Rueben's Ramblings

Hey All,

Here are the entertainment news items for this past week:

RENEWAL

Apple TV+ has renewed the sci-fi drama Invasion for a third season. (Variety)

While it hasn’t been officially announced yet, it’s looking like the CW could be renewing the new drama Wild Cards for a second season. According to CW President of Entertainment Brad Schwartz, they have not renewed it yet but a conversation is happening right now. (Deadline)

NEW SERIES ORDER

NBC has ordered a drama pilot from Jenna Bans and Bill Krebs, who both worked on Good Girls on NBC. The project is titled Grosse Pointe Garden Society and will center on four members of a suburban garden club, all from different walks of life, who get caught up in murder and mischief as they struggle to make their conventional lives bloom. (Variety)

TV CASTING NEWS

Jon Hamm is the latest addition to the growing cast of the next Taylor Sheridan series Landman that will be set in the proverbial boomtowns of West Texas and is a modern-day tale of fortune seeking in the world of oil rigs. The series will be an upstairs/downstairs story of roughnecks and wildcat billionaires fueling a boom so big, it’s reshaping our climate, our economy and our geopolitics. Hamm will have the recurring role of Monty Miller, a titan of the Texas oil industry who has a long personal and professional relationship with Tommy Norris (Billy Bob Thornton). (The Hollywood Reporter)

The Netflix series adaptation of the Judy Blume novel Forever has cast its leads. Lovie Simone, who will soon be seen the the Apple TV+ period piece drama Manhunt) and relative newcomer Michael Cooper Jr will star in the epic love story of two Black teens exploring romance and their identities through the awkward journey of being each other’s firsts. (Variety)

The CW has given a TV series order to Sherlock & Daughter, which will see David Thewlis (the Harry Potter franchise and Wonder Woman) starring in the title lead role, which the renowned detective out of his comfort zone, mysteriously unable to investigate a sinister case without risking the lives of his closest friends. He then meets Amelia (Blu Hunt), an American who, after her mother’s mysterious murder, learns that Sherlock may be her missing father. Despite wildly different backgrounds and attitudes, the pair must work together to solve a global conspiracy, crack her mother’s murder and find out for sure if she really is Sherlock’s daughter. The cast also includes Dougray Scott as Holmes’ nemesis, Moriarty. (Variety)

Stephen Amell (Arrow and Heels) has landed the starring role in the spin-off series Suits: LA, which will center on Ted Black (Amell), a former federal prosecutor from New York who is described as a charismatic force of nature who puts his own needs above others. Ted joined forces 15 years ago with his old buddy, Stuart Lane, to build an L.A. law firm that specializes in criminal and entertainment law. No other casting details have been announced yet. (TV Line)

Leo Woodall, who can currently be seen in the small screen adaptation of One Day on Netflix and Quintessa Swindell (Black Adam) will star in the thriller series Prime Target at Apple TV+. The 8-episode drama will follow a mathematical genius as he’s plunged into a troubling conspiracy just as he’s about to make a major computational breakthrough. Woodall will play math post-graduate Edward Brooks, who’s on the verge of working out how to access every computer in the world via a unique mathematical pattern when he realizes someone is trying to stop him. Swindell will play NSA agent Taylah Sanders, whose job it is to watch and report on mathematicians with world-changing ideas. The cast will also include Stephen Rea, David Morrissey and Martha Plimpton [among others]. (Variety)

Simu Liu (Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings) will star in an espionage techno-thriller that has been ordered straight to series at Peacock but remains untitled. The premise of the series is five minutes in the future, a first-generation-American intelligence analyst Alexander Hale (Liu) realizes his brain has been hacked, giving the perpetrators access to everything he sees and hears. Caught between his shadowy agency and the unknown hackers, he must maintain a performance 24/7 to flush out who’s responsible and prove where his allegiance lies. (Variety)

Molly Shannon will be joining the cast of Only Murders in the Building on Hulu for the comedy’s 4th season, playing a high-powered Los Angeles businesswoman who finds herself drawn into the world of the investigation in New York. Also, Meryl Streep will reprise her role as Loretta Durkin. (Deadline and TV Line)

Season 2 of The Night Agent on Netflix has added to its cast. Michael Malarkey (The Vampire Diaries) and Keon Alexander (The Expanse) have joined as series regulars. Malarkey will play Markus, a military chief and loyal nephew to a dictator newly convicted of war crimes by the Hague. Alexander will play Javad, who oversees security for the Iranian Mission to the United Nations and monitors the loyalty of its employees. Meanwhile Navid Negahban (Homeland) and Rob Heaps (Station 11) will appear in the recurring roles of Abbas, the venerable U.N. ambassador for Iran and Tomas, the elitist son of the aforementioned deposed dictator, who is keen on restoring his family to power, respectively. Season 2 will follow Peter Sutherland (series lead Gabriel Basso) as he begins his career as a full-time Night Agent, while maintaining a relationship with Rose Larkin (series lead Luciane Buchanan). (Variety)

Venerable actor Tony Curran has joined the prequel series Outlander: Blood of My Blood, playing Lord Lovat, the grandfather of Jamie Fraser. (Deadline)

Brittany Snow (the Pitch Perfect franchise) and Malin Akerman (Watchmen) will star in the upcoming 8-episode drama series The Hunting Wives at Starz. Snow will play Sophie O’Neill, who moves with her family from the East Coast to deep East Texas. There, she succumbs to socialite Margo’s (Akerman) irresistible charms and finds her life consumed by obsession, seduction and murder. (Variety)

STREAMING MOVIE NEWS

Jennifer Garner just might be joining her ex-husband Ben Affleck’s latest movie, a crime thriller called Animals that is set up at Netflix. And, what’s more, she would be starring opposite Matt Damon in a crime thriller that centers on a mayoral candidate and his wife whose son is kidnapped. Surrounded by plenty of enemies, political and otherwise, the husband and wife have no choice but to get their hands dirty in order to save their son. Garner would play the wife opposite Damon as the candidate. (The Hollywood Reporter)

BOX OFFICE NEWS

Ben Wang (American Born Chinese) has landed the lead role in the new version of The Karate Kid, which will find Ralph Macchio and Jackie Chan reprising their roles from the movie franchise. Plot details are under wraps though. (Variety)

It would seem that the Gerard Butler disaster film Greenland is getting a sequel with the film going into production in April. Morena Baccarin (Firefly and Homeland) will also return for the sequel. (Variety)

Yet another version of the Fantastic Four is being made this time with Pedro Pascal (The Mandalorian), Vanessa Kirby (The Crown), Ebon Moss-Bachrach (The Bear) and Joseph Quinn (Stranger Things) in the lead roles. Pascal will play Reed Richards (aka Mr. Fantastic), Kirby will play Sue Storm/The Invisible Woman, Quinn will play Johnny Storm/The Human Torch and Moss-Bachrach will play Ben Grimm/The Thing. The film is slated to be released ono July 25, 2025. (TV Line)

Elizabeth Olsen and Charles Melton will star in the dark comedy film Love Child that follows Misty, who is stuck in a loveless marriage to a brutish husband. Junior, her precocious 11-year-old, is her only consolation. When Easy, a handsome vagabond stranger, appears, Junior hatches a plan to get rid of his father so that his mother can marry Easy instead. But things end up backfiring, so Junior comes up with yet another plan, this one even more devious, and with more disastrous—and unexpected—consequences. (Deadline)

Will Smith will star in the high-octane action thriller film Sugar Bandits based on the Chuck Hogan book “Devils in Exile,” which centers on an Iraq War veteran who teams up with a crew of fellow vets to target the drug trade in Boston. (Variety)

Oscar-winner Michelle Yeoh will star in the box office movie The Mother, which will find her playing an immigrant mother and businesswoman trying to make a new life for her family in America. But when her two teenage sons stumble into trouble with a Boston crime ring, she’s forced to rekindle her past to save them. (Variety)

Laz Alonso (The Boys) has joined the cast of the Guy Ritchie film Fountain of Youth that will star John Krasinski and Natalie Portman as estranged siblings who partner on a global heist to find the mythological Fountain of Youth. (Deadline)

The much talked about two-part film from Kevin Costner – Horizon: An American Saga – which is not only starring the Yellowstone lead but was written and will be directed by him has announced its cast, including Sienna Miller, Sam Worthington, Jena Malone, Michael Rooker, Luke Wilson, Jeff Fahey and Jamie Campbell Bower. The film will center around the pre- and post-Civil War expansion, highlighting the land’s indigenous community. Information about the specific characters have yet to be announced. (The Pioneer Woman)

Lupita Nyong’o and Chloe Grace Moretz will star in the mixed martial arts film Strawweight, which follows the journeys of two fighters who find themselves competing against each other in the Octagon. One is a young woman (Moretz) whose life is changed forever when she discovers her passion for the UFC, while the other is a former champion (Nyong’o) who is determined to reclaim her title by reinventing herself. Both want the same thing — respect — but only one can come out on top. (Variety)

That’s it. Enjoy!

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Hey All,

Here are the entertainment news items for this past week:

RENEWAL

Disney+ has given Percy Jackson and the Olympians a second season renewal. Disney+ has also given Goosebumps a second season renewal. (TV Line and Variety)

BACK FROM THE BEYOND

The series Wynonna Earp came to an end on April 9, 2021, but there is still life left in that Syfy series. The folks over at Tubi, the free streaming service, have give the show a 90-minute special tentatively titled Wynonna Earp: Vengeance that will find the original cast – Melanie Scrofano (Wynonna herself), Tim Rozon (Doc Holliday), Dom Provost-Chalkley (Waverly Earp) and Katherine Barrell (Nicole Haught) all reprising their role along with the show’s creator and executive producer Emily Andras back at the reigns. The special will come out later this year. (Vanity Fair)

NETWORK CHANGES

At the recent winter Television Critics Association press tour, the folks at Hallmark announced some big changes to two of their networks. After 20 years, Hallmark Movies & Mysteries will now be known as Hallmark Mystery, as of March 6 that is; and Hallmark Drama will become Hallmark Family starting on February 28. (Heavy.com)

TV DEVELOPMENT NEWS

Amazon Prime has ordered a psychological mystery thriller limited series from author Harlan Coben and screenwriter Danny Brocklehurst that is based on an original story idea by the two men. Sam Claflin and Bill Nighy are attached to star in Lazarus, which is to follow a man who returns home after his father’s suicide and begins to have disturbing experiences that can’t be explained. He quickly becomes entangled in a series of cold-case murders as he grapples with the mystery of his father’s death and his sister’s murder 25 years ago. Claflin will star as Laz, a well-respected forensic psychologist who has spent his whole life running from the pain of his past. It is only now when he returns home that he is forced to finally face up to it. While Nighy will play Doctor Lazarus, or Dr L., a psychologist and father to Laz, Jenna and Sutton. A beloved figure within his community, he shares his son’s charm, dry humor, and charisma. In death, he wants his son to understand that they are more similar than Laz thinks. (Variety)

MADE-FOR-TV MOVIE NEWS

Former When Calls the Heart co-stars Erin Krakow and Daniel Lissing are reuniting for a new Hallmark holiday movie called Santa Tell Me. (Heavy.com)

STAGE ADAPTATION NEWS

Waitress composer and award-winning singer-songwriter Sara Bareilles and Pulitzer finalist playwright Sarah Ruhl are teaming up on a stage musical adaptation of The Interestings, based on the best-selling 2013 novel by Meg Wolitzer. Bareilles will compose the music and lyrics, while Ruhl will write the book that tells the story of six teenagers who meet at summer camp in the 1970s and form a lifelong bond over their shared dream of leading creative and inspiring lives. Decades later in New York City, that bond remains powerful, but so much else has changed. The story traces their lives as they grow together and apart to explore friendship, love, envy, class, art, money, and power; and how all of it can shift and tilt precipitously over the course of a friendship and a life. (Deadline)

BOX OFFICE MOVIE NEWS

Lauren Graham has landed her first movie role in 8 years. She will appear in the upcoming holiday movie The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, which is based on the classic book by Barbara Robinson, which tells the story of six misfit children who volunteer to star in their town’s Christmas pageant. (Digital Spy and Deadline)

Jack Quaid and Amber Midthunder will star in the upcoming action thriller Novocaine. Quaid will play a sheltered bank executive named Nathan Caine, who has a rare genetic condition that prevents him from feeling physical pain when he is enduring it. When his bank is robbed and one of his co-workers kidnapped, he has to act and finds his greatest liability becomes his greatest strength. (CBR.com)

Toni Collette will star in the comedy A French Pursuit, which is a heartwarming and whimsical tale about a free-spirited woman pursuing love, only to go on a surprising journey of self-discovery. Collette will play Zoe Turner, an unconventional and lively British art teacher who is head over heels for fellow rebel spirit Jean-Louis. But when their plans for a romantic getaway are dashed, she’s heartbroken. (Variety)

Lily Gladstone will star in the Apple Original Films Fancy Dance, in which she also makes her feature directorial debut. The story follows Jax (Gladstone) on the Seneca-Cayuga Reservation in Oklahoma as she cares for her niece Roki (Isabel Deroy-Olson) in the wake of her sister’s disappearance. The pair hit the road together in search of Roki’s missing mother, and unearth deep truths around the treatment of Indigenous women in a colonized world. (Variety)

America Ferrera will make her directorial debut in the upcoming Amazon MGM Studios flick I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter based on the best-selling novel by Erika Sanchez, which follows Julia Reyes, a teen with a sharp tongue, a fierce wit and big dreams of becoming a famous writer, somewhere far, far away from Chicago and her traditional Mexican immigrant parents who just can’t understand her love for Whitman, Dickinson and the Ramones. They wish she was more like Olga, Julia’s sister, now eternally perfect since her tragic death. As Julia seeks to break free of her oppressive home, she tries to uncover her sister’s truth, and in the process gains a deep understanding of the wounds her family carries. (Deadline)

Miles Teller has joined cast of Michael, the biopic about Michael Jackson, playing John Branca, the high-powered attorney who helped shepherd Michael’s career from boy band member to King of Pop. (The Wrap)

Naomie Harris and Jameela Jamil have joined the cast of the upcoming rom-com Lola and Freddie, which follows a couple who were once inseparable and totally in love but now, in their 40s and having grown in different directions, are getting a divorce. Lola is thriving in her career while Freddie continues to chase his dream of becoming a screenwriter. When Freddie is hired by a big studio and rekindles a relationship with an old flame, he matures and aligns more with what Lola desired in their marriage. (Variety)

The upcoming rom-com Worth the Wait will star Lana Condor (To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before franchise) in a story about the intertwining lives of Asian-American strangers over the course of a year as they find new loves, mend their relationships, and create new connections. This fillm will be a modern approach to Love Actually with a star-studded Asian American cast, including Ross Butler (Shazam! franchise), Sung Kang (Fast & Furious franchise) and Elodie Yung (The Cleaning Lady) [among others]. (Variety)

Karen Gillan will play Mary Tudoer in the upcoming period comedy Fools about the monarch’s friendship with her female court jester. (Deadline)

Claire Foy and Brendan Gleeson will star in the upcoming movie H Is For Hawk, which is based on the memoir by Helen MacDonald that follows Helen (Foy) who, after losing her beloved father (Gleeson), finds herself saved by an unlikely friendship with a stubborn hawk named Mabel. Through the bond, Helen rediscovers the beauty of being alive. (Deadline)

An upcoming biopic called Mr Burton will focus on the man who inspired screen legend Richard Burton. Toby Jones stars in the title role in a story that tells the true story of the relationship between Welsh schoolmaster Philip Burton and a wild young schoolboy called Richard Jenkins. Richard dreamed of becoming an actor, but his ambitions were in danger of being derailed by a combination of family trouble, the pressure of war, and his own lack of discipline. Lesley Manville will play Ma Smith, Philip Burton’s landlady and close confidante, who acts as a watchful eye and guiding force over young Richard. (Deadline)

Margot Robbie and Colin Farrell will star in the upcoming box office flick A Big Bold Beautiful Journey, which is being described as an imaginative tale of two strangers and the unbelievable journey that connects them, but major plot details have not been revealed. (Variety)

TV CASTING NEWS

Don Cheadle has joined the cast of the Peacock limited series Fight Night: The Million Dollar Heist, which tracks an armed robbery (and its fallout) on the night of Muhammad Ali’s 1970 comeback fight in Atlanta. Cheadle joins a cast that already includes Kevin Hart, Samuel L. Jackson, Taraji P. Henson, Terrence Howard and Dexter Darden (who’s playing Ali) [among others]. (The Hollywood Reporter)

Demi Moore has joined the cast of the newest Taylor Sheridan drama series Landman where she will play Cami, the wife of one of the most powerful oil men in Texas and a friend of Tommy Norris (Billy Bob Thornton). The series will be set in the proverbial boomtowns of West Texas and will be an upstairs/downstairs story of roughnecks and wildcat billionaires fueling a boom so big, it’s reshaping our climate, our economy and our geopolitics. The cast will include Ali Larter (Heroes), Michelle Randolph (1923) and Kayla Wallace (When Calls the Heart) [among others]. (The Hollywood Reporter)

Veteran actor Scott Glenn has joined the cast of The White Lotus for season 3, but his role is being kept under wraps. (Variety)

Leslie Grossman (American Horror Story) has joined the cast of Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story, playing Judalon Smyth, who was Dr. Jerome Oziel’s former patient and mistress who found herself entangled in the Menendez case, and who ultimately played a key role in Lyle and Erik’s arrests. (Deadline)

The Netflix drama Department Q has added Matthew Goode and Kelly Macdonald to the cast; The series is based on the popular crime novel written by Danish author Jussi Adler-Olsen. Goode will play DCI Carl Morck. After a violent incident turns Morck’s life upside down, the emotionally scarred detective is charged with setting up cold case unit, Department Q, upon his return to work. At first, the disillusioned cop is happy to waste his days away, but his detective instincts are ultimately reawakened and his new department becomes a magnet for a crew of misfits and mavericks. Macdonald will play Dr. Rachel Irving, a therapist tasked with getting officers back on the front line. (Deadline)

James Marsden, Sarah Shahi and Julianne Nicholson have joined the Sterling K. Brown-led Hulu series – which has yet to be given an official title – from This Is Us creator Dan Fogelman that will find Brown starring as the head of security for a former president. No character details have been released for Marsden, Shahi and Nicholson, though. (TV Line)

Haley Bennett and Dominic Cooper have joined the cast of the upcoming Apple TV+ series The Last Frontier, joining previously announced series lead Jason Clarke. The 10-episode series follows US Marshall Frank Remnick (Clarke), the lone Marshal in charge of the quiet, rugged barrens of Alaska, whose jurisdiction is turned upside-down when a prison transport plane crashes in the remote wilderness, setting free dozens of violent inmates. Tasked with protecting the town he’s vowed to keep safe, he begins to suspect the crash wasn’t an accident, but the first step of a well-crafted plan with international political implications. Bennett will star as Sidney, a CIA Agent who is tasked with working with Frank while Cooper will play Havlock, a former Navy Seal and fugitive who is being hunted by US Marshals and the CIA. (Variety)

Anthony Michael Hall and Sonya Cassidy will appear in season three of Reacher that will find the main man going undercover to rescue an informant held by a haunting foe from his past. Hall will play Zachary Beck, a formidable and successful businessman, while Cassidy will play Sarah Duffy, an extremely intelligent and tough DEA agent from Boston with a sharp and sarcastic sense of humor. (Deadline)

Beau Bridges will take over the role played by Jamey Sheridan in the pilot of the CBS series Matlock that will find Kathy Bates in the title role. He will recur as Senior, the managing partner of New York’s most prestigious law firm, with an indomitable presence that immediately alters the temperature of any room. The man’s influence reaches far and wide, and although he loves his son, Julian (Jason Ritter), he might respect his daughter-in-law, Olympia (Skye P. Marshall), more. (TV Insider)

Jessica Capshaw will be back as Arizona Robbins, in a guest star capacity, on Grey’s Anatomy while Natalie Morales will appear as Monica Beltran, a pediatric surgeon whose pragmatism and level-headedness have made her one of the best in her field. Her willingness to push boundaries can be admirable and aggravating, but it’s always aimed at providing top-quality care to her patients. (TV Line)

Ginacarlo Esposito will take over for the late, great Andre Braugher in the Shonda Rhimes Netflix murder-mystery drama series The Residence, which will star Uzo Aduba, in the screwball whodunnit set in the upstairs, downstairs and backstairs world of the White House, among the eclectic staff of the world’s most famous mansion. After a dead body is found, one wildly eccentric detective (Aduba) comes in to investigate 157 suspects attending a state dinner. Among the cast are Julian McMahon, Jason Lee, Ken Marino, Bronson Pinchot, Susan Kelechi Watson, Isiah Whitlock Jr., Randall Park, Kylie Minogue, Jane Curtin, Eliza Coupe, Brett Tucker and Rebecca Field. (Deadline)

That’s it. Enjoy!

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Hey All,

Here are the entertainment news items for this past week:

RENEWED

Apple TV+ has given the Idris Elba airline thriller Hijack a second season renewal. Unlike the first season, the new season might not take place on an airplane at all; there’s no word yet on what predicament Sam (Elba’s character) will find himself in this time. Also Elba is the only cast member who’s confirmed to return at this point. (TV Line)

TV CASTING NEWS

Taraji P. Henson has joined the cast of the upcoming Peacock limited series Fight Night: The Million Dollar Heist, joining previously announced cast members Kevin Hart, Samuel J. Jackson and Terrence Howard in a story that will be set in Atlanta in 1970, focusing on the infamous story of how an armed robbery during the night of Muhammad Ali’s historic 1970 comeback fight changed not only one man’s life, but an entire city’s destiny. (Variety)

Recent Emmy winner Matthew Macfadyen and Michael Shannon are set to star in Death by Lightning, a new Netflix series that will examine the rise and eventual assassination of US President James Garfield based on the book “Destiny Of The Republic” by Candice Millard. The drama series will bring to life the epic and stranger-than-fiction true story of James Garfield (Shannon), the reluctant 20th president of the United States, and his greatest admirer Charles Guiteau (Macfadyen) — the man who would come to kill him. (Variety)

Catherine O’Hara has officially joined the second season cast of the HBO series The Last of Us in an undisclosed role. (TV Line)

Sam Waterston is leaving his long-standing role of DA Jack McCoy in Law & Order with his last episode set to air on February 22. Tony Goldwyn (Scandal) will take over, but details on his role as the new district attorney have yet to be revealed. (TV Line)

TV IN DEVELOPMENT

FOX is developing a one-hour drama called Borrowed Time that will include McG as one of its executive producers. The proposed series will focus on Neuroscientist Mimi Peters, who is working to extract memories from the human brain. Her technology is too dangerous to test on the living, but after she proves she can peer into the minds of the dead, FBI Agent Casey Harden comes calling. Together, they form an uneasy partnership using her technology to solve his cases. (Variety)

HBO is developing a limited series based on the Gillian Flynn novel Dark Places. The story focuses on Libby Day who was seven when her mother and two sisters were murdered in the famous 1985 ‘Satan Sacrifice of Kinnakee, Kansas.’ She survived—and famously testified that her teenage brother, Ben, was the killer. Twenty-five years later, a pair of mother/daughter true crime ‘detectives’ locate a grownup Libby and pump her for details, believing that Ben is innocent. Libby, having spent her youth working the talk show circuit, hopes to once again turn a profit off her tragic history: She’ll reconnect with the players from that night and report her findings —for a fee. As Libby’s search takes her from shabby Missouri strip clubs to abandoned Oklahoma tourist traps, the unimaginable truth emerges, and Libby finds herself right back where she started—on the run from a killer. (Variety)

It looks like an official pilot order has been made by NBC for a spin-off to the USA Network series Suits, which found a massive following on Netflix last summer. The new series – Suits: LA – would follow a brand-new character, Ted Black, a former federal prosecutor from New York who has reinvented himself representing the most powerful clients in Los Angeles. With his firm at a crisis point, and in order to survive, he must embrace a role he held in contempt his entire career. (TV Line)

BOX OFFICE MOVIES NEWS

Recent Emmy winner Ayo Edebiri is leaving the Marvel’s Thunderbolts movie, due to scheduling issues, and will be replaced by Geraldine Viswanathan (Miracle Workers). The movie already boasts a massive ensemble cast of actors, including Sebastian Stan, Florence Pugh, David Harbour, Wyatt Russell, Hannah John-Kamen, Olga Kurylenko and Julia Louis-Dreyfus. Specific plot details are being kept top secret though. (Variety)

House of the Dragon’s Milly Alcock will be the next actress to play Supergirl in the new DC Universe. She will headline the upcoming feature film Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow. (Variety)

The upcoming biographical drama about Michael Jackson from director Antonie Fuqua will feature Nia Long as Jackson’s mother Katherine. (Variety)

Amazon MGM has acquired a documentary about Celine Dion titled I Am Celine Dion, but the doc won’t be an expansive look at the life and times of the iconic pop singer, instead it will span about a year of the her life, chronicling Dion’s battle with Stiff Person Syndrome, a rare neurological disorder that affects the brain and the spinal cord. (Variety)

Real life couple Kyra Sedgwick and Kevin Bacon will appear in a new film together, the first time that they have starred in a project together in 20 years, The upcoming comedy titled Connescence finds Bacon playing Stan Olszewski, a sharp, funny, but chronically underachieving security guard who breaks up an attempted robbery at the home of Cynthia Rand (Sedgwick), a successful urologist married to brilliant former Watergate prosecutor Warren Rand (to be played by Judd Hirsch). (ABC News)

Luke Evans and Milla Jovovich will star in the sci-fi action thriller World Breaker that centers on a father and his daughter. Five years previously, a tear in the fabric of reality brought creatures to our world from an alternate dimension bent on our destruction. The father hides his daughter on an island to keep her safe, while he prepares her for survival and the battles to come. But no place is safe. (Variety)

Once Upon a Time alum Lana Parrilla has joined the cast of the action thriller Bad Day at the Office that will find The Mummy alum John Hannah and Pitch Black star Radha Mitchell starring in a story about Karl (Hannah), who wakes up in a wrecked hotel room with no memory of what’s happened, where he is, or even who he is. When he discovers a dead body in the bathtub, it sets into motion a terrifying and explosive series of events that force Karl and hotel maid Molly (Mitchell) on a blind descent into a deceptive world of confusion and conspiracy. There are no specific details on what role Parrilla will play. (Variety)

The box office movie The Last Showgirl wil boats an ensemble cast include Pamela Anderson, Jamie Lee Curtis, Dave Bautista, Brenda Song, Kiernan Shipka, and Billie Lourd. The film will follow a seasoned showgirl who must plan for her future when her show abruptly closes after a 30-year run. As a dancer in her fifties, she struggles with what to do next. As a mother, she strives to repair a strained relationship with her daughter, who often took a backseat to her showgirl family. (Deadline)

It looks like Amy Adams just might be starring alongside Wednesday star Jenna Ortega in the box Klara and the Sun, which is set to be directed by Taika Waititi. The movie will tell the story of Klara (Ortega), an Artificial Friend designed to prevent loneliness. Klara is purchased by a mother (Adams) and a bright teen named Josie who adores her new robot companion but suffers from a mysterious illness. This is the story of Klara’s quest to save Josie and those who love her from heartbreak and how in the process Klara learns the power of human love. (Deadline)

The urban thriller Break the Cycle will boast Oscar winner Cuba Gooding Jr., Vivica Fox, Vernon Davis and Quinton “Rampage” Jackson among its cast. The movie wil ldelve into the lives of two brothers whose childhood is marred by a horribly tragic incident. Raised by their loving but stern grandmother, the brothers take radically different paths as they come of age in the gritty streets of Memphis. Jay, a gifted basketball player with dreams of making it to the NBA, is a beacon of hope for his grandmother and a potential ticket out of their harsh reality. However, the allure of his charismatic yet troubled brother, Eddie, who’s deeply entrenched in the world of street crime, casts a shadow over Jay’s future. (Deadline)

MADE FOR TV MOVIE NEWS

Bryce Dallas Howard and Orlando Bloom will star in the Prime Video U.K Original movie Deep Cover, a British action-comedy that will also include among its cast Sean Bean, Ian McShane and Paddy Considine. The movie sees three improv actors hired by the police to help stage low-level stings. Their instinct to ‘always say yes’ without breaking character leads them deep inside the London criminal underworld. (Variety)

A new Hannah Swensen (formerly Murder She Baked) mystery movie will happen over on Hallmark Movies & Mysteries with Alison Sweeney returning in the title role. But this time without Cameron Mathison, who has played her online screen love in the previous 8 movies in the franchise. This new installment entitled One Bad Apple: A Hannah Swensen Mystery will find Hannah being asked to teach a baking class at the college in town. When a colleague ends up dead, she begins to put together the puzzle of the mysterious circumstances surrounding the murder. During the investigation, Hannah meets a different side of law and order when Lake Eden’s prosecuting attorney, Chad Norton (Victor Webster), enters her life. It should be noted that Sweeney and Webster have appeared together in other Hallmark movies (The Wedding Veil franchise). (TV Insider)

That’s it. Enjoy!

Read Full Post »

Here are the entertainment news items for this past week:

CANCELLATION

Paramount+ has pulled the plug on Wolf Pack, the series that starred Sarah Michelle Gellar, after only one season. (TV Line)

STREAMING MOVIE NEWS

Lindsay Lohan and Tim Meadows will pull a Mean Girls reunion of their own in the upcoming Netflix rom-com movie Our Little Secret, starring alongside Broadway alum Kristin Chenoweth. The film follows two resentful exes (Lohan and Pretty Little Liars alum Ian Harding) who are forced to spend Christmas together after discovering their current partners are siblings. (Variety)

Ben Affleck and Matt Damon are teaming up yet again for a new crime thriller called Animals that was acquired by Netflix. Affleck will direct while Damon stars. Plot details are scarce but the story will focus on a kidnapping. (Variety)

DEVELOPMENT NEWS

Netflix has given a greenlight for two more adaptations of novels by Harlan Coben given how much of a global hit Fool Me Once has become for the streaming service. Those novels will be Missing You tells the story of detective Kat Donovan who stumbles across her estranged fiancé on a dating app, forcing her to delve back into the mystery surrounding her father’s murder. Meanwhile, Run Away centers on Simon, whose perfect life is shattered when his oldest daughter, Paige, runs away and is found vulnerable and strung out on drugs in a city park. Simon’s search takes him into a dangerous underworld, where a shocking act of violence further rocks his life. (Deadline)

Colin Firth will star in the upcoming Sky and Peacock original series Lockerbie that will focus on the 1988 flight disaster in which 259 passengers and crew members were killed. Firth will play Dr. Jim Swire, who tragically lost his daughter Flora in the disaster and has worked with his wife, Jane, to seek justice for the victims’ families ever since. (Variety)

TV CASTING NEWS

The Umbrella Academy alum Tom Hopper has been cast in a key role in the upcoming THe Terminal List prequel that is set to air on Amazon Prime. He will play the series regular role of Raife Hastings, a hunter, protector, guardian and Navy SEAL. The Terminal List: Dark Wolf will be set five years prior to the events of The Terminal List. (Variety)

The upcoming new CBS drama Elsbeth, the spin-off of The Good Wife, has announced a list of guest stars, including Jane Krakowski, Linda Lavin, Retta and Blair Underwood. (Variety)

Yanic Truesdale (Gilmore Girls) will have a recurring role in the upcoming Amazon Prime drama Etoile from Gilmore Girls creators Amy Sherman-Palladino and Daniel Palladino. Set in New York City and Paris, the 8-episode series follows the dancers and artistic staff of two world-renowned ballet companies, as they embark on an ambitious gambit to save their storied institutions by swapping their most talented stars. Truesdale will play Raphael, the right-hand to Genevieve (Charlotte Gainsbourg) who heads the Parisian ballet company. (Deadline)

Morena Baccarin (Firefly, Homeland and the Deadpool movie franchise) is set to appear in an upcoming episode of Fire Country on CBS, playing a sheriff character that could lead her own series. She will guest star in the Season 2 episode with an option to become a series regular in a potential spinoff series. She’ll play Mickey, a Sheriff’s Deputy for fifteen years who knows every corner of Edgewater and every one of its inhabitants. This is her town and she’s fiercely protective of it. (Deadline)

Malin Akerman (Watchmen and 27 Dresses) will star in the small screen adaptation of The Hunting Wives by author May Cobb that will air on Starz. She will play Margo Banks in the series, which tells the story of Sophie O’Neil and her family’s move from the East Coast to deep East Texas, where she succumbs to socialite Margo’s irresistible charms – and finds her life consumed by obsession, seduction, and murder. (Variety)

Tom Ellis (Lucifer) has joined the cast of the Hulu original Tell Me Lies for the show’s second season. He will play the series regular role of Oliver, a professor at Baird College whose tough love attitude makes him an intimidating presence that isn’t appreciated by all students. He is married to Lucy’s professor Marianne (Gabriella Pession), but as one of the main characters begins seeking his approval, his influence will have chaotic repercussions. (Deadline)

Wilson Bethel (All Rise and Hart of Dixie) will reprise his role of Benjamin Poindexter aka Bullesye in Daredevil: Born Again. He is expected to appear in three episodes. (Deadline)

Maria Sten will be back as Frances Neagley in season three of Reacher, which will focus on Persuader, book number 7 of author Lee Child’s book franchise that finds Reacher going undercover to rescue an informant being held by someone from Reacher’s past. Neagley doesn’t appear in the book, so her presence in the series will diverge from the text. (The Hollywood Reporter)

Allison Janney has joined the cast of The Diplomat for its second season on Netflix. She will play Vice President Grace Penn. (Variety)

BOX OFFICE MOVIE NEWS

Gillian Anderson has joined the cast of Tron: Ares, the third movie in the franchise that already includes Jared Leto, Evan Peters, Greta Lee, Jodie Turner-Smith and Cameron Monaghan in the cast. (Deadline and ComicBook.com)

The action thriller movie called G20 will star Violas Davis along with Anthony Anderson and Marsaid Martin (both from black-ish), Ramon Rodriguez (Will Trent), Antony Starr (The Boys) and Clark Gregg (Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD) [among others]. The movie is about terrorist laying siege on the annual G20 summit. (Deadline)

Fresh of hiis first Oscar nomination, Colman Domingo has landed two films. He will play legendary singer Nat King Cole in a movie musical from a script he co-wrote for which he will also make his feature directing debut. And, he will play Joe Jackson, the father of Michael Jackson in the biopic Michael, to be directed by Antoine Fuqua. (Variety)

Chris Pratt will star in the sci-fil film Mercy, which will be set in the near future when capital crime has increased. The picture will follow a detective (Pratt) who is accused of a violent crime and is forced to prove his innocence. (Deadline)

Edward Norton will be taking over the role of Pete Seeger from the departing Benedict Cumberbatch, due to scheduling issues, in the upcoming movie A Complete Unknown that will have Timothee Chalamet portraying legendary singer Bob Dylan. Elle Fanning will play Syliva Russo, Dylan’s early-’60s love interest, a university student and artist. (Deadline)

Aaron Eckhart, Olga Kurylenko and Alex Pettyfer will star in the spy thriller Chief of Station with Eckhart playing Ben, a former CIA European Station Chief whose world comes crumbling down after his wife, a former operative, dies in a terrible accident. After receiving cryptic information that his wife’s death might not have been an accident, Ben heads back into the shadowy underworld of Eastern Europe, teaming up with a former adversary to unravel a conspiracy that challenges everything he thought he knew about his wife and the agency he worked at for more than 20 years. (Deadline)

That’s it. Enjoy!

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Hey All,

Here are the entertainment news items for this past week:

CANCELLATION

Apple TV+ has cancelled the musical satire Schmigadoon/Schmicago after two seasons. (TV Line)

MAX has ended the Kaley Cuoco-led dramatic thriller The Flight Attendant after two seasons. (TV Line)

TV CASTING NEWS

FOX has announced the cast for its new, upcoming drama Rescue: Hi Surf, which was originally given a greenlight back in April 2023. The show will follow the personal and professional lives of the heavy-water lifeguards who patrol and protect the North Shore of O’ahu—the most famous and dangerous stretch of coastline in the world. Among the cast are Robbie Magasiva (Wentworth), Arielle Kebbel (The Vampire Diaries and 9-1-1), Adam Demos (UnReal), Kekoa Kekumano (The White Lotus), Alex Aiono (Doogie Kamealoha MD) and Zoe Cipres (Roswell, New Mexico). (Variety)

Millie Gibson, who just weeks ago made her Doctor Who debut in the show’s Christmas special, will be replaced by Varada Sethu (Andor and Strike Back) after only one season. (Daily Mail, Variety and TV Line)

Amazon Prime will launch a new prequel series The Terminal List: Dark Wolf, which will delve into the backstory of Ben Edwards and James Reece, who were portrayed by Taylor Kitsch and Chris Pratt (respectively) in the original Navey SEAL drama. What’s more both Kitsch and Pratt are set to reprise their roles in this spin-off. (Collider)

Josh Stewart will be leaving his recurring role in Criminal Minds: Evolution for the show’s second season. (TV Line)

Forest Whitaker will be pulling duty over at MGM+, as he is not only the star of the current series Godfather of Harlem, but he will also be part of the cast of the cabler’s new suspense thriller Emperor of Ocean Park, which will be set in the world of politics and Ivy League academia and the beaches of Martha’s Vineyard. It will revolve around Talcott Garland (Grantham Coleman from Lawmen: Bass Reeves), an Ivy League law professor whose quiet life is shattered when his father, Judge Oliver Garland (Whittaker, dies of an apparent heart attack. The nature of the judge’s death is questioned by Tal’s sister, Mariah (Tiffany Mack from Jessica Jones), a former journalist and inveterate conspiracy theorist, who believes that the judge, a failed Black nominee to the Supreme Court, met with foul play. (The Hollywood Reporter)

More cast members have been announced for the third season of the hit HBO series The White Lotus, including Walton Goggins (Justified) and Patrick Schwarzenegger (Gen V) [among others]. (TV Line)

The second season of the Netflix-Ryan Murphy anthology series Monster will focus on the Menendez brothers, who were convicted of killing their parents in 1989. Javier Bardem and Chloe Sevigny will play Jose and Kitty Menendez, the parents of Lyle and Erik, who will be played by Nicholas Chavez and Cooper Koch. (The Hollywood Reporter)

The new Netflix series Ransom Canyon has added more cast members, including Lizzy Greene (A Million Little Things), Eoin Macken (La Brea), veteran actor James Brolin, Philip Winchester (Law & Order: Special Victims Unit), Brett Cullen (Winning Time) and Kate Burton (Grey’s Anatomy). They join leads Josh Duhamel and Minka Kelly in the romance-fueled, contemporary western saga that charts the intersecting lives of three ranching families, all set against the rugged expanse of Texas Hill Country. (Deadline and TV Insider)

BOX OFFICE NEWS

Eiza Gonzalez (Baby Driver and Ambulance) and Domhnall Gleeson (The Patient and Peter Rabbit) have joined the cast of the feature film Fountain of Youth that will star John Krasinski and Natalie Portman as estranged siblings who partner on a global heist to find the mythological Fountain of Youth. Details on who they will play have not been announced. (Deadline)

Rosa Salazar (A Million Miles Away) will star opposite Mark Wahlberg in the crime thriller Play Dirty that finds Wahlberg playing professional thief Parker, who after being double-crossed and left for dead, sees his hunt for revenge giving him a shot at the biggest heist of his career. But even with the help of his partner, actor-slash-con artist Grofield (LaKeith Stanfield), he’ll still need to outsmart a South American dictator, the New York mob and the world’s richest man if he hopes to stay alive. Details on the role Salazar will play are being kept under wraps. (Deadline)

Comedian Pauly Shore will play fitness icon Richard Simmons in a new biopic that has already been given a thumbs down by its originator, who disavowed the project. (Variety)

That’s it. Enjoy!

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Hey All,

Here are the entertainment news items for this past week:

RENEWAL/CANCELLATION

Disney+ has announced that a 2nd season of Ahsoka is in development. (TV Line)

The Good Doctor will end after its upcoming 7th season on ABC. (TV Line)

TV CASTING NEWS

Carrie Coon (The Gilded Age) has joined the cast of The White Lotus for its 3rd season, but there are no details on what role she will play. (TV Line)

Kaitlyn Dever (Dopesick) has been cast in the 2nd season of The Last Us, playing Abby, a skilled soldier whose black-and-white view of the world is challenged as she seeks vengeance for those she loved. Also, actor Young Mazino (BEEF) will play Jesse, a pillar of his community who puts everyone else’s needs before his own, sometimes at terrible cost; and Isabela Merced (Sweet Girl and the upcoming box office movie Madame Web) will play Dina, who is warm, brilliant, wild, funny, moral, dangerous and instantly lovable. (TV Line and Variety)

Laurence Fishburne has joined the cast of season 4 of The Witcher on Netflix. He will play Regis, a world-wise Barber-surgeon with a mysterious past who joins Geralt (now to be played by Liam Hemsworth – since Henry Cavill left at the end of season 3) on his journey. (Variety)

BOX OFFICE NEWS

The Mandalorian & Grogu, a theatrical film, has been put into production by Walt Disney Studios and Lucasfilm with Jon Favreau set to direct. (TV Line)

John Krasinski and Natalie Portman will appear in the upcoming Guy Ritchie global heist movie Fountain of Youth. The film centers on two estranged siblings (Krasinski and Portman) who partner on a global heist to find the mythological Fountain of Youth. They must use their knowledge of history to follow clues on an epic adventure that will change their lives — and possibly lead to immortality. (The Playlist)

Selena Gomez will play singer Linda Ronstadt in an upcoming biopic. (Variety)

NEW SERIES

Great American Family is adding its first original scripted series to its line up. County Rescue, the 5 episode series, is an action-adventure medical drama about an EMT in training who is vying for one of three openings on the team. The series will debut on February 17. (Deadline)

That’s it. Enjoy!

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Hey All,

Here are the news items for the past two weeks, covering December 25 through January 7:

RENEWALS/CANCELLATION

Netflix gave a second season order to My Life With the Walter Boys, just 12 eyas after the premiere of the series. (AugustMan.com)

Disney+ has pulled the plug on American Born Chinese after only one season, but the folks behind the scenes of the streaming series are shopping it around to other outlets. (TV Line)

Apple TV+ has given the Gary Oldman spy drama Slow Horses a 5th season renewal just days after the third season wrapped. Season 4 was already ordered in 2022. (TV Line)

NEW SERIES ORDERED

CBS has given a straight-to-series order to NCIS: Origins, a new series that will turn back the clock on Leroy Jethro Gibbs, played by Mark Harmon for 18 seasons. Set in 1991, the series will pick up with Gibbs as a newly minted special agent at the fledgling NCIS Camp Pendleton office where he forges his place on a gritty, ragtag team led by NCIS legend Mike Franks. Harmon will not only executive produce the series, but he will also narrate. (TV Line)

CBS has also given a straight-to-series order to Watson, a contemporary story based on the Sherlock Holmes character. The series will star Morris Chestnut in the title role, which will see Dr. John Watson resuming his medical career as the head of a clinic dedicated to treating rare disorders one year after the death of Holmes at the hands of archnemesis Moriarty. Watson’s old life isn’t done with him, though, as Moriarty and Watson are set to write their own chapter of a story that has fascinated audiences for more than a century. Watson is expected to air during the 2024-2025 TV season. (Variety)

CBS has given a straight to series order to a drama series that will see Morris Chestnut star as the iconic literary character Dr. John Watson, the companion of master detective Sherlock Holmes. Watson is a contemporary story set one year after the death of Holmes at the hands of his archnemesis Moriarty. Per the official logline, the show will find Dr. John Watson resuming his medical career, one year after the death of Holmes at the hands of the archnemesis Moriarty, as the head of a clinic dedicated to treating rare disorders. Watson’s old life isn’t done with him, though, as Moriarty and Watson are set to write their own chapter of a story that has fascinated audiences for more than a century.  Watson is expected to air during the 2024-2025 TV season.  (TV Line)

STREAMING MOVIE NEWS

Jacob Elordi seems to be everywhere right now. Coming off roles in Priscilla and Saltburn, he will next be seen in Guillermo del Toro’s upcoming adaptation of Frankenstein, taking over the role from Andrew Garfield, who has to departe the Netflix project due to scheduling conflicts. Elordi will play Frankenstein’s monster while Oscar Isaac will Victor Frankenstein with Mia Both, Christoph Waltz, Lars Mikkelsen, David Bradley and Christian Convery also starring. (Variety)

TV CASTING NEWS

The third season of The White Lotus had added Jason Isaacs, Michelle Monaghan, Parker Posey and Leslie Bibb to the cast. (TV Line)

Despite his near fatal injury last year, Jeremy Renner will be back for a third season on the Paramount+ series Mayor of Kingstown. (Variety)

BOX OFFICE NEWS

Topher Grace and Michelle Dockery will star opposite Mark Wahlberg in the upcoming suspense thriller Flight Risk from director Mel Gibson. Wahlberg will play a pilot transporting an Air Marshal (Dockery), who’s been tasked with accompanying a fugitive (Grace) to trial. As they cross the Alaskan wilderness, tensions soar and trust is tested, as not everyone on board is who they seem. (Deadline)

Jack Black will star opposite Jason Momoa, Emma Myers (Wednesday) and Danielle Brooks (The Color Purple) in the live-action adaptation of the popular video game Minecraft. It’s unclear what the movie will be about though. (Variety)

BEEF and The Walking Dead alum Steven Yeun is no longer involved in the upcoming Marvel movie Thunderbolts, and it’s unclear whether his undisclosed role is being rethought or will simply be recast. (Variety)

NEW SERIES NEWS

Samuel L. Jackson will star in the upcoming limited series Fight Night: The Million Dollar Heist that is set to air on Peacock. The series will be set in Atlanta in 1970, telling the infamous story of how an armed robbery during the night of Muhammad Ali’s historic 1970 comeback fight changed not only one man’s life, but an entire city’s destiny. Jackson will star as notorious gangster Frank Moten, who was given the moniker the Black Godfather by New York tabloids. Kevin Hart will also star. (Variety)

That’s it. Enjoy!

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Hey All,

Here are the entertainment news items for this past week:

RENEWALS/CANCELLATION

Netflix has renewed My Life With the Walter Boys for a second season. (Variety)

The Buccaneers has been renewed for Season 2 at Apple TV+. (TV Line)

HBO has renewed The Gilded Age for a third season. (TV Line)

MGM+ (formerly EPIX) has renewed Beacon 23 for a second season. (The Hollywood Reporter)

The martial arts/crime drama Warrior has been cancelled and will not return for a fourth season on Max. (Deadline and TV Line)

NEW TO THE LINE-UP

The now defunct Hallmark Channel drama Ride will get a second lease of life over on The CW, which will air the 10-episode first season of the series starting on January 22. There will not be a second season, though. (Deadline)

BOX OFFICE NEWS

Pride & Prejudice star Jennifer Ehle will appear in the queer indie film In Transit that tells the story of a small town bartender called Lucy who agrees to model for painter Ilse (Ehle), who is existentially floundering as she seeks solitude away from her career and complicated personal life while on an artists retreat. “Through their relationship, both women must confront their preconceptions of what makes a good life,” reads the logline. Alex Sarrigeorgiou (who also wrote the film) will play Lucy while Francois Arnaud will play Lucy’s boyfriend Tom, a local chef. (Variety)

After being convicted last week of two misdemeanor counts of harassment and assault, Jonathan Majors has not been booted out of Marvel Studios and fired as Kang, the central antagonist in the Multiverse Saga of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. (Variety)

TV CASTING NEWS

Hannah Waddingham and Octavia Spencer will star in the untitled action-adventure series for Amazon Prime. Waddingham will play Judith, who has secretly been working as a highly trained assassin. That’s a double life that Judith’s best friend Debbie (Spencer) knows nothing about — until a hit goes wrong. Now Judith and Debbie are on the run, aiming to stay one step ahead of a mysterious enemy. And while they try to figure out what’s going on, they also have to fix their now-ruptured friendship. (Variety)

An untitled HBO project will star Mark Ruffalo, Tom Pelphrey, Emilia Jones, Thuso Mbedu [among others] as well as Fabien Frankel and Alison Oliver. The series will be set in the working-class suburbs outside of Philadelphia, where an FBI agent named Tom (Ruffalo) heads a task force to put an end to a string of drug-house robberies led by an unsuspecting family man. Frankel will play Anthony, an integral member of Tom’s task force, while Oliver will play Lizzie, an underperforming state police officer who is added to Tom’s team. (Variety)

Molly Parker will star in the upcoming FOX medical drama Doc, based on the hit Italian series Doc – Nelle tue mani. Parker will play Dr. Amy Elias, the chief of internal and family medicine at Westside Hospital in Minneapolis, who must pick up her professional and personal pieces after she loses the memory of the last eight years. (Variety)

That’s it. Enjoy!

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Hey All,

Here are the entertainment news items for this past week:

RENEWAL

Starz has given a third season order to Power Book IV: Force; and the cabler has given Hightowen a third and final season order as well. (TV Line)

Prime Video has given a third and final season order to Good Omens. (TV Line)

TV NEWS

A TV series based on Otherland, the 4-book series by Tad Williams, is in the works. The story is described as an epic cyberpunk-fantasy adventure. The world as we know it has an additional layer here – hyper-realistic VR arenas that have become a new place for fun, work, education but also debauchery, crime and abuse. The mysterious Otherland, supposedly another layer of the network, becomes a mere starting point for a multi-realm adventure. There are no details on where the potential series will air has been announced yet. (Deadline)

FOX has picked up the psychological crime drama Murder in a Small Town for the 2024-2025 TV season. The series stars Rossif Sutherland and Kristin Kreuk, and is based on the Karl Alberg books by L.R. Wrigh. This marks FOX’s first green light to a scripted series co-produced with an international studio. (Deadline)

The Hugo Award-winning The Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells are becoming a 10-episode series on Apple TV+. The story follows a self-aware “SecUnit” robot that must hide its free will in order to complete a dangerous assignment. The series will star Alexander Skarsgård. (Engadget)

Lisseth Chavez has been promoted to series regular for season 6 of The Rookie. She has played Officer Celina Juarez since season 5. (Deadline)

Season 2 of Nine Perfect Strangers on Hulu will find Christine Baranski, Annie Murphy and Murray Bartlett joining the cast along with Dolly De Leon, Maisie Richardson-Sellers and others. (Variety)

Actor Rome Flynn has joined the cast of Chicago Fire in the recurring role of Jake Gibson, a quietly confident former amateur boxer with a dark past. The physically fit and fearless Jake earns a spot on Truck 51’s radar thanks to a heroic act. (Deadline)

Alexander Siddig has joined the cast of the Apple TV+ sci-fi series Foundation for its upcoming third season. He will play Dr. Ebling Mis, a self-taught psychohistorian and diehard fan of Hari Seldon (Jared Harris). (Deadline)

Actor Santiago Cabrera and telenovela star Kate del Castillo are joining the FOX drama The Cleaning Lady as series regular for the drama’s upcoming third season. They will play siblings Ramona Sanchez and Jorge Sanchez. (Variety)

Simone Missick has found her next new project now that All Rise has come to an end. She will star alongside David Oyelowo in the upcoming Apple TV+ dramedy Government Cheese that follows Hampton Chambers (Oyelowo), a man recently released from prison who struggles to keep his criminal past at bay and win back his family, all while processing moments of divine intervention that seem to happen with increasing frequency. Missick will play Astoria, Hampton’s wife. (Variety)

Emilia Jones (the Oscar-winning movie CODA and Thuso Mbedu (The Woman King) have joined an as-yet-to-be titled Task Force series at HBO. The series tells the story of an FBI agent leading a Task Force to put an end to a string of drug-house robberies led by an unsuspecting family man. It’s set in the working class suburbs outside of Philadelphia. (Variety)

Dean Norris will join the cast of Law & Order: Organized Crie for its fourth season, playing Randall Stabler, Elliot’s older brother, in a multiple-episode arc. (TV Line)

Kevin Hart will star in a true crime limited series on Peacock called Fight Night: The Million Dollar Heist that tells the story of an armed robbery during the night of Muhammad Ali’s historic 1970 comeback fight that changed an entire city’s destiny, focusing on the cop and the hustler at the center of it all. (Variety)

Amy Adams will star and executive produce the limited TV series project The Holdout based on the novel of the same name. A legal drama–meets–murder investigation in the vein of The Night Of with a dual-timeline mystery, the series is set in Los Angeles and follows a woman (Adams) who finds herself playing multiple roles – juror, attorney, investigator, and suspect. Ten years after Maya Seale turns the tide in a hugely controversial verdict, a fellow juror is found dead in her hotel room, all evidence points to her. Now, she must prove her own innocence – by getting to the bottom of a case that is far from closed. As the present-day murder investigation weaves together with the story of what really happened during their deliberation, told by each of the jurors in turn, the secrets they have all been keeping threaten to come out – with drastic consequences for all involved. (Deadline)

Jon Hamm will star in and executive produce the Apple TV+ crime drama Your Friends and Neighbors, playin Coop, a recently divorced hedge fund manager who, after being fired, resorts to stealing from the wealthy residents in his tony upstate New York suburb in order to keep his family’s lifestyle afloat. (TV Line)

The upcoming Netflix dark comedy No Good Deeds has added Linda Cardellini, Luke Wilson, Teyonah Parris, Abbi Jacobson and Poppy Liu to its cast. The series revolves around three different families who are all trying to buy the same 1920s Spanish-style home, but as the sellers have already discovered, sometimes the home of your dreams can be a totle nightmare,” the logline teases. Ray Romano also stars. (Variety)

Outlander cast memer Lauren Lyle has joined the Netflix drama Toxic Town that will star Jodie Whittaker and Robert Carlyle (among others). The series tells of the scandalous waste spillages in Corby, Northamptonshire, and the ensuing legal battle that has been dubbed the ‘British Erin Brokovich.’ (Deadline)

DEVELOPMENT NEWS

Sunny Hostin, one of the co-hosts of The View, is in the early stages of developing her first novel, “Summer on the Bluffs,” as a TV series for Amazon MGM Studios. The book follows the tales of three god sisters and their godmother, as well as the rich history of Oak Bluffs, an exclusive historically Black beach community in Martha’s Vineyard, exploring personal journeys, hidden secrets and the transformative power of heritage. (Variety)

Looks like CBS is considering a spin-off of the network’s new hit drama Fire Country. The studio is in the process of casting a female sheriff character, who will first appear in a Season 2 Fire Country episode. The yet-to-be-cast actor would appear on Fire Country as a guest star, with an option for a series regular role in a potential spinoff, if Sheriff’s Country (the working title of the potential drama) is ordered to series. (TV Line)

BOX OFFICE NEWS

Younger and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 alum Miriam Shor is the latest addition to the reinvented James Gunn Superman Legacy film. (The Hollywood Reporter and Deadline)

Uma Thurman will star opposite Richard Gere, Jacob Elordi and Michael Imperioli in the drama flick Oh, Canada that tells the story of Leonard Fife (Gere), a famed documentary filmmaker who takes stock of his life, with not long to go after being stricken with cancer at 80 years old. The most unreliable of narrators — and of men — Fife offers the viewer a look at his home life, as a draft-dodging artist who abandoned one family for another, consistently evading any sense of responsibility for actions as he starts a new life in Canada. Thurman plays Emma, the present day spouse and creative partner of Fife. (Deadline)

That’s it. Enjoy!

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Hey All,

Here are the entertainment news items for this past week:

RENEWALS/CANCELLATIONS

Peacock has given Twisted Metal, the video game adaptation that stars Anthony Mackie, a second season renewal. (TV Line)

The revival series Leverage: Redemption has been renewed for a third season but will be moving from Amazon’s Freevee over to Prime video. (Variety)

The Apple TV+ sci-fi/fansasy series Foundation, which stars Lee Pace, has been given a third season renewal. (TV Line)

The ABC drama Station 19 will come to an end after its upcoming 7th season. (Deadline and TV Line)

The AMC Bob Odenkirk-led drama Lucky Hank has been cancelled after only one season. (TV Line)

Freeform has cancelled its last two remaining scripted shows: Good Trouble and Cruel Summer, leaving the future of cable network’s scripted slate up in the air. (TV Line)

TV SERIES DEPARTURE

Actress Heida Reed will be leaving FBI: International early in the show’s upcoming third season. (TV Line)

FILM NEWS

Russell Crow, Rami Malek and Michael Shannon will star in the historical drama Nuremberg, which will follow Malek as an American psychiatrist who is tasked to determine if Nazi prisoners are fit to stand trial for their war crimes. He finds himself in a battle of the wits with Hitler’s right-hand man (to be played by Crowe). Shannon will play Supreme Court Justice Robert H. Jackson, the chief prosecutor in the Nuremburg trials. (Variety)

Tom Blyth (Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes and Billy the Kid) will star in the new film adaptation of A Farewell to Arms, playing protagonist Frederic Henry, a young volunteer ambulance driver for the Italian Army during World War I who gets wounded and falls in love with his nurse. (Variety)

Devery Jacobs (Reservation Dogs) and Evan Rachel Wood (Westworld) will star in the sports drama Backspot about an ambitious cheerleader (Jacobs), who faces both new adversity and the increased drive for perfection and triumph when she and her girlfriend are selected for an all-star cheer squad with an overbearing head coach (Evan Rachel Wood). (Deadline)

Peter Facinelli (Twilight movie franchise) will star in the sci-fi action thriller Convergence, playing Sam Reilly, a Supervisory ICE Officer who comes to question his worldview as he’s forced into conflict with an alien threat, fighting to save the Earth from an invasion and rescue a young girl who lost her family in the chaos. When an alien satellite crash lands in the desert of New Mexico, it infects two geologists sent to investigate with a mysterious, terrifying, and deadly condition. As the contagion begins to spread and threatens all of humanity, Sam’s joined in his fight for the future of the planet by a CDC Doctor. (Deadline)

Charlize Theron and Daniel Craig will star in the Justin Lin-directed movie Two for the Money, a heist thriller. Specific details about the story are being kept under wraps. (The Hollywood Reporter)

TV SERIES ORDER

Netflix has given a 10-episode order to the drama Ransom Canyon, which will star Josh Duhamel and Minka Kelly in a romance-fueled family drama and contemporary Western that will chart the intersecting lives of three ranching families, all set against the rugged expanse of Texas Hill Country. Duhamel will star as Staten Kirkland, the owner and sole occupant of the sprawling Double K Ranch while Kelly will play Quinn, who has often found herself in the shadow of others, but after a stint in New York pursuing her career as a concert pianist, she has returned to Ransom Canyon to carve out a new path for herself. (Variety)

The 8-episode TV series adaptation of the box office movie Cruel Intentions will officially air on Prime Video. The series is expected to take place at an elite Washington, D.C. college, where two ruthless step-siblings will do anything to stay on top of the cutthroat social hierarchy. (Variety)

TV CASTING NEWS

Judith Light and Billy Crystal will star in the Apple TV+ limited series Before, a 10-episode atmospheric, character-driven psychological thriller about Eli (Crystal), a child psychiatrist who, after recently losing his wife, Lynn (Light), encounters a troubled young boy who seems to have a haunting connection to Eli’s past. Seductively enigmatic, Lynn (Light) is the love of Eli’s life, but her recent death may not be quite what it seems. As Eli digs deeper into the hidden life of the wife he thought he knew, he soon finds Lynn haunting him from beyond the grave. (Deadline)

Reina Hardesty (The Flash TV series) will star alongside Daniel Dae Kim in the upcoming Prime Video spy thriller Butterlfy, playing Rebecca, a deadly, sociopathic young agent assigned to kill David Jung (Kim) an enigmatic, highly unpredictable former U.S. intelligence operative living in South Korea, whose life is blown to pieces when the consequences of an impossible decision from his past come back to haunt him. (Variety)

Amanda Warren (East New York) has joined the cast of the second season of the Netflix hit series The Night Agent, playing Catherine Weaver, a veteran of the top-secret Night Action investigative program, who trains and oversees various Night Agents. The next 10-episode installment of the conspiracy action-thriller will be released sometime next year. (Deadline)

That’s it. Enjoy!

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