Hey there,
Here are the news items for this past week:
GENERAL NEWS
Donald Trump has become the only president in US history to be impeached TWICE (and deservedly so!) after inciting the insurrection/riots on Washington DC and the Capitol Building. (TV Line)
PROGRAMMING NEWS
For years The CW had been airing crossover episodes of their DC shows, but this year the planned crossover between Batwoman and the new drama Superman & Lois will not be happening due to the pandemic. It was also announced that Kara Danvers (aka Supergirl) will not be dropping by Gotham on Batwoman anytime soon. (TV Line)
RENEWALS/CANCELLATION
TNT has renewed Animal Kingdom for its 6th and final season. (Variety)
OWN has renewed Queen Sugar for a 6th season. (Variety)
The last half of season 8 of the Tyler Perry drama The Haves and the Haves Nots will be the OWN dramas last. There will be no season 9. (TV Line)
DEVELOPMENT NEWS
FX has ordered a limited series about the infamous punk band The Sex Pistols. The 6-episode series will be based on the Steve Jones 2018 memoir Lonely Boy: Tales from a Sex Pistols with Academy Award winner Danny Boyle set to direct and executive produce. The limited series, Titled “Pistol,” will star Toby Wallace as Steve Jones, Anson Boon as John “Johnny Rotten” Lydon, Louis Partridge as Sid Vicious, Jacob Slater as Paul Cook, Fabien Frankel as Glen Matlock, Dylan Llewellyn as Wally Nightingale, Sydney Chandler as Chrissie Hynde, Emma Appleton as Nancy Spungen, and Maisie Williams as punk icon Jordan. (Variety)
Netflix has ordered a series adaptation of The Lincoln Lawyer with David E. Kelley as co-writer and executive producer. Manuel Garcia-Rulfo will star as Mickey Haller, an iconoclastic idealist, who runs his law practice out of the back seat of his Lincoln Town Car as he takes on cases big and small across the expansive city of Los Angeles. The series is based on the best-selling novels by author Michael Connelly. (Variety)
HBO Max has given a series order to a new drama based on the life of legendary chef Julia Child, who will be played by British actress Sarah Lancashire. The show has been given an 8-episode order, and the cast include David Hyde Pierce, Bebe Neuwirth, Isabella Rossellini, Jefferson Mays and Fran Kranz. (Variety)
TV CASTING NEWS
Actor Xander Berkeley (24 and The Walking Dead) will appear in the upcoming new series The Republic of Sarah, which centers on a small New Hampshire town that is thrust onto the world stage when the discovery of a valuable resource within its borders compels the residents to declare themselves an independent nation. He will recur as Paul, the father of Sarah (Stella Baker) and Danny (Luke Mitchell), who has been long absent from the lives of his family. (Deadline and The Futon Critic)
Actor Luke James has been promoted to series regular as the character of Trig on the Showtime series The Chi. (Deadline)
Actor Jon Cor (Shadowhunters and several Hallmark Channel movies) will have a recurring role on the upcoming season of The Flash on The CW. He will play the role of Mark Stevens aka Chillblaine, who is described as a charismatic bad boy obsessed with cryogenic technology, who, when he’s not breaking into corporate safes, he’s busy breaking hearts with his irresistible charm and roguish style. Armed with his own cold weapons, he’ll become a new thorn in the side of Team Flash as the DC Comics villain Chillblaine. (TV Line)
Succession has added three new cast members for its upcoming 3rd season. Sanaa Lathan will play Lisa Arthur, a high profile well-connected New York lawyer; Linda Emond will play Michelle-Anne Vanderhoven, a senior White House aide; and Jihae will play Berry Schneider, a leading public relations consultant. Jihae is a highly-regarded musician, having released four albums and performing at major events like the London Olympics and the Cannes Film Festival. (Variety)
Actress Peyton Elizabeth Lee (Andi Mack and Secret Society of Second-Born Royals) has landed the lead role in the Doogie Howser reboot at Disney+. Doogie Kamealoha, M.D. will focus on Lahela “Doogie” Kameāloha, a mixed race 16-year-old girl who works as a doctor in Hawaii. The 10-episode ½ hour comedy follows “Doogie” as she juggles a budding medical career and life as a teenager. (Variety)
Actor Ethan Hawke has landed a leading role in the Moon Knight series at Disney+, but the exact details of what character he will play is being kept under wraps. Moon Knight tells the story of Marc Spector (Oscar Isaac), an elite soldier and mercenary who decides to fight crime after he becomes the human avatar of Khonshu, the Egyptian god of the moon. (Variety)
Season 3 of The Umbrella Academy will consist of 10 episodes and a handful of new characters, who are members of the Sparrow Academy. As viewers may recall (SPOILER ALERT FOR THOSE WHO HAVEN’T SEEN SEASON 2 YET!!), at the end of the 2nd season, the original adopted children of Sir Reginald Hargreeves (Colm Feore) returned from their trip to the 1960s to find their disruption of the timeline yet again caused some major changes, namely in the creation of a class of Sparrows — one that included Ben (series regular Justin H. Min), who had previously died. Those new cast members follow along with the details of their characters, as well as details about the new version of Ben:
Ben aka Sparrow No. 2 is not the sweet one audiences have come to know and love. This Ben is a Machiavellian tactician, wrapped up in a pretty boy body with a rumbling inner-squid. Vicious, pragmatic, and hyper-vigilant, Ben is determined to gain his status as the leader at all costs.
Justin Cornwell (Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey, The In-Between and I Am the Night) will play Marcus, aka Sparrow No. 1, who is charming, chiseled and colossus, but also honest, virtuous and demanding. He will keep this family of children with special abilities together. He is disciplined, rational and in control, oozing confidence and leadership without ever having to raise his voice.
Britne Oldford (Blindspot and The Flash) will play Fei, aka Sparrow No. 3, a woman who sees the world in a special way and comes across as a misanthrope who would rather be alone than spend even a second with you; but, deep down, she wishes she did have a friend. Most of the time she will be the smartest person in the room and willing to work things out, until she is crossed.
Jake Epstein (Degrassi: The Next Generation, Designated Survivor and Suits) will play Alphonso, Sparrow No. 4, a man who spent years fighting crime, which has left him physically scarred by battles but also with a caustic and biting sense of humor. The only thing he likes better than verbally battering anyone foolish enough to get in his face, is a good pizza and a six-pack of beer.
Genesis Rodriguez (the box office movie Man on a Ledge and the Quibi series The Fugitive) will play Sloane, Sparrow No. 5, who is romantic; a dreamer, who feels a higher cosmic calling that leaves her eager to see the world and experience life beyond her upbringing. It is obligations to her fellow Sparrows (and fear of crossing a family line) that keep her tethered to the Academy.
And, relative newcomer Cazzie David will play Jayme, Sparrow No. 6, a loner hidden under a hoodie, who is not one to say much because she doesn’t have to: she has a fear-inducing snarl. She is as smart and sharp as a knife”and as someone who spends most time with Alphonso.
There will also be a new piece of VFX in season 3 billed as “Existential Dread-Inducing Psykronium Cube,” aka Sparrow No. 7, otherwise known as Christopher, who is a telekinetic cube of unknown origin that can turn the room freezing cold and induce paralyzing fear. But among the family, he acts as a consulted oracle, hands out incredible advice, and serves as the family mediator. To the Sparrows he is trustworthy and loyal, but like all of them he is a force with which to be reckoned. (Variety)
MOVIE CASTING NEWS
Actress Nicole Kidman and actor Javier Bardem are expected to appear as iconic Hollywood couple Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz in the upcoming movie called Being the Ricardos that will take place during a production week on the set of “I Love Lucy,” starting with a Monday table read through an audience shoot on Friday. (Variety)
Netflix is developing a film adaptation of the award-winning musical Matilda, based on the beloved Roald Dahl book. Newcomer Alisha Weir will play the title role, a young girl whose vivid imagination, powers of telekinesis, and love for reading clash with her small-minded parents and abusive school principal, Miss Trunchbull, who will be played by the one and only Emma Thompson. Lashana Lynch (Captain Marvel and 007’s No Time To Die) will play Matilda’s kindly teacher Miss Honey. (Entertainment Weekly)
It looks like the MCU (that’s the Marvel Cinematic Universe, in case you’re not familiar) is eyeing to have Chris Evans (who hung up his shield as Captain America in Avengers: Endgame) return in some “nebulous capacity.” He won’t anchor his own movie, but will show up in another Avengers stand-alone adventure. (Variety and Deadline)
MOVIE NEWS
Netflix has landed the worldwide rights to the Gal Gadot-led espionage thriller Heart of Stone, which is now the second major movie that Skydance Media has siphoned off this week. The other movie is The Tomorrow War, a sci-fi spectacle that will star Chris Pratt. (Variety)
That’s it. Enjoy!