Rueben's Ramblings

Hey All,

Here are the entertainment news items for this past week:

RENEWALS/CANCELLATION

Amazon Prime has given a second season renewal to Every Year After. (The Hollywood Reporter)

Dutton Ranch has been renewed for a second season at Paramount+. (Deadline)

Peacock has pulled the plug on the new period piece drama Ponies after only one season. (Deadline)

The new small screen version of A Woman of Substance has been renewed for a second season in the UK. We’ll just have to see if Britbox where season one is currently airing will move forward with airing it there too. (Deadline)

BOX OFFICE MOVIE NEWS

Tim Robbins and Sissy Spaceck will join Emma Stone and Chris Pine in the upcoming box office movie The Catch, a baseball rom-com similar to Bull Durham and Notting Hill. (Deadline)

Meghann Fahy and Glenn Howerton will star in the upcoming feature film The Girlfriend from actress-director Natatlie Morales. Claire gives up her perfect New York City life and moves to Alabama for her husband Elliot’s (Howerton) dream job. Seeing her isolated, friendless and unhappy, Elliot does what any loving husband would do: he secretly hires an escort (Fahy) to be her new best friend. (Deadline)

Timothee Chalamet and Selena Gomez will lend their voices to a new upcoming animated alien-themed film called Not Alone. Chalamet will voice Joe, an introverted rocket mechanic who lives a quiet life alone while Gomez is set to voice Fran, a brilliant astro-botanist who is developing the world’s first-ever plant-fueled rocket. When Joe and Fran are brought together to prepare for the inaugural launch of this revolutionary rocket, there are immediate sparks, but neither is particularly adept at romance. Life becomes more complicated when three aliens — tiny, unruly and adorable — take refuge in Joe’s home. Dunk, Welly and Shirm are on the interplanetary run from a zealous-yet-inept officer of the law named Zandro. The aliens determine that Fran’s rocket could provide their means of getting back home to safety. (Variety)

NEW TV SERIES NEWS

Stranger Things co-stars David Harbour and Millie Bobby Brown will star in a straight-to-series order Netflix drama. The as-yet titled series will spy thriller about a disgraced FBI agent turned security expert Matt Wolfe is drawn back into the world he left behind when his estranged daughter, Rebecca — now an FBI agent determined to follow in his footsteps — vanishes on a mission, forcing him back into a field that has evolved beyond him.” (Variety)

DEVELOPMENT NEWS

In other reunion news, The Vampire Diaries co-stars Nina Dobrev and Paul Wesley are set to star in another book adaptation in development at Hulu. You Deserve to Know, based on the novel by Aggie Blum Thompson, will follow three suburban couples — next-door neighbors and best friends. When one of their husbands is murdered, a shocking trail of secrets is revealed, and their friendship cracks wide open. Dobrev and Wesley play Gwen and Scott, respectively — two neighbors on opposite sides of a murder investigation, leading them on a collision course. (Deadline)

TV CASTING NEWS

The second season of the USA Network drama The Rainmaker will see Richard Kind and Kevin Ryan joining the cast.  Kind will play Larry Shifflet, the father to Deck Shifflet (series regular P. J. Byrne) while Ryan will recur as Liam Donnelly, a corporate vice president with a secret agenda who goes up against Rudy and Deck.  (Variety)

Veteran actor Ron Perlman has joined the cast of the upcoming third season of the Amazon Prime thriller series Cross, which stars Aldis Hodge in the legendary role. Perlman will play a hard-driving officer. (The Hollywood Reporter)

That’s it. Enjoy!

Read Full Post »

Hey All,

Here are the entertainment news items for this past week:

RENEWAL/CANCELLATION

Hulu/Disney+ have given a third season renewal to Rivals. (Hulu and Disney+ Press Release)

Netflix has pulled the plug on the Duffer Brothers’ drama The Boroughs after only one season. (Deadline)

TV CASTING NEWS

The 6th season of Only Murders In the Building will feature some incredible cast members including David Tennant, Nicola Coughlan, Jodie Whittaker and Jim Broadbent. (Deadline)

Grace Gummer will star opposite Dakota Fanning in an Apple TV thriller series, which is currently untitled; but it will feature Fanning as an undercover Treasury agent in a multi-billion dollar international conglomerate, with world-changing political and criminal tentacles, who becomes conflicted between her mission and a belief that her principal target, the heir apparent to all that corrupt power, is at his core a good man and worthy of her love. Gummer will play the series regular role of Juliana, the oldest child of Stellan Skarsgård’s Brant, who heads up the conglomerate. (Deadline)

Star Wars legend Mark Hamill has joined the cast of the upcoming third season of the Peacock series Twisted Metal, which follows John Doe (Anthony Mackie), a motor-mouthed outsider and Quiet (Stephanie Beatriz), a badass axe-wielding car thief. There are no character details about who Hamill will play, though. (Dark Horizons)

BOX OFFICE NEWS

The new movie The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum has added Anya Taylor-Joy to its cast where she will play Seren, a Sindar Elf of the Woodland Realm. (Variety)

The reboot of the rom-com flick 13 Going on 30 has cast Adeline Rudolph (Mortal Kombat II and Chilling Adventures of Sabrina) to star alongside the previously announced Emily Bader and Logan Lerman. But her role and the sequel’s logline are being kept under wraps. (Deadline)

The upcoming animated film Dragoons will feature the voice of Michael J. Fox, who will play Dougie, an overlooked, ordinary worker at WizCorp who, after a freak accident, turns into a hero, with an apprentice, Dart. (The Hollywood Reporter)

Alex Borstein is set to star in the comedic family drama Turn the Lights Back On that is in development. The film will be based on true events and inspired by experiences many families faced during the Covid era, centering on a family forced to confront decades of unresolved tensions while facing an unprecedented moment in modern history. Borstein will play Emma, an exhausted elementary school teacher grappling with perimenopause, family responsibility, and the impossible decision to place her aging mother into assisted living just as the world begins to shut down. As old wounds resurface among her siblings, Emma finds herself navigating guilt, grief, and the unraveling of long-held family dynamics during one of the most isolating periods in recent history. (Deadline)

Barbie alum Ariana Greenblatt is set to star in the rom-com flick Egg Baby that will follow a rebellious artist and a golden-boy quarterback who are forced to co-parent an egg for health class, only to find that raising “Yolk-o” might crack open something real between them. (Deadline)

Buffy herself, Sarah Michelle Gellar, and Outer Banks star Rudy Pankow will appear in the supernatural romance flick Thud, where they willl respectively play the Grim Reaper and the Devil. Thud watches as the Grim Reaper and the Devil meet cute at a three-day destination wedding, falling in love after colliding at the event, where they’ve each come to sow their own chaos. (Deadline)

Reacher star Alan Ritchson will join Ansel Elgort, Halle Bailey and Ludacris for the new animated movie Groove Tails, which will follow a mouse pursuing stardom as a dancer. After his father objects to his ambitions, he goes on a journey alongside several misfits. According to the official description, they discover their own unique rhythms while fighting to save the only place they’ve ever truly called home. (Coming Soon)

That’s it. Enjoy!

Read Full Post »

Hey All,

Here are the entertainment news items for this past week:

RENEWALS

The Netflix drama A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder will end with an abbreviated third season. The show’s second season is currently airing. Also, Netflix has renewed the period piece drama House of Guinness for a second season. (Deadline and Variety)

Apple TV has renewed the drama Widow’s Bay for a second season. (Variety)

TV CASTING NEWS

Danny Pino (Cold Case) has joined the cast of the MGM+ upcoming drama The Magnificent Seven that already includes Matt Dillion, Will Patton and Michael Ealy as part of the cast. The series will be set in the tumultuous 1880s American frontier, following seven gifted but flawed mercenaries hired to protect a peaceful Quaker village after it is massacred by mercenaries working for a ruthless land baron trying to seize their land. Pino will play Santiago “Santi” Vega, effortlessly charming, stylish, and funny, a master manipulator who prefers to talk his way out of trouble. (Deadline)

Actress Luciane Buchanan will reprise her role of Rose Larkin in the upcoming 4th and final season of the Netflix hit series The Night Agent. The extent of Rose’s involvement in the final season’s storyline is unclear, though. (Deadline)

BOX OFFICE NEWS

Looks like legendary director Ridley Scott will be working with Hugh Jackman on a new movie adaptation of the Robert Louis Stevenson novel Treasure Island. (Deadline)

Edgar Ramirez will star alongside Mark Ruffalo and Mahershala Ali in the second season of the HBO crime drama Task. Ali will play Eddie Barnes, a seasoned and well-respected DEA agent in Philadelphia whose team comes into conflict with the unit of Tom Brandis (Ruffalo), who headlined Season 1 opposite Tom Pelphrey. Ramirez will play Miguel Contreras, a devoted family man and loyal DEA second-in-command torn between duty and guilt. (Deadline)

DEVELOPMENT NEWS

My Lady Jane cast member Edward Bluemel will appear as a 33-year-old Hercule Poirot in the upcoming BBC reimagining of the Agatha Christie detective. The series will be an intimate study of Hercule the man and an epic portrait of Britain between the wars. (Deadline)

Jonathan Nolan and his wife Lisa Joy are developing a live-action take on the beloved 1980s animated series Jem And The Holograms for Amazon MGM Studios. (Deadline)

That’s it. Enjoy!

Read Full Post »

Hey All,

Here are the entertainment news items for this past week:

RENEWAL/CANCELLATION NEWS

NBC has pulled the plug on the drama The Hunting Party after two seasons, leaving the show with a cliffhanger ending. It is expected that the show will be shopped around to other outlets. (Deadline)

Plans were in development to reboot the Stargate franchise over at Amazon, but the streamer has cancelled those plans. (Variety)

PBS has given The Marlow Murder Club a season four order with returning cast members Samantha Bond (Judith Potts), Cara Horgan (Becks Starling), Jo Martin (Suzie Harris) and Natalie Dew (DI Tanika Malik). (Deadline)

TV CASTING NEWS

Rachelle Lefevre and Charlotte Sullivan have joined the cast of the reboot of Little House on the Prairie for its second season on Netflix. The show’s first season will debut on July 9. Lefevre will play Eva Beadle, the town schoolteacher that Mary (Skywalker Hughes) and Laura Ingalls (Alice Halsey) immediately adore. Meanwhile, Sullivan will play Margaret Oleson, mother of Nellie Oleson. (Deadline)

Hugh Laurie has landed a mystery role in the BBC and MGM+ adaptation of Legacy of Spies by author John le Carre. Laurie joins Matthew Macfadyen as legendary spymaster George Smiley, Dan Stevens as the enigmatic Bill Haydon. (Deadline)

Joshua Jackson has joined the Season 3 cast of the Apple TV drama Your Friends & Neighbors, but the only details about what character he will play are being described as “a major recurring role.” (Deadline and TV Line)

MOVIE NEWS

Netflix is moving forward with a sequel to the Alan Ritchson movie War Machine. Ritchson is likely to return for the sequel as well. (Deadline)

Rising star Mason Thames and veteran actor Bill Nighy has joined the John Wick spin-off flick Caine that will be directed by and will star martial arts master and franchise actor Donnie Yen. What roles both actors will play are being kept under wraps. (Deadline and The Hollywood Reporter)

Broadway co-stars Jonathan Groff and Daniel Radcliffe will appear in the Vietnam War thriller Trust the Man, which will follow an ambitious Army Intelligence officer who’s assigned to investigate a decorated soldier with a mysterious past during the Vietnam War. As surveillance and interrogation deepen, the line between loyalty and obsession blurs, leading both men into a dangerous and uncontrollable connection. (Deadline)

Kelsey Asbille (Yellowstone) will star opposite Arnold Schwarzenegger and Liam Hemsworth in the action flick The Kellys that will follow Jack Kelly, a disgraced NYC cop whose wife, Molly, is taken hostage by terrorists inside an old armory building. Subsequently, he’ll have to join forces with the people he fears most to save her: his family. Character details are being kept under wraps, though. (Deadline)

Henry Cavill and Kevin Hart will team up for an untitled spy-action comedy at Netflix from director McG. Based on a short story by Sean Lewis, the film will follow two rival spies who cross paths in a Lamaze class, and whose wives become fast friends. Their double lives subsequently collide in unexpectedly hilarious and dangerous ways, forcing the two men to reluctantly become confidantes and partners on the road to fatherhood. (Deadline)

That’s it. Enjoy!

Read Full Post »

Hey All,

Here are the entertainment news items for this past week:

RENEWAL

Acorn TV has given the Brooke Shields-led drama You’re Killing Me a second season order. (Deadline)

BOX OFFICE NEWS

The upcoming Western feature film Blood on the Promontory has set Sam Worthington, Jai Courtney, Jack Quaid and LaMonica Garrett for starring roles, but their character details are being kept under wraps. The movie will find five convicts trying to escape through the mountains following a violent train robbery, while shackled together by foot. (Deadline)

Andie MacDowell and Kevin Bacon will appear in the upcoming box office movie Beach Read, which will be an adaptation of the best-selling novel by Emily Henry that will star Phoebe Dynevor and Patrick Schwarzenegger in the lead roles. The movie is a romantic comedy that will follow January Andrews, a successful romance novelist who struggles with grief and writer’s block after her father’s death and the discovery of secrets he’s long kept hidden. While spending the summer in his Michigan beach house to prepare it for sale, she unexpectedly reconnects with Gus Everett, an author who was once her rival in college. Both creatively stuck, they agree to a writing challenge over the summer, swapping literary genres while promising that there will be no romance between them. Of course, you know what they say about the best-laid plans. (Deadline)

TV CASTING NEWS

Young actress Willa Dunn (Only Murders in the Building) will play Nellie Oleson in the reboot of Little House on the Prairie for the show’s second season, but this version of that antagonistic character will be taken in a slightly different approach. On the surface, Nellie is a world-class spoiled princess and a playground bully. Smart and supremely confident, sharp-tongued but easily wounded. Lives and breathes to make Laura Ingalls miserable. But beneath her mean-girl persona is tenderness and a yearning for true friendship — even if she doesn’t know exactly how to get it. (Deadline)

Jon Tenney will star opposite Olivia Colman and Brie Larson in the upcoming FX limited series Cry Wolf that is inspired by the Danish series Ulven Kommer. It will be a a psychological family thriller following a social worker, Kath (Colman), and a mother, April (Larson), thrust into crisis when the mother’s teenage daughter, Mia (Alyvia Alyn Lind), alleges abuse, pushing both women to their limits as they navigate an impossible situation. Tenney will play Ian Farr, polished, handsome, slick and smart as a whip. He’s ruthless and one step ahead of everyone else, able to control an entire courtroom and destroy the opposing council with ease. A former criminal defense attorney, he now sees himself as a champion for fathers after his own bitter divorce, which made him a “found man” with a whole new belief system. He masterfully controls the courtroom in the show’s climactic trial. (Deadline)

Looks like Downton Abbey alum Joanne Froggatt is in final talks to join the MGM+ TV western remake of The Magnificient Seven where she is set to play the leader of the Quaker group under siege. (Deadline)

Battlestar Galactica alum Mary McDonnell has joined the cast of the upcoming FOX reboot of Baywatch in which she will play Gayle, the mom of Hobie Buchannon now played by Arrow hunk Stephen Amell, a sophisticated woman with a wryly funny presence. She cares deeply for her family and is there for them even when they’re not sure they want her help. Gayle and Hobie have a long, complicated history, but no matter how much time or distance gets between them, family always seems to find its way back together. Also, OG cast members Michael Bergin and Kelly Packard will be returning to the show to reprise their roles of lifeguards Jack “J.D.” Darius and April Giminski. (Deadline and Variety)

In happy news for fans of the long-running Canadian police drama Hudson & Rex, original lead actor John Reardon will be returning for the show’s 9th season. Season 8 of the series which features new lead actor Luke Roberts will debut here in the States on UP Faith & Family starting on June 11. (TV Insider)

Monk star Tony Shalhoub has joined this fall’s new drama Einstein, which will debut on CBS. The series will follow Lewis Einstein (Matthew Gray Gubler), the brilliant but directionless great-grandson of Albert Einstein, who spends his days as a comfortably tenured professor until his bad-boy antics land him in trouble with the law, and he is pressed into service helping Teri (Melissa Fumero), a local police detective, solve her most puzzling cases. Shalhoub will play the recurring character of Jack Einstein, Lewis’s father. (Deadline)

TV DEVELOPMENT NEWS

A TV drama chronicling the early life of Canadian megastar Celine Dion and her family is in the works. The working title of the show, Growin Up Dion will trace her childhood in Quebec and her formative years growing up in a modest, music-filled household, where her bond with her mother Thérèse and close-knit dynamic of 14 sibling relationships shaped her path to global superstardom. (Deadline)

That’s it. Enjoy!

Read Full Post »

Hey All,

Here are the entertainment news items for this past week:

RENEWAL/CANCELLATIONS

The Testaments has been given a second season renewal by Hulu. (Deadline)

Starz has pulled the plug on Spartacus: House of Ashur after only one season. (Deadline)

Emily in Paris will come to a close after its upcoming sixth season on Netflix. (Variety)

BOX OFFICE NEWS

Sullivan’s Crossing star Chad Michael Murray will star in the upcoming drama flick Disconnecting Peter that will center on a fractured family grappling with unresolved trauma stemming from a past tragedy. Peter Ruck (Murray), a troubled husband and father, finds himself trapped by his own destructive habits, threatening to unravel the family unit. His wife, Elizabeth, fights to hold things together at all costs, while their daughter, Jenna, confronts the collapse of her aspirations to attend Juilliard. As tensions mount, the family must decide whether to confront their pain or succumb to the chaos. (Variety)

DEVELOPMENT NEWS

Kerry Washington is set to star in and executive produce What Remains, a thriller drama for Hulu that is currently in development. The series will be based on the 2023 novel by Wendy Walker that will focus on Detective Elise Sutton (Washington), a devoted wife, loving mother, and cold case specialist, who relies from the guilt of her action after taking the life of a disturbed man in the line of duty. To convince herself that she did the right thing, she makes contact with a mysterious man that she saved that day, only to discover that he’s not at all what he seems. She’s soon caught in a dangerous game of cat and mouse, following the clues he leaves for her and realizing that the only person who can stop him is her. (Deadline)

It looks like Disney+ is working on a series adaptation of the 2004 box office movie Ella Enchanted with the movie’s original star, Anne Hathaway, coming on board as an executive producer. The series will keep the basic premise of the movie and the book on which it was loosely based, centering on the eponymous teen girl stuck with the unfortunate “gift” of obedience, but – unlike the movie – it will “pull away” from being largely a Cinderella retelling romantic fantasy by giving the story a coming-of-age feel with a boarding school setting. (Deadline)

TV SERIES ORDERS

FX has given a series order to Very Young Frankenstein, inspired by the classic Mel Brooks-Gene Wilder comedy film Young Frankenstein but exact details are still under wraps. (Variety)

ABC has given a greenlight to a Grey’s Anatomy spinoff for the 2026-2027 TV season. The currently untitled one-hour series will be an edgy drama about a team at a West Texas rural medical center, the last chance for care before miles of nowhere. (Variety)

TV CASTING NEWS

Luke Kirby will be taking over for Aden Young in the Canadian series Law & Order Toronto: Criminal Intent. (The Hollywood Reporter)

Tom Hardy will not appear in the third season of the Paramount+ crime drama Mobland, as he was asked not to return to the series following onset issues with one of the show’s executive producers. How his character would be written out of the series remains to be seen. (Variety)

Harry Potter alum Harry Melling and 1923 cast member Aminah Nieves have joined the cast of the HBO crime dramaTask for its upcoming second season. Melling will play Brennan Boylan, a powder-keg DEA agent while Nieves will play Nataly Zamora, a no-nonsense FBI agent and dedicated young mother who fights hard to protect the community that raised her. (Deadline)

Heels co-star Kelli Berglund has joined the cast of the upcoming Prison Break reboot over on Hulu. This time around the story will focus on a soldier-turned-corrections officer, who takes a job at one of the deadliest prisons in America to prove just how far she’ll go for someone she loves. Berglund will play Cheyenne, a female inmate at that prison. (Deadline)

That’s it. Enjoy!

Read Full Post »

Hey All,

Here are the entertainment news items for this past week:

RENEWALS

Amazon Prime has given the drama series Reacher a fifth season renewal. (Variety)

Netflix has given the drama My Life With the Walters Boys a fourth season renewal ahead of the show’s upcoming third season which is set to air later this year. Season four will air sometime in 2027. Also, The Lincoln Lawyer will come to a close after its upcoming fifth season. (Variety and Deadline)

Apple TV has given Margo’s Got Money Troubles a second season renewal. (Deadline)

TV CASTING NEWS

The 5th and final season of The Lincoln Lawyer has added the following cast members on a recurring basis: Nate Corddry (The Testaments) as Jimmy Finch, Tricia Helfer (Battlestar Galactica and Lucifer) as Brooke Miller, Amy Aquino (Bosch) as Judge Olivia Alcott [among others]. (Deadline)

Breaking Bad alum Aaron Paul has joined the cast of the upcoming 3rd season of Fallout. There are no details on what character he will play, though. (Deadline)

The Hulu reboot of The X-Files from famed director Ryan Coogler has added the following as guest actors: recent Oscar winner Amy Madigan as well as Steve Buscemi, Ben Foster, Devery Jacobs, Lochlyn Munro, Tantoo Cardinal (among others). The reboot will star Himesh Patel and Danielle Deadwyler as two highly decorated but vastly different FBI agents. They form an unlikely bond when they are assigned to a long-shuttered division devoted to cases involving unexplained phenomena. (Deadline)

Michael Ealy (Power Book II: Ghost) will star opposite Matt Dillon and Will Patton in the upcoming small screen adaptation of The Magnificent Seven on MGM+. Ealy will play Vin Tanner, the role played by Steve McQueen in the original 1960 film. (Deadline)

White Collar and Doom Patrol alum Matt Bomer has joined the upcoming second season of the Peacock drama The Day of the Jackal that stars Eddie Redmayne. He will have a recurring role, but details are being kept under wraps about who he will play. (Deadline)

BOX OFFICE CASTING NEWS

Russell Tovey and Olivia Colman will star in the upcoming box office movie Wild Bird with Tovey will play the late fashion designer McQueen while Colman will play Isabella Blow, the fashion editor credited with discovering him. (Variety)

English singer-songwriter FKA Twigs will star as jazz icon Josephine Baker in a new biopic that will begin filming this fall. The yet-to-be-titled biopic is expected to cover Baker’s remarkable life story: born in St. Louis in 1906, she rose to fame after moving to Paris in 1925. But Baker’s legacy resonates far beyond the stage. During World War II, she joined the French Resistance, supporting the Allied nations in the fight against fascism; then, in the 1950s and 1960s, Baker became a prominent voice in the American Civil Rights Movement. (Variety)

Sinqua Walls (Teen Wolf and Friday Night Lights) has joined the cast of the upcoming Superman sequel Man of Tomorrow, but details about who he will play is being kept under wraps. (The Hollywood Reporter)

DEVELOPMENT NEWS

Peacock is working on a small screen adaptation of the long-running movie franchise Fast & Furious. (Variety)

That’s it. Enjoy!

Read Full Post »

Hey All,

Here are the entertainment news items for the past week:

RENEWALS

FOX has given Murder in a Small Town a third season renewal. (The Hollywood Reporter)

NBC has given Law & Order a renewal for its 26th (yep, you read that right!) season. (Deadline)

Hallmark+ has given its prequel series Hope Valley: 1874 a second season renewal. (Entertainment Now)

ABC has given a second season renewal to R.J. Decker (Variety)

HBO has given a second season order for the new Harry Potter small screen adaptation ahead of the first season’s Christmas premiere. (Deadline)

TV CASTING NEWS

James Marsden (Paradise) will star in the upcoming thriller series Disavowed at Apple TV that will follow legendary CIA Case Officer Brad Griffin (Marsden), who is abruptly fired in the middle of a global hunt for an elusive assassin responsible for killing his colleague. Disgraced and outcast from the world of intelligence, all bets are off when Brad decides to go after the 15 million dollar federal bounty on the assassin’s head. (Variety)

New cast members for the second season of the Amazon Prime series We Were Liars have been announced, including Once Upon a Time and Manifest alum Josh Dallas and Peyton List (The Rookie). They will play the younger versions of patriarch Harris and matriarch Tipper. (Deadline)

Lizzy Caplan (Masters of Sex and Party Down) has joined the upcoming 5th season of The Morning Show on Apple TV. She will play Gwen, a passionate and uncompromising Broadway theater director. (Deadline)

Veteran actor Peter Gallagher (The O.C. and Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist) has joined the cast of the upcoming third season of Murder in a Small Town on FOX. (Deadline)

The second season of the Nicole Kidman Amazon Prime drama Scarpetta has added the following to is cast David Arquette (the Scream franchise), Jodi Balfour (For All Mankind), William Zabka (Cobra Kai), Kim Dickens (Deadwood) and veteran actress Holland Taylor [among others]. There are no character details yet for these new cast members. (Deadline)

Will Patton (Falling Skies and Outer Range) will star opposite Matt Dillon in the upcoming drama The Magnificent Seven on MGM+, which will be a reimaging of the classic 1960 western film. Patton will play a new character to the series Cyrus T. Clemons, a confident, swaggering baron convinced of his own destiny in the 1880s American frontier-set series. (Deadline)

TV NEWS

The Netflix series The Night Agent will come to a close after its upcoming fourth season, which has added Abigail Breslin (Little Miss Sunshine), Annabeth Gish (Mystic Pizza and Mayfair Witches) and David Denman (The Office and Peacemaker) to the cast. Breslin will play Cahlin, a young FBI agent; Denman will playFord, a veteran CIA agent and former head of a Joint Terrorism Task Force and Gish will play Holland, an FBI agent who joins the DOJ investigation into Peter Sutherland (series lead Gabriel Basso). (Deadline)

FALL TV NEWS

FOX is rebooting the classic 80’s TV series Highway To Heaven. The plan is to keep the original show’s uplifting, emotional storytelling and themes of compassion, humanity and second chances while putting an original spin on its premise of a “probationary angel,” who is sent to Earth to earn his wings by helping people in need. Friday Night Lights creator Jason Katims will be at the helm of the series. (Deadline)

NBC is also moving forward with a reboot of The Rockford Files with Angel and SEAL Team star David Boreanaz in the lead role and 9-1-1 star Peter Krause taking the lead in the new drama Line of Fire. (Deadline)

DEVELOPMENT NEWS

This Is Us star Mandy Moore is expected to star in and executive produce an as-yet titled HBO Max drama that tells the story of two families coming together against incredible odds and discovering a newfound extended family that they never could have imagined. The role of one of the parents is intended for Moore, sources said. (Deadline)

BOX OFFICE NEWS

Downton Abbey alum Laura Carmichael and Nobody Wants This and The O.C. alum Adam Brody will star in the upcoming film A Night at Claridge’s (this is the working title), which will be based on the 1947 novel The Slaves of Solitude by Patrick Hamilton, which will be set in the south of England in 1943, just before D-Day, when a small town is filled with American soldiers. It will follow Miss Roach (Carmichael), a publisher’s reader. After being bombed out of her London flat, Miss Roach moves to a small town where she finds lodgings at a guest house alongside Mr Thwaites, who delights in bullying her, and Vicki, a German woman. However, Miss Roach’s friendship with Vicki is soon tested by the arrival of American officer Lt. Dayton Pike, with the pair vying for his affections. (Digital Spy)

Oscar winner Brendan Fraser will star in the upcoming cosmic sci-fi thriller Starman, playing visionary technologist Tom Adams, an architect of the future, who launches a historic expedition to Mars, positioning himself at the forefront of humanity’s next frontier. But when unforeseen events find him millions of miles from Earth, his mission becomes an unexpected and urgent race against time, driven not by survival alone but by love. (Deadline)

The Superman sequel Man Of Tomorrow has added Matthew Lillard (Cross and Scooby Doo) to its cast, but there are no details as to who he will play. (Deadline)

Looks like there just might be another Hocus Pocus movie coming from Disney, but the project is still in its infancy so there’s not too much to tell other than Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker and Kathy Najimy are expecting to reprise their roles as the Sanderson sisters. (Deadline)

Priyanka Chopra Jonas (Citadel) and Orlando Bloom (The Lord of the Rings franchise) will star in the upcoming survival thriller flick Reset that will follow a woman (Chopra Jonas) who wakes up in the middle of the wilderness days from civilization with no memory of how she got there, finding that her only chance at survival is to trust a charming stranger (Bloom), who may not be who he says he is. (Deadline)

Gerard Butler (Greenland and Plane) will appear in a new action-thriller flick, playing a sniper who receives an anonymous threat over the radio and must race against a ticking clock in order to save his family and 70,000 fans at the biggest sporting event on the globe: the World Cup. (Deadline)

Bridgerton and Wicked hunk Jonathan Bailey will star alongside Natalie Portman in the upcoming psychological thriller flick Pumping Black that follows cyclist Taylor Mace, who at 35-years-old is finding himself aging out of the sport. He is taken under the wing of Andrea Lathe, a doctor driven by her own thirst for victory and power. As the race to the Tour de France progresses, Taylor must take increasingly dark measures to protect his secret. (Variety)

That’s it. Enjoy!

Read Full Post »

Hey All,

Here are the entertainment news items for this past week:

CANCELLATION NEWS

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

BOX OFFICE MOVIE NEWS

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

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

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

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

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

STRAIGHT-TO-SERIES ORDER

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

DEVELOPMENT NEWS

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

PICK UP ORDER

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

TV CASTING NEWS

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

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

That’s it. Enjoy!

Read Full Post »

Hey All,

Here are the entertainment news items for this past week:

CANCELLATION

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

TV CASTING NEWS

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

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

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

NEW DRAMA ANNOUNCEMENT

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

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

That’s it. Enjoy!

Read Full Post »