavill back as her older brother Sherlock. It’s been announced that Helena Bonham Carter will also be back playing the mother of the siblings Eudoria Holmes. The films are based on the beloved books by Nancy Springer that tell the story of Enola, the rebellious teen sister of Sherlock Holmes, who is a gifted super-sleuth in her own right and often outsmarts her famous siblings. (Variety)

LIMITED SERIES CASTING NEWS

FX is making another adaptation of Shogun, based on the best-selling novel by James Clavell. This version will be a limited series on the cable network and will feature among its cast Hiroyuki Sanada (Revenge), Cosmo Jarvis (the box office film Lady Macbeth) and newcomer Anna Sawai in the lead roles. (The Futon Critic)

That’s it. Enjoy!

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Hey All,

Here are the news items for past week:

RENEWALS/CANCELLATION

Virgin River has been given a fourth and fifth season by Netflix. (TV Line)

Netflix has cancelled Hit & Run after only one season. (TV Line)

The Witcher has been given a 3rd season renewal in advance of the show’s soon-to-air second season airing on Netflix. (Variety)

REUNION ANNOUNCEMENT

Paramount+ has ordered a reunion movie for the MTV thriller series Teen Wolf and original cast members, along with the series creator Jeff Davis, are eyed to return. The movie synopsis is: “A full moon rises in Beacon Hills, and with it a terrifying evil has emerged. The wolves are howling once again, calling for the return of Banshees, Werecoyotes, Hellhounds, Kitsunes, and every other shapeshifter in the night. But only a Werewolf like Scott McCall, no longer a teenager yet still an Alpha, can gather both new allies and reunite trusted friends to fight back against what could be the most powerful and deadliest enemy they’ve ever faced.” Davis is also developing a new spin-off (like) series called Wolf Pack, based on the book series by Edo Van Belkom, that follows a teenage boy and girl whose lives are changed forever when a California wildfire awakens a terrifying supernatural creature and drives it to attack a highway traffic jam beneath the burning hills. Wounded in the chaos, the boy and girl are inexplicably drawn to each other and to two other teenagers who were adopted sixteen years earlier by a park ranger after another mysterious wildfire. As the full moon rises, all four teens come together to unravel the secret that connects them – the bite and blood of a werewolf. (TV Line)

LEAVING THE SHOW

FBI: Most Wanted will bid goodbye to cast member Kellan Lutz, who is leaving the show. He released a statement on social media stating that a series of real-life heartbreaks, including the loss of his first-born daughter last year, led to his early exit. (TV Line)

SERIES PICK-UP

NBC has ordered the high-stakes thriller drama The Endgame that will star Morena Baccarin (Firefly, Gotham and Homeland) and Ryan Michelle Bathe (First Wives Club and All Rise). The series follows Elena Federova (Baccarin), a very recently captured international arms dealer and criminal mastermind who can orchestrate many complicated and coordinated bank heists, even while in captivity, and Val Turner (Bathe), the principled, relentless and socially-outcast FBI agent who will stop at nothing to foil Elena’s plan. The cast also includes Noah Bean (Nikita and 9-1-1). (Variety)

EPIX has a new limited series coming up based on the beloved best-selling Pulitzer Prize-winning novel “All the Light We Cannot See” that became a global phenomenon in 2014. The show will tell the story of Marie-Laure, a teenager who is blind, and Werner, a German soldier, whose paths collide in occupied France as both try to survive the devastation of World War II. (The Futon Critic)

SUPERNATURAL REUNION

Supernatural fans will be delighted to hear there will be a reunion (of sorts) behind the scenes at Walker. The CW series stars Jared Padalecki in the lead role, and the second season will find Jensen Ackles behind the camera directing an episode. (TV Insider)

TV CASTING NEWS

A slew of recurring cast members have been added to season 2 of the HBO Max series The Flight Attendant. They include JJ Soria (Army Wives and Animal Kingdom); Santiago Cabrera (Heroes, Salvation and Big Little Lies); Shohreh Aghdashloo (The Expanse); comedian extraordinaire Margaret Cho and Cheryl Hines (Waitress and Curb Your Enthusiasm). (The Futon Critic)

Hulu has landed the drama Black Cake, based on the upcoming book of the same name by Charmaine Wilkerson, which is a family drama wrapped in a murder mystery with a diverse cast of characters and a global setting. The story takes place in Jamaica, Rome, Scotland, England and Southern California. In the late 1960s, a runaway bride named Covey disappears into the surf off the coast of Jamaica and is feared drowned or a fugitive on the run for her husband’s murder. Fifty years later in California, Eleanor Bennett, a widow in her 60s, loses her battle with cancer, leaving her two estranged children a flash drive that holds previously untold stories of her journey from the Caribbean to America. These stories, narrated by Eleanor, shock her children and challenge everything they thought they knew about their family’s origin. (Deadline)

The cast of the upcoming Game of Thrones prequel – The House of the Dragon – has grown. It now includes Outlander alums Graham McTavish and Bill Paterson. This series will set a few hundred years prior to the events of Game of Thrones, telling the story of House Targaryen and the Targaryen civil war that became known as the “Dance of the Dragons.” McTavish will play Ser Harrold Westerling, who has served in the Kingsguard since the days of King Jaehaerys; he is a paragon of chivalry and honor. Paterson will play Lord Lyman Beesbury, who serves on King Viserys’s small council. HBO has given the series a 10-episode order and it is anticipated to debut in 2022. (Variety)

Patricia Arquette (Medium) will star in, direct and executive produce the Showtime limited series Love Canal, which is based on the upcoming documentary “The Canal” by Will Battersby and the upcoming book by journalist Keith O’Brien entitled “Paradise Falls.” The limited series will focus on a group of blue collar women who came together in the late 1970s to fight for environmental justice for their community. The women became activists when they realized that 20,000 tons of deadly chemicals were buried beneath their neighborhood in Niagara Falls, New York. With little formal education or training, they took on the chemical industry and the US government and inspired the first major environmental rights legislation in the US. (Variety)

Khalid Abdalla (The Kite Runner) has been cast as Dodi Fayed opposite Elizabeth Debicki as Princess Diana in the Netflix drama The Crown. Salim Daw (Oslo) will star as Dodi’s father, billionaire and former Harrods owner Mohamed Al-Fayed. (Variety)

Colin Donnell (Arrow and Chicago Med) will star in the Australia-set crime drama Irreverent that will be coming to Peacock as a straight-to-order series. The drama will follow a criminal from Chicago who bungles a heist and is forced to hide out in a small Australian reef town in Far North Queensland posing as the new church Reverend. Donnell will play Mack/Paulo, a skilled and articulate mediator who keeps the peace between organized crime families in Chicago. After a mediation goes badly wrong, Mack flees to a remote beach town in tropical Australia where he is forced to assume the identity of a Reverend in order to stay ahead of the people who want him dead. (Deadline)

Rashida Jones and David Oyelowo will join Rebecca Ferguson and Tim Robbins in the Apple series adaptation of the Hugh Howey novels Wool, which 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. Oyelowo will star as Holston, the Silo’s sheriff while Jones will play Allison, his wife who also works in IT for the Silo. (Variety)

Firefly Lane has added to its cast for season 2. Ignacio Serricchio (Lost In Space) will play Danny Diaz, a cocky sportscaster turned reporter who has crackling chemistry with Tully (series lead Katherine Heigl). Greg Germann (Grey’s Anatomy and Ally McBeal) will play Benedict Binswanger, the scion of an influential logging family, who parlays his success in business into a run for Governor of Washington state in the 1980s. India de Beaufort (Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist, NCIS: Los Angeles and Younger) will play Charlotte. As we meet Charlotte in 1985 Seattle, she’s a quiet and reserved aspiring journalist with a hopeless crush on Johnny Ryan (Ben Lawson). But over the years she grows into a world-renowned, confident and sophisticated reporter, a woman who knows what she wants and isn’t afraid to go after it. Jolene Purdy (The White Lotus and Under the Dome) will play Justine Jordan, a sunny, upbeat talent agent with a knack for keeping a positive demeanor even when delivering devastating news. She’s always got a plan, and is ready to execute it. An up and coming power player in the world of entertainment. (Deadline)

Kathryn Hahn (WandaVision) will star as Joan Rivers in the Showtime limited series The Comeback Girl that will chronicle the trailblazing comedian. (Variety)

Betty Gilpin (GLOW) has joined the cast of the upcoming Showtime drama Three Women alongside Shailene Woodley and DeWanda Wise, based on the book by Lisa Taddeo that is a portrayal of American female desire, in which three women are on a crash course to radically overturn their lives. (Variety)

ABC has added new recurring cast members to the upcoming second season, including Romy Rosemont (Glee and A Million Little Things), Michael Malarkey (Project Blue Book and The Originals) and David Meunier (Justified). Rosemont will play Agatha, who co-runs an animal rehabilitation ranch in rural Montana; Malarkey will play Deputy Harvey, a pompous, self-assured cop who, despite preaching respect for the law, sells his loyalty to the highest bidder; and Meunier will play Dietrich, the leader of a local crew of drug dealers who will go to war with their suppliers when a large shipment they paid for never turns up. Season 2 will premiere on September 30. (Deadline)

BOX OFFICE NEWS

Sosie Bacon (daughter of Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgwick and cast member on Mare of Easttown) has landed her first lead role in a studio movie. She will play Rose in the box office film Something’s Wrong With Rose based on the short “Laura Hasn’t Slept” that focuses on a doctor whose mind begins to turn on her after she witnesses a horrifying occurrence. (Variety)

Peter Mullan (Westworld) and Charles Dance (Game of Thrones) have joined the cast of the upcoming box office film The Hanging Sun based on the best-selling novel by Jo Nesbo, which will be a noir thriller set in a part of Norway where religion dominates, the sun never sets, and local residents seem to be from a different era. The film follows John, a man on the run because he has betrayed his powerful crime-lord father, Dad. To escape from his family, John heads north and takes refuge deep in the forest near an isolated village. The only thing standing between John and his destiny are Lea, a woman facing hardship with a great deal of strength, and her son Caleb, a curious, pure-hearted boy. Alessandro Borghi (the Italian series Devils) will play John, Jessica Brown Findlay (Downton Abbey) will play Lea, Dance will play Jacob, Lea’s father and Mullan will play Dad. (Variety)

That’s it. Enjoy!

Read Full Post »

Hey All,

Here are the news items for this past week:

RENEWALS/CANCELLATIONS

Disney+ has given High School Musical: The Musical: The Series a 3rd season order. (TV Line)

Hulu has given a second season order to Only Murders in the Building. (Press Release)

HBO Max has cancelled the teen dramedy Generation after only one season. (TV Line)

The Outpost has been cancelled. It will air its series finale on The CW, after 4 seasons on the air, on October 7. (TV Line)

ANIME NEWS

Hayley Atwell (Marvel’s Agent Carter and the Avengers/Captain America franchise) will provide the voice of Lara Croft in the Netflix upcoming anime series Tomb Raider. The story will pick up after the events of the Tomb Raider video-game reboot trilogy, charting a new adventure for the globetrotting Lara Croft 25 years after her first game launched. (Variety)

TV CASTING NEWS

Gwendoline Christie (Game of Thrones) has joined the cast of the Netflix upcoming Wednesday Addams-centric series that will simply be called Wednesday. Jenna Ortega (Jane the Virgin) will star as the lead character with Catherine Zeta-Jones as her mother Morticia. Christie will play Larissa Weems, the principal of Nevermore Academy who still has an axe to grind with her former classmate Morticia. (TV Line)

Tom Welling (Smallville) is coming back to The CW (nee The WB) in the newly acquired series Professionals, an international action series that follows Vincent Corbo (Welling), a top-tier security operative, who is paid to protect the interests of rich and powerful clients by any means necessary – legal or not. After a next-gen medical satellite explodes on launch, Corbo is hired by the rocket’s designer, billionaire futurist Peter Swann (Brendan Fraser from Doom Patrol and The Mummy movie franchise), who suspects sabotage. Complicating Corbo’s new gig is his former paramour and now Swann’s fiancée, medical visionary Dr. Grace Davila (Elena Anaya from Wonder Woman), who is racing to help stave off a global catastrophe. A date and time for the show’s premiere on The CW will be announced later. (TV Line)

Elisabeth Shue (The Boys and Cobra Kai) has joined the cast of the upcoming Showtime anthology series Super Pumped. The first season is set to focus on the rise of the ride sharing app Uber that already boasts cast members Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Kyle Chandler, Kerry Bishé and Hank Azaria [among others]. Shue will play Bonnie Kalanick, the mother of Uber co-founder and CEO Travis Kalanick (Gordon-Levitt), who is the one person he can always count on for wisdom and truth. (Variety)

The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air is getting a dramatic reboot entitled Bel-Air at Peacock; and the main cast has been announced. Newcomer Jabari Banks will star as Will; Adrian Holmes (V Wars) as Phillip Banks; Cassandra Freeman (Atlanta) as Vivian Banks; Olly Sholotan (Run Hide Fight) as Carlton Banks; Coco Jones (Let it Shine) as Hilary Banks; Akira Akbar (Captain Marvel) as Ashley Banks; Jimmy Akingbola (Most Dangerous Game) as Geoffrey; Jordan L. Jones (Rel and Snowfall) as Jazz; and Simone Joy Jones (The Chair) as Lisa. The show will be a serialized one-hour dramatic analogue following Will’s complicated journey from the streets of West Philadelphia to the gated mansions of Bel-Air. Peacock gave the show a two-season order in September of 2020. (Variety)

Emily Deschanel (Bones) will star in the upcoming Netflix limited series Devil in Ohio based on the book by Daria Polatin, which is inspired by a true story. It will focus on what happens when hospital psychiatrist Dr. Suzanne Mathis shelters a mysterious cult escapee. Her world is turned upside down as the strange girl’s arrival threatens to tear her own family apart. Other cast members include Sam Jaeger (Parenthood and Why Women Kill) and Madeleine Arthur (The Magicians and Snowpiercer) [among others]. (Variety)

Anthony Mackie (The Falcon and the Winter Soldier) will have the lead role in the live-action series Twisted Metal, based on the vehicular combat game, which is currently in the works at Sony Pictures Television. The show is about motor-mouthed outsider John Doe (Mackie) who is offered a chance at a better life, but only if he can successfully deliver a mysterious package across a post-apocalyptic wasteland. With the help of a trigger-happy car thief, he’ll face savage marauders driving vehicles of destruction and other dangers of the open road, including a deranged clown named who drives an all too familiar ice cream truck, whom fans of the game will know as Sweet Tooth. (Variety)

Malachi Kirby (the 2016 version of Roots) will star in the series adaptation of the Neil Gaiman fantasy novel Anansi Boys planned at Netflix. Kirby will play the dual lead roles of both Charlie Nancy and his brother, Spider. The series follows Charlie, a young man who is used to being embarrassed by his estranged father, Mr. Nancy (Delroy Lindo). But when his father dies, Charlie discovers that his father was Anansi: trickster god of stories. And he learns that he has a brother. Now his brother, Spider, is entering Charlie’s life, determined to make it more interesting but making it a lot more dangerous. (Variety)

Eric McCormack (Travelers and Will & Grace) has joined the 3rd season of the thriller drama series Departure, which stars Archie Panjabi (The Good Wife) and Kris Holden-Ried (Lost Girl and The Umbrella Academy). Other new cast members include Jake Weber (Medium) and Patrick Sabongui (Homeland, Arrow and Virgin River). (Deadline)

Mathew Fox (Lost and Party of Five) will star alongside Downton Abbey star Joanne Froggatt in the action-packed mini-series thriller Last Light that is being adapted from the best-selling novel by Alex Scarrow. The dystopian will center around a family whose lives are changed forever when oil supplies get contaminated by an infectious agent, causing society to implode in the face of global disaster. The cast will include several up-and-coming actors. (Variety)

FILM NEWS

Keegan-Michael Key (Schmigadoon! and Prom) will star alongside Timothee Chalamet (Dune) in the musical based box office film Wonka, which will be based on the early life of Willy Wonka. Key’s role is being kept under wraps but Chalamet will play the title character. (Variety)

Cynthia Erivo (Harriet and Genius: Aretha) will star alongside Andy Serkis (The Lord of the Rings trilogy) in the upcoming Netflix film that will be the continuing story of Luther (Idris Elba). It is unclear who Erivo and Serkis will play in the film. (Deadline)

Frank Grillo (the Avengers franchise) will star as Ferruccio Lamborghini – taking over the role from Antonio Banderas. The film will cover Lamborghini’s entire life, from when he got his start making tractors to his moves into military cars during World War II and into his luxury supercar days. It will also delve into his personal life and romantic relationships, as well as his rivalry with Enzo Ferrari. (Yahoo Entertainment)

That’s it. Enjoy!

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Hey All,

Here are the news items for the past week:

RENEWALS/CANCELLATION

The BET+ original FIRST WIVES CLUB has been renewed for a third season. (Press Release)

Freeform has renewed Good Trouble for a 4th season. (The Hollywood Reporter)

Paramount + has given a third season renewal to Star Trek: Picard. (The Hollywood Reporter)

HBO Max has given a second season renewal to the reboot of Gossip Girl. (TV Line)

It looks like there will be no future whatsoever for the CBS drama Clarice. The drama was cancelled by the network, but it was looking like Paramount Plus was going to continue with the show, but negotiations have reached a stalemate so the series will not be coming back at all. (Deadline)

COMING BACK

We already know that Manifest will be back for a 4th season after all, airing on Netflix since it was cancelled by NBC this summer. The additional good news is that cast members Josh Dallas, Melissa Roxburgh, J.R. Ramirez, Parveen Kaur, Luna Blaise and Holly Taylor will return for the fourth and final season. In addition, Ty Doran will take over the role of Cal Stone; Matt Long will also be back and Daryl Edwards, who has recurred as NSA Director Robert Vance since the pilot episode, has been promoted to series regular. (The Futon Critic, Deadline and Variety)

TV CASTING NEWS

Brian Tee (Chicago Med) will star opposite Nicole Kidman in the upcoming Amazon series Expats, based on the Janice Y.K. Lee novel The Expatriates, that will be set against the fabric of Hong Kong, telling the story of an international community whose lives are bound together forever after a sudden family tragedy. It revolves around three women, Mercy (Ji-young Yoo), Margaret (Kidman) and Hilary (Sarayu Blue). (Deadline)

David Oyelowo (The Water Man) will star in the Taylor Sheridan (the man behind Yellowstone) limited series Bass Reeves, which is about the legendary lawman of the wild West, who worked in the post-Reconstruction era as a federal peace officer in the Indian Territory, capturing over 3,000 of the most dangerous criminals without ever being wounded. (Deadline)

Phoebe Waller-Bridge has exited the Amazon small screen adaptation of Mr. & Mrs. Smith. It’s being reported that she left due to creative differences with fellow star and executive producer Donald Glover (Community). The role will be re-cast. (Variety)

Matt Bomer (White Collar and Doom Patrol) will executive produce and star in a series adaptation of the novel Fellow Travelers by author Thomas Mallon that is in development at Showtime. The series is described as a political thriller and epic love story that unfolds in the era of McCarthyism and resolves in the age of AIDS. It follows the intertwined lives and volatile romance of two very different men, Hawkins “Hawk” Fuller (Bomer) and Tim Kovacs, through purges, wars, protests, and plagues, overcoming obstacles in the world and in themselves. (Variety)

Abigail Spencer (Timeless and Rebel) will be back on Grey’s Anatomy, recurring as Dr. Megan Hunt starting with the season premiere of the show’s upcoming 18th season. (TV Line)

FOX will debut the new drama Monarch during mid-season, and will star Susan Sarandon, country artist Trace Adkins and Anna Friel. The series is about the Romans who are headed by the insanely talented, but tough as nails Queen of Country Music Dottie Cantrell Roman (Sarandon). Along with her beloved husband, Albie (Adkins), Dottie has created a country music dynasty. But even though the Roman name is synonymous with authenticity, the very foundation of their success is a lie. And when their reign as country royalty is put in jeopardy, heir to the crown Nicolette “Nicky” Roman (Friel) will stop at nothing to protect her family’s legacy, while ensuring her own quest for stardom. Also musician Beth Ditto will play the Roman’s younger daughter Gigi. The show will debut on January 30 after the NFC Championship game and then will air its second episode on February 1. (Variety and The Futon Critic)

David Tennant (Doctor Who) will star in the Peacock drama Hide, that is being billed as a Jekyll & Hyde tale by way of a conspiracy thriller about a disgraced journalist (Tennant) who stumbles upon a story that could resurrect his career. But he quickly learns he’s seen something he shouldn’t have, and is now the target of unknown adversaries who will do anything to silence him. (Deadline and The Futon Critic)

Patrick J. Adams (Suits) has landed a recurring role in the Amazon adaptation of A League Of Their Own where he will play Charlie, Carson’s (Abbi Jacobson from Broad City) handsome, midwestern husband, on his way home soon from fighting overseas during WWII. He’s eager to return to a life back home with his wife. (Deadline)

Australian Lucy Barrett (Neighbours and Bloom) has joined the cast of Charmed on The CW, taking over for the departing Madeleine Mantock. The executive producers have not revealed what her character’s name, backstory, powers or connection to the other girls just yet, but her character is being described as an artist, with a wild, unpredictable love for life and a one-of-a-kind view of the world that serves her well in her art, which is her life’s passion. She’s fun, irreverent, impulsive, strong-willed, and will bring brand-new energy to the Power of Three. (Variety)

Billy Bob Thornton will guest star in the Yellowstone prequel series 1883, which will air on Paramount Plus. The series will follow the Dutton family as they embark on a journey west through the Great Plains toward the last bastion of untamed America. Thornton will appear in the guest star role of Marshal Jim Courtright. (Variety)

That’s it. Enjoy!

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Hey All,

Here are the news items for this past week:

RENEWAL/CANCELLATIONS

The John Stamos Disney+ series Big Shot was renewed for a second season. (TV Line)

The CW has pulled the plug on the new drama The Republic of Sarah before its first season has finished its debut season. The September 6 finale will serve as the series finale. (TV Line)

SERIES PICK-UP NEWS

The CW has given a series order to the Nancy Drew spin-off Tom Swift that will focus on the billionaire inventor (played by Tian Richards), who was introduced in an episode of Nancy Drew that aired in May. (TV Line)

DEVELOPMENT NEWS

The series The Girls on the Bus, based on the best-selling book “Chasing Hillary” by Amy Chozick from Julie Plec and Greg Berlanti, which is in development, has moved from Netflix to The CW. The story chronicles four female journalists who follow every move of a parade of flawed presidential candidates, finding friendship, love, and scandal along the way. (The Hollywood Reporter and Variety)

It looks like the groundbreaking family drama Life Goes On could be getting a revival with original cast members Kellie Martin and Chad Lowe in tow. The series will be shopped to the networks and streamer soon, and if picked up would revisit Martin’s grown-up Becca, who is now a doctor, as she returns to her hometown and reconnects with her family. (TV Line and Deadline)

BOX OFFICE NEWS

It looks like Jungle Cruise 2 is going to happen with original stars Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt set to return. (The Hollywood Reporter and Bleeding Cool)

Judith Light will star alongside Anya Taylor-Joy (The Queen’s Gambit) and Ralph Fiennes in the upcoming box office dark comedy The Menu that will follow a young couple who travels to a remote island to eat at an exclusive restaurant where the chef has prepared a lavish menu — and some shocking surprises. The cast also includes Nicholas Hoult, John Leguizamo and Janet McTeer. (Variety)

Killing Eve alum and current Free Guy co-star Jodie Comer will star in the upcoming Ridley Scott box office film Kitbag. Comer will play Josephine opposite Joaquin Phoenix, who will play Napoleon Bonaparte in the historical drama about the military leader and emperor. (Variety)

MADE-FOR-TV MOVIE NEWS

Jane Krakowski has joined the cast of the upcoming NBC event Annie Live! She will play Lily St. Regis. (Variety)

TV CASTING NEWS

J. August Richards (Angel) will star in the small screen adaptation of Vampire Academy based on the paranormal romance novels by Richelle Mead. The show comes from executive producer Julie Plec (The Vampire Diaries, The Originals and Legacies) and her long-time collaborator Marguerite MacIntyre. The show will also include a bevy of fresh faces. (TV Line)

Bridget Regan (Agent Carter and The Last Ship) will have a recurring role in season 3 of Batwoman, playing Poison Ivy, a.k.a Pamela Isley, a former botany student of Gotham University. (Variety)

Emily VanCamp is leaving the FOX medical drama The Resident ahead of its season 5 premiere; and while the circumstances behind her leaving the series have not been made clear, VanCamp and real-life husband Josh Bowman recently had a baby. (TV Line)

Dave Annable (Brothers and Sisters) will appear in the 2nd season of Walker in the recurring role of Dan Miller, the wife of Denise Davidson, the rival family of the Walker family. (Deadline)

Annie Wersching (24, Timeless and Runaways) will recur in the second season of Star Trek: Picard, playing the Borg Queen. (TV Line)

Kate Walsh will be reprising her role of Addison Forbes Montgomery in multiple episodes of the upcoming 18th season of Grey’s Anatomy. (TV Line)

Law & Order: Special Victims Unit will find two series regulars gone in the season 23 premiere. Jamie Gray Hyder and Demore Barnes will be departing as detective Kat Tamin and deputy chief Christian Garland respectively. (TV Line and Deadline)

That’s it. Enjoy!

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Hey All,

Here are the news items for this past week:

RENEWAL

Freeform has renewed Motherland: Fort Salem for its third and final season. (TV Line)

Your Honor has been renewed for a second season with Bryan Cranston set to return in 2022. (TV Line)

Cobra Kai has been renewed for a 5th season by Netflix, months before season 4 is even set to premiere. (TV Line)

Ten weeks after it got cancelled by NBC, Manifest has been picked up for a 4th and final season that will consist of 20 episodes (more episodes than any season of the series). (Variety)

TV CASTING NEWS

The CW series Kung Fu has made Yvonne Chapman, who played villainous Zhilan, as a series regular for season 2. (Deadline and TV Line)

Tony Curran (Defiance and Doctor Who [he played Vincent Van Gogh]) will play the newest villain – Despero, a powerful and intelligent alien – in the upcoming Arrowverse 5-part ‘Amageddon’ crossover event that finds Barry Allen [aka The Flash] (Grant Gustin) and his crime-fighting friends calling on fellow DC superheroes Black Lightning (Cress Williams) and Batwoman (Javicia Leslie) for help. (Entertainment Weekly and Digital Spy)

Chantal Thuy (Black Lightning) has joined “the mix” for season 4 of Magnum P.I, playing Lia Kaleo, a smart, street-savvy Hawai’i Police Detective who has been secretly dating Magnum behind everyone’s back, including her partner, Gordon Katsumoto (Tim Kang). And as the season progresses, we’ll learn that Lia’s relationship with Magnum isn’t the only secret she’s been keeping. (TV Line)

The former Quibi drama Most Dangerous Game will return for a second season at Roku Channel with Christoph Waltz back as Miles Sellers, the CEO of The Tiro Fund, a front for a centuries old game in which hunters pay exorbitant fees for the privilege of hunting the most cunning and dangerous prey there is. Liam Hemsworth won’t be back; but David Castaneda (The Umbrella Academy) will step in to play Victor Suero, a down-on-his-luck fighter who will do anything to protect his sister. When he learns she’s in trouble, he springs into action. To protect her, he agrees to participate in a deadly game. If he survives, he’ll make a fortune. Out of love for his sister – he’s determined to live. The new season will retain the short-form format that the show had in Season 1. (Variety)

Brandon Routh (Legends of Tomorrow) has landed the lead role in the animated Netflix production of Magic: The Gathering, based on the Dey Rey Books novel of the same name that finds Planeswalkers Gideon Jura and Jace Beleren adventuring together as they right wrongs across the multiverse. But with very different insights into what they witness, it is safe to say that the partnership is under quite a bit of strain. Plot details are being kept under wraps though. (Variety)

More cast members have been added to the Yellowstone prequel 1883 that already boasts Tim McGraw, Faith Hill and Sam Elliott in lead roles. Isabel May (Netflix’s Alexa and Katie and Young Sheldon) will play Elsa, the eldest daughter of John and Margaret Dutton (McGraw and Hill). Through her eyes will come much of the perspective of the family’s struggle when they up and leave Texas aboard a wagon train caravan into hostile territory toward a better life in Montana, where the fictional Duttons reside in the present. And, LaMonica Garrett (The Last Ship and Arrow) will play the right hand of Pinkerton agent Shea Brennan (Elliott), who hitches a ride with the Duttons and many others who’ll fill the 30 actual wagon trains. (Deadline)

Tony winner Rachel Bay Jones (Dear Evan Hansen) has landed a major recurring role in The Good Doctor, but details on what role she will play is being kept under wraps. (Deadline)

LaKeith Stanfield (Judas and the Black Messiah) will star in and executive produce the upcoming Apple TV+ drama The Changeling, which will be adapted from the Victor LaValle novel. The series is described as a fairytale for grown-ups, a horror story, a parenthood fable; a perilous odyssey through a New York City you didn’t know existed. (TV Line)

Cast members for the upcoming FX on Hulu series adaptation of Under the Banner of Heaven, based on the Jon Krakauer novel, have been announced. The series will follow a devout detective whose 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. Among the cast are the already announced Andrew Garfield (Spider-Man) and Daisy Edgar-Jones (Normal People) and new cast members Sam Worthington (Avatar), Wyatt Russell (The Falcon and the Winter Soldier), Gil Birmingham (Yellowstone), Adelaide Clemens (Rectify), Rory Culkin (Halston), Seth Numrich (Turn: Washington Spies) and Christopher Heyerdahl (Hell on Wheels and Sanctuary).  (Variety)

Game of Thrones alum Jacob Anderson (he played Grey Worm) has landed the lead role of the titular vampire Louis in the AMC series adaptation of Interview With the Vampire, based on the novel. Anderson will also appear in the upcoming season of Doctor Who as a new character named Vinder. (Variety)

MADE-FOR-TV MOVIE NEWS

Sisters Kimberly Williams-Paisley and Ashley Williams are teaming up to play sisters in two original Hallmark Channel Christmas movies expected later this year. They will also serve as executive producers along with Ashley’s husband Neal Dodson. The movies are currently entitled Sister Swap: A Hometown Holiday and Sister Swap: Christmas in the City. (People)

BOX OFFICE NEWS

Jake Gyllenhaal will star in the box office movie Oblivion Song, which is an adaptation of the graphic novel by Robert Kirkman (The Walking Dead) and Lorenzo De Felici, which focuses on Nathan Cole, a man who makes daily trips to try and rescue those still living in Oblivion, an apocalyptic hellscape in Philadelphia that was lost a decade prior, along with 300,000 of its citizens. (Variety)

This Is Us alum Sterling K. Brown and Mark Duplass (Bombshell) will team up in the sci-fi movie Biosphere, which will be written by Duplass and director Mel Eslyn in her feature directorial debut. Details on the plot, however, are being kept under wraps. (Variety)

The Oscar-winning singer-songwriter H.E.R. is in final negotiations to make her feature film acting debut in The Color Purple movie musical, which is an adaptation of the Tony-winning Broadway musical, which – of course – is an adaptation of the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Alice Walker that centers on a woman named Celie Harris and tracks her life-long struggles as an African American woman living in the South during the early 1900s. H.E.R. will play Squeak, who, in the musical, goes from a juke joint waitress to an aspiring singer. (The Hollywood Reporter)

That’s it. Enjoy!

Read Full Post »

Hey All,

Here are the news items for this past week:

RENEWAL

Netflix has given a 3rd season order to Never Have I Ever. (TV Line)

CANCELLATION

Peacock has pulled the plug on the Punky Brewster reboot after only one season. (TV Line)

TV CASTING NEWS

Sandra Mae Frank, who played Abigail in an episode of Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist and performed the memorable American Sign Language performance of ‘Fight Song,’ will recur on the NBC medical drama New Amsterdam, playing a deaf surgeon. AND, Chloe Freeman (The Blacklist) will also recur in the series as Dr. Pavan Carey, a new resident in Dr. Bloom’s (series regular Janet Montgomery) Emergency Department. (TV Line)

Hank Azaria will star in the Showtime anthology series Super Pumped that details the rise of the driving service Uber, playing Tim Cook, the CEO of Apple. The cast also includes Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Uber CEO and co-founder Travis Kalanick; Kyle Chandler as Texas venture capitalist Bill Gurley; and Kerry Bishé aslAustin Geidt, Uber employee number four. (Variety)

Newcomer Zaria (Two Distant Strangers and Malia Pyles (Baskets) have joined the cast of the HBO Max spin-off series [of sorts] Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin. They join the previously announced Bailee Madison (of Good Witch fame). Twenty years ago, a series of tragic events almost ripped the blue-collar town of Millwood apart. Now, in the present day, a group of disparate teen girls find themselves tormented by an unknown Assailant and made to pay for the secret sin their parents committed two decades ago as well as their own. (Deadline)

Raven Goodwin (Being Mary Jane) and Nicole Chanel Williams (Boomerang) will recur alongside Yaya DaCosta, Morris Chestnut and Joe Morton in the upcoming FOX drama Our Kind of People, which follows 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. She soon discovers a dark secret about her mother’s past that will turn her world upside-down and shake up this community forever. Goodwin will play Josephine, Angela’s (DaCosta) old college roommate and close friend while Williams will play Taylor, a 17-year-old fun-loving and open girl. (Deadline)

Peter Gallagher (Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist and The O.C.) will have a recurring role in the upcoming season of Grey’s Anatomy, playing Dr. Alan Hamilton who knew Ellis Grey (Kate Burton) back in the day and meets Meredith (series lead Ellen Pompeo). (Deadline and The Futon Critic)

Actress Tayler Buck has been promoted to series regular for the second season of Superman & Lois. She played Natalie Irons, John Henry’s daughter via the Lois of his own Earth. (TV Line and Deadline)

The Sopranos alum Jamie-Lynn Sigler will have a key role in season 2 of the ABC drama Big Sky. She will play Tonya, a waitress at a local diner, who hires Dewell & Hoyt to find her missing boyfriend. Season 2 will find Cassie (series lead Kylie Bunbury) and Jenny (series regular Katheryn Winnick) reunited to investigate a car wreck outside of Helena, Montana. But they soon discover that the case might not be as straightforward as it seems. As they unravel the mystery of the accident, their worlds will collide with a band of unsuspecting teens, a flirtatious face from Jenny’s past and a vicious outsider hellbent on finding answers. (Deadline)

NOT GOING TO HAPPEN

Efforts to find the ABC drama Rebel a new home has come up empty, as series creator Krista Vernoff announced that hopes to get a streaming platform to pick it up have failed. It should also be noted that IMDbTV has passed on picking up the canceled drama For Life as well. (The Futon Critic, Deadline and TV Line)

TV DEVELOPMENT NEWS

Peacock has given a straight-to-series order for a small screen adaptation of the box office movie Field of Dreams. (Variety)

FALL TV SCOOP

Thanks to Matt Mitovich over at TV Line for the following scoop items:

• Jack Coleman (of Heroes fame) will recur on this fall’s new NBC drama Ordinary Joe, recurring as Dr. Douglas Banks, the father of Jenny (to be played by Elizabeth Lail from You and Once Upon a Time);
• Burden of Truth is currently airing its final season on The CW here in the States, and viewers can be happy to know that Nicola Correia-Damude (who has been recurring on The Republic of Sarah, has recurred on Coroner and was a recurring cast member on Shadowhunters) will indeed be back in Millwood, returning as Diane.

SAVE OF THE WEEK, MAYBE

Netflix is in ongoing talks to POTENTIALLY save the NBC drama Manifest for a 4th season but neither the streaming service nor Warner Bros. TV has made no official announcement. (Deadline and TV Line)

There is no guarantee, but it looks like the recently cancelled CBS legal drama All Rise just MIGHT be getting a second chance thanks to the folks over at OWN. The network is in very early negotiations to potentially pick up the series for a 3rd season and have even been in touch with series lead Simone Missick and several other cast members whose contracts ended in June. (TV Line)

STREAMING SERVICES NEWS

HBO Max is in early development with writer Misha Green for a Black Canary movie that would find Jurnee Smollett reprising her role from last year’s Birds of Prey movie. (Cinelinx and Collider)

Hulu has acquired the US rights to the heist series The Unusual Suspects set to star [among others] Miranda Otto. The Australian series revolves around women from different walks of life who come together following the elaborate heist of a $16 million necklace which belonged to a self-made businesswoman. The ensuing police investigation exposes cracks in Eastern Sydney’s sparkling façade and provides an insight into the immigrant experience in the region. (Variety)

Big Sky cast member Jesse James Keitel will be a series regular in the reboot of Queer as Folk on Peacock. The update will chronicle a diverse group of friends in New Orleans, whose lives are transformed in the aftermath of a tragedy. Keitel will play a trans, semi-reformed party girl who is struggling to grow up. (Variety)

Tim Robbins will join Rebecca Ferguson in the Apple series adaptation of the book ‘Wool’ by Hugh Howey. The series will be 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. Robbins will play Bernard, the head of IT for the Silo. (Variety)

Phoebe Dynevor (Bridgerton breakout, who was also in Younger) will star in and executive produce the screen adaptation of the book ‘Exciting Time,’ which will center on Ava, an Irish transplant teaching English grammar abroad to wealthy children. She becomes entangled in a love triangle with banker Julian and lawyer Edith. (Variety)

Netflix has a new family movie series set to roll out that will include among its cast Jane Lynch (Glee), Jesse Tyler Ferguson (Modern Family), Nia Vardalos (My Big Fat Greek Wedding) and Sasha Pieterse (Pretty Little Liars). The story will follow two girls who could not be more different: Ivy is quiet, thoughtful and intellectual while Bean is rambunctious, wild and fearless. But an adventure will reveal that opposites attract and bring the two girls together. The series will actually be made up of one-hour movies, rather than being a TV show. (Deadline and Digital Spy)

Actor O-T Fagbenle (The Handmaid’s Tale and the box office movie Black Widow) will recur alongside Jared Leto and Anne Hathaway in the upcoming Apple TV+ limited series WeCrashed. He will play Cameron Lautner, a partner at a powerful investment firm who is tasked with trying to instill discipline at WeWork and prepare it for its upcoming IPO, which brings him into conflict with the company’s eccentric and headstrong CEO. (Deadline and The Futon Critic)

MADE-FOR-TV MOVIE NEWS

Lifetime has greenlit a Flowers in the Attic four-part prequel mini-series that will star Jemima Rooper (Hex and Lost in Austen) and Max Irons (Condor) as well as Kelsey Grammer (Frasier), Harry Hamlin (Mad Men), Kate Mulgrew (Orange is the New Black) and Paul Wesley (The Vampire Diaries) [among others]. Flowers in the Attic: The Origin will peel back the curtain to reveal the twisted origins and dark secrets of the Foxworth family. Olivia Winfield (Rooper), who is working alongside her beloved father (Hamlin) when she finds herself unexpectedly wooed by one of the nation’s most eligible bachelors, Malcom Foxworth (Irons). After a whirlwind romance, Olivia finds herself as the mistress of the imposing Foxworth Hall, where she soon discovers that the fairytale life she expected has quickly become a nightmare. Mulgrew will play Mrs. Steiner, Malcom’s loyal house manager and head of the Foxworth Hall staff; Grammer will play Malcom’s illustrious father Garland Foxworth, and Wesley will play John Amos, Olivia’s cousin whose revelations change her life forever. (Deadline)

BOX OFFICE MOVIE NEWS

Lana Parrilla (Why Women Kill and Once Upon a Time) will star alongside Anthony Rapp (Rent and Star Trek: Discovery) in the indie drama film Scrap. Writer-director Vivian Kerr will also star in the film as Beth, who has recently been laid off and struggles to maintain the appearance of a successful middle-class lifestyle as she bounces around Los Angeles. Hoping to land a new job and change her situation before her estranged older brother Ben (Rapp) finds out, Beth must confront her own pride before she can reconnect with him and provide for her young daughter Birdy. Parrilla will play Ben’s wife, a successful attorney who is secretly struggling with IVF and re-evaluating her own conflicted relationship with motherhood. (Deadline)

Anthony Mackie will suit up in the upcoming Captain America 4 movie that will be co-written by Malcolm Spellman, who was head writer for The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. (Variety)

Jack O’Connell (the box office film Unbroken and the Netflix series Godless) will star alongside Emma Corrin (the latest season of The Crown and the first season of the EPIX period piece Pennyworth) will star in the Sony Pictures and Netflix film Lady Chatterley’s Lover, based on the classic D.H. Lawrence novel, which follows the life of Lady Chatterley, a woman born to a life of wealth and privilege, who soon finds herself married to a man that she eventually falls out of love with. (Deadline)

Relative newcomer Dominique Thorne (who had roles in the box office films If Beale Street Could Talk and Judas and the Black Messiah) will star in the Disney+ series Ironheart in the lead role of Riri Williams, a 15-year-old MIT student who reverse engineers Iron Man’s armor in order to create her own suit of armor. Thorne will also be featured in the upcoming sequel Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. (Variety)

That’s it. Enjoy!

Read Full Post »

Hi All,

Here are the news items for this past week:

RENEWAL

HBO has renewed The White Lotus for a second season that will feature both a new cast and a new locale. (TV Line)

TV PICK-UP ORDER

ABC has picked up the Latino project Promised Land to series. The drama will be an epic, generation-spanning series about two Latinx families vying for wealth and power in California’s Sonoma Valley. The cast will include John Ortiz (Messiah and the box office movie Peppermint); Mexican actress Cecilia Suarez (The House of Flowers); Augusto Aguilera (Made for Love and the 2018 movie The Predator); and Christina Ochoa (Animal Kingdom and A Million Little Things) [among others]. (Variety)

DEVELOPMENT NEWS

FX has given a development order for another installment of the American Crime Story franchise tentatively called Studio 54: American Crime Story along with two new limited anthology series called American Love Story and American Sport Story all from series creator Ryan Murphy. American Love Story will tell a scripted tale about John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy. Meanwhile the first installment of American Sports Story will focus on former NFL player and convicted murderer Aaron Hernandez. Studio 54: American Crime Story will follow Steve Rubell and Ian Schrager who, in 1977, turned their midtown Manhattan disco into an international mecca of nightlife. After three years of lavish parties, music, sex and drugs, Rubell and Schrager fell hard when they were convicted of tax fraud. (Variety)

NOT MOVING FORWARD

ABC is not moving forward with the new fairytale drama called Epic from Once Upon a Time co-creators Adam Horowitz and Eddy Kitsis. (TV Line)

STREAMING SERVICE NEWS

Amazon Studios has landed the rights to the action film Coyote Blue that will star This Is Us alum Sterling K. Brown. The movie revolves around an everyman (Brown) who’s hunted by a ruthless criminal syndicate for his mysterious cargo, and must navigate the treacherous terrain of Route 66 while unleashing his lethal set of skills in a fight for survival. (Variety)

Rowan Blanchard (Snowpiercer and Girl Meets World) and Auli’i Cravalho (the voice of Moana and the box office movie All Together Now) will star in an upcoming as-yet-titled coming-of-age teen movie on Hulu. Blanchard will play Paige, an aspiring artist who’s thrust out of her comfort zone when forced to join the track team captained by her longtime crush, but she soon finds herself falling for an unexpected teammate, ultimately discovering what real love feels like. Cravalho will play AJ, an elusive track star who has always lived in the shadow of her twin sister. (Variety)

Amazon Studios and Kaling International (Mindy Kaling’s production company) are developing the Uzma Jalaluddin novel “Hana Khan Carries On” into a movie that puts a modern Muslim spin on a premise first made famous by the classic “The Shop Around the Corner” from Ernst Lubitschwhich, which was later updated with Nora Ephron’s You’ve Got Mail. The novel follows two competing Halal shops. Hana’s family owns a restaurant called Three Sisters in the Golden Crescent neighborhood of Toronto, and its business is threatened when a more commercial, fusion-based eatery moves in down the street. The catch is that Hana and the owner of the other restaurant, Aydin, have an instant romantic connection. (Variety)

TV NEWS

Catherine Zeta-Jones (Chicago and The Mask of Zorro) has joined the cast of the upcoming Netflix series Wednesday Addams where she will guest star as Morticia Addams, the family matriarch. (Variety)

Due to a scheduling conflict Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD alum Chloe Bennet has departed from her role of Blossom on the live-action pilot Powerpuff, which is based on The Powerpuff Girls. The show was in contention for pilot season earlier this year, but the original pilot was scrapped and is set to be redeveloped. Recasting of the role will begin this fall. (Variety)

Australian actor Sam Reid (The Astronaut Wives Club and Lambs of God) has landed the lead role of Lestat in the upcoming AMC small screen adaptation of Interview With the Vampire by Anne Rice that has been given an 8-episode order and which is expected to debut in 2022 on both AMC and AMC+. (Variety)

TV MOVIE NEWS

The upcoming NBC TV movie Annie Live! has added to its cast, which already includes Harry Connick Jr. and Taraji P. Henson. The new cast members are Nicole Scherzinger (The Masked Singer and former member of The Pussycat Dolls) and Tituss Burgess (Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt). Scherzinger will play Grace, Daddy Warbucks’ (Connick) chief of staff while Burgess will play Rooster, the underhanded brother of the ruthless Miss Hannigan (Henson). (The Futon Critic and The Hollywood Reporter)

LIMITED SERIES NEWS

Grey’s Anatomy alum Jesse Williams will lead the small screen adaptation of the Tony-winning play Take Me Out that is set as a limited TV series. Set in the early 2000s, the story follows Darren Lemming, a mixed-race star center fielder for the fictional Empires, whose decision to come out of the closet sparks controversy and soul searching for American’s favorite pastime, revealing long-held, unspoken prejudices both on and off the field. Facing some hostile teammates and fraught friendships. Williams will play Lemming. (Deadline)

BOX OFFICE NEWS

Idris Elba will provide the voice of Knuckles in the animated movie Sonic the Hedgehog 2. (Variety)

Andre Braugher has joined the cast of the box office film She Said, which is the retelling of the investigation into sexual assault and harassment perpetrated by Harvey Weinstein. Braugher will play New York Times Executive Editor Dean Baquet, who oversaw groundbreaking reporting from journalists Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey. The cast includes Carey Mulligan and Zoe Kazan as Twohey and Kantor and Patricia Clarkson. (Variety)

Emma Stone will reprise the lead role in the upcoming sequel Cruella 2. (Deadline and Variety)

BROADWAY NEWS

Beanie Feldstein (Booksmart and the upcoming Impeachment: American Crime Story) will play Fanny Brice in Funny Girl. This will be the first time the musical has been revived on Broadway since it wrapped its run nearly six decades ago. Ironically, Feldstein played the lead role at her 3rd birthday party “in a head-to-toe leopard print outfit (her) mom made for (her)…(so it) is truly (her) lifelong dream come true. (Variety)

That’s it. Enjoy!

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