Rueben's Ramblings

Hey All,

Here are the news items for this past week:

RENEWALS

Only Murders in the Building has been renewed for Season 3 at Hulu. (TV Line)

Peacock has renewed Dr. Death for a second season. This time around the series will tell the story of real-life surgeon Paolo Macchiarini, aka “The Miracle Man,” whose professional acclaim is hiding some shocking secrets. (TV Line and Variety)

RETURNING

Criminal Minds is getting a reboot of sorts at Paramount+ with a 10-episode series order. (TV Line)

REBOOT NEWS

It looks like Amazon Prime just might be rebooting the Stargate franchise, bringing back some of the original cast of the long-running franchise TV series along with new actors playing new characters. Nothing is confirmed yet, however. (Giant Freakin’ Robot)

TV CASTING NEWS

FBI: International is losing an original cast member. Christiane Paul, who plays Europol agent Katrin Jaeger, will not be returning for the show’s upcoming 2nd season. Eva-Jane Willis (Amazon’s The Power) will take over in the new role of Europol agent Megan “Smitty” Garretson, a street-wise Europol agent with an extensive undercover background who is embedded with The Fly Team and liaises with each host country they inhabit. (TV Line)

Singer-actress Lily Allen and Freema Agyeman (Doctor Who and New Amsterdam) will star in the Sky Original (in the UK) dark comedy Dreamland, which is based on the Sharon Horgan BAFTA-winning short about secrets, lies, loves and aspirations within a family of four sisters that will be set in the sun-drenched British seaside town of Margate, exploring the multi-generational female relationships, and their (somewhat dysfunctional) family dynamics. (Variety)

The Boy’s college-set superhero spin-off will be called Gen V, and will explore the lives of hormonal, competitive Supes as they put their physical, sexual and moral boundaries to the test, competing for the best contracts in the best cities. The cast will include Jaz Sinclair and Chance Perdomo (both from Chilling Adventures of Sabrina), Lizze Broadway (Here and Now), Shelley Conn (Bridgerton), Maddie Phillips (Teenage Bounty Hunters), London Thor (Shameless), Derek Luh (Shining Vale), Asa Germann, Patrick Schwarzenegger (The Terminal List), Sean Patrick Thomas (For All Mankind) and Marco Pigossi (Brazil’s Invisible City). Marvel’s Agent Carter‘s Michele Fazekas and Tara Butters serve as showrunners and will executive-produce. (TV Line)

Jonathan Bailey (Anthony on Bridgerton) will star opposite Matt Bomer in the Showtime period-set limited series Fellow Travelers, that is based on the Thomas Mallon novel. The 8-episode drama is an epic love story and political thriller, chronicling the volatile romance of two very different men who meet in the shadow of McCarthy-era Washington. Bailey will play Tim Laughlin, a young Fordham University graduate, earnest about his political and religious convictions and filled with optimism about the post-WWII future. His life is turned upside down when he meets and falls for charismatic and intimacy-avoidant “Hawk” Fuller (Bomer). The pair begin a romance just as Joseph McCarthy and Roy Cohn declare war on “subversives and sexual deviants,” initiating one of the darkest periods in 20th-century American history. (TV Line)

Kaci Walfall (The CW’s short-lived superhero series Naomi) will guest star in the final season of Queen Sugar. There are no details what role she will play, but Greenleaf vet Lamman Rucker will also guest star as well as Tracie Thoms (from 9-1-1), who will play Nova’s (Rutina Wetley) long-lost high-school love. (TV Line)

The Resident has promoted Kaley Ronayne, who plays Dr. Cade Sullivan, to a series regular in the FOX medical drama. (TV Line)

BOX OFFICE NEWS

Adam Scott (Severance) has joined the cast of the upcoming Sony superhero film Madame Web, which will star Dakota Johnson in the title role. The movie will be an origin story for the character, who served as an ally to Spider-Man in the Marvel comics. There are no details on what character Scott will play, though. (Variety)

That’s it. Enjoy!

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Hey All,

Here are the news items for this past week:

RENEWAL/CANCELLATION

Paramount+ has given the thriller series Evil a 4th season renewal. (TV Line)

Amazon Prime Video has pulled the plug on the sci-fi series Night Sky after only one season. (TV Line)

HBO has cancelled Gentleman Jack after two seasons. (TV Line)

The Showtime legal drama Your Honor, that stars Bryan Cranston, will end after its upcoming 2nd season. (TV Line)

TV CASTING NEWS

The CW series Kung Fu will welcom Yvonne Chapman back as a series regular for the show’s third season along with JB Tadena being promoted to a series regular. (TV Line)

Ella Jay Basco (Grey’s Anatomy and the box office movie Birds of Prey) has landed a recurring role in the upcoming Peacock limited series A Friend of the Family that is based on the true story of the Broberg family, whose daughter Jan (Hendrix Yancey) was kidnapped multiple times over a period of years by Robert “B” Berchtold (Jake Lacy), a charismatic, obsessed family “friend.” The Brobergs — devoted to their faith, family and community — were utterly unprepared for the sophisticated tactics their neighbor used to exploit their vulnerabilities, drive them apart and turn their daughter against them. “A Friend of the Family” follows how their lives were permanently altered and how they survived. (Variety)

Megan Boone (The Blacklist) will appear in the upcoming FOX anthology series Accused, based on the British show, that opens in a courtroom with a defendant being accused of a crime, then backtracks to reveal how these people got caught up in the extraordinary situations in which they find themselves. (TV Line and Deadline)

Michael Cimino (Love, Victor) has joined the cast of the 4th and final season of the Netflix series Never Have I Ever where he will play Ethan, a skater and new heartthrob at Sherman Oaks High. And, he will star opposite Peyton List (from Cobra Kai) in the HBO Max romantic special B-Loved. (The Hollywood Reporter)

Michael Raymond-James (Lost and Terriors) will play the key role of mob boss Joe Colombo opposite Forrest Whitaker in the upcoming third season of Godfather of Harlem on EPIX. (Deadline)

Eleanor Tomlinson (Poldark) has joined the cast of the Netflix romantic drama series One Day, playing Sylvie. The series charts a series of intense personal encounters between Emma and Dexter that begin on their university graduation day on July 15, 1988. Every episode wthill follow them on that one particular day as they grow and change, move together and apart, and experience joy and heartbreak. (Deadline)

TV NEWS

A crossover involving all three Law & Order series is being eyed to launch the show’s respective new season this fall. (TV Line)

TV MOVIE NEWS

ABC has announced its next live-action, animation hybrid movie will be Beauty and the Beast set to debut on December 15 in celebration of the film’s 30th(ish) anniversary. (TV Line)

BOX OFFICE NEWS

Steven Yeun (Minari and The Walking Dead) will star alongside Robert Pattinson in an upcoming sci-fi movie from Bong Joon Ho that follows an “expendable” — a disposable employee on a human expedition sent to colonize the ice world Niflheim — who refuses to let his replacement clone, dubbed Mickey8, take his place. (Variety)

That’s it. Enjoy!

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Hey All,

Here are the news items for this past week:

RENEWALS/CANCELLATIONS

FX has given a second season order to The Old Man, starring Jeff Bridges. (TV Line)

Apple TV+ has pulled the plug on the Jason Momoa drama See. The series will air its third and final season on the streaming servie on August 26. (TV Line)

The CW has canceled the new drama Tom Swift after only one season. (TV Line)

Despite getting a third season renewal, the Paramount+ drama Why Women Kill isn’t going to get its third season after all since the renewal has been reversed. (TV Line)

HBO has pulled the plug on The Time Traveler’s Wife after only one season. (TV Line)

RESCUED AFTER ALL

NBC has come to rescue in saving the reboot of Magnum P.I., giving the series a two-season renewal (the show’s 5th and 6th), which will consist of 10 episodes each season with an option for more episodes. (Deadline and TV Line)

NOT MOVING FORWARD

Peacock is not moving forward with the small screen TV adaptation of the box office film Field of Dreams although the project is being shopped around to other outlets. (Variety)

BLAST FROM THE PAST REBOOT

The streaming service formerly known as IMDbTV – now known as Amazon’s Freevee – will be moving forward with a sequel to the 1980’s sitcom Who’s the Boss with original series stars Alyssa Milano and Tony Danza reprising their roles. The reboot will focus on Samantha Micelli (Milano), a single mother who lives in the same house where she grew up on the original series. Her retired dad, Tony (Danza), lives with her. There’s no word yet on whether Judith Light and Danny Pintauro will also reprise their roles. (The Hollywood Reporter)

TV CASTING NEWS

Kate Winslet will be returning to the small screen again, this time in the limited HBO series Trust, based on the Hernan Diaz novel. Winslet will executive produce in addition to starring, in a story that focus on what happens when a wealthy financier reads a novel based on his own life and is dissatisfied by his and his wife’s portrayal. He asks a secretary to ghostwrite his memoir and set the record straight. She, however, grows uncomfortably aware that he is rewriting history—and his wife’s place in it. (Variety)

Freeform is moving forward with thriller The Watchful Eye that centers on a young nanny who goes to work for a wealthy New York family that harbors a closetful of secrets. Mariel Molino (from ABC’s failed drama Promised Land) will play the lead role of Elena Santos, who maneuvers her way into a job with an affluent family and has some shocking secrets of her own. Molino takes over from Andrea Londos, who played Elena in the show’s pilot. The actor who will be among the cast include Warren Christie, Kelly Bishop and Amy Acker. (The Hollywood Reporter)

Supergirl alum Melissa Benoist will star in the HBO Max series The Girls on the Bus, inspired by a chapter in Amy Chozick’s book Chasing Hillary. Benoist will play Sadie McCarthy, a journalist who romanticizes the original “Boys on the Bus” and who scrapped her whole life for her own shot at covering a presidential campaign for the paper of record. Sadie hits the trail and eventually bonds with three female competitors. Despite their differences, these women become a found family with a front-row seat to the greatest soap opera in town: the battle for the White House. (Variety)

The new Netflix action-comedy Obliterated – from the creators of Cobra Kai – has cast Nick Zano (DC’s Legends of Tomorrow) and Shelley Henig (Teen Wolf) as the leads. The show tells the story of an elite special forces team who thwarts a deadly threat to Las Vegas. After their celebratory party, filled with booze, drugs and sex, the team discovers that a bomb they deactivated was a fake. The now intoxicated team has to fight through their impairments, overcome their personal issues, find the real bomb, and save the world. Zano will star as Chad McKnight, who heads up the special forces team. The team loves him despite his reputation for being a wild guy on and off the job. The night from hell in Vegas will test his commitment to both keeping the good times going and saving the world while he’s at it. Hennig will play Ava Frost, a CIA lead agent who likes to play by the book while overseeing an elite Special Forces team. But the book gets thrown out the window when she and the team have to go back to work while impaired. (Variety)

Andie MacDowell is returning to the Hallmark Channel to star in the network’s new original series The Way Home, playing Del, the matriarch of the Landry family and a pillar of the close-knit community of her small, Canadian farm town. She and her daughter Kat have been estranged from each other following tragic events that left their family forever changed and prompted Kat to move away. When Kat unexpectedly returns many years later with her teenage daughter whom Del has never met, the three generations of women embark on an enlightening journey to find their way back to each other and learn important lessons about their family’s past. (Deadline)

Outlander has added new cast members to its upcoming 7th season. Those actors are Izzy Meikle-Small (Never Let Me Go) and Joey Phillips (Billy Elliot). They will play brother and sister Rachel Hunter and Dr. Denzell Hunter, respectively. (Deadline)

BOX OFFICE NEWS

Kathryn Newton (Supernatural and Little Women) and Cole Sprouse (Riverdale) will star in the box office film Lisa Frankenstien from Oscar winner Diablo Cody. Set in 1989, the film follows an unpopular high schooler who accidentally re-animates a handsome Victorian corpse during a lightning storm and starts to rebuild him into the man of her dreams using the broken tanning bed in her garage. (Deadline)

Emma Roberts has joined the cast of the Marvel flick Madame Web that will star Dakota Johnson as the title hero. The movie is an origin story for the comic book character, a clairvoyant whose psychic abilities allow her to see within the spider world itself. In the comics, her abilities prove to be greatly beneficial to Spider-Man and his fellow arachnid allies but given her condition she’s never battled villains herself. (Variety)

STREAMING MOVIE NEWS

Millie Bobby Brown (Stranger Things and Enola Holmes) will star in the next Russo Brothers project. Rumors surfaced earlier this year that Chris Pratt was in talks to co-star, but no deal has been set yet. The film will be set in a retro-futuristic past, where an orphaned teenager (Brown) traverses the American West with a sweet but mysterious robot and an eccentric drifter in search of her younger brother. (Deadline)

MADE-FOR-TV MOVIE NEWS

Reba stars Melissa Peterman and Reba McEntire herself will star alongside each other as sister in the Lifetime made-for-TV movie The Hammer, which is inspired by the life of traveling circuit judge Kim Wanker. McEntire will play Wheeler, an outspoken, firecracker lawyer who is appointed Judge of the 5th District of Nevada and is one of the few traveling judges left in America. After the reigning judge passes away under suspicious circumstances, Kim finds herself covering a circuit that stretches between Las Vegas and Reno — a rugged, often desolate area where anything and everything can happen. With gavel in hand, she lays down the law with a no-nonsense brand of justice, that quickly earns her the nickname ‘The Hammer.’ As the investigation of the former judge’s death heats up, Kim’s sister Kris (played by Peterman), who runs the local brothel, suddenly becomes the prime suspect. As a result, Kim is forced to work even harder to make certain the appropriate justice is served. McEntire’s real-life boyfriend Rex Linn (CSI: Miami) will co-star. A premiere date has not yet been announced. (TV Line)

That’s it. Enjoy!

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Hey All,

Here are the news items for this past week:

RENEWAL

AMC has given a second season renewal to the new drama Dark Winds. (Variety)

DEVELOPMENT NEWS

The CW is considering another soapy, noir thriller teen dama called Jake Change that will be set in the world of Archie Comics. The potential series will focus on an Asian-American–led mystery, following a 16-year-old private investigator as he navigates the racially and socio-economically diverse worlds of his ever-gentrifying home of Chinatown, and the elite private high school he attends. (Deadline)

Netflix is developing a new limited series adaptation of John Steinbeck’s East of Eden with Florence Pugh on tap to star in an as-yet unconfirmed role. The story is set in California’s Salinas Valley over a period that stretches from the Civil War to the end of World War I, telling the interconnected stories of the Hamilton family, an Irish immigrant family with nine children, and the Trask family, led by the wealthy Adam Trask. The story eventually narrows its focus to center around the Trask family and the drama surrounding Adam, his wife Cathy and their sons Cal and Aron. (Variety)

CHANGE OF PLANS

The Yellowstone spin-off originally title 1932 will now be called 1923. The “tweak” in the show’s name is because the series will encompass the end of World War 1 and the start of prohibition. (TV Line)

TV CASTING NEWS

Kevin Zegers has joined the cast of the spin-off series The Rookie: Feds, playing Brendon Acres who is just out of Quantico. He’s got a lot to prove in his first posting – not least because his background as the lead on the long-running TV series Vampire Cop means few people take him seriously. His years of method-actor training led not only to martial arts and gun skills, but also a master’s in computer science. (Deadline)

Actress Moses Ingram (Obi-Wan Kenobi) will star opposite Natalie Portman in the Apple limited series Lady in the Lake, taking over the role of Cleo Sherwood in the series from Lupita Nyong’o. (Variety)

China Beach alum Dana Delany has joined the cast of the Sylvester Stallone Paramount+ series Tulsa King that follows New York mafia capo Dwight “The General” Manfredi (Stallone), just after he is released from prison after 25 years and unceremoniously exiled by his boss to set up shop in Tulsa, Okla. Realizing that his mob family may not have his best interests in mind, Dwight slowly builds a crew from a group of unlikely characters to help him establish a new criminal empire in a place that to him might as well be another planet. (Variety)

Doctor Who alum Peter Capaldi and Cush Jumbo (The Good Fight) will star in the Apple TV+ one-hour London thriller Criminal Record, a powerful, character-driven thriller set in the heart of contemporary London. An anonymous phone call draws two brilliant detectives into a confrontation over an old murder case: one a young woman in the early stages of her career and the other a well-connected man determined to protect his legacy. Capaldi will play Detective Chief Inspector Daniel Hegarty, and Jumbo will play Detective Sgt. June Lenker. (Deadline)

BOX OFFICE NEWS

The reboot of the Spy Kids movie franchise will star Gina Rodriguez (Jane the Virgin) and Zachary Levi (Chuck) in the lead roles. (Deadline)

Hunter Schafer (Euphoria) has joined the cast of The Hunger Games prequel The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, starring opposite Tom Blyth (Billy the Kid) and Rachel Zegler (West Side Story). Schafer will play Tigris Snow, the cousin and confidante of Coriolanus Snow (Blyth). (Variety)

MINI-SERIES NEWS

PBS Masterpiece is developing a 4-part mini-series adaptation of the acclaimed novel Miss Auten by author Gill Hornby. The novel centers on the lives and loves of Jane Austen and her sister Cassandra. It delves into why Cassandra burned a treasure trove of letters written by her sister, Jane – an act of destruction that has troubled academics and Austen fans for centuries. (Variety)

That’s it. Enjoy!

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Hey All,

Here are the news items for this past week:

RENEWALS/CANCELLATIONS

Netflix has renewed Lincoln Lawyer for a second season. (TV  Line)

The Hallmark Channel has given When Calls the Heart at 10th season renewal. (Hallmark Channel Press Release)

Snowpiercer will come to an end on TNT after its upcoming 4th season. There is no official air date for that final season just yet. (TV Line)

TV CASTING NEWS

Mehcad Brooks (Supergirl) will play a detective in the reboot of Law & Order this fall, but no details have been revealed about who that character will be. (TV Line)

Peyton List (Cobra Kai) will star in the 8-episode Paramount+ young adult drama School Spirits, which is based on the graphic novel by Nate and Megan Trinrud and Maria Nguyen, that revolves around a teen who is stuck in the afterlife who decides to investigate her mysterious disappearance alongside a group of other students who are also stuck in limbo at their high school. (The Hollywood Reporter)

Carlos Valdes (The Flash) will star opposite Mae Whitman (Good Girls) in the upcoming Hulu 8-episode musical romantic comedy Up Here that will be set in the waning days of 1999 in New York City, following the extraordinary story of one ordinary couple, as they fall in love – and discover that the single greatest obstacle to finding happiness together might just be themselves – and the treacherous world of memories, obsessions, fears, and fantasies that lives inside their heads. (Variety)

Alyssa Milano (the original Charmed) will write and executive produce a series adaptation of the Peter Bognanni book Things I’m Seeing Without You for A+E Studios. In the show, 16-year-old Tess talks to Jonah every day; through texts, tweets and emails. So when she discovers he has committed suicide, her world implodes. Feeling heartbroken and traumatized, Tess unexpectedly finds herself living with her estranged father, Duncan, wondering how well she knew the boy she called her boyfriend. Now struggling with questions about life and loss, this complicated teenager and her less complicated father come together, trying to learn what it means to love someone, to lose someone and to wade through the beautiful/strange agony of the aftermath. (Variety)

BOX OFFICE NEWS

Viola Davis will play Michael Jordan’s mother in the upcoming Nike biopic at Amazon that will also star Chris Tucker, Marlon Wayans, Jason Bateman, Chris Messina and Julius Tennon. (Deadline and Yahoo News)

That’s it. Enjoy!

Read Full Post »

Hey All,

Here are the news items for this past week:

RENEWALS/CANCELLATIONS

The Amazon drama The Summer I Turned Pretty has been renewed for a second season before the show’s first season has even debuted. (Variety)

Netflix has given the Korean hit Squid Game a second season renewal. (TV Line)

Spectrum Originals has pulled the plug on the drama series Long Slow Exhale after only one season. (Deadline)

Despite getting cancelled by Showtime, the drama series American Rust is getting a second chance via Amazon’s Freevee (formerly known as IMDbTV. (TV Line)

HBO Max has given the drama series Tokyo Vice a second season renewal. (Variety)

Apple TV+ has given the dramedy Schmigadoon a second season renewal. (TV Line) [NOTE: See TV Casting News for more details.]

Only a week into season three and The Boys has already been renewed for a 4th season. (TV Line)

Despite being handed a series order FOUR years ago by HBo, the J.J. Abrams sci-fi drama Demimonde has been scrapped. (Variety)

TV CASTING NEWS

Schmigadoon will be back from a second season, and this time around it will find Josh (Keegan-Michael Key) and Melissa (Cecily Strong) in Schmicago, the world of ’60s and ’70s musicals. The will be joined by new series regulars Tituss Burgess (Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt) and Patrick Page (The Gilded Age) with original cast members Ariana DeBose, Dove Cameron, Jaime Camil, Kristin Chenoweth, Alan Cumming, Ann Harada, Jane Krakowski, Martin Short and Aaron Tveit returning. (TV Line)

Hulu has ordered a series adaptation of Tiny Beautiful Things based on the Cheryl Strayed best-seller. The series will star Kathryn Hahn as a woman who reluctantly becomes Dear Sugar — an anonymous, revered advice columnist — when her own life is falling apart. (Variety)

The new Damon Lindelof drama series Mrs. Davis will stream on Peacock, and it will star Ben Chaplin, Margo Martindale, Betty Gilpin and Jake McDorman. The series is an exploration of faith vs technolog. Gilpin will play the lead character, a nun who takes on an all-powerful artificial intelligence, while McDorman will play her rebellious ex, who also has a vendetta against the algorithm. Details about who Chaplin and Martindale are playing are being kept quiet, though. (The Hollywood Reporter)

Jesse James Keitel (the new Queer as Folk reboot and ABC’s Big Sky) will have a guest starring role in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, as the nonbinary character Dr. Aspen, who once worked as a Starfleet counselor, but whose experiences on the Federation border prompted them to shift careers and work as a humanitarian aid worker. (Variety)

Jon Hamm, Juno Temple and Jennifer Jason Leigh are set in the lead roles of season 5 of the FX anthology series Fargo that will be set in 2019, asking the questions when is a kidnapping not a kidnapping, and what if your wife isn’t yours? (Variety)

SMALL SCREEN MOVIE NEWS

The Netflix sequel movie The Old Guard 2 has added Uma Thurman and Crazy Rich Asian hunk Henry Golding to its cast with returning member Charlize Theron, KiKi Layne, Matthias Schoenaerts, Marwan Kenzari, Luca Marinelli, Veronica Ngo and Chiwetel Ejiofor reprising their roles. No word on who Thurman and Golding will be playing, though. (Variety)

BOX OFFICE NEWS

David Oyelowo will star opposite Kaley Cuoco in the high-concept thriller box office flick Role Play, which centers around a married couple whose life turns upside down when secrets come out about each other’s pasts. Oyelowo will play Cuoco’s husband in the film. (Deadline)

Maria Bakalova (who was the only good thing in the Borat film) has joined the cast of the box office franchise Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. No details have been released on what character she will play, however. (Variety)

Julia Garner (Inventing Anna) has been offered to play the lead role in the forthcoming biopic about pop icon Madonna (who will direct the movie).  (Variety)

That’s it. Enjoy!

Read Full Post »

Hey All,

Here are the news items for this past week:

RENEWALS/CANCELLATION

AppleTV+ has renewed the drama Slow Horses for season 3 and 4. (Variety)

HBO Max has pulled the plug on Raised by Wolves after two seasons. (TV Line)

Kaley Cuoco has alluded that The Flight Attendant is likely to end with only two seasons. (TV Line)

TV CASTING NEWS

FBI: Most Wanted is losing cast member Miguel Gomez, who plays Special Agent Ivan Ortiz. He won’t be returning for the show’s upcoming 4th season. (TV Line)

Amanda Peet will join Lizzy Caplan and Joshua Jackson in the TV series adaptation of Fatal Attraction that will be coming to Paramount+. The series is described as a deep-dive reimagining of the film that will explore fatal attraction and the themes of marriage and infidelity through the lens of modern attitudes toward strong women, personality disorders, and coercive control. Peet will star as Beth Gallagher, a loyal wife, loving mother and successful small business owner whose world unravels when her husband Dan’s (Jackson) indiscretion threatens to destroy their life together. (Variety)

BOX OFFICE NEWS

West Side Story’s Rachel Zegler will play Lucy Gray Baird in the Hunger Game prequel film The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. (Giant Freakin Robot and Variety)

That’s it. Enjoy!

Read Full Post »

Hey All,

Here are the news items for this past week:

CANCELLATIONS

The Masterpiece series Endeavour on PBS will come to an end with its 9th season. (TV Line)

The Good Fight will come to an end after its upcoming 6th season. (TV Line)

BOX OFFICE NEWS

Celeste O’Connor (Ghostbusthers: Afterlife) has joined the cast of the upcoming Sony film Madame Web that will star Dakota Johnson (Thirty Shades franchise) in the title role. The movie will serve as an origin story for Madame Web, a clairvoyant whose psychic abilities allow her to see within the spider world itself. What role O’Connor will play, however, is being kept under wraps. (Variety)

Shira Haas (Unorthodox) will star in the period musical drama Ethel that tells the true story of Ethel Stark, the groundbreaking conductor who founded the first all-female orchestra in Montreal. Aside from breaking barriers in the music world, Stark has been credited for championing social change across gender, race, language and class starting in the 1940s. (Variety)

The one and only Rita Moreno will appear as the grandmother of Dominic Toretto (played by Vin Diesel) in the next Fast and Furious sequel. (Variety)

TV CASTING NEWS

Season 4 of the HBO crime anthology True Detective will feature Oscar winner Jode Foster, playing detective Liz Danvers, who, along with fellow detective Evangeline Navarro (yet to be cast) will have to confront the darkness they carry in themselves, and dig into the haunted truths that lie buried under the eternal ice. The official title will be True Detective: Night Country, and it will take place in the frigid Arctic regions of Alaska. (TV Line and The Hollywood Reporter)

Two cast members are officially leaving the long-running NBC drama The Blacklist. Amir Arison (who has played Agent Aram Mojtabai since the first season) and Laura Sohn (who has played Agent Alina Park since season 7) bid farewell in the show’s season finale that aired this week. (TV Line)

Alexis Bledel has left the cast of The Handmaid’s Tale ahead of the show’s upcoming 5th season. (TV Line)

Anthony Anderson will not return for the second season of the revival of Law & Order. (Deadline and TV Line)

Jude Law has joined the cast of the Disney+ drama Star Wars: Skeleton Crew that takes place during the post–’Return of the Jedi’ reconstruction that follows the fall of the Empire. (Variety)

Charlotte Spencer, who played Esther in the two seasons of Sanditon will not be returning for the period piece’s upcoming third season, as she will be starring in the new BBC/Paramount+ drama The Gold. (TV Line)

Okieriete Onaodowan (Broadway’s Hamilton) will play the lead in the AMC 6-episode half-hour series Demascus, which is a character-driven exploration of life as an ordinary Black man in America today and revolves around Demascus (Onaodowan), a 33-year-old Black man who goes on a journey of self-discovery using an innovative new technology that allows him to experience different versions of his own life. The series follows these vivid psychological explorations and also features Demascus in his primary reality. (The Hollywood Reporter)

That’s it. Enjoy!

Read Full Post »

Hey All,

Here are the news items for this past week:

CANCELLATION

All of the major networks have announced their expected fall TV line-ups (albeit FOX hasn’t released its exact night-by-night line-up just yet). You can see night-by-night line-ups here on my site. In the meantime, one additional drama that has been canceled is Riverdale on The CW, but the series will air its current 7th season in 2023 and then come to an end. (TV Line)

RENEWAL

Disney+ has given a fourth season renewal to the musical series High School Musical: The Musical: the Series. (Variety)

BOX OFFICE NEWS

It looks like there might be a film reboot of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen at 20th Century Studios. The “original” film came out in 2003, and was set in an alternate Victorian Age world, following a group of famous contemporary fantasy, science fiction, and adventure characters that included Captain Nemo, Dorian Gray and Tom Sawyer—as they teamed up on a secret mission. (Deadline)

As was rumored earlier, the official announcement has been made that HBO Max is no longer moving forward with a live-action movie about the Wonder Twins that was going to star 1883 actress Isabel May and Riverdale hunk KJ Apa. (Variety)

Chris Pine will be directing for the first time, and recent Oscar winner Ariana DeBose (West Side Story) and Jennifer Jason Leigh (Single White Female) will star in his directorial debut. The movie called Poolman is being billed as a moving tribute to Los Angeles, but plot details are not being revealed. (Variety)

It looks like Ryan Gosling just might be starring in the feature film adaptation of the iconic 1980’s TV series The Fall Guy. The original series ran from 1981 to 1986 and starred Lee Majors(The Six Million Dollar Man) as a Hollywood stunt man, who, to make ends meet, works as a bounty hunter. (Variety)

TV NEWS

Season 3 of Bridgerton is supposedly skipping ahead to book four in the franchise, focusing on the Colin Bridgerton and Penelope Featherington love story. (Variety)

TV CASTING NEWS

The limited series Bass Reeves from Yellowstone co-creator Taylor Sheridan, is now going to be called 1883: The Bass Reeves Story, and will star David Oyelowo as the legendary lawman, who was known as the greatest frontier hero in American history, and also believed to be the inspiration for The Lone Ranger. (Deadline)

Speaking of Taylor Sheridan. His next Yellowstone based-programming – the prequel entitled 1932 – has announced that megastars Harrison Ford and Helen Mirren will star in the series that will debut on Paramount+. The series will introduce viewers to a new generation of the Duttons. The series will explore the early 20th century when pandemics, historic drought, the end of Prohibition and the Great Depression all plague the mountain west, and the Duttons who call it home. What characters Ford and Mirren will play have not been announced nor is there any word on whether 1932 will be a self-contained limited series the way that 1883 turned out to be. (TV Line)

Actress Maria Sten will reprise her role of Frances Neagley in the upcoming season 2 of Amazon Prime Video’s Reacher, based on the books by author Lee Childs that stars Alan Ritchson in the lead role (that was portrayed by Tom Cruise in the box office films). Season 2 of the series will actually focus on book 11 in the Jack Reacher franchise. The synopsis of season two is this: When the members of Reacher’s old military unit start turning up dead, Reacher has just one thing on his mind—revenge. (Deadline)

The ABC drama Big Sky featured Jensen Ackles (Supernatural and The Boys) in the recently aired season finale. Now, it’s been announced that Ackles will be a series regular in the show’s upcoming 4th season AND now it has been announced that Hall of Famer country music megastar Reba McEntire will play the role of Sunny Brick, the mercurial matriarch of the Brick family, a successful backcountry outfitter that has a secret history of “missing” customers. (TV Line)

Ava DuVernay has landed a 3-year script-to-series commitment from Starz on an as-yet-untitled romantic drama series that will star Joshua Jackson (Dr. Death and Dawson’s Creek) and Lauren Ridloff (The Walking Dead and Eternals), who will also executive produce. The series will follow two polar opposites who become intertwined in a love affair that turns their worlds – and those of everyone around them – upside down. (Deadline)

That’s it. Enjoy!

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Hey All,

Here are the news items for the past week:

RENEWALS/CANCELLATIONS/PICK-UP ORDERS

Crown Media (aka Hallmark) will be launching a new TV series called The Way Home from the folks behind the Canadian hit series Heartland. The family drama will span multiple generations but will have a time travel twist. The drama’s synopsis is: Kat Landry, her 15-year-old daughter Alice and Kat’s estranged mother Del are all strong, willful and independent. More than 20 years prior, lifechanging events created a chasm in their family that time has yet to repair. Kat and Del still aren’t on speaking terms. Alice has never met her grandmother and is unaware of the reasons for their fractured family. When the three generations come together under one roof for the first time in more than two decades, a surprising discovery unexpectedly sets the trio on a path toward healing and helps them find their way back to each other.” The cast for the new series has not yet been announced. The show is set to premiere on the Hallmark Channel in 2023. (Deadline and Heavy.com)

CBS has ordered the small screen adaptation of the box office movie True Lies for the 2022-2023 TV season. The show would focus on unfulfilled suburban housewife (Ginger Gonzaga) who is shocked to discover that her bland and unremarkable computer consultant husband (Steve Howey) is a skilled international spy. She is then propelled into a life of danger and adventure when she’s recruited to work alongside him to save the world as they try to revitalize their passionless marriage. (Variety)

ABC has picked up the spin-off series The Rookie: Feds and the new drama Alaska to series. Niecy Nash-Betts will star as Simone Clark, the oldest rookie in the FBI Academy; and Hilary Swank will star as a disgraced reporter who moves from New York to join a daily newspaper in Anchorage, Alaska. The network has also given renewals to Big Sky and A Million Little Things. (TV Line)

CBS has given two full season renewals to FBI, FBI: International and FBI: Most Wanted. Meanwhile, the network has pulled the plug on the new medical drama Good Sam after only one season, and they also cancelled the Magnum P.I. reboot after 4 seasons on the air. Also, the network has scrapped the planned Early Edition reboot. (TV Line)

CBS has picked up three new dramas, including:

East New York that will follow Regina Haywood (Amanda Warren from Dickinson), the newly promoted police captain of East New York, an impoverished, working class neighborhood at the eastern edge of Brooklyn.
Fire County, which will star SEAL Team alum Max Thieriot as Bode Donovan, a young convict who joins a firefighting program for inmates in a bid to shorten his prison sentence.
So Help Me Todd that will star Marcia Gay Harden and Skylar Astin (Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist’s. The series centers on a talented but directionless P.I. who begrudgingly agrees to work as the in-house investigator for his overbearing mother Joan (Harden), a successful attorney reeling from the recent dissolution of her marriage. (TV Line)

NBC has given the Law & Order revival a second season order. And, the network has also given Law & Order: Organized Crime a 3rd season renewal. Meanwhile, NBC has pulled the plug on The Endgame after only one season. (TV Line)

Amazon has renewed the Robbie Amell dramedy Upload for a third season. (TV Line)

FOX has pulled the plug on Our Kind of People after only one season. (TV Line)

The CW has given a second season order to the spin-off series All American Homecoming. Meanwhile the network cancelled a handful of shows including Naomi and 4400 (both after only one season each); Charmed after 4 seasons on the air; Dynasty after 5 seasons on the air; Legacies after 4 seasons on the air as well as Roswell, New Mexico and In the Dark which will both come to an end after their upcoming episodes have all aired. Roswell, New Mexico is set to premiere its fourth (and now final) season on Monday, June 6 at 8/7c, followed by In the Dark’s fourth and final season on 9 pm.  (TV Line and Variety)

The CW has picked up the following new dramas: Gotham Knights, Walker: Independence and The Winchesters. (TV Line)

HALLMARK NEWS

Ryan Paevey is the latest talent at Hallmark to sign an exclusive multi-picture deal with the network. (Deadline)

BOX OFFICE NEWS

Lucy Hale (Pretty Little Liars) will star in the romantic comedy Which Brings Me to You, an adaptation of the novel by Julianna Baggott and Steve Almond, which is about a journalist and a photographer who, instead of a one-night stand, spend 24 hours sharing their romantic histories in the coat room at a friend’s wedding. Hale will play Jane, a journalist, who finds herself ready to hook up with photographer Will during a wedding. But instead of doing the deed, they share stories of their most embarrassing sexual encounters, first loves, heartbreak and whirlwind romances, discovering each other through heartwarming, hilarious and sometimes tragic tales. (Variety)

The upcoming box office movie Tunnels will not only star Susan Sarandon and Jaeden Martell (Defending Jacob and Knives Out) but also Anna Faris, Alicia Silverstone and Patrick Wilson. Martell and Sarandon will play a duo who strike up the unlikeliest friendship in the wake of unthinkable tragedy. (Variety)

Jennifer Hudson, Milla Jovovich, Quvenzhane Wallis and Common will all star in the new action-thriller Breathe that focuses on what happens after Earth is left uninhabitable due to lack of oxygen. A mother Maya (Hudson) and her daughter Zora (Wallis) are forced to live underground, with short trips to the surface only made possible by a state-of-the-art oxygen suit made by Maya’s husband, Darius, whom she presumes to be dead. When a mysterious couple arrives claiming to know Darius and his fate, Maya tentatively agrees to let them into their bunker, but are they all they appear to be? (Variety)

Ben Hardy (Bohemian Rhapsody, Kaya Scodelario (The Maze Runner) and Lance Reddick (John Wick) will star in the upcoming sci-fi thriller Apteros that sees a crew of seven astronauts, including science officer Tressie (Scodelario), Captain Mitchell (Reddick), systems engineer Wade (Hardy) and their onboard AI, en-route to Mars after bacterial life is discovered on the red planet in the not-too-distant future. Soon however, a number of unusual events unfold aboard the spacecraft, and the crew find themselves divided in a tense psychological battle as they struggle to work out what is happening and realize nothing is as it seems. Thrown into a desperate tailspin, soon it’s not just the mission at stake, but all of life on earth. (Variety)

It looks like Dirty Dancing will be getting a sequel that will find Jennifer Grey reprising her classic role of Frances “Baby” Houseman. Little is known about the next chapter nor have other cast membesr been announced. (Variety)

TV CASTING NEWS

Jensen Ackles and Jamie-Lynn Sigler have been promoted to series regular for the newly announced season 3 of Big Sky. (TV Insider)

The BBC has announced that former Doctor Who David Tennant and former companion Catherine Tate will reunite in the show next year as part of the show’s 60th anniversary celebration. (TV Line)

The 10-episode, modern-day take on Zorro that is being undertaken by Amazon Prime will star Miguel Bernardeau (the Netflix smash hit Elite) as a new version of Diego de la Vega, a landowner and, in disguise, masked hero of the people. Renata Notni will play Lolita Marquez, the love of Diego’s youth. (Variety)

Stephane Beatriz (Brooklyn Nine-Nine and Encanto) will star opposite Anthony Mackie in the Peacock series Twisted Metal, based on the video game series. Mackie will play John Doe, a motor-mouthed outsider who is offered a chance at a better life, but only if he can successfully deliver a mysterious package across a post-apocalyptic wasteland. With the help of a trigger-happy car thief named Quiet (Beatriz), he’ll face savage marauders driving vehicles of destruction and other dangers of the open road, including a deranged clown who drives an all too familiar ice cream truck. (Variety)

Hannah Dodd (Anatomy of a Scandal) will take over for Ruby Stokes in the role of Francesca Bridgerton in the Netflix hit show’s upcoming third season. (TV Line)

Garrett Hedlund (Country Strong and TRON: Legacy) will star opposite Sylvester Stallone in the Paramount+ series Tulsa King. The series will follow New York mafia capo Dwight “The General” Manfredi (Stallone) just after he is released from prison after 25 years and unceremoniously exiled by his boss to set up shop in Tulsa, OK. Hedlund will appear in the series regular role of Mitch Keller, an Oklahoma native and ex bull-rider who retired prematurely after injuries led to addiction. (Variety)

HBO Max and Cartoon Network have two new projects coming up. First, American Girl: Corinne Tan (based on the American Girl doll brand) will star Miya Cech (The Astronauts) as 13-year-old ski enthusiast Corrine, who is still navigating her parents’ recent divorce while her 10-year-old sister Gwynn (Kai Cech), mom Judy (Michelle Krusiec), dad and stepdad Arne have adjusted to their new roles in this blended family. This project will premiere this December while the second American Girl special will follow next year. The second project will be the working title series B-Loved, a supernatural romance that will star Cobra Kai alum Peyton List. The project will follow Bea (List), a free-spirited teenage ghost who forms a special friendship with the new boy in town, Cole, whose house she has been inhabiting for over 100 years. With the help of a magical ring that allows Cole to see Bea, they’ll rediscover the meaning of being alive, but also the importance of letting go. (Variety)

Recent Oscar winner Ariana DeBose (West Side Story) has joined the 4th season HBO series Westworld in a recurring role that remains a closely guarded secret. (Variety)

MADE-FOR-TV MOVIE NEWS

Another cast member has joined the upcoming Teen Wolf movie that is coming to Paramount+. Superman & Lois alum Tyler Hoechlin will reprise his role of Derek Hale in the two-hour continuation of the hit MTV series. (TV Line)

That’s it. Enjoy!

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