Rueben's Ramblings

Hey All,

Here are the entertainment news items for this past week:

RENEWAL

Amazon has given a second season order to Citadel. (TV Line)

TV CASTING NEWS

A day after the series finale of NCIS: Los Angeles, it was announced – during the airing of the season finale of spin-off series NCIS: Hawai’i – that LL Cool J, who has played Sam Hanna for the past 14 years, will be joining the cast of the latest spin-off for the show’s third season as a recurring guest star. (TV Line)

The latest Taylor Sheridan series at Paramount+ will be called Land Man, and it will star Billy Bob Thornton in the lead role. In addition, 1923 star Michelle Randolph and Hereos alum Ali Larter have joined the cast. The show 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. Thornton will play Tommy Norris; Larter will play Angela, Tommy’s ex-wife and Randolph will play Ainsley, Tommy’s wild and strong-willed 17-year-old daughter. (Variety)

The season finale of Chicago Med had a shocking reveal: series regular Nick Gehlfuss is out after 8 seasons on the show. (TV Line)

Indira Varma (Game of Thrones) will appear as the Duchess in the latest season of Doctor Who. (Variety)

Daniel Dae Kim (Lost and Hawaii Five-0) will executive produce and star in the upcoming Amazon spy thriller called Butterfly, which was given a 6-episode order. Based on the graphic novel by Arash Amel, the series centers on David Jung (Kim), an enigmatic, highly unpredictable former US 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, and he finds himself pursued by Rebecca (a role as yet to be cast), a deadly, sociopathic young agent assigned to kill him. (Variety)

That’s it. Enjoy!

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Hey All,

Here are the news items for this past week:

RENEWALS

Netflix has given Virgin River a 6th season renewal in advance of its fifth season airing this summer. Netflix has also given two more seasons to the dramedy Ginny & Georgia. (TV Line)

Apple TV+ has given a third and final season renewal to the Rose Byrne-led dark comedy Physical. (TV Line)

TV DEVELOPMENT NEWS

It looks like Showtime is looking at a revival to their long-running series Weeds. If this version moves forward it would be a sequel series that would feature Nancy Botwin (who was played by Mary-Louise Parker). The cable network is also looking to revive Nurse Jackie, which starred Edie Falco in the lead role. (Deadline and TV Line)

TV NEWS

Actress Molly Burnett is leaving as a series regular on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. (TV Line)

Edi Gathegi (For All Mankind) will star opposite Robert De Niro, Lizzy Caplan, Jesse Plemons, Joan Allen and Connie Britton in the Netflix limited series Zero Day, the six-episode conspiracy thriller that asks the question, how do we find truth in a world in crisis, one seemingly being torn apart by forces outside our control? Gathegil will play Carl, an intense bureaucrat and loyalist of former U.S President George Mullen, to be played by De Niro. (Deadline)

BOX OFFICE NEWS

Isabel May (1883) will star opposite Jurnee Smollett in the upcoming box office thriller Sunflower that will focus on two women who struggle to escape from a deranged college professor holding them hostage on a remote sunflower farm. (Deadline)

The David Mamet box office flick Assassination will include among its cast Courtney Love, Viggo Mortensen, Shia LaBeouf, Al Pacino and John Travolta. The synopsis of the film is: It’s 1963. During a crucial justice hearing against organized crime, the head of the Chicago mob orders the assassination of President John F. Kennedy Jr., creating a deadly conspiracy while altering the fate of a nation. (Variety)

Cynthia Erivo will star in the film adaptation of the theater sensation Prime Facie, taking on the role originated by Killing Eve star Jodie Comer. The film tells the propulsive story of ambitious and confident defense attorney Tessa (Erivo). From working class roots, the rising star in the high-powered London legal system skillfully defends her clients — including those accused of sexual assault. But after she is raped by a colleague, she discovers that the law does not deliver justice along the boundaries of consent. (Variety)

Outlander star Caitríona Balfe, The Marvelous Mrs. Maiseil star Rachel Brosnahan and Laurence Fishburne will star opposite Rami Malek in the upcoming box office film Amateur, which follows a CIA cryptographer who, after his wife is killed in a London terrorist attack, demands his bosses go after them. When it becomes clear they won’t act due to conflicting internal priorities, he blackmails the agency into training him and letting him go after them himself. (Deadline)

Clive Owen and Daisy Ridley will star in the London-based action thriller Cleaner that follows a group of activists who ambush an energy company’s annual meeting at the Shard — one of London’s most recognizable skyscrapers — and takes 300 people hostage. However, the cause is hijacked by an extremist within the group who’s ready to kill in order to send a message. It takes the efforts of Joey Locke (Ridley), a former soldier who’s now a window cleaner, to save the hostages while ensuring the corporation is held to account. (Variety)

Vanessa Hudges will star alongside Mads Mikkelsen in the action spy thriller The Black Kaiser. Mikkelsen will play the title character, the world’s most lethal hitman, who uncovers a deadly conspiracy protecting a powerful syndicate of killers and becomes their No. 1 target. (Variety)

Recent Oscar winner Troy Kotsur and actress Maika Monroe will star in the crime thriller In Cold Light. The movie’s synopsis is: Ava (Monroe) is trapped. Like a bull in a bucking chute, seconds before exploding onto the rodeo stage. She is hunted. Pursued by those who killed her brother, pursued by her own demons. Ava needs to make a choice. To either save herself and fight another day or to push and become the woman she wishes she could be. (Deadline)

The Twister sequel – simply called Twisters – has added to its cast. Those joining in include Kiernan Shipka (Mad Men and Chilling Adventures of Sabrina), Maura Tierney (The Affair), Sasha Lane (American Honey) and Katy O’Brian (The Mandalorian and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania). They join the already announced cast members Daisy Edgar-Jones (Where the Crawdads Sing), Glen Powell (Hidden Figures and Top Gun: Maverick) and Anthony Ramos (Hamilton and In the Heights). (BloodyDisgusting.com)

That’s it. Enjoy!

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Hey All,

Here are the news items for this past week:

CANCELLATIONS/PICK-UP ORDERS

ABC has pulled the plug on the following dramas: Big Sky, Alaska Daily and The Company You Keep. (TV Line)

Netflix has cancelled the fantasy series Lockwood & Co after only one season. (Variety)

The CW has pulled the plug on Walker: Independence but the origin series, the reboot of Walker, has been given a season four renewal. The network has also pulled the plug on the Supernatural spin-off The Winchesters after only one season and the network also cancelled the reboot of Kung Fu after three seasons. (TV Line)

FOX has cancelled the remake of Fantasy Island after two seasons. (TV Line)

CBS has reversed its decision to cancel S.W.A.T. – just three days after announcing its cancellation. S.W.A.T. will be given a 7th and final season order. The network also announced that the new dramas True Lies and East New York have both been cancelled after their debut seasons. (TV Line)

The CW has picked up two shows for its upcoming fall schedule. First, the AMC drama 61st Street, which was given a second season by its original network, but then cancelled by AMC, will air its 2nd season on The CW. Season 1 will air this fall and the second season will air sometime in 2024. Second, the Canadian series The Spencer Sisters will air this fall. The series stars Lea Thompson (Caroline in the City and Switched at Birth) and Stacey Farber (Superman & Lois) play a mother and daughter duo who team up to start a private detective agency. (TV Line and Deadline)

NEW FALL DRAMAS

CBS will air two new dramas this fall: Elsbeth, a spin-off from The Good Wife and The Good Fight and a reboot of Matlock. Elsbeth will center on Elsbeth Tascioni (played by Carrie Preston) while Kathy Bates will play the title character in Matlock, a brilliant septuagenarian attorney.  (TV Line)

BOX OFFICE NEWS

Brandon Perea (from the box office movie Nope) has joined the cast of Twisters, the upcoming sequel (of sorts) to Twister, which will star Daisy Edgar-Jones, Glen Powell and Anthony Ramos. Plot details are being kept under wraps. (Variety)

Michael Keaton will be back in the title role for Beetlejuice 2 along with Wednesday and Scream star Jenny Ortega, who will play the daughter of Winona Ryder’s character. (Variety)

Lindsay Lohan and Jamie Lee Curtis are expected to reunite for a sequel to their box office movie Freaky Friday, reprising their roles as mother-daughter duo Anna and Tess Coleman. (Variety)

Yet another sequel is coming to the box office: Lords of War will find Nicolas Cage back in the shadowy world of illegal weapons sales. This time, though, it will be a family affair as Bill Skarsgard will play his son. (Variety)

The upcoming box office thriller Anniversary that will following a very close-knit family as its torn apart when a new movement called “The Change” envelopes the United States has a pretty impressive ensemble cast, including Diane Lane, Kyle Chandler, Zoey Deutch, Phoebe Dynevor and Mckenna Grace [among others]. (Deadline)

That’s it. Enjoy!

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Hey All,

Here are the news items for this past week:

GENERAL NEWS

The Writers Guild of America has gone on strike against the studios, and that has started the gradual halt of production. Be prepared for a delay on all programming because of this.

RENEWALS/CANCELLATIONS

CBS has pulled the plug on the drama S.W.A.T., meaning the May 19 finale will be the show’s series end. (TV Line)

For whatever reason, FOX has not renewed the long-running drama 9-1-1, but the show isn’t ending. Rather the first responder series has been picked up by ABC. (TV Line)

Netflix has given a third and final season order for the comic adaptation of Sweet Tooth. (TV Line)

The new Keri Russell-led political drama The Diplomat has been given a second season renewal by Netflix. (TV Line)

Amazon Freevee has given a third season renewal to Bosch: Legacy ahead of its second season premiere. (TV Line)

FOX has given a 5th season renewal to 9-1-1: Lone Star. (TV Line)

As has been rumored for several weeks now, the official announcement has been made that Yellowstone will end on the Paramount Network at the end of its current 5th season, which will return for its final episodes in November. Also, the as-yet-untitled spin-off will debut in December, but there is no confirmation of the rumor that Matthew McConaughey will be the star or not. (TV Line)

TV SERIES NEWS

Netflix is readying its next installment of its Monsters anthology series from Ryan Murphy. Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story will be the new focus, telling the story of how the brothers captured national attention while on trial in 1993 for the 1989 murder of their affluent parents, which they claimed was self-defense. After receiving a hung jury, the brothers were tried a second time in 1995. They were subsequently found guilty of first-degree murder and sentenced to life without parole. (TV Line)

Netflix has given a greenlight to The Corps, a 10-episode, 1990-set dramedy starring Miles Heizer (13 Reasons Why and Parenthood) as a bullied gay high school student who joins the Marine Corp with his straight best friend, to be played by newcomer Liam Oh. The cast will include Zach Roerig (Vampire Diaries), Joy Osmanski (Stargirl), Kieron Moore (Vampire Academy) [among others]. (TV Line)

TV CASTING NEWS

Jesse Spencer will be back on Chicago Fire for the long-running dramas season 11 finale, but Taylor Kinney will not appear in that season ender, as he is still on a leave of absence from the show. (TV Line)

Connie Britton will not return as Nicole on the third season of The White Lotus. (TV Line)

Slumdog Millionaire actress Freida Pinto will appear in the Apple TV+ series Surface, joining Gugu Mbathu-Raw, as Raw’s character Sophie returns to her hometown of London and rediscovers the unfinished relationships that have haunted her memories. (Variety)

Jonathan Groff (Hamilton and Glee) will appear in the latest season of Doctor Who. There is no word on what role he will be playing, though. (Deadline)

BOX OFFICE NEWS

Christina Hendricks (Mad Men and Good Girls) will star in the box office movie Reckoner about an affluent woman’s carefully constructed life, which is disrupted by a young man connected to a tightly-held secret from her past. (Variety)

Jake Gyllenhaal, Henry Cavill and Eiza Gonzalez will star in the next Guy Ritchie big-budget, as-yet-untitled action movie that is rumored to revolve around two extraction specialists who must plan an escape path for a high-level female negotiator. (Deadline)

Andrew Garfield and Daisy Edgar-Jones will star in the upcoming box office movie Voyagers, the story of the romantic relationship between astronomer and author Carl Sagan and documentary producer and director Ann Druyan. The movie unfolds in 1977 as NASA prepared to launch humanity’s first interstellar probes. A team led by Sagan sets out to create a message to accompany them, known as the Golden Record, which included music and images, for possible alien civilizations. (Variety)

Martin Freeman (Sherlock and The Hobbit) and young actress Isla Gie (The Sandman) will star in the upcoming feature film The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie: A Flavia de Luce Mystery that follows the adventures of 11-year-old Flavia de Luce (Gie), who is both an amateur detective and a master poisoner. When she discovers a dead body in her family’s decaying British manor house and her father is accused of the murder, Flavia launches her own investigation to uncover family secrets and bring the true murderer to justice. (Variety)

Alan Ritchson (Reacher and Titans) will star in the box office action thriller Motor City, playing John Miller, a Detroit man released from prison, who unleashes a rampage of brutal vengeance on those who framed him. (Variety)

That’s it. Enjoy!

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Hey All,

Here are the news items for this past week:

RENEWALS/CANCELLATIONS

Apple TV+ has pulled the plug on the Octavia Spencer drama Truth Be Told after three seasons, but the streaming service has given a fourth season renewal to The Morning Show, which stars Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon. (TV Line)

FALL LINE-UP ADDITION

The CW has actually added a new drama to its fall 2023 line-up despite its recent ownership change. The network will air the Canadian series Sullivan’s Crossing based on the novels by Robyn Carr (who is the author of the books for which the Netflix series Virgin River are based). The series will star Morgan Kohan (When Hope Calls) as a neurosurgeon, who returns to her small hometown in the wake of a professional scandal. The series will also star Scott Patterson of Gilmore Girls fame and Chad Michael Murray from ONe Tree Hill. (The Hollywood Reporter)

TV SERIES ORDER NEWS

Looks like the husband and wife producing team Daniel Palladino and Amy Sherman-Palladino will be sticking around Amazon, as they have been handed a two-season, 16-episode order for the new ballet themed series Étoile, which will feature The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel alums Luke Kirby and Gideon Glick. The series will be set in New York City and Paris, following 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. (TV Line)

Movie star Keira Knightley will star as Helen in the Netflix series Black Doves. The series follows a woman with a secret identity who embarks on a passionate affair. When her lover falls victim to London’s shadowy underworld, Helen’s employers send an old friend, Sam, to protect her. The two of them soon embark on a high octane adventure set against a backdrop of diplomatic tension and Christmas. (Variety)

TV CASTING NEWS

Brandon Larracuente, who plays Dr. Danny Perez in The Good Doctor will not be returning to the show on a full-time basis for season 7; however, he could return as a guest star. (TV Line)

Veteran actor Donale Sutherland has joined the cast of the upcoming Paramount+ series about Bass Reeves that is now using the name Lawmen: Bass Reeves and will star David Oyelowo in the lead role. This anthology series, with future installments set to follow other iconic lawmen who have impacted history in subsequent seasons, will be based around Bass Reeves, known as the greatest frontier hero in American history, who worked in the post-Reconstruction era as a federal peace officer in the Indian Territory, capturing over 3,000 of the most dangerous criminals without ever being wounded. Sutherland will recur as Judge Isaac Parker, an imposing and commanding judge in the Fort Smith Courthouse with a complicated legacy. (Variety)

Friday Night Lights alums Connie Britton and Jesse Plemons will appear alongside Robert De Niro in the upcoming Netflix 6-episode conspiracy thriller series Zero Day that also includes Lizzy Caplan and Joan Allen as part of the cast. De Niro will play George Mullen, a massively popular former American President who is pulled from retirement to head a commission tasked with investigating a devastating global cyber-attack. Britton will play Valerie Whitesell, a savvy political operative who was Mullen’s former Chief of Staff, while Plemons will portray Roger Carlson, Mullen’s former “body man” who is seeking a return to the national stage alongside his onetime boss. Allen will play Sheila Mullen, the former First Lady and nominee to the federal bench while Caplan, will play erstwhile First Daughter Alexandra Mullen, a young Congresswoman who has sought to distance herself from her father’s political legacy. (TV Line)

Gabrielle Union will play the prime suspect in the new murder mystery Pretty Little Wife at Amazon Prime Video. Based on the Darby Kane best-selling novel, the series will be a cat-and-mouse thriller with a pulpy edge and some sexy soap that centers around two brilliant — and very different — Black women: Lily (Union), the pretty little wife suspected of murdering her husband, and Ginny, the detective on the case. Upon entering each other’s lives, they begin to crack open each other’s facade to reveal what really lies beneath. (The Hollywood Reporter)

MADE-FOR-TV MOVIE NEWS

It’s officially official: Hallmark Movies and Mysteries has announced the end of the Mystery 101 franchise of made-for-TV movies that starred Jill Wagner and Kristoffer Polaha in the lead roles. (Variety)

BOX OFFICE MOVIE NEWS

Actress Miriam Shor (Younger) has been cast in the Bradley Cooper movie Maestro, that is a biopic about Leonard Bernstein. She will play Cynthia O’Neal, an actor and model who was a friend of the legendary musician and his wife Felicia Montealegre. Cooper, of course, will play Bernstein in the flick and Carey Mulligan will play his wife. (Variety)

The animated prequel film Transformers One will feature the voices of Chris Hemsworth, Brian Tyree Henry, Scarlett Johansson, Keegan-Michael Key, Jon Hamm and Laurence Fishburne. This will be an origin story about how the brothers-in-arms turned into sworn enemies. (Variety)

Chris Pine has joined the cast of the upcoming Disney animated musical Wish that will also feature Ariana DeBose and Alan Tudyk lending their voices. The film revolves around an intriguing, slightly meta question: How did the wishing star come into the cosmos? The film unfolds in the magical kingdom of Rosas and introduces Asha, an optimist with a sharp wit who deeply cares about her community. When Asha turns to the sky in a moment of need and makes a wish, her plea is answered by a little ball of energy called Star. Together, they team up to save Asha’s community. (Variety)

Joel Kinnaman (For All Mankind and The Killing) wil play the lead in the upcoming alien abduction thriller flick They Found Us. In the film, a father (Kinnaman) and daughter undertake a camping trip in the Utah wilderness to heal their broken relationship. Attacked by a hostile extraterrestrial lifeform, their lives, not just their relationship, are at stake as they fight with a humanoid beast to stop their abduction to an unknown and terrifying alien world. (Variety)

Emily in Paris hottie Lucien Laviscount and Sophie Cookson (Kingsman: The Golden Circle) will star in the box office rom-com This Time Next Year, which is being adapted from the Sophie Cousens novel that charts the story of Minnie (Cookson) and Quinn (Laviscount) who are born in London on New Year’s Day, in the same hospital, one minute apart. Thirty years later — and very different people — they find themselves thrown together again in the same city on New Year’s Eve. (Deadline)

That’s it. Enjoy!

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Hey All,

Here are the news items for this past week:

RENEWALS/CANCELLATIONS

ABC has given The Rookie and Will Trent a 6th season and 2nd season (respectively renewal orders. ABC has also given The Good Doctor a 7th season renewal; and Station 19 has been given a 7th season renewal as well. (TV Line)

Hulu has given a second season renewal of Reasonable Doubt. (TV Line)

Apple TV+ has pulled the plug on the new drama series Dear Edward after only one season. (TV Line)

Disney+ has pulled the plug on National Treasure: Edge of History. (The Hollywood Reporter)

DEVELOPMENT NEWS

Ewan McGregor will star in the Amazon Prime Video series Lodi that is currently in development. Set in 1977, car salesman Lou (McGregor) goes from ordinary small-town citizen to FBI informant infiltrating the mafia when a key member of organized crime offers to buy his Cadillac dealership. (Variety)

Lionsgate TV is in very early development of a TV series adaptation of the Stephanie Meyers Twilight franchise of books. (Variety)

Paramount+ is in the early development stages of a small screen version of Galaxy Quest. (Variety)

AMC is developing another series from the world of Anne Rice, focusing on the Talamasca, a secretive organization featured in a number of Rice’s iconic novels that is devoted to studying the supernatural world and keeping mortals safe from its darkest elements. (Variety)

TV CASTING NEWS

As mentioned above Hulu has given a second season renewal for Reasonable Doubt, which will see Morris Chestnut join the cast, playing Corey Cash, a charming and media-savvy defense attorney who Jax brings in to help on a new high-profile case. (TV Line)

Broadway legend Patti LuPone will play a sexy witch named Lilia Calderu in the Disney+ WandaVision spin-off series Agatha: Coven of Chaos. (People)

The O.C. alum Mischa Barton will appear in the new season of Neighbours, the long-running Australian soap opera, which is coming to Amazon Freevee. She will play Reece, an American new to Erinsborough who’s not quite who she appears to be. (Variety)

BOX OFFICE MOVIE NEWS

Actor Brandon Sklenar (1923) will star alongside Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni in the film adaptation of It Ends With Us, based on the Colleen Hoover best-sellig novel. Lively will play Lily Bloom while Baldoni will play Ryle Kincaid. The movie follows Lily, who has a complicated past, as she meets neurosurgeon Ryle while living in Boston. Although she believes she has found her soulmate, over time, she begins to question their relationship. And to complicate things more, her high school love interest, Atlas (to be played by Sklenar), comes back into her life. (The Hollywood Reporter)

That’s it. Enjoy!

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Hey All,

Here are the news items for this past week:

RENEWALS

NBC has given season renewals to all three shows in the Law & Order franchise EXCEPT Organized Crime will have a shorter season than the other two shows. Also the network has renewed Chicago Fire, Chicago Med and Chicago P.D. (TV Line)

Syfy has given a second season renewal to the sci-fi series The Ark. (Variety)

NEW SERIES ORDER

The Duffer Brothers are expanding the Stranger Things world with a series order being given to an as-yet-untitled animated show set in that universe as well as a stage prequel titled The First Shadow that will be unveiled in London’s West End later this year. (TV Line)

HBO has given a greenlight to another Game of Thrones prequel. A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms: The Hedge Knight will be based on George R.R. Martin’s Dunk and Egg novellas. The series will be set a century before the events of Game of Thrones, following two unlikely heroes who wandered Westeros: the young, naive but courageous knight, Ser Duncan the Tall” (aka Dunk) “and his diminutive squire, Egg. (TV Line)

The combined HBO Max and Discovery+ will now be known as Max (yep, you read that right); and a new series based on the Harry Potter novels has been officially ordered. It will be a “faithful adaptation” of each of the seven books in the franchise. At this point, it is unknown if this adaptation will equate to 10 seasons or simply follow a 10-year lifespan for the series. (TV Line)

TV CASTING NEWS

Blue Bloods viewers will see two familiar faces returning to the long-running series. Jennifer Esposito will be back as Jackie Curatola, Danny’s old partner and Sami Gayle will be back as Nicky Reagan-Boyle. (TV Line)

Kelli Giddish will be back as Amanda Rollins on Law & Order: SVU for the show’s upcoming season finale as well as in the penultimate episode of Law & Order: Organized Crime. (TV Line)

The animated series Creature Commandos, which will premiere in 2024 as the first title in the new DC Universe (headed by James Gunn and Peter Safran) will include David Harbour, Indira Varma, Frank Grillo and Alan Tudyk [among others] as voices of Eric Frankenstein, the Bride of Frankenstein, Rick Flag Sr., and Doctor Phosphorus respectively. (Variety)

STREAMING SERVICE MOVIE NEWS

Samuel L. Jackson and John David Washington will star in the Netflix feature film The Piano Lesson, which is an adaptation of the August Wilson play, reprising their roles from the highly successful Broadway revival. Set in 1936 Pittsburgh during the aftermath of the Great Depression, the film will follow the lives of the Charles family, a household led by Doaker Charles (Jackson), and an heirloom, the family piano, which is decorated with designs carved by an enslaved ancestor. Washington will play Boy Willie, Doaker’s nephew, a role. (Variety)

BOX OFFICE NEWS

Billy Porter will portray author and civil rights activist James Baldwin in an upcoming biopic that will be adapted from the 1994 book by David Leeming, who will co-write the untitled movie with Porter. (Variety)

Buzz-about actress Mia Goth will star opposite Oscar winner Mahershala Ali in the upcoming Marvel Cinematic Universe movie Blade, but details on her role are being kept under wraps. (Variety)

It looks like Glen Powell (Top Gun: Maverick) will be starring alongside Daisy Edgar-Jones (Where the Crawdads Sing) in the movie Twisters, the sequel to the 1996 Bill Paxton and Helen Hunt flick Twister. Plot details are being kept under wraps. (Variety)

That’s it. Enjoy!

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Hey All,

Here are the news items from this past week:

CANCELLATIONS

FOX has pulled the plug on the medical drama The Resident after six seasons. (TV Line)

Netflis has pulled the plug on the drama Sex/Life after two seasons. (TV Line)

SERIES ORDER NEWS

FOX has given a series order to the first series of the 2023-2024 TV season. That new series is Doc,, a medical drama based on an Italian format that would center on the Dr. Amy Elias — chief of internal and family medicine at a Minneapolis hospital, who’s also recovering from a brain injury that has wiped out the last eight years of her memory. (The Hollywood Reporter)

Hulu has ordered to series a new, untitled drama that would find This Is Us creator Dan Fogelman and series alum Sterling K. Brown reuniting on the small screen. There are no specific details on the plot as yet, but it has been described as a thriller and say Brown would star as the head of security for a former president. (Variety)

DEVELOPMENT NEWS

Amazon is developing a series based on the novel Clans of the Alphane Moon by the late Philip K. Dick that is described as a subversive, genre-bending, sci-fi comedy about desperately trying to escape, and ultimately having to embrace our flaws, told through the prism of a Latinx family en route to a new, faraway moon. (Variety)

SERIES ORDER NEWS

It’s been a long and winding journey to the small screen for the TV adaptation of the 1999 box office movie Cruel Intentions, but Amazon has placed an 8-episode series order for the production that would be set in Washington, D.C., following two ruthless step-siblings who will do anything to stay at the top of the Greek Life hierarchy at their elite college. When a brutal hazing incident threatens the entire Panhellenic system, they’ll do whatever is necessary to preserve their power and reputation, including seducing the daughter of the U.S. vice president. (TV Line)

TV CASTING NEWS

With the announcement of the cancellation of The Resident, lead actor Matt Czuchry is now available to move on to a new project. He will be joining the latest season of the FX series American Horror Story. (The Hollywood Reporter)

Actor Lars Mikkelsen will play Grand Admiral Thrawn in the upcoming Disney+ series Ahsoka that stars Rosario Dawson in the lead role. (Variety)

Hallmark Channel alum and The Bold Type actor Sam Page has joined the cast of Grey’s Anatomy in the recurring role of Sam Sutton, an Air Force pilot who is seriously injured in a base-jumping accident. His first appearance will be during the May 4 episode. (Variety)

Royal Pains lead Mark Feuerstein has joined the cast of the upcoming MGM+ (formerly EPIX) series Hotel Cocaine that will star Danny Pino and Michael Chiklis. The series is about Roman Compte (Pino), a Cuban expatriate who fought against Fidel Castro in the Bay of Pigs invasion and re-made his life in Miami. He is general manager of the Mutiny Hotel, the glamorous epicenter of the Miami cocaine scene of late ‘70s and early ‘80s. The Mutiny Hotel was Casablanca on cocaine, a glitzy nightclub, restaurant and hotel frequented by Florida businessmen and politicians, international narcos, CIA and FBI agents, models, sports stars and musicians. Feuerstein will play Burton Greenberg, the owner of the Mutiny Hotel, the “Studio 54” of Miami. (Deadline)

Game of Thrones alum Kit Harington has joined the cast of the HBO drama Industry for its third season. He will recur as as Henry Muck, the CEO and Founder of Lumi, an exciting green tech energy company that’s about to go public. (Deadline)

Soap star Thad Luckinbill will star opposite Zoe Saldana in the Taylor Sheridan Paramount+ series Lioness, which is based on a real-life CIA program and follows Cruz Manuelos, a rough-around-the-edges but passionate young Marine recruited to join the CIA’s Lioness Engagement Team to help bring down a terrorist organization from within. Saldaña will play Joe, the station chief of the Lioness program tasked with training, managing and leading her female undercover operatives. Thad will play Kyle, an old friend of Joe’s who oversees a trafficking contact. (Deadline)

BOX OFFICE NEWS

Actor Damson Idris (from the FX series Snowfall) will star opposite Brad Pitt in the untitled Formula One racing film that will feature Pitt as a former driver who returns to the sport while Idris will play his teammate. (Variety)

Andre Holland, taking over for Ryan Gosling, and Gemma Chan will star in the box office movie The Actor that tells the story of actor Paul Cole (Holland), who finds himself stranded in 1950s Ohio, suffering from severe memory loss after a brutal attack, struggling to find his way back to his life in New York and reclaim what he has lost. (Deadline)

A live-action remake of Moana has been announced by Disney with Dwayne Johnson reprising his role as Maui. (Variety)

That’s it. Enjoy!

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Hey All,

Here is the latest news for the past week?

RENEWALS/CANCELLATIONS

CBS has given Blue Bloods a 14th season renewal. (TV Line)

Netflix has given a second season renewal to their new series The Night Agent, a mere six days after its debut. (TV Line)(TV Line)

Paramount+ has given a 3rd season renewal to Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. (TV Line)

Billions will come to an end on Showtime after its upcoming 7th season.

EPISODE REDUCTION

The second season of House of the Dragon will consist of only 8 episodes, two fewer than the show’s debut season. (Deadline and TV Line)

REVIVAL NEWS

Director Ryan Coogler is developing a diverse reboot of the The X-Files. (TV Line)

NEW SERIES NEWS

Paramount+ is expanding the Star Trek Universe. A series order has been given to Star Trek: Starfleet Academy that will be run by Alex Kurtzman and Noga Landau. (TV Line)

Barrett Foa (NCIS: Los Angeles) will have a recurring role in the upcoming Netflix murder-mystery drama The Residence, which stars Uzo Aduba in the lead role. The 8-episode series is being described as a screwball whodunnit set in the upstairs, downstairs, and back stairs of the White House. Foa will play Elliot Morgan, “the first gentleman” of the White House. The cast includes Randall Park, Andre Braugher, Susan Kelechi Watson, Ken Marino, Jason Lee, Bronson Pinchot [among others]. (Deadline)

Poldark alum Eleanor Tomlinson and Outlander star Sam Heughan will star in the Starz and Channel 4 on British TV have given a greenlight to the thriller The Couple Next Door that follows Evie (Tomlinson) and Pete (Alfred Enoch from Harry Potter), who move into an upscale neighborhood and find themselves in a world of curtain twitching and status anxiety. They find friendship in the shape of the couple next door, alpha traffic cop Danny (Heughan) and his wife, glamorous yoga instructor Becka (Jessica De Gouw), but after Danny and Evie share a passionate night together, there is trouble ahead. (Deadline)

TV CASTING NEWS

It looks like actress Bailey Bass has left the cast of Interview With the Vampire for the show’s second season. Delainey Hayles will take over the role of Claudia for the sophomore season. (TV Line)

Demetrius Grosse (Fear the Walking Dead and Swagger) has signed on to play Eric Williams, the brother of Simon Williams aka Wonder Man (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II) in the upcoming Disney+ series Wonder Man that is about a gifted engineer who gains superhuman abilities and becomes an enemy of The Avengers. (TV Line)

Jessica Chastain will star in the 8-episode limited series The Savant at Apple TV+. The series is inspired by a true story published in Cosmopolitan in August 2019; however, exact plot details are being kept under wraps. (Variety)

Lena Headey (Game of Thrones) has joined the cast of The Abandons, from creator Kurt Sutter. The series will focus on a group of diverse, outlier families pursuing their Manifest Destiny in 1850s Oregon. Headey will play Fiona, a strong, devout matriarch who, unable to have her own children, took in four orphans to create her own family. (Variety)

Chris Chalk (Perry Mason) will star as James Baldwin in the latest installment of the Feud franchise from Ryan Murphy: Feud: Capote’s Women. (Deadline)

BOX OFFICE NEWS

Matthew Macfadyen (Succession and Pride & Prejudice) has joined the cast of Deadpool 3. (Variety)

Liv Tyler is returning to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, 16 years after her last appearance. She will appear in next year’s Captain America: New World Order, reprising her role as Betty Ross from The Incredible Hulk. New World Order will star Anthony Mackie as Sam Wilson, who took on the mantle of Captain America in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier with the blessing — and the supposed off-screen death — of Chris Evans’ Steve Rogers. Carl Lumbly, Danny Ramirez, Shira Haas and Tim Blake Nelson also star. (Variety)

That’s it. Enjoy!

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Hey All,

Here are the news items for this past week:

RENEWALS/CANCELLATION

FOX has given a second season renewal to both Alert: Missing Persons Unit and Accused. (TV Line)

Netflix has given a 5th and final season renewal for the drama You. (TV Line)

Grey’s Anatomy has been given a season 20 renewal by ABC. (TV Line)

Showtime has pulled the plug on The L Word: Generation Q after three seasons. (Deadline and TV Line)

TV CASTING NEWS

Michael Chiklis will star alongside Danny Pino in the upcoming crime thriller series Hotel Cocaine that will debut on MGM+ (formerly EPIX). The story will focus on Roman Compte (Pino), a Cuban expatriate who fought against Fidel Castro in the Bay of Pigs invasion and re-made his life in Miami. He is general manager of the Mutiny Hotel, the glamorous epicenter of the Miami cocaine scene of late ‘70s and early ‘80s. The Mutiny Hotel was Casablanca on cocaine, a glitzy nightclub, restaurant and hotel frequented by Florida businessmen and politicians, international narcos, CIA and FBI agents, models, sports stars and musicians. Chiklis will play Agent Zulio who will stop at nothing to shut down the drug trade, even if it means using innocent civilians to accomplish his ends. (Deadline)

Acclaimed actor Ciaran Hinds will join the cast of the second season of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power. His role will be a recurring one, but there is no description on what role he will play, though. (The Hollywood Reporter)

BROADWAY NEWS

Smash, the NBC musical drama, is finally making its way to Broadway for the 2024-2025 season with Tony-winning director Susan Stroman at the helm with a score by the award-winning duo Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman, who wrote over two dozen songs for the television show and Emmy-winning choreographer Joshua Bergasse, who will reprise his role for the stage adaptation. (TV Line)

BOX OFFICE NEWS

The next project for Robert Downey Jr. just might be a remake of the 1958 classic psychological thriller Vertigo. (Variety)

Daveed Diggs (Hamilton and the small screen adaptation of Snowpiercer) has joined the cast of the new live-action film In the Blink of an Eye that will also star Kate McKinnon and Rashida Jones in the film that will follow three storylines spanning thousands of years, pondering hope, connection and the circle of life. (Variety)

That’s it. Enjoy!

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