Rueben's Ramblings

Hey All,

Here are the entertainment news items for this past week:

FINALLY THERE’S AN AGREEMENT

The SAG-AFTRA strike has finally come to an end with the national board approving the new contract with the AMPTP (aka the studios) with an 86% approval vote as of Friday.

NEW SERIES

The Dead Boy Detectives, which was originally set up at Max, will now officially air on Netflix. The series is based on character created for DC by Neil Gaiman and Matt Wagner. The official description for the 8-episode series is: Do you have a pesky ghost haunting you? Has a demon stolen your core memories? You may want to ring the Dead Boy Detectives. Meet Edwin Payne (George Rexstrew) and Charles Rowland (Jayden Revri), ‘the brains’ and ‘the brawn’ behind the Dead Boy Detectives agency. Teenagers born decades apart who find each other only in death, Edwin and Charles are best friends and ghosts who solve mysteries. They will do anything to stick together – including escaping evil witches, Hell and Death herself. With the help of a clairvoyant named Crystal (Kassius Nelson) and her friend Niko (Yuyu Kitamura), they are able to crack some of the mortal realm’s most mystifying paranormal cases. (Variety)

CASTING NEWS

Bridgerton’s own Nicola Coughlan, who plays Penelope Featherington SPOILER ALERT aka Lady Whistledown will be making a guest appearance in the new season of Doctor Who in 2024 when Ncuti Gatwa takes over the legendary role. (Variety)

DEVELOPMENT NEWS

Looks like Nintendo is developing a live-action film based on The Legend of Zelda, but plot and casting details are being kept under wraps. The video game, on which the film will be based, follows the elf-like warrior Link, who sets out to defeat the evil Ganon and rescue Zelda, the princess of Hyrule. (Variety)

SERIES ORDER

The world of Spartacus is expanding at Starz with the 10-episode series Spartacus: House of Ashur, which will find actor Nick Tarabay reprising his role of Ashur, the villanous character he played in the original series, which ran from 2010 to 2013. The series is being described as a history-bending, erotic, thrilling, roller-coaster experience that builds on everything that made the original series a colossal hit. (TV Line)

CANCELLATIONS

ABC has pulled the plug on the spin-off series The Rookie: Feds after only one season and the network is also not moving forward with The Good Lawyer, the proposed spin-off series from The Good Doctor. (TV Line)

That’s it. Enjoy!

Read Full Post »

Hey All,

Here are the entertainment news items for this past week:

COMING TO AN END

Superman & Lois will return to The CW for its fourth season (whenever the actors strike is over), but that will be its last season. (TV Line)

CANCELLATION NEWS

The former Spectrum series Joe Pickett, which found a new home on Paramount+, has been cancelled after two seasons. (TV Line)

RETURNING TO THE SMALL SCREEN

Chicago Fire fans can be excited to learn that Taylor Kinney will be returning to the series after his leave of absence. He will be back for at least the start of season 12, but it has yet to be determined if he will be back as a series regular. (TV Line)

BOX OFFICE NEWS

Jennifer Esposito (NCIS), Kellan Lutz (FBI: International), Grace Van Dien (Stranger Things), Neal McDonough (9-1-1: Lone Star) and veteran actor Judd Hirsch will star in the upcoming film The December Cross that will be set in a town called Bethlehem, where border agents have just intercepted a coyote smuggling in a group of tired, desperate and frightened refugees. There, an 11-year-old girl runs into a 7-year-old boy, Yosef, seeking refuge. Maya and Yosef become fast friends, and their ensuing adventure nearly kills them both but ends up warming the hearts of the townspeople with life lessons stretching far beyond their own borders. (Deadline)

The upcoming rom-com That’s Amore! will star John Travolta and Katherine Heigl in a story about a never-married man, Nick (Travolta) and a woman named Patty, whose personal life has prevented her from dating, until the pair meet. The movie will also star Christopher Walken, Talia Shire, William Fichtner, D.B. Sweeney and Drea de Mateo. (People)

Superman & Lois alum Emmanuelle Chriqui and Hayes MacArthur (Angie Tribeca) will star in the indie rom-com A Love Like This, which is about two lovers who rent a beach house for the weekend, but there is more to their relationship than it seems. (Deadline)

LIMITED SERIES NEWS

Josh Andrés Rivera (2021’s West Side Story) and Patrick Schwarzenegger (Gen V) will star in the FX limited anthological series American Sports Story that will examine the “rise and fall” of football star Aaron Hernandez, to be played by Rivera, looking into his identity, his family, his career, his death and his legacy. Schwarzenegger will play football star Tim Tebow. (Variety)

BROADWAY NEWS

Grant Gustin, the star of the small screen series The Flash, will be making his Broadway debut in the spring musical Water for Elephants, which is based on the best-selling novel by Sara Gruen. He will play Jacob opposite Isabelle McCalla (The Prom and Broadway’s Shucked) as Marlena. The story follows Jacob Jankoswki (Gustin), as he remembers his life from a nursing home in old age. As a young man, Jacob, an aspiring veterinarian hops a train, which turns out to be a circus train. There, he befriends Camel, who gets him a job with the circus, and finds a life beyond his wildest dreams with the cruel animal trainer August and his beautiful wife and circus performer, Marlena (McCalla), whom Jacob falls for. (Entertainment Weekly)

Broadway alums Aaron Tveit (Moulin Rouge) and Sutton Foster (Music Man) will replace Josh Groban and Annaleigh Ashford in the revival of Sweeney Todd. (Page Six)

NEW HOME FOR NEW SERIES

AMC and AMC+ will air the former Disney+ series Nautilus, a Captain Nemo origin story, as a special TV event in 2024. The 10-episode series will explore the early life of Captain Nemo (to be played by Shazad Latif from Star Trek: Discovery. (Variety)

DEVELOPMENT NEWS

Amazon MGM Studios has a TV series in the works based on the best-selling fantasy book Fourth Wing by author Rebecca Yarros. The logline for the show is: Enter the brutal world of Basgiath War College where there is only one rule: Graduate or Die. Twenty-year-old Violet Sorrengail expected to live a quiet life among books and history. Now, the commanding general― her tough-as-talons mother―has ordered Violet to join the hundreds of candidates striving to become the elite of Navarre: dragon riders. If the fire-breathing beasts don’t kill her, one of her fellow riders just might. (Variety)

That’s it. Enjoy!

Read Full Post »

Hey All,

Here are the entertainment news items for this past week:

CANCELLATIONS

Paramount+ announced that they will not be giving the small screen adaptation of Fatal Attratction or the Kiefer Sutherland-led Rabbit Hole second season renewals. (TV Line)

NEW SERIES IN 2024

Prime Video will have a new post-apocalyptic drama called Fallout, based on the popular video game franchise, coming to its service in the spring of 2024. The series will star Walton Goggins (Justified and The Unicorn). The series will take place in 2077 where citizens must live in underground bunkers to protect themselves from radiation, mutants and bandits after nuclear annihilation. (Variety)

LEAVING THE SHOW

Chicago P.D. will be short another cast member at some point in its upcoming season 11. Tracy Spiridakos will be leaving the show, but it’s unclear when in the new season she will make her exit. (Variety and TV Line)

JOINING THE RANKS

The upcoming Netflix spy series Black Doves, which will star Keira Knightley, has added Ben Whishaw and Sarah Lancashire to its ranks. The series revolves around Helen Webb (Knightley), a politician’s wife, doting mother and professional spy. For years, Helen has been passing on her husband’s secrets to the Black Doves, the shadowy organization for whom she works. But when her lover Jason is assassinated, Helen’s life is turned upside down and only her old friend Sam Young (Whishaw) can keep her safe. Helen and Sam set out to discover who killed Jason and why. But Sam, a suave, champagne-drinking assassin, also has problems of his own. Out of the game since his last job went wrong, he soon realizes his past is coming back to haunt him. “Together, they set off on a mission that will lead them to uncover a vast, interconnected conspiracy,” reads the logline. “One that links the murky underworld of London to a looming geopolitical crisis — and leads them to question the cost of the moral choices they’ve made.” Lancashire will play Helen’s enigmatic spymaster Reed. (Variety)

BOX OFFICE NEWS

The next project from director Guy Ritchie, which remains untitled, will star Jake Gyllenhaal, Henry Cavill and Eiza Gonzalez. Plot details are also being kept under wraps but it is rumored the project has an element of The Expendables to it. (Deadline)

The box office film The Life of Chuck, the latest Stephen King adaptation, will not only star Tom Hiddleston and Mark Hamill, but will also star Chiwetel Ejiofor, Karen Gillan and Jacob Tremblay. In addition, other cast members will include Matthew Lillard and Harvey Guillen. Based on three interconnected stories from King’s 2020 anthology If It Bleeds, the movie examines the existence of its subject Charles Krantz in reverse, beginning with his death at the age of 39 from a brain tumor and ending with his childhood in a house believed to be haunted. (Variety and Deadline)

Michael Fassbender will star in a biopic about an Irish rap group called Kneecap, which will also star real-life band members Mo Chara, Móglaí Bap and DJ Próvaí as heightened versions of themselves. The group came to fame in 2018 for their blend of nationalist Irish rap which often dealt with the gritty reality of growing up in Northern Ireland after the civil conflict known as the Troubles. (Variety)

Taron Egerton will star in the upcoming box office movie Black Bear. The official synopsis for the movie is this: After years in prison, Nate (Egerton) has made some dangerous enemies, including the powerful criminal gang he worked for on the inside. Desperate for a fresh start, Nate cuts ties with his old crew on his release from prison, but the gang retaliates by putting a hit on his family. Nate picks up Polly, the shy eleven-year-old daughter he hardly knows and goes on the run to keep her out of harm’s way. As they attempt to stay off the radar, it becomes clear that their enemies are relentless and won’t give up easily. Nate teaches Polly how to survive and watches her transform from a timid little girl into a force to be reckoned with. And Nate, in turn, learns what it is to love unconditionally as he bonds with his daughter and battles for their future. (Deadline)

That’s it. Enjoy!

Read Full Post »

Hey All,

Here are the latest entertainment news items for this past week:

RENEWALS

Netflix has renewed Sweet Magnolias for a fourth season. (TV Line)

Amazon Prime has given the spin-off series Gen V a second season renewal. (TV Line)

It was recently announced by CBS that they will continue to air episodes of Yellowstone on Sunday nights, moving forward with season 2 in light of the ongoing strike by actors. (The Hollywood Reporter)

TV SERIES NEWS

Law & Order Toronto: Criminal Intent, the Canadian spin-off, has announced its series regular cast, which includes Aden Young (Rectify), Kathleen Munroe (FBI), Karen Robinson (Frankie Drake Mysteries) and K.C. Collins (Lost Girl and The Cleaning Lady). The show will also feature Nicola Correia-Damude (The Boys and Burden of Truth). The 10-episode series will follow a familiar format as an elite squad of detectives investigate high-profile crime and corruption in Toronto. (Variety and TV Line)

Heroes alum Zachary Quinto will star in the new medical drama Dr. Wolf, which has be given a series order by NBC. He will play Oliver Wolf, a revolutionary, larger-than-life neurologist, who with his team of interns explore the last great frontier — the human mind — while also grappling with their own relationships and mental health. The cast also includes Teddy Sears (The Flash), Tamberla Perry (All American: Homecoming), Ashleigh LaThrop (The Kominsky Method), Alexander MacNicoll (Barry), Aury Krebs (Way Down) and Spence Moore II (The Wonder Years and grown-ish). (TV Line)

TV MOVIE NEWS

Peacock shared that discussions are continuing to bring Shawn and Gus (James Roday and Dule Hill respectively) back for a 4th Psych movie. (TV Line)

MOVIE NEWS

Oscar Isaac, Jason Momoa and Gerard Butler will star in the crime thriller flick In the Hand of Dante, which will be based on the novel by author Nick Tosches. It will follow the story of the original manuscript for The Divine Comedy emerging in the clutches of a black-market smuggling ring in the dangerous underbelly of New York City, and weary scholar Nick is called by the mob to authenticate it. Overwhelmed by temptation, Nick defies the mafia and steals the manuscript in a frenzied bid to have it all. He follows a dark and violent path from a metaphorical Hell into Paradise with his love Giulietta, while a parallel tale unfolds: the odyssey of Dante himself, a man who is trapped in a loveless marriage with Gemma and bolstered only by his mentorship under an austere intellectual. He escapes to Sicily and creates his greatest work, immortalizing his lost love, Beatrice.   Nick and Dante’s timelines weave separate paths, and yet the two men are inextricably linked — both lose themselves chasing love, beauty and the very promise of the divine.  (Deadline)

Emily Blunt will star in a yet untitled movie as pioneering female detective Kate Warne. This proclaimed “propulsive action thriller” will center around a real-life Sherlock Holmes-esque character. Warne was the first female detective at the Pinkerton agency and paved the way for future women in law enforcement and forever changed how detective work was done. (Variety)

Pierce Brosnan and Samuel L. Jackson will star in the western-themed flick Unholy Trinity, which is being described as a tale of revenge, dark secrets, and buried treasures, set against the turbulent backdrop of 1870s Montana. (Deadline)

Wednesday scene stealer Emma Myers (who plays Enid in the Netflix series) will star as Pip in the upcoming box office movie A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder, which is based on the best-selling book series by author Holly Jackson’s. The franchise tells the story of 17-year-old Pip, who finds herself drawn into a murder investigation when she begins to suspect the police have got the wrong man. (Variety)

That’s it. Enjoy!

Read Full Post »

Hey All,

Here are the entertainment news items for this past week:

NEW HOME

It looks like despite its cancellation at Disney+, the small screen adaptation of The Spiderwick Chronicles has a new home. Roku has picked up the 8-episode series that will follow the coming-of-age story of the Grace Family, as they move from New York to Michigan and into their family’s ancestral home. The series is set to air sometime in 2024. (TV Line)

SERIES ORDERS

The CW, now under new management, has given the greenlight to two new, original scripted dramas. The procedural Wild Cards will star Vanessa Morgan (Riverdale) and Giacomo Gianniotti (Grey’s Anatomy). The crime-solving series with a comedic twist will follow the unlikely duo of a gruff, sardonic cop (Gianniotti) and a spirited, clever con woman (Morgan). While Sight Unseen will star newcomer Dolly Lewis and Daniel Gillies (The Vampire Diaries and The Originals). This series will center on a top homicide detective (Lewis) who is forced to quit the job she loves after nearly killing her partner and being diagnosed as clinically blind. (TV Line)

LIMITED SERIES ORDER

Netflix is developing a limited series based on the life of U.S. President John F. Kennedy, which will be based on a critically acclaimed book by author Fredrik Logevall. The streaming series sees this series as something like an American version of “The Crown. (Variety)

MOVIE NEWS

The Disney+ animated series Monsters at Work will find the following guest stars for its second season: Aubrey Plaza (The White Lotus), Nathan Fillion (Castle and The Rookie) as well as Jennifer Coolidge, Ali Wong, Danny Trejo and Alan Tudyk [among others]. (Deadline)

That’s it. Enjoy!

Read Full Post »

Hey All,

Here are the few entertainment news items for this past week:

COMING TO AN END

The offshoot series Vikings: Valhalla derived from History Channel’s Vikings will come to an end on Netflix after its upcoming third season, which is set to debut in 2024. (IGN and TV Line)

SERIES ORDER

Despite the recent cancellations of four original scripted shows over at Starz, the cabler has given an 8-episode order to The Hunting Wives, based on the May Cobb book. The story follows Sophie O’Neil and her family’s move from the East Coast to deep red East Texas, where she succumbs to socialite Margo Banks’ charms and finds her life consumed by obsession, seduction and murder. (The Hollywood Reporter)

That’s it. Enjoy!

Read Full Post »

Hey All,

Here are the few entertainment news items from this past week, but first let’s all cheer the Writers Guild of America as an agreement was finally made between them and the studios last week.

CANCELLATIONS

Starz has pulled the plug on the sophomore shows Run the World, Blindspotting and the Stephen Amell drama Heels. They have also scrapped plans for the new drama The Venery of Samantha Bird, which had been in development. (TV Line)

MUSICAL ADAPTATION

The 2004 comedy 13 Going on 30 which starred Jennifer Garner (Alias and The Last Thing He Told Me), is getting a musical stage adaptation from its original writers, Josh Goldsmith and Cathy Yuspa. 13 Going on 30 The Musical is set to premiere next summer. (Variety)

That’s it. Enjoy!

Read Full Post »

Hey All,

Here are the few entertainment news items for this past week:

RENEWALS/CANCELLATIONS

Netflix has given the live-action One Piece adaptation a second season renewal. (TV Line)

ABC has pulled the plug on the revival of The Wonder Years after two seasons. (TV Line)

HBO has cancelled the basketball drama Winning Time after two seasons, making tonight’s finale the series finale. (TV Line)

That’s it. Enjoy!

Read Full Post »

Hey All,

Here are the few entertainment news items from this past week:

RENEWALS

Mayor of Kingstown has been renewed for a third season, and it looks like Jeremy Renner is set to return as Mike McLusky. (TV Line)

TV CASTING NEWS

Actor Peter Gadiot (Queen of the South and Yellowjackets) and actress Eliza Taylor (The 100) have joined the cast of season 2 of the reboot of Quantum Leap, which will be returning this fall; one of the few dramas that will be airing this season. Gadiot will play Tom Westfall, a U.S. Army Officer, former special forces, who is now high up in Army Intelligence. Meanwhile, Taylor will play Hannah Carson, a complex young woman who may be more than she appears. (Variety)

That’s it. Enjoy!

Read Full Post »

Hey All,

Here are the few entertainment news items for this past week:

RENEWALS/CANCELLATIONS

HBO has pulled the plug on the controversial music industry drama The Idol that starred singer The Weeknd and actress Lily-Rose Depp after only one season. (Variety and TV Line)

Hulu has pulled the plug on the historical satire series The Great after three seasons. This announcement comes just a little over three months after the show aired its third season. (TV Line)

Netflix has given a third season renewal to the small screen adaptation of The Lincoln Lawyer, which stars Manuel Garcia-Rulfo in the lead role. The 3rd season, however, will not see Neve Campbell return as a series regular. (TV Line)

That’s it. Enjoy!

Read Full Post »