Rueben's Ramblings

Hey All,

Here are the entertainment news items for this past week:

CANCELLATION NEWS

NBC has pulled the plug on the medical drama Brilliant Minds, but the network will air the remaining six episodes of the show’s current second season with the series finale set to air on NBC on July 1. (Deadline)

BOX OFFICE MOVIE NEWS

Diego Luna (Andor) has joined the cast of the upcoming Disney+ live action movie Tangled that will find Teagan Croft and Milo Manheim in the lead roles of Rapunzel and Flynn Rider. There are no details on what part Luna will play in the movie nor are their details on the plot of the movie just yet. (Deadline)

Corey Mylchreest (Queen Charlotte) and Daniela Melchior (2024’s Road House) will star in the romantic dramedy A Night in Porto that will follow two former lovers who unexpectedly reunite on a Christmas night in Porto. Their encounter sparks a reflective journey into whether life offers second chances at happiness. (Deadline)

Vanessa Kirby (The Crown and Fantastic Four: First Steps) and Lewis Pullman (Lessons in Chemistry) will star in the feature film The Spacesuit follows an astronaut (Kirby), who is forced to make an impossible decision after an incident with her co-pilot (Pullman) leaves an indelible stain on a mission in the days leading up to lift off, setting off a tense race against the clock. (Deadline)

Chris Evans will star in the crime-thriller flick My Darling California, which already stars Jessica Chastain, Chris Pine, Oscar winner Mikey Madison, Charles Melton and Don Cheadle. Set in Los Angeles 1980, the film will chart how a single crime weaves together the lives of a TV host, his restless wife, a country music idol, two small-time crooks and an ex-con, all of whom are chasing the promise of a better life.  (Deadline)

Matthew Goode, Grey’s Anatomy alum Kate Walsh, Robert Patrick, Justin Bartha, Desperate Housewife’s alum Nicolle Sheridan and Yellowstone alum Ian Bohen [among others] have joined the cast of the indie drama flick Hal that will also star Alexander Ludwig and Emma Roberts. The movie is inspired by the true story behind the founding of humanitarian organization Convoy of Hope, following Hal Donaldson (Ludwig), a journalist shaped by early hardship who believes his voice is his path forward. When he meets Doree (Roberts), a gifted musician, their relationship becomes the foundation that steadies him as his career takes him to places marked by deep suffering. Character details are being kept under wraps, though. (Deadline)

STRAIGHT-TO-SERIES ORDER

Netflix has given a straight-to-series order for the new drama Lovesick based on the Israeli series The Best Worst Thing that will star Homeland alum Claire Danes in a story that is being described as a romantic epic that will follow the intense affair between two people whose lives unexpectedly intertwine. Annika (Danes), a renowned breast cancer surgeon, has just received her own cancer diagnosis. Her new patient, Nate, is a promising politician. No word yet on who will play Nate, though. (Variety)

DEVELOPMENT NEWS

It looks like Netflix is planning to move forward with a prequel to The Crown that will focus on the period from Queen Victoria’s death in 1901 through the wedding of the future Queen Elizabeth to Prince Philip in 1947. (Town & Country)

PICK UP ORDER

Jason Priestley will be back on the CW, starring in the Canadian spin-off series Private Eyes West Coast, reprising his role of Matt Shade alongside his Private Eyes co-star Cindy Sampson, who is returning as Angie Everett. The 10 episode series is expected to air on the CW later this year and has already been renewed by its Canadian home, Corus Entertainment, for a second season. In this spin-offf, Shade (Priestley) and Angie (Sampson) have left behind their P.I. firm and settled into a new life on the West Coast, but their new quiet life is shaken when a night out lands them at the scene of a murder. A woman stands over her dead boyfriend with a bloody steak knife in hand. Believing in her innocence, Shade and Angie dive headfirst back into the high-stakes world of investigation. (Deadline)

TV CASTING NEWS

Laura Dern (Palm Royale) has joine the cast of the fourth season of The White Lotus, seemingly taking the place of Helena Bonham Carter, who exited the series shortling after season four began filming. Dern will not be taking over Bonham Cater’s role, but will play a new character being developed by series creator Mike White. (Variety)

Michael Beach (Tulsa King) has joined the cast of the FOX drama The Interrogator that will center on former MI6 agent Conrad Henry (Stephen Fry) and his elite team. When conventional methods have failed, Henry’s quirky charm, superior intellect, and mind-bending behavioral maneuvers make him the only man able to lockpick the minds of the world’s most dangerous criminals. Beach will play Louis, the first member of Henry’s team. (Deadline)

That’s it. Enjoy!

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Hey All,

Here are the entertainment news items for this past week:

CANCELLATION

Amazon Prime has pulled the plug on The Boys spin-off series Gen V after only two seasons. (Deadline)

TV CASTING NEWS

Julianna Margulies has joined season three of the Hulu drama Paradise, but details on the role she will play are being kept under wraps. (Deadline)

Ryan Phillippe will join season two of the ABC drama 9-1-1: Nashville, playing a brilliant, iconoclastic detective who moves to Nashville from New York. A seductive bad boy with a past, he’ll stir up all kinds of juicy drama with our first responders while leading an investigation into a mysterious criminal tormenting Nashville on a biblical scale. (Deadline)

David Lyons and Tobias Menzies will join Jennifer Connelly and Ana de Armas in the upcoming Apple TV thriller Safe Houses that is inspired by the espionage novel by Dan Fesperman, that will be set in the aftermath of the killing of a high-ranking CIA officer in Madrid. The show follows Sofia Jiménez (De Armas), a fugitive agent accused of the crime, and Ambassador Elizabeth Winters (Connelly), his widow, as they each investigate the murder from opposite sides, unraveling a vast conspiracy that could upend the balance of global power. Lyons will play Kevin Garvey, a special ops CIA agent while Menzies will play Elizabeth’s husband, Clarke Winters. (Deadline)

NEW DRAMA ANNOUNCEMENT

Anna Kendrick, Sam Heughan and J.K. Simmons will star in the upcoming Amazon Prime action-thriller series Embassy that will air in UK, Ireland, Canada, France, Australia and New Zealand. The series follows Layla (Kendrick), a sharp and resourceful American diplomat who faces an impossible choice to protect the U.S. Ambassador (Simmons) or follow his orders to exfiltrate a high-value asset when armed mercenaries storm the U.S. Embassy in London. She’s forced to rely on her instincts and the reluctant help of her battle-hardened ex-fiancé, Connor Wright (Heughan), in the tense hours before extraction. The cast will also include Katie McGrath and Natalie Mendoza. (Deadline)

Luke Kleintank, moving on from FBI: International, will star opposite Stephen Fry in the upcoming FOX drama The Interrogator that has been given a straight-to-series order for the 2026-2027 TV season. The series will center on former MI6 agent Conrad Henry (Fry) and his elite team. When conventional methods have failed, Henry’s quirky charm, superior intellect and mind-bending behavioral maneuvers make him the only man able to lockpick the minds of the world’s most dangerous criminals. Kleintank will play Voss, a member of Henry’s small circle of analyst-advisors. (Deadline)

That’s it. Enjoy!

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Hey All,

Here are the entertainment news items for this past week:

RENEWALS/CANCELLATIONS

Amazon Prime has given the period piece drama Young Sherlock a second season renewal. (Deadline)

PBS has given the detective series Maigret a second season renewal. (Deadline)

ABC has given season renewals to The Rookie and Will Trent, meaning The Rookie will be back for season 9 and Will Trent for season 5. (Variety)

The Paramount+ drama The Madison already aired its first season and its second season was filmed at the same time, and that 2nd season will potentially air later this year or in early 2027. In the meantime, the Taylor Sheridan-created drama has been given a 3rd season renewal. (Deadline)

MGM+ has renewed the thriller series From for a fifth and final season. (Deadline)

NBC has pulled the plug on Law & Order: Organized Crime after 5 seasons; meanwhile, Law & Order: SVU will return for a 28th season in the fall. (Deadline)

For All Mankind has been renewed for a 6th and final season. (TalkAndroid.com)

Peacock has pulled the Simu Liu-led drama The Copenhagen Test after only one season. (Variety)

DEVELOPMENT NEWS

It looks like CBS is planning to grow the Fire Country franchise as the network is in the very early stages of developing another show. This untitled drama would follow a medical team in the town of Edgewater, California. (Deadline)

PILOT NEWS

Erin Kellyman (Eleanor the Great) and country singer and actor Tim McGraw (1883) will star alongside Kevin Bacon in the upcoming Hulu drama pilot Southern Bastards which will follow a tenacious military vet into Craw County, Alabama, in search of her estranged father. What she finds is a murderous hornet’s nest of organized crime run by the winningest high school football coach in the South. Kellyman will play Roberta while McGraw will play Coach Boss. Bacon will play Earl, the son of the legendary Sheriff Bert, who ruled Craw County with an iron fist. (Deadline)

NEW INTERNATIONAL SERIES NEWS

A new sci-fi thriller will be airing on the BBC with Gugu Mbatha-Raw (Loki), Stuart Martin (Miss Scarlet and the Duke) and Iain De Caestecker (Agents of SHIELD and The Winter King) starring. Sutherland, the six-part series, will be set in the near future in the far north of Scotland, where Mbatha-Raw will play Mirren, who works as flight director at Paravel Space Hub for the UK’s first crewed mission to the stars. Martin will play local detective Logan, who is drawn back into Mirren’s world as a decades-old conspiracy begins to emerge while De Caestecker will play the central role of Callum. Just hours after launch, however, a series of unexplained events throws Sutherland into turmoil, threatening everything she has worked towards. There are no details on when the U.S. will get to see the show, though. (Radio Times)

BOX OFFICE NEWS

The Lin-Manuel Miranda-directed film Octet will include an impressive cast including Jonathan Groff (Glee and Hamilton), Rachel Zegler (West Side Story), Sheryl Lee Ralph (Abbott Elementary and Dreamgirls), Gaten Matarazzo (Stranger Things), Amanda Seyfried (Veronica Mars and The Housemaid), Phillipa Soo (Hamilton and Doctor Odyssey), Paul-Jordan Jansen (Broadway’s & Juliet and Sweeney Todd) and Tramell Tillman (Severance). The movie will follow eight internet-obsessed people meet in a church basement and lock their phones in a box. The musical follows the octet as they struggle with digital dependency, charting their compulsions using only the analog vibrancy of their own voices.  (Variety)

Adria Arjona (Andor) has landed the role of Maxima in the upcoming Superman sequel Man of Tomorrow. Maxima is the warrior queen from the planet Almerac. In the comic books, she arrives on Earth in search of a suitable mate and quickly sets her sights on, of course, Superman. (Deadline)

The White Lotus and Gen V alum Patrick Schwarzenegger and Bridgerton alum Phoebe Dynevor will star in the upcoming rom-com Beach Road, based on the best-selling novel from Emily Henry that follows January Andrews, a successful romance novelist who struggles with grief and writer’s block after her father’s death and the discovery of secrets he’s long kept hidden. While spending the summer in his Michigan beach house to prepare it for sale, she unexpectedly reconnects with Gus Everett, an author who was once her rival in college. Both creatively stuck, they agree to a writing challenge over the summer, swapping literary genres while promising that there will be no romance between them. (Deadline)

The upcoming biopic Good Thing will star Cate Blanchett as Martha Stewart. (Variety)

The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum will feature Jamie Dornan (the Fifty Shades franchise and Belfast) as Strider (an alias used by Aragorn, which was played in the original movies by Viggo Mortensen) and Leo Woodall (One Day and Vladimir) as Halvard. Andy Serkis will reprise his role of Gollum (and will direct the movie as well) along with Elijah Wood and Ian McKellen reprising their roles of Frodo and Gandalf, respectively. The movie will follow Aragorn’s perilous quest to capture Gollum before the creature can reveal the Ring’s location to Sauron. The story is set between The Hobbit and The Fellowship of the Ring. (Deadline)

The animated feature film Hexed from Disney has announced that Hailee Steinfeld and Rashida Jones will provide their voices in a story that will follow a teenager and her Type-A mom as they discover that what makes her unusual might just be magical powers that will turn their lives and a secret world of magic, upside down. (Deadline)

The upcoming Rambo prequel film that will have Noah Centineo (To All the Boys franchise and Black Adam) in the title role has added Stranger Things and Thunderbolts alum David Harbour to its cast as Major Trautman, the commanding officer Rambo. (Deadline)

TV CASTING NEWS

Michelle Monaghan (The Family Plan and The White Lotus) has joined the third season of the Apple TV Jon Hamm-led drama Your Friends & Neighbors, but details about what role she will play are being kept under wraps. (Deadline)

Josh Charles (FOX’s medical drama Best Medicine) has joined the cast of the upcoming Netflix drama The 99’ers, which will tell the story of the inspirational 1999 U.S. Women’s Soccer Team. What role he will play is being kept under wraps, but he joins previously announced cast members Emily Bader, Emilia Jones, Lizzy Greene, Isabelle Fuhrman and Alessandro Nivola. (Deadline)

Original Baywatch alum Erika Eleniak will reprise her role as Shauni McClain, the former Baywatch lifeguard who is now a Santa Monica city councilwoman who returns to the beach to help Hobie Buchannon (Arrow’s Stephen Amell) kick off the annual “Beach Games” in the reboot of the series that will air on NBC. (Variety)

Ethan Embry (That Thing You Do and Sweet Home Alabama) has landed a series regular role in the Amazon Prime thriller Cross, the Aldis Hodge-led drama based on the legendary character created by author James Patterson. He will play Frederick, a charismatic sobriety coach known for leading with tough love. Strong, resilient, and generous with his time, he is widely admired for making others feel seen. (Deadline)

That’s it. Enjoy!

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Hey All,

Here are the entertainment news items for this past week:

RENEWALS

UPtv has given its new drama Blue Skies a second season renewal. (UPtv Press Release)

FOX has given the new Patrick Dempsey-led drama Memory of a Killer a second season renewal. (Deadline)

TV CASTING NEWS

Amanda Arcuri, who plays the daughter of Sheriff Mickey Fox and Ian Quinlan who plays Hank Iglesias on Sheriff Country have been promoted to series regulars for its second season, which will happen this fall on CBS. (Deadline)

Lost alum Nester Carbonell has joined the season 5 cast of the Paramount+ drama Mayor of Kingstown, where he will play the recurring role of Enrique Molina, a boss who comes to Kingstown to avenge a relative who has gone missing. (Variety)

Game of Thrones alum Lena Headey, Brat Packer Andrew McCarthy and James Lance from Ted Lasso have joined the season 3 cast of the Netflix hit series Wednesday in guest starring roles which are being kept under wraps. (Variety)

Emmy winner Peter Dinklage has joined the second season cast of the FX thriller series Alien: Earth, but details on what role he will be playing are kept tightly under wraps. (The Hollywood Reporter)

Nobody Wants This series creator, and actress herself, Erin Foster will have a recurring role in the third season of the popular dramedy, playing Nicole, a terminally single and chaotic mess along with other new recurring cast members that will include comedian-actress Sarah Silverman, playing Rabbi Eden, who teaches an intro to Judaism course and Broadway alum Andrew Rannells as Sebastien, Joanne’s nemesis in her conversion class. (The Hollywood Reporter)

Bridgerton has added three new cast members to the show’s upcoming 5th season which will focus on the love affair between Francesca Bridgerton and Michaela Stirling. Those new cast members are: Tega Alexander (The Sandman) will play Christopher Anderson, the adult son of Lord Marcus Anderson; Jacqueline Boatswain (Carnival Row) as Helen Stirling, Michaela’s mother and the very source of her spirit; and Gemma Knight Jones (Mobland) as Lady Elizabeth Ashworth, an old friend of Michaela’s who serves as her confidante and London guide. (Variety)

The Pitt alum Katherine LaNasa and Lou Diamond Phillips will star alongside Shailene Woodley in the upcoming Hulu limited series Count My Lies which will focus on what happens when compulsive liar Sloane Caraway (Woodley) fibs her way into a nanny position for the gorgeous and charismatic Violet (Lindsay Lohan) and Jay Lockhart (Kit Harington). It seems she’s finally landed her dream job, but little does Sloane know, she’s just entered a household brimming with secrets that are about to explode, with potentially catastrophic consequences for all. LaNasa will play Sloane’s mom Tracy and Phillips will play Tracy’s boyfriend Paul. (Deadline)

BOX OFFICE MOVIE NEWS

Chris Hemsworth, Taron Egerton, Zazie Beetz and Alec Baldwin will all appear in the feature film Kockroach that will be a New York-set crime pic, based on the William Lashner novel, about a mysterious stranger who takes on the city’s criminal underworld, transforming himself into a larger-than-life boss in a city where power is everything. (Deadline)

Scarlett Johansson, Sam Rockwell and Tom Waits will lend their voices to the upcoming Brad Bird-directed animated film Ray Gunn, which will be set in Metropia, a gigantic city in an alternate future as seen from 1939, where private eye Raymond Gunn is drawn into a case involving aliens, murder and a multimedia star named Venus Nova. (Variety)

Amanda Seyfried will provide her voice, playing Cinderella in the Netflix animated feature Steps that will be a twist on Cinderella’s evil stepsisters, following Lilith, who is blamed for hijacking the Royal Ball with a stolen magic wand. She accidentally turns her sister, Margot, into a frog and leaves the kingdom in the hands of a prince-obsessed mean girl. Now Lilith must team up with Cinderella, and a surprisingly dreamy troll, to save the kingdom, repair the fractured fairytale and prove that even so-called “villains” deserve a shot at happily-ever-after. (Variety)

Captain America’s Anthony Mackie and Logan alum Dafne Keen will star in the action-thriller flick Barracuda that will focus on what happens when Karl (Mackie), a former smuggler with a haunted past, storms a nightclub in Mexico to rescue Jodie (Keen), a kidnapped teenage girl. He ignites a chain reaction of blood and bullets that burns across 100 miles of deadly roads toward the U.S. border. The breakout turns into a high-speed race when Karl kills the brother of the ruthless club owner and steals his prized 1973 Plymouth Barracuda. Now hunted by relentless criminals, Karl and Jodie tear across the desert with no way to slow down. (Deadline)

The upcoming thriller film Ally Clark will include among its cast Viola Davis, Jason Clarke and Benjamin Bratt as well as Jefferson White (Yellowstone), Chris Sullivan (This Is Us), Lily Santiago (La Brea), Peter Macon (Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes), Alice Halsey (Netflix’s upcoming Little House on the Prairie), and Sydney Lemmon (Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. & Carolyn Bessette). THe movie will take viewers from the towering skyscrapers of New York City to the sweltering bayous of Louisiana and the icy peaks of Alaska, following an investigator of the same name, played by Davis, as she embarks on a perilous inquiry into an international conglomerate following the suspicious death of a close friend. (Deadline)

That’s it. Enjoy!

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Hey All,

Here are the entertainment news items for this past week:

RENEWAL

Believe it or not, but ABC has renewed Grey’s Anatomy for a 23rd season. (Variety)

TV CASTING NEWS

Twilight alum Xavier Samuel has joined the cast of the upcoming Amzon Prime thriller drama Bishop that will star Altered Carbon and For All Man Kind alum Joel Kinnaman as homicide detective Bishop Graves, brilliant but battle-scarred, who will put all of his skills to the test in the hunt for an elusive killer targeting San Francisco’s moneyed class. As this increasingly audacious killer develops a devoted following among the city’s powerless, Bishop becomes convinced these murders connect back to SF’s most powerful man, his own father, Lincoln Graves (John Malkovich). Samuel will play Anthony ‘Ant’ Graves, Bishop Graves’ younger brother. (Deadline)

Look like Netflix is working on a new Peaky Blinders series with Jamie Bell (Washington’s Spies and Rocketman) taking over the role of Duke Shelby, the eldest son of Tommy Shelby (played by Cillian Murphy) [played by Conrad Khan in the final season of the original series and Barry Keoghan in the follow-up movie). (Deadline)

The Pitt will see some changes as Supriya Ganesh, who plays senior resident Dr. Samira Mohan, will be leaving the show at the end of the show’s current second season while Ayesha Harris, who plays senior night shift resident Dr. Parker Ellis, has been promoted to series regular for the show’s upcoming third season. (Variety)

Succession veteran actor Brian Cox has joined the second season of Dexter: Resurrection where he will play the series regular role of The New York Ripper, a serial killer who terrorized the City years ago. Though no longer active as a killer, he’s found a new way to live into his infamy by continuing to taunt the survivors of his long-ago murder spree. (Deadline)

The Boys prequel series Vough Rising that will air on Amazon Prime has added some new cast members including James Wolk (Zoo and Ordindary Joe), Josh Randall (Ed and Station 19), Dylan Arnold (Lady in the Lake) and Chad Willett (Beyond and the upcoming series Off Campus). The series will feature Jensen Ackles as Soldier Boy and Aya Cash as Stormfront, but there are no details about what roles any of these actors will play in the prequel, though. (Deadline)

MADE-FOR-TV MOVIE NEWS

The streaming service Tubi has a spooky teen movie coming up based on the 1989 Christopher Pike young adult novel Remember Me that will star Brec Bassinger (Stargirl) and Charlie Gillespie (Julie and the Phantoms). Bassinger will play Shari Cooper, who is dead. Like, fell from the top of a high-rise to the street below, dead. And one of her friends is her killer. Now she has to solve her own murder from beyond the grave, before the relentless, soul-sucking Shadow that’s stalking her gets to her first.” (Variety)

That’s it. Enjoy!

Read Full Post »

Hey All,

Here are the entertainment news items for this past week:

RENEWALS/CANCELLATIONS

AMC has pulled the plug on Talamasca: The Secret Order after only one season. (Variety)

CBS has pulled the plug on the medical drama Watson after two seasons while the new spin-off series CIA has been renewed for a second season. (Variety and Deadline)

Paramount+ has given School Spirits a fourth season renewal while Star Trek: Starfleet Academy will come to an end after its second season. (The Hollywood Reporter)

NBC has renewed Chicago Fire, Chicago Med and Chicago P.D. for new seasons. (Deadline)

Disney+ has given Wonder Man a second season renewal. (Variety)

For All Mankind has been renewed for its 6th and final season by Apple TV. (Deadline)

TV CASTING NEWS

Oscar winner Mahersala Ali has joined the second season of the Mark Ruffalo-led HBO crime drama Task. (Variety)

Will & Grace alum Sean Hayes has joined the cast of The Morning Show for its upcoming 5th season, playing Wyatt, Bro’s (Boyd Holbrook) quick-witted older brother and manager. (Deadline)

Mary McCormack (The West Wing and In Plain Sight) will appear in the second season of the hit medical drama The Pitt on HBO Max. She will play neurosurgeon Dr. Linda Conley. Also, Sara Wyle, the real life wife of star Noah Wyle, will appear as ER patient Ashley Davis. (TV Line)

Chris Lee, who plays tech whiz Randy in the CBS drama Tracker, has been promoted to series regular. (Deadline)

Lost alum Sonya Walger will have the recurring role of Freya in the Amazon Prime live-action TV series God of War. (Variety)

Both Kim Raver and Kevin McKidd will be leaving the long-in-the-tooth ABC medical drama Grey’s Anatomy at the end of this season. They were informed of their leaving about a month ago, and their last appearances will be on the show’s upcoming season finale. (Deadline)

The MGM+ series Bosch: Start of Watch has added a few familiar faces to its cast, including Once Upon a Time alum Raphael Sbarge, Castle alum Seamus Dever and Chuck alum Ryan McPartlin. This prequel series will be set in 1991 Los Angeles, following 26-year-old Harry Bosch (Shameless’s Cameron Monaghan) during his earliest days as a rookie cop. Sbarge will play Sergeant “Sunshine” Finn, a cold and meticulous sergeant whose rigid, detail-oriented standards spark fear in rookies. Dever will play Officer Hastings, aka “Mr. Fix It”, a blunt, no-nonsense training officer assigned to boots on the brink of not passing probation. And, McPartlin will play Detective Mike Garner, a pigheaded CRASH detective who quickly shuts Bosch down for overstepping. (Deadline)

MOVIE NEWS

Vanessa Kirby (The Crown) and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II (Wonder Man and Aquaman) will star in the Apple sci-fi action-thriller Liminal, which will take place in a world where a tenth of the population suddenly gains telepathic powers as a result of electromagnetic disturbance. (Deadline)

Tom Hanks will appear in an upcoming box office movie based on the short story The Comebacker by Pulitzer Prize finalist Dave Eggers, which will be directed by Marielle Heller for whom Hanks worked with on the 2019 box office movie A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood. Rapper Bad Bunny and Emmy winner Colman Domingo are also eyeing roles in the project. (Variety)

DEVELOPMENT NEWS

Looks like Netflix is planning a reboot of the Jennifer Garner flick 13 Going on 30 with Lady Jane and People We Meet on Vacation alum Emily Bader and Hunters alum Logan Lerman in the lead roles. Garner will also serve as an executive producer. Plot details for the film reboot are under wraps, though. (Deadline)

Looks like filmmaker Ryan Coogler (the Oscar nominated Sinners) is working on a TV reboot of The X-Files with Himesh Patel (Yesterday and The Franchise) and Danielle Deadwyler (Till) set to star in the production that will focus on the unlikely bond formed when two people are assigned to a long-shuttered division devoted to cases involving unexplained phenomena. (Deadline)

That’s it. Enjoy!

Read Full Post »

Hey All,

Here are the entertainment news items for this past week:

RENEWALS

Amazon Prime has given a third season renewal to Cross. (Variety)

Hulu has given Paradise a third season renewal. (Variety)

TV CASTING NEWS

Grey’s Anatomy alum Jesse Williams has joined the 5th season cast of The Morning Show. He will play Vernon, UBN’s newest Head of News, who is known as a brash pot-stirrer with a talent for grabbing and keeping an audience. (Deadline)

Veteran actress Judith Light has joined the cast of the Apple TV drama Presumed Innocent for its upcoming second season, but details about her character are being kept under wraps. (Variety)

Heated Rivalry star Hudson Williams, Dirty Dancing alum Jennifer Grey, Terry Chen (Almost Famous) and character actor (and cousin to Tom Cruise) William Mapother [among others] have joined the cast of the upcoming Netflix limited series The Altruists, which will be about Sam Bankman-Fried, the “poster boy” of cryptocurrency who was convicted of fraud and related crimes. The series will focus on Bankman-Fried (Anthony Boyle) and Caroline Ellison (Julia Garner), two hyper-smart, ambitious young idealists who tried to remake the global financial system in the blink of an eye before they were accused of stealing $8 billion and became the Bonnie & Clyde of Gen Z.  (Deadline)

Some familiar faces will be showing up in season three of the CBS drama Elsbeth, including Broadway legend Patti LuPone, Ugly Betty alum Michael Urie and Madam Secretary cast member Erich Bergen. LuPone will play Ruby Lane, a legendary New York cabaret performer who makes her home in the hotel where she sings. Urie will play Monty Blakemont III, a dashing art connoisseur and philanthropist. And, Bergen will play Otis Langley, a TV personality and celebrity reporter with a charming smile and a nasty reputation. (Deadline)

The upcoming 5th season of the Netflix series The Lincoln Lawyer has added new cast members, including Doom Patrol alum Diane Guerrero, Richard Cabral (Mayans), Steve Howey (High Potential) and veteran actor Corbin Bernsen [among others]. Cobie Smulders, who was introduced in the recent 4th season finale, has been promoted to series regular for the new, upcoming season. There are no specific details about the roles these new cast members will play other than their names. (Deadline)

Amazon Prime is planning a limited series about astronaut Sally Ride with Twilight actress Kristen Stewart set for the lead role. (The Hollywood Reporter)

Netflix has announced additions to its upcoming live-action Scooby Doo cast, which already stars Mckenna Grace as Daphne Blake. Tanner Hagen (The Pitt and Dark Light) will play Shaggy Rogers; Abby Ryder Fortson (Are You There God? It’s Me Margaret) will play Velma Dinkley and Maxwell Jenkins (Lost in Space) will play Fred Jones. (Deadline)

PILOT CASTING NEWS

Actor Felix Solis, best known for The Rookie, Ozark and The Rookie: Feds, has joined the NBC pilot The Rockford Files where he will play the James Rockford’s (to be played by Angel and SEAL Team star David Boreanaz) best friend Nitty. (Deadline)

BOX OFFICE NEWS

The upcoming animated movie Minions & Monsters (from the long-running Minions franchise) will feature voices provided by Allison Janney, Christoph Waltz, Jeff Bridges, Zoey Deutch, Jesse Eisenberg and Trey Parker. (Deadline)

Looks like a sequel movie for A Minecraft Movie is in the works and Kirsten Dunst has officially joined the cast. There are no details on who she will play or what the movie will be about, though. (Variety)

That’s it. Enjoy!

Read Full Post »

Hey All,

Here are the entertainment news items for this past week:

RENEWALS

CBS has already given the brand new drama, and Yellowstone spin-off series, Marshals a second season renewal. (Deadline)

FOX has given the medical drama Doc a third season renewal. (Deadline)

The new period piece drama The Forsytes, which will debut on PBS next Sunday, has a second and third season coming up in the UK, and hopefully US viewers will eventually get to see those seasons at a later time. (Deadline)

NOT MOVING FORWARD

The Buffy the Vampire Slayer reboot that was to bring Sarah Michelle Gellar back to her role from the original series along with newcomer Ryan Kiera Armstrong in the lead role is not moving forward at Hulu. The news arrives a year after the streamer ordered a pilot for the project. The decision follows weeks of speculation about the fate of the pilot. (Deadline)

DEVELOPMENT NEWS

Fans of Firefly and Serenity have been seeing short videos of Nathan Fillion and several of his cast mates from this classic TV series and its sequel movie on social media recently, and now we know what’s actually going on. Fillion and his production banner Collision33 along with married writing-producing team Marc Guggenheim (Arrow) and Tara Butters (Agent Carter), who will serve as showrunners, are in advanced development on an animated Firefly series that will be set in the timeline between the original 2002 television run and its 2005 feature film continuation, Serenity, expanding the universe while preserving continuity with the established lore. Fillion will be joined by all of his cast members including Alan Tudyk, Gina Torres, Jewel Staite, Morena Baccarin, Sean Maher, Summer Glau and Adam Baldwin. The fully assembled package is expected to be taken out to buyers shortly. (Deadline)

TV CASTING NEWS

Noah Beck (Sidelined and Sidelined 2), Brooks Nader (Love They Nader), Shay Mitchell (the original Pretty Little Liars) and Livvy Dunne (social media star and gymnast) have all been cast in the Baywatch sequel series on FOX, which will star Arrow alum Stephen Amell as the grown-up Hobie Buchannon (small screen son of original series star David Hasselhoff in his legendary role Mitch Buchannon). Beck will play Luke, a rookie lifeguard, and the youngest in a family of firefighters who chose the beach over the firehouse. Nader will play Selene, the sharp-tongued Captain of the Zuma Beach lifeguards; she and Baywatch Captain Hobie Buchannon have a very different approach to saving lives that is a constant source of friction. Mitchell will play Trina, a former lawyer who walked away from a white-shoe law firm to become a full-time lifeguard. And Dunne will have the recurring role of Grace, a highly enthusiastic junior lifeguard. (Deadline and Variety)

Jordana Brewster (Fast & Furious franchise) and Jennifer Jason Leigh (Single White Female) have joined the cast of the upcoming Amazon Prime drama series Bishop, which was recently given a greenlight. Joel Kinnaman (Altered Carbon and The Killing) and legendary actor John Malkovich also star. Kinnaman will play homicide detective Bishop Graves, who puts all of his skills to the test in the hunt for an elusive killer targeting San Francisco’s moneyed class. As this increasingly audacious killer develops a devoted following among the city’s powerless, Bishop becomes convinced these murders connect back to SF’s most powerful man, his own father, Lincoln Graves (Malkovich). Brewster will play Kat Claiborne, a seasoned inspector at the San Francisco Police Department and Leigh will play Lincoln Graves’ sister, and aunt to Bishop. (Deadline)

Zuri Red (National Treasure: Edge of History) will play the younger version of Tasha in the Starz spin-off prequel Power: Origins, which will be centered around the early years of the two lead characters from the original series, James “Ghost” St. Patrick (played by Omari Hardwick) and Tommy Egan (Joseph Sikora), who will be played in their younger years by Spence Moore II and Charlie Mann, respectively. (Deadline)

Jane the Virgin alum Gina Rodriguez will appear in the season finale of Matlock, but what role she will play is being kept under wraps. (Variety)

Oscar winner Tommy Lee Jones will make his first TV appearance in nearly four decades in the FX Ethan Hawke-led drama The Lowdown, but there are no details on what role he will play. (Deadline)

Blair Underwood will join the cast of the FOX medical drama Doc for its newly announced third season, playing Dr. Ben Grant, a world-class trauma and cardiothoracic surgeon with an ego that somehow outpaces even his resume. A once-in-a-generation talent with the swagger to match, he doesn’t just save lives, he owns the OR. Impossibly magnetic and even more confident, he’s never not been the smartest person in the room until he meets Dr. Amy Larsen (series lead Molly Parker). Almost instantly, their approaches clash, egos collide, and sparks fly like Westside has never seen. Together, their brilliance is unmatched —as long as they can survive each other. He will appear in the show’s second season two-hour finale and then will be a series regular in the third season. (Deadline)

9-1-1 alum Lou Ferrigno Jr. has been cast in Season 2 of the HBO Max medical drama The Pitt, playing orthopedic surgeon Dr. Brendon Park. (TV Line)

Brillian Minds – which will be back at the end of May – has announced that Ed Begley Jr., Anne Archer, Mamie Gummer and Ana Ortiz will all appear in the final six episodes of the show’s second season. (Variety)

The Hunting Party over on NBC will see the following appear as escaped “residents” of the pit in upcoming episodes: Piper Perabo (Coyote Ugly and Yellowstone), Kevin McHale (Glee), John Corbett (Sex and the City and My Big Fat Greek Wedding) and ventriloquist comedian Jeff Dunham will be one of the victims. (Variety)

Marco Grazzini and Lauren Hammersley will be leaving Virgin River after the show’s current season which is airing on Netflix, meaning they will not be the show’s 8th season, but both could return in subsequent seasons. (Deadline)

Merle Dandridge (Station 19 and The Last of Us) has joined the cast of the USA Network series The Rainmaker as a series regular, playing Amanda Vonn, a powerhouse attorney who provides a fresh gateway to power for Sarah (Madison Iseman) and a new kind of adversary for Rudy (Milo Callaghan). (Deadline)

BOX OFFICE NEWS

Universal Pictures is working on a biopic on the formative years of Bon Jovi, who emerged from humble beginnings in New Jersey to sell over 130 millions albums. (Deadline)

Aaron Pierre (Rebel Ridge and the upcoming Lanterns) will appear in the Man of Tomorrow, the sequel to the 2025 Superman movie from director James Gunn. (Deadline)

That’s it. Enjoy!

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Hey All,

Here are the entertainment news items for this past week:

RENEWALS/CANCELLATION

FOX has given the new medical dramedy Best Medicine a second season order. (Deadline)

Apple TV has pulled the plug on the Kristen Wiig comedy Palm Royale after two seasons. (Deadline)

Netflix has already given a second season renewal to the remake of Little House on the Prairie that is set to debut on streaming service on July 9. The streaming service has also given The Night Agent a 4th season renewal. (Variety)

PBS has renewed the period piece drama Miss Scarlet for its 7th and final season. (Deadline)

ABC has renewed 9-1-1 for a 10th season, renewed 9-1-1: Nashville for a second season and High Potential for a third season. (Deadline)

TV CASTING NEWS

Eliza Coupe (Happy Endings) will guest star in the final two episodes of the debut season of Best Medicine on FOX. She will play the ex of Dr. Best (series lead Josh Charles). (Deadline)

Actress Cathy Belton and actor Simon Ludders, who play Ivy Potts and Barnabus Potts respectively, in Miss Scarlet on PBS will not be returning for the show’s 7th and final season. (Grand Rapids Herald-Review)

The Netflix sports-themed drama The 99’ers have added more cast members: newcomer Julia McDermott as defender Brandi Chastain; Shaunette Renee Wilson (The Resident) as goalkeeper Briana Scurry; Perry Mattfeld (Chad Powers and In the Dark) as forward/midfielder Michelle Akers; Lizzy Greene (A Million Little Things and Ransom Canyon) as midfielder Kristine Lilly; Isabelle Fuhrman as defender Joy Fawcett and Annabel O’Hagan (Fallout) as 1999 World Cup team captain Carla Overbeck. The series, which already includes Zoey Deutch, Emily Bader and Emilia Jones, will focus on the U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team in 1999, as they defied the odds to emerge victorious in a dramatic penalty kick shootout against China in the World Cup final, under the scorching summer sun and in a stadium filled with 93,000 fans. (Deadline)

Season three of the Netflix series XO, Kitty will find Lana Condor (from To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before, the precursor to this series) reprising her role of older sister Lara Jean Covey. (The Hollywood Reporter)

Bridget Moynahan (Blue Bloods) has joined the cast of the upcoming Dan Fogelman (the creator of This Is Us) drama The Land that will air on Hulu. The show will be set inside the world of the NFL and has a generational family component to it. Chris Meloni will play the lead, the team’s head coach Danny. Moynahan is believed to be playing Belinda, Danny’s ex-wife. (Deadline)

Melissa Fumero (Brooklyn Nine-Nine) will take over the lead role recently vacated by Rosa Salazar due to scheduling conflicts alongside Criminal Minds alum Matthew Gray Gubler in the CBS drama Einstein, which will be focused on Albert Einstein’s great-grandson, to be played by Gubler. Fumero will play Teri, a Detective Inspector for the New Jersey State Police. (Deadline)

The Baywatch reboot over on FOX has added to its cast. Jessica Belkin, who will be seen in the Legally Blonde prequel series Elle, has landed the central role of Charlie Vale, the biological daughter of Baywatch captain Hobie Buchannon (Arrow’s Stephen Amell), the child he never knew. Meanwhile, Hassie Harrison (Yellowstone) will play Nat, a former foster kid turned Olympic athlete. And, newcomer Thaddeus LaGrone will play Brad, who served two tours in an elite division of the Marines before returning back home to Venice Beach to care for his ailing father. (Variety)

The Gilded Age has promoted Kelley Curran, who plays Enid “Turner” Winterton to a series regular while adding the following new cast members: Comedian Jim Gaffigan as Grover Cleveland, the 22nd President of the United States, who comes to New York to curry favor with the elite class; Dallas Roberts (Tulsa King and Insatiable) as Daniel Manning, a seasoned politician and Secretary of the Treasury under President Grover Cleveland and Elizabeth Marvel (Law & Order: SVU and Presumed Innocent) as Nurse Virginia Saville, a kind nurse who works at the Neighborhood Settlement House in the Lower East Side. (Deadline)

Betty Gilpin (G.L.O.W.) has joined the second season of The Lowdown, the Ethan Hawke series on FX. She will play a character named Ginger. (Deadline)

DEVELOPMENT NEWS/COMMISSIONED SERIES

Hilarie Burton Morgan (One Tree Hill) is working with the folks at AMC on a new series development called The New Gothic that will follow the collision of the enterprising Bloom family with the resurrected Mississippi Mafia. (Deadline)

The folks at MGM+ US and Paramount+ UK have commissioned a new 6-part series inspired by the Robert Louis Stevenson swashbuckling epic Treasure Island which will star David Oyelowo (box office movie Selma and the TV series Silo) as iconic pirate Long John Silver. Also, Agent Carter star Hayley Atwell will play Bess Hawkins; Jack Huston (Boardwalk Empire) will play Aaron Graham, Tomer Capone (The Boys) will play Billy Bones and Tom Sweet (Great Expectations) will play the key role of Jim Hawkins. The classic story is set across the Atlantic, in a Caribbean on the brink of revolution and on the terrifying Skeleton Island. (Variety)

PILOT CASTING NEWS

Hope Davis (Your Honor) will co-star alongside 9-1-1 alum Peter Krause in the planned NBC pilot Protection. The show, if picked up to series, will follow what happens when a U.S. Marshal falls in the line of duty, a seemingly cut-and-dry case turns into a deadly conspiracy as a family of law enforcement agents become the target of a mysterious assassin. Bridging personal differences and crossing professional boundaries, the Thornhill family must use the expertise from a lifetime of protecting civilians and politicians to protect one another and bring the killer to justice, even if it means betraying their sworn code.” (Variety)

Jon Beavers (Paradise and One Battle After Another) will star opposite Bones star Emily Deschanel in an untitled drama pilot that is inspired by the work of expert profiler and author Dr. Ann Burgess. The series will follow Professor Georgia Ryan (Deschanel), a trailblazing psychologist who challenges the field of criminology by shifting the investigative focus to the victim rather than just the perpetrator in order to uncover the crucial clues that more traditional methods leave behind. Alongside her team, this pioneering expert consults with the FBI to solve the most baffling and elusive cases. Beavers will play Will Andover, who was the top profiler in his class at Quantico, but then he had a fall from grace. Now at a crossroads in his career, he desperately needs a win. (Deadline)

That’s it. Enjoy!

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Hey All,

Here are the entertainment news items for this past week:

RENEWAL

MGM+ has given the latest drama adaptation of Robin Hood for a second season. (Variety)

HBO has renewed the drama Industry for a 5th season, which will be the show’s final season. (Variety)

TV CASTING NEWS

Winona Ryder has joined the cast of season three of Wednesday, but her guest starring role is being kept under wraps. (The Hollywood Reporter)

Ed Skrein (Jurassic World Rebirth) has joined the cast of the Amazon Prime upcoming series God of War based on the mythology-themed PlayStation game that will star Ryan Hurst in the role of Kratos. Skrein will play Baldur, the youngest son of Odin. (The Hollywood Reporter)

Moon Blood good (Falling Skies) and Kekoa Kekumano (Hi-Surf) have joined the second season of the Netflix series Untamed, the mystery-thriller that follows Kyle Turner (Eric Bana), a special agent for the National Parks Service who works to enforce human law in nature’s vast wilderness. The investigation of a brutal death sends Turner on a collision course with the dark secrets within the park and in his own past. In its second season, the series follows Turner as he’s called to investigate a mysterious death in Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park, where local tensions and the volatile, living landscape become an unpredictable force. (Deadline)

The White Lotus star Aimee Lou Wood is set to lead a series adaptation of Jane Eyre. (Variety)

Matt Dillion executive produce and star in the upcoming MGM+ 8-episode drama The Magnificent Seven, playing Chris Adams, who becomes the leader of seven gunslingers determined to protect a group of innocent villagers from a mercenary land baron hellbent on stealing their land. (Deadline)

Busy Philipps has joined the cast of the upcoming CBS drama Cupertino that will include among its cast Mike Colter and Renee Elise Goldsberry. The legal drama will follow a lawyer (Colter) who is being cheated out of his stock-options by his former employer, a tech start-up. Refusing to back down, he joins forces with another recently fired attorney to represent those taken advantage of by the tech elite, and help them fight back in a high-stakes battle against the Goliaths controlling Silicon Valley. Philipps will star as Natalia, the beautiful and delightfully blunt first wife of an AI Billionaire, who divorced her when she turned forty. Now Natalia wants revenge and agrees to finance Michael and Olivia’s start-up law firm in order to go after his and other AI businesses. (Variety)

BOX OFFICE NEWS

Emily in Paris star Lily Collins will play Audrey Hepburn in a film about the screen icon and the making of her 1961 classic flick Breakfast at Tiffany’s. (Deadline)

Tom Hanks is set to play Abraham Lincoln in the upcoming live-action/stop-motion animation hybrid film Lincoln in the Bardo. (Deadline)

Andrew Scott and Emily Blunt will star in the upcoming flick Walk the Blue Fields that follows a woman on her wedding day being confronted with a heart-wrenching decision as a love triangle from her past threatens to be revealed. (Deadline)

Maitreyi Ramakrishnan (Never Have I Ever) will appear in the second season of the Legally Blonde prequel series Elle that focuses on young Elle Woods (Lexi Minetree) during her high school years. Ramakrishnan will play Sam, Elle’s foil – possessing all our hero’s ambition and none of her optimism. She’s the founder, editor-in-chief, and lord baron of the school newspaper, the commissioner of the grammar police, and the enemy of joy. If Cosmo is Elle’s bible, The AP Stylebook is Sam’s holy grail. (Variety)

Michael McManus (Memory of a Killer and SEAL Team) will reunite with David Boreanaz in the planned NBC reboot of The Rockford Files. (Variety)

That’s it. Enjoy!

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