Rueben's Ramblings

Hey All,

Here are the news items for this past week:

RENEWAL/CANCELLATION

NBC has given The Blacklist a 10th season renewal. (TV Line)

Netflix has pulled the plug on the sci-fi Katee Sackhoff-led series Another Life after two seasons. (TV Line)

DEVELOPMENT NEWS

An Outlander prequel series is in development at Starz with current executive producer and showrunner Matthew B. Roberts attached to write and executive producer. There are no specific plot details for the prequel just yet. (Variety)

TV CASTING NEWS

Dan Stevens (Legion and Downton Abbey) will star in the Hulu limited series Immigrant [which is the working title] that will tell the true story of Somen “Steve” Banerjee (Kumail Nanjiani from The Big Sick and Eternals), the Indian-American entrepreneur who started Chippendales. The series will detail the insane, darkly comedic, crime-ridden story behind the unique male revue that became a cultural phenomenon. Stevens will play Paul Snider, a hustler and serial schmoozer, who stumbles upon the opportunity of a lifetime in the form of Banerjee and his struggling LA backgammon club. Through their unlikely partnership, the iconic male stripping institution Chippendales is born. (Deadline)

Lyric Ross (This Is Us) has joined the cast of the Disney+ series Ironheart, joining Dominique Thorne (If Beale Street Could Talk) and Anthony Ramos (Hamilton and In the Heights). Throne will play Riri Williams, a brilliant teenage inventor who builds her own version of the Iron Man suit in an MIT dorm. Ross will play Williams’ best friend. While the character that Ramos will play is being kept under wraps, it is believed he will play the villain. (The Hollywood Reporter)

Ashley Reyes (American Gods and How I Met Your Father) will join the cast of The CW series Walker as Walker’s new partner Cassie Perez, a Texas Ranger who previously served as a Texas state trooper for eight years. (Deadline and TV Line)

Emma Rossum (Shameless and The Day After Tomorrow) will star opposite Tom Holland (Spider-Man and Uncharted) and Amanda Seyfried (Mamma Mia and The Dropout) in the Apple anthology series The Crowded Room that will explore inspirational stories of those who have struggled with mental illness and learned to live successfully with it. The cast will also include Emma Laird (Mayor of Kingstown) and Sasha Lane (Loki). (TV Insider and Deadline)

FILM NEWS

Social media influencer and lead of the recent Netflix flick He’s All That (the sequel of sorts to the box office hit She’s All That) Addison Rae will star in the film Fashionista. Details on the movie, however, are being kept under wraps. (Deadline)

Simu Liu (Shang-Chi And the Legend Of The Ten Rings) will star alongside Sam Worthingon, Jordana Brewster, Robbie Amell and Alicia Sanz in the thriller film Hello Stranger that will follow Faye, a woman who attempts to replace her newly deceased husband, Evan, with an android simulant (SIM). Although SIM Evan appears like human Evan in every way, Faye does not feel the same love for SIM Evan as it does for her. SIM Evan tries to win Faye back while at the same time being on-the-run from a government agent chasing down SIMs who have become “conscious” and could potentially be a threat to humankind. (Deadline)

That’s it. Enjoy!

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Hey All,

Here are the news items for this past week:

RENEWAL

Fargo has been renewed for a 5th season by FX. (TV Line)

The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel will end after its newly ordered fifth season on Amazon. (TV Line)

Stranger Things has been given a fifth season renewal in advance of its 4th season premiere; but that 5th season will be the show’s last season on Netflix. (TV Line)

HBO has given The Gilded Age a second season renewal after only 3 episodes of the debut season having aired. (Variety)

Billions has been renewed for a 7th season by Showtime. (Variety)

Paramount+ has given a second season renewal to the Halo, the small screen adaptation of the popular video game, in advance of the show’s upcoming debut). (Variety)

Peacemaker has been given a second season renewal by HBO Max. (TV Line)

The anthology series Super Pumped has been given a second season renewal in advance of its upcoming series debut on Showtime. (Variety)

Paramount+ has also given a second season order to the Yellowstone prequel series 1883. (Variety)

The Canadian medical drama Transplant has been given a 3rd season renewal. Season 2 of the series will premiere here in the US on NBC starting on March 6. (TV Insider)

SERIES ORDER

Paramount+ has given a series order to a live action adaptation of Dora the Explorer. (Variety)

DEVELOPMENT NEWS

NCIS is heading to Australia. NCIS: Sydney will debut in 2023 in the land down under, featuring local stories with Australia actors and producers. (Variety)

SERIES ORDER NEWS

The new drama series The Girls on the Bus that includes Julie Plec (of The Vampire Diaries fame) as one of its executive producers is moving from The CW to HBO Max. The show will be a comedic character-driven drama chronicling four female journalists who follow every move of a parade of flawed presidential candidates, while finding friendship, love, and scandal along the way. AND, Melissa Benoist (Supergirl and Glee) is nearing a deal to star in this new drama. (Variety and TV Line)

TV MOVIE NEWS

Paramount+ has announced there will be a SEAL Team movie coming up. Also, the streamer has announced that the upcoming Teen Wolf: The Movie will find original series cast members Tyler Posey (Scott McCall), Holland Roden (Lydia Martin), Shelley Hennig (Malia), Crystal Reed (Allison Argent), Orny Adams (Coach Bobby Finstock), Linden Ashby (Sheriff Noah Stilinski), JR Bourne (Chris Argent), Seth Gilliam (Dr. Alan Deaton), Colton Haynes (Jackson Whittemore), Ryan Kelley (Deputy Jordan Parrish), Melissa Ponzio (Melissa McCall) and Dylan Sprayberry (Liam Dunbar) all returning FIVE years after the thriller went off the air. Missing from the cast list include Dylan O’Brien (Stiles), Superman and Lois‘ Tyler Hoechlin (Derek) and Arden Cho (Kira). The movie, which will be written by franchise creator Jeff Davis, will find a full moon rising in Beacon Hills along with a terrifying evil emerging. The wolves are howling once again, calling for the return of banshees, werecoyotes, hellhounds, kitsunes and every other shapeshifter in the night. But only a werewolf like Scott McCall (Posey), no longer a teenager yet still an alpha, can gather both new allies and reunite trusted friends to fight back against what could be the most powerful and deadliest enemy they’ve ever faced. (Deadline; TV Line and Variety)

Bridgerton star Phoebe Dynevor will not only star in but also executive produce a new feature film at Amazon Studios. The Outlaws Scarlett & Browne will be a futuristic thriller set in a fragmented future England where gunfights and monsters collide, and where the formidable outlaw Scarlett McCain fights daily against the odds. When she discovers a wrecked coach on a lonely road, there is only one survivor: the seemingly hapless youth Albert Browne. Soon, new and implacable enemies are on their heels and a relentless pursuit continues across the broken landscape of England. Scarlett must fight to uncover the secrets of Albert’s past — and come to terms with the implications of her own. (Variety)

ANOTHER ONE JUMPS THE SHIP

Another Hallmark actor is jumping ship to rival network GAC Family. Jessica Lowndes has signed a four-picture deal where she will not only star in and write but also direct and executive produce original movies for the network. (Deadline)

TV CASTING NEWS

The Young and the Restless alum Victoria Rowell will play a key recurring role on the new CBS medical drama Good Sam, playing Tina Kingsley, a high-powered, sophisticated, chairwoman of the hospital board with the kind of power that does not assert itself. Alienated from her son Malcolm (Edwin Hodge), Tina possesses a strong will to take what’s in her sights, even when it means navigating complicated relationships from her past. (Deadline)

Walton Goggins will star in the small screen adaptation of the video game Fallout that is set in a world where the future envisioned by Americans in the late 1940s explodes upon itself through a nuclear war in 2077. There is no confirmation on what character he will play, but is possible he MIGHT play a ghoul, humans who have been horribly disfigured due to exposure to radiation, but are also largely immune to radiation and nuclear fallout as a result. (Variety)

Actress Caitlin Carver (The Fosters and Dear White People) will recur on Chicago Fire during the second half of season 10 playing a paramedic Emma. (TV Line)

Amanda Seyfried will star opposite Tom Holland in the upcoming Apple TV+ anthology series The Crowded Room that will explore inspirational stories of people who have struggled and learned to successfully live with mental illness. Seyfried will play Rya, a clinical psychologist faced with the most challenging case of her career. She cannot help but put her patients first, all the while trying to balance her life as a single mother. (Variety)

Keri Russell (Felicity and The Americans) has landed the lead role in the upcoming Netflix series The Diplomat. In the midst of an international crisis, a career diplomat (Russell) lands in a high-profile job she’s unsuited for, with tectonic implications for her marriage and her political future. (Variety)

Season 2 of the Apple TV+ series The Mosquito Coast has added new season regulars to its upcoming second season. Natalia Cordova-Buckley (Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD and Mayans M.C.), Ariyon Bakare (His Dark Materials and Carnival Row) and Ian Hart (Harry Potter franchise and The Last Kingdom) will join returning stars Justin Theroux, Melissa George, Logan Polish, and Gabriel Bateman. There are no details what characters they will be portraying, however. (Deadline)

Peacock has made a straight-to-series order for the scripted drama A Friend of the Family. The true crime drama will focus on the harrowing story of the Broberg family, whose daughter was kidnapped multiple times. The cast will include Anna Paquin (True Blood) as Mary Ann Broberg, a mother of three who realized too late that she missed warning signs and became close to her charismatic neighbor, Robert Berchtold, and trusted him around her oldest daughter, Jan; Jake Lacy (The White Lotus and Being the Ricardos) as Robert, a businessman, Mormon father, husband and expert manipulator who plots the abduction of Jan; and Colin Hanks as Bob Broberg, Mary Ann’s husband, who begins to fear that something is amiss with their neighbor. (The Hollywood Reporter)

TV CRITICS ASSOCIATION WINTER PRESS TOUR NEWS

Paramount+ has ordered another Taylor Sheridan-created origin-story following the Dutton Family from Yellowstone and 1883. This series entitled simply 1932 will follow a new generation of Duttons during the time of western expansion, Prohibition and the Great Depression. The streaming service also has the new series Lioness on tap to debut in 2023. The series, which will star Zoe Saldana, is based on a real-life CIA program, following a marine recruited to befriend the daughter of a terrorist to bring the organization down from within. Saldana will play Joe, a strong-willed, hard-nosed, station chief of the CIA’s Lioness Program, tasked with training, managing and leading her female undercover operatives working to assassinate the world’s most dangerous terrorists. Among the executive producers on the show are box office veteran Nicole Kidman and Hallmark alum Jill Wagner. The streamer is also still developing a series, potentially slated for a 2022 start, on Bass Reeves, the legendary lawman of the wild west who is believed to be the inspiration for The Lone Ranger. Box office actor David Oyelowo is attached to star as the title character as well as serve as one of the executive producers. (Variety)

BOX OFFICE NEWS

Tom Welling (Smallville and Lucifer) will star in the action-thriller film Deep Six in which he will star as Terry, who is released early from prison only to be forced to go undercover to take down the Cosa Nostra in Italy. On his first day, his fellow six-man undercover unit is taken out. Terry must then ride shotgun all day with a psychopath killer who may know he is working for the police. Cam Gigandet (the original Twilight film and Without Remorse) will co-star. (Deadline)

The 4th film in the reboot of the Star Trek franchise expects to see cast members Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Zoe Saldana, Karl Urban, John Cho and Simon Pegg [hopefully] reprising their roles. (Variety)

That’s it. Enjoy!

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Hey All,

Here are the news items for this past week:

RENEWAL

Amazon has given Reacher a second season renewal. (TV Line)

IMDbTV has given the Christian Kane-led drama Almost Paradise a second season renewal. (Deadline)

The Disney Channel supernatural mystery series Secrets of Sulphur Springs has been renewed for a 3rd season. (Deadline)

The Spectrum Originals series Joe Pickett has been given a season two order. (Deadline)

CANCELLATION NEWS

Disney+ has pulled the plug on its planned Beauty and the Beast prequel series. The decision not to move forward with the series was made for creative reasons, as well as due to delays with the scripts and original music. (Deadline and TV Line)

DEVELOPMENT NEWS

Amazon is developing a live-action Blade Runner sequel series titled Blade Runner 2099. Plot details are, of course, being kept under wraps. (Variety)

FOX has given a script commitment to a series adaptation of the 2012 box office film End of Watch that would follow the daily grind of two young police officers in Los Angeles who are partners and friends, and what happens when they meet criminal forces greater than themselves. (Variety)

PILOT ORDER

CBS has ordered a pilot for a reboot of the network’s former series Early Edition that starred Kyle Chandler in the lead role. This new version would follow an ambitious but uncompromising journalist who starts receiving tomorrow’s newspaper today. She then finds herself in the complicated business of changing the news instead of reporting it. (Variety)

SPIN-OFF PLANS

ABC is jumping on the spin-off bandwagon with plans for spin-off for The Rookie that will star Claws lead Niecy Nash. The new show will be introduced in a two-episode backdoor pilot during the current 4th season of The Rookie. The potential new show would focus on the FBI with Nash starring as Simone Clark, the oldest rookie in the FBI Academy. (Variety)

TV CASTING NEWS

Marg Helgenberger will be back as Supervising Judge Lisa Benner on All Rise when the show makes its official move to OWN for its third season. Also Christian Keyes (The Boys and Legends of Tomorrow) will take over the role of Lola’s husband Robin (who was previously played by Todd Williams). (Deadline and TV Line)

Speaking of Marg Helgenberger: she will reprise her role of Catherine Willows on CSI: Vegas in the show’s second season. (TV Line)

Apple TV+ has landed the new period drama series The New Look about the meteoric rise of French fashion designer Christian Dior. Ben Mendelsohn (Bloodline) and Juliette Binoche (The English Patient) will star. The series is a World War II-era thriller that will open in Nazi-occupied Paris, when Coco Chanel’s (Binoche) reign as the world’s famous fashion designer ends and Christian Dior (Mendelsohn) rises thanks to his ground-breaking creations. (Variety)

Daniella Pineda (The Originals and Jurassic World franchise) has joined the cast of the upcoming AMC 6-episode anthology series Tales of the Walking Dead that will feature both new and established characters from The Walkind Dead universe. The cast already includes Terry Crews, Parker Posey and Anthony Edwards. The series is slated to debut this summer on AMC and AMC+. (Variety)

Anthony Ramos (the original Broadway cast of Hamilton and the box office movie In the Heights) has joined the cast of the upcoming Disney+ drama Ironheart that will star Dominique Thorne (If Beale Street Could Talk and Judas and the Black Messiah) as Riri Williams, a brilliant teenage inventor. What role Ramos will play is being kept under wraps. (The Hollywood Reporter)

HBO has picked up the series Doomsday Machine, adapted from the best-selling book by Sheera Frenkel and Cecilia Kang that chronicles the political and social minefields Facebook has navigated on its relentless quest for growth. The series examines how Sheryl Sandberg (who will be played by The Crown’s Claire Foy) and Mark Zuckerberg’s work are shaping the way that billions of people around the world communicate and consume information. (Variety)

The Disney+ small screen adaptation of National Treasure has added box office veteran Catherine Zeta-Jones to its cast. She will play Billie, a badass billionaire, black-market antiquities expert, and treasure hunter who lives by her own code. She transformed herself from a penniless orphan to a shrewd, stylish businesswoman and adventurer. (Variety)

Cast members have been added to season 2 of the HBO drama The White Lotus. Theo James (Sanditon and the upcoming Time Traveler’s Wife) and Meghann Fahy (The Bold Type) have joined the Sicily-set second season satire of wealth and privilege. (TV Line)

Christ McNalley (When Calls the Heart) has two recurring roles upcoming. The first is the Paramount+ drama Rise of the Pink Ladies that takes place in 1954, four years before the original Grease, before rock ‘n’ roll ruled and before the T-Birds were the coolest in the school. It follows four fed-up outcasts who dare to have fun on their own terms, sparking a moral panic that will change Rydell High forever. He will play Mr. Daniels, a young, cool teacher, so he’s well-liked by many, but he is actually a bad guy who threw a 16-year-old student under the bus for coming onto her, and tries to gaslight her into thinking he didn’t. The second is season 2 of Firefly Lane, starring Katherine Heigl and Sarah Chalke. He will play Mr. Waverly, a charismatic new English teacher who pushes Kate and Tully out of their comfort zones and inspires them to reach for new heights. (Deadline)

BOX OFFICE NEWS

Paramount has finally cast the lead role in their upcoming Bob Marley biopic. Kingsley Ben-Air (One Night in Miami) will play the reggae legend. (Variety)

Ugly Betty alum America Ferrera and Shang Chi star Simu Liu will both star opposite Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling in the upcoming live action Barbie movie. Robbie will play Barbie and Gosling will play Ken. What roles Ferrera and Liu will play are being kept under wraps. (Variety)

The upcoming box office movie Ferrari about the ex-racecar drive and auto manufacturing giant Enzo Ferrari has announced its main cast. Adam Driver has taken over the lead role from Hugh Jackman while Penelope Cruz will play Enzo’s wife Laura and Shailene Woodley will play mistress Lina Lardi. (Variety)

Mayim Bialik will make her directorial debut in the upcoming movie As They Made Us, which will be a dysfunctional family dramedy also written by Bialik. The movie will follow Abigail (Diana Agron from Glee), a divorced mother of two, who is struggling to balance the dynamic forces within her dysfunctional family as she attempts to cultivate new love. The cast will include Simon Helberg (The Big Bang Theory), veteran actress Candice Bergen and film legend Dustin Hoffman. (Deadline)

Yara Shahidi (black-ish and grown-ish) will executive produce and star in the Amazon romantic comedy Sitting in Bars with Cake based on the blog and book by Audrey Shulman. Based on a true story, the movie will follow a quiet young woman who is unlucky in love and discovers an unlikely guy magnet when she bakes a cake for her best friend’s birthday and brings it to a bar, only to be swarmed by men. She believes it’s a fluke, but her friend convinces her to commit to a year of baking cakes and bringing them to bars, with the goal of finding true love. The shy young woman’s life subsequently opens up in ways she couldn’t have imagined. (Deadline)

Box office legend Morgan Freeman and Josh Hutcherson (The Hunger Games franchise) will star alongside each other in the upcoming time-bending sci-fi thriller film 57 Seconds that will follow a tech blogger (Hutcherson) who lands a career-defining interview with a visionary technology guru (Freeman). After thwarting an attack against the celebrated technophile, the blogger picks up a mysterious ring that allows its possessor to travel 57 seconds into the past. (Deadline)

That’s it. Enjoy!

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Hey All,

Here are the news items for this past week:

RENEWALS

Paramount Plus has given Mayor of Kingstown a second season renewal; as well as giving The Game (revival series) a second season renewal. The streamer has also given SEAL Team a 6th season renewal. (TV Line and Variety)

HBO has given Euphoria a third season renewal. (TV Line)

Disney+ has given Doogie Kamealoha, M.D. a second season renewal. (Deadline and TV Line)

Yellowstone has been given a fifth season renewal. (Deadline and TV Line)

SERIES ORDER

Apple has given a limited series 8-episode order to the drama Presumed Innocent, which is inspired by the Scott Turow novel. The courtroom thriller tells the story of a horrific murder that upends the Chicago Prosecuting Attorneys’ office when one of its own is suspected of the crime. (Variety)

A new Goosebumps TV series has been picked up by Disney+, receiving a 10-episode order. Based on the beloved R.L. Stine books the series follows a group of five high schoolers who unleash supernatural forces upon their town and must all work together to save it, learning much about their own parents’ teenage secrets in the process. (Variety)

PILOT ORDERS

The CW has three new pilots in development: Gotham Knights, Walker: Independence (a Walker prequel spin-off) and The Winchesters (a Supernatural prequel spin-off). Original Supernatural star Jensen Ackles will be one of the executive producers on the spin-off The Winchesters, which will center around Dean and Sam Winchester’s parents, John and Mary. It will be the epic, untold love story of how John met Mary and how they put it all on the line to not only save their love, but the entire world. It will be told from the perspective of Dean, with Ackles narrating. The live-action Gotham Knights [which is NOT a spin-off of Batwoman] find Bruce Wayne’s rebellious adopted “son” forging an unlikely alliance with the children of Batman’s enemies, when they are all framed for killing the Caped Crusader. Now branded the city’s most wanted criminals, this renegade band of misfits must fight to clear their names — but in a Gotham with no Dark Knight to protect it, the city descends into the most dangerous it’s ever been. Meanwhile, Walker: Independence, set in the latte 1800’s, will follow Abby Walker, an affluent Bostonian whose husband is murdered before her eyes while on their journey out West. On her quest for revenge, Abby crosses paths with Hoyt Rawlins, a lovable rogue in search of purpose. Abby and Hoyt’s journey takes them to Independence, Texas, where they encounter diverse, eclectic residents running from their own troubled pasts and chasing their dreams. Also, The CW is holding off on ordering a pilot of its in-the-works, female-led Zorro series until after it reads six additional (and just-ordered) scripts. (TV Line)

TV CASTING NEWS

Veteran actor Bill Nighy will star in the upcoming Showtime series The Man Who Fell to Earth, joining previously announced cast members Chiwetel Ejiofor, Naomie Harris, Jimmi Simpson, Kate Mulgrew and Clarke Peters [among others]. The series will follow a new alien character named Faraday (Ejiofor) who arrives on Earth at a turning point in human evolution and must confront his own past to determine our future. Nighy will play Thomas Newton, the first alien to arrive on earth over 40 years ago. Alone and desperate, Newton summons Faraday to complete his original mission. But Newton’s time marooned among human beings has cost him everything, possibly even his sanity. (Variety)

Yellowstone has promoted two cast members to series regular status: Kathryn Kelly, who portrays Jimmy’s newly minted fiancess, and Jen Landon, who portrays ranch hand Teeter. (Deadline and TV Line)

Jennifer Beals will recur in Law & Order: Organized Crime, playing the yet-to-be-named wife of New York drug kingpin and Marcy Corporation head Preston Webb (Mykelti Williamson). (Deadline and TV Line)

Lifetime has acquired rights and licenses to the entire book catalog by V.C. Andrews, which currently stands at 138 titles. The cable network previously greenlit a limited series called Flowers in the Attic: The Origin, which will track the twisted origin and dark secrets of the Foxworth family, and which is set to premiere in the summer. (The Hollywood Reporter)

Jada Pinkett Smith will guest star in an upcoming episode of The Equalizer, playing Jessie Cook, a savant-level thief with a photographic memory. Though she’s brilliant and the best at what she does, she’s also devious, unpredictable and amoral. Briefly recruited by the CIA for her skills, Jessie and Robin McCall (series star Queen Latifah) once worked a mission together back in the day, and though the two get along like oil and water, they’re a whole lot of fun to watch. (Deadline)

Apple has given a series order to the drama series Dear Edward, which is based on the novel by Ann Napolitano, that will star Connie Britton (Friday Night Lights and 9-1-1) and Taylor Schilling (Orange Is the New Black). The series will tell the story of Edward Adler, a 12-year-old boy who survives a devastating commercial plane crash that kills every other passenger on the flight, including his family. As Edward and a diverse ensemble of others affected by the tragedy try to make sense of life after the crash, unexpected friendships, romances and communities are formed. (Variety)

Tom Ellis (Lucifer) has joined the cast of the upcoming Hulu limited series Washington Black that will also star Sterling K. Brown (This Is Us). Ellis will play steam-punk inventor Christopher “Titch” Wilde. The epic 9-episode adventure, based on the Esi Edugyan novel, follows the extraordinary 19th-century adventures of George Washington “Wash” Black, an 11-year-old boy on a Barbados sugar plantation who must flee after a shocking death threatens to upend his life. Brown will play the gregarious, larger-than-life Medwin Harris, who traveled the world after a traumatic childhood as a Black refugee in Nova Scotia as the de facto Mayor of Black Halifax prioritizes the community over everything except Washington Black, his young protégé. Meeting Wash sends him down a challenging path of self-discovery. And as the barricades around his heart start to fall, Medwin will learn to dream again. (Variety)

Joseph Morgan (The Vampire Diaries and The Originals) and Franka Potente (Claws and the Bourne franchise) have joined the cast of the HBO Max drama Titans for the show’s 4th season. Morgan will play Sebastian Blood, aka Brother Blood while Potente will play May Bennett, aka Mother Mayhem. (The Hollywood Reporter)

Kiernan Shipka (Mad Men and Chilling Adventures of Sabrina) and Diane Kruger (The 355 and National Treasure) will star in psychological drama Swimming With Sharks on The Roku Channel [which was originally expected to air on Quibi in 2020]. Kruger will play Joyce Holt, studio head of Fountain Pictures, while Shipka will play Joyce’s intern, Lou Simms, who develops an extreme obsession with her boss. The six half-hour episodes will follow the great undertakings Lou (Shipka), who is anything but a naive newcomer to the industry, will go to get closer to Joyce (Kruger). Other cast members of this series include Donald Sutherland, Ross Butler, Thomas Dekker and Finn Jones. (Variety)

BOX OFFICE NEWS

Evan Rachel Wood, Eliza Scanlen, Rufus Sewell and Vanessa Redgrave will star in the World War II flick All That I Am that brings to light a heroic true story about four German-Jewish literati-turned-anti-Nazi activists who are forced to flee to London following the rise of Adolf Hitler’s regime in Germany. Sixty years later, one of the group members, Ruth Wesemann, is living in Sydney, Australia, and is the sole survivor of the four. One day she receives a package containing the posthumous memoirs of her old friend Ernst Toller and is drawn back into her memories, and the years in which the four emigrés smuggled highly classified documents from Hermann Goering’s office into the hands of Winston Churchill. Scanlen will play Ruth while Wood will play Dora Fabian. Redgrave will play the older Ruth, in Australia, while Sewell is Ernst. (Variety)

Dakota Johnson (Fifty Shades franchise) has been cast as Madame Web in Sony’s next stand-alone superhero movie. This flick will mark the studio’s first modern comic book adaptation to feature a female in the title role. (Variety)

Taraji P. Henson (Person of Interest and Empire) will star as Shug Avery in the latest, upcoming movie adaptation of The Color Purple, based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Alice Walker. Also, American Idol winner Fantasia Barrino and Peacemaker actress Danielle Brooks will reprise their Broadway roles of Celie and Sofia in the film. (Variety)

THEATRE NEWS

It looks like a stage adaptation of the TV series Smash is one step closer to becoming a reality. A workshop is planned for this summer with producer Robert Greenblatt aiming (if all goes well) for a Broadway opening in 2024. (Variety)

That’s it. Enjoy!

Read Full Post »

Hey All,

Here are the news items for this past week:

CANCELLATIONS

Peacock has pulled the plug on the drama Dan Brown’s The Lost Symbol after only one season. (Variety)

Showtime has cancled the drama American Rust after only one season. (Variety)

DEVELOPMENT NEWS

FOX is developing a series adaptation of The White House Doctor, based on the memoir by Dr. Connie Mariano, with Charmed star Alyssa Milano, who will not only star but also as an executive producer. Inspired by the memoir of the first woman of color to serve as physician to three presidents, the series will be about a smart but impulsive White House physician as she navigates the dangerous intersection of medicine and politics and struggles to keep her own life together while safeguarding the life of the most powerful patient on Earth. (Variety)

PILOT ORDER

NBC has given a pilot order to the drama Unbroken from Shaun Cassidy. The show will follow three dynastic ranch families on the central coast of California make love and war in a passionate struggle to survive, ultimately setting the stage for a group of fiercely determined young women to win big for all at the National Championship of Rodeo. (NBC and The Futon Critic)

SERIES ORDER

Netflix has given an 8-episode series order for the political thriller The Diplomat that will be executive produced by Debora Cahn (The West Wing and Homeland). The series will center on a career diplomat who lands a high-profile job that puts her on the front lines of an international crisis. The gig finds her in way over her head, with tectonic implications for her marriage and her political future. (TV Line)

Executive producers Kevin Williamson and Julie Plec (The Vampire Diaries) are reteaming for the supernatural drama Dead Day, which has been given a straight to series order by Peacock. Based on the AfterShock comic book series by Ryan Parrott, the show will follow an ensemble of characters as they navigate the annual ‘dead day,’ when for one night the dead come back to complete unfinished business: be that to celebrate a night back on earth or to torment the living. (TV Line)

Disney+ has ordered Percy Jackson and the Olympians, based on the Rick Riordan fantasy novels, to series. The live-action series will follow Percy Jackson, a 12-year-old modern demigod who’s just coming to terms with his newfound supernatural powers when the sky god Zeus accuses him of stealing his master lightning bolt. Now Percy must trek across America to find it and restore order to Olympus. (TV Line)

Syfy has picked up the drama series The Ark from Dean Devlin (Independence Day, Stargate and Leverage). The series takes place 100 years in the future when planetary colonization missions have begun as a necessity to help secure the survival of the human race. The first of these missions on a spacecraft known as Ark One encounters a catastrophic event causing massive destruction and loss of life. With more than a year left to go before reaching their target planet, a lack of life-sustaining supplies and loss of leadership, the remaining crew must become the best versions of themselves to stay on course and survive. Syfy has ordered 12 episodes. (Variety)

Hulu has given a series order to Saint X, based on the Alexis Schaitkin novel. Told from multiple perspectives and across multiple timelines, the series aims to explore and upend the missing-girl story, examining how a young woman’s mysterious death during an idyllic Caribbean vacation creates a traumatic ripple effect that eventually pulls her surviving sister into a dangerous pursuit of the truth. (The Hollywood Reporter)

MADE-FOR-TV MOVIE NEWS

The new original Hallmark Channel movie A Second Chance at Love will star ER alums Gloria Reuben and Eriq La Salle along with Jarod Joseph (The 100 and Rogue) and Alvina August (Nancy Drew). On the surface, Alicia (August) and Arnold’s (Joseph) marriage is picture perfect, however, there is something amiss. Arnold is ready to grow their family, but subconsciously Alicia is hesitant to the idea. Rather than face the problem head on, Alicia, the self-proclaimed “love doctor,” immerses herself in her divorced parents Jack (La Salle) and Brenda’s (Reuben) dating affairs by setting them each up on a blind date dating app. The movie is slated to debut on March 26. (Deadline)

CHANGE OF PLANS

It looks like the Paramount Network will not be rebranded after all. The rebrand plans to turn Paramount Network into Paramount Movie Network are on hold (at least for now). (Deadline)

TV CASTING NEWS

Dylan McDermott has signed on to play the new lead in the CBS drama FBI” Most Wanted, replacing the recently announced departing star Julian McMahon. (TV Line)

Jorja Fox will not be back for season 2 of CSI: Vegas on CBS. (TV Line)

The upcoming Apple anthology series Extrapolations has added new cast members, including Murray Bartlett (The White Lotus), Yara Shahidi (grown-ish and black-ish), Diane Lane (Under the Tuscan Sun), Heather Graham (Boogie Nights) and Judd Hirsch (Taxi and Independence Day) [among others]. The 8-episode series will tell eight interconnected stories that will track the worldwide battle for our mutual survival spanning the 21st century and how changes to our planet will affect love, faith, work and family. The cast already includes Meryl Streep, Matthew Rhys, Marion Cotillard, Eiza Gonzalez, Tobey Maguire, Forest Whitaker, Edward Norton, Kit Harrington, Sienna Miller, Gemma Chan, Tahar Rahim, Daveed Diggs, David Schwimmer, Indira Varma, Keri Russell, Cherry Jones, and Michael Gandolfini. (Variety)

Elizabeth Mitchell (Lost) will return as Mrs. Claus in the upcoming Disney+ limited series The Santa Clause based on the box office franchise that will find Tim Allen returning as Santa. (Deadline)

Josh Duhamel has joined the cast of the Disney+ drama The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers where he will play Gavin Cole, a former NHL player-turned-coach who runs the super-intense summer hockey institute where the series is set this season. Duhamel will take over for Emilio Estevez, who will not be back as Gordon Bombay. (TV Line)

BOX OFFICE NEWS

Ivory Aquino (Tales of the City) will join Leslie Grace in the upcoming Batgirl feature film, playing Alysia Yeoh, the best friend of Barbara Gordon (Grace). Both Aquino and Yeoh are transgender, marking the first time a live-action feature film adaptation of a DC Comics title will feature an openly trans character. (Variety)

Kyle Allen (West Side Story) will star in the upcoming live-action film adaptation of Masters of the Universe, playing an orphan named Adam who discovers he is a prince destined to be the savior of a faraway land. He must quickly learn of his power and the importance of saving his true home from an evil force. (Variety)

Jason Momoa has joined the cast of the Fast & Furious franchise that will find Tyrese Gibson, Ludacris, Michelle Rodriguez and Sung Kang expected to return along with franchise star Vin Diesel. Plot details, of course, are unknown. (Deadline)

That’s it. Enjoy!

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Hey All,

Here are the news items for this past week:

RENEWALS

Paramount Plus has given Star Trek: Discovery a 5th season renewal while Star Trek: Strange New Worlds has been given a second season renewal before its debut season has even aired. (Variety)

Netflix has given Squid Game a second season renewal. (Variety)

CANCELLATION

CBS is pulling the plug on the drama Bull in the wake of lead star Michael Weatherly deciding to quit the show. The series finale will air this May. (TV Line)

TV CASTING NEWS

Julian McMahon will be exiting FBI: Most Wanted during its current, third season. It is being reported he is leaving to pursue “additional creative pursuits.” His last episode will air on March 8; that episode is expected to introduce a new team leader to fill the void left by Jess LaCroix’s departure. (TV Line)

Gina Rodriguez (Jane the Virgin) has signed on to star in the small series adaptation of the 1988 box office film Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown that follows the rocky romantic lives of a number of women, including one who works as a voice actor dubbing for foreign films. Rodriguez will play Pepa and she will also serve as an executive producer. (The Hollywood Reporter and TV Line)

Mary Elizabeth Winstead (Scott Pilgrim vs. the World and Birds of Prey) has joined the cast of Ahsoka Tano on Disney Plus that will star Rosario Dawson in the title role. Details on Winstead’s character are currently, however, being kept under wraps. (Variety)

There will be a One Tree Hill reunion on the new CBS medical drama Good Sam that stars Sophia Bush as Hilarie Burton and Bethany Joy Lenz will guest star in an upcoming episode. Burton and Lenz will play sisters Gretchen and Amy Taylor, who cross paths with Bush’s Dr. Sam Griffith when Amy is admitted as a patient at Detroit’s Lakeshore Sentinel Hospital. (Entertainment Weekly)

Elizbeth Mitchell (Lost) has landed a recurring role on the CBS drama FBI: International, playing Angela Cassidy, the long lost mother of Scott Forrester (series lead Luke Kleintank). who worked for the U.S. government before selling information to the Russians. (Deadline)

Actor Fra Fee (Hawkeye) has joined the cast of the upcoming Disney Plus Beauty and the Beast prequel series that will find Luke Evans and Josh Gad reprising their roles of Gaston and LeFou (aka Louie). Newcomer Briana Middleton will play Tilly, Louie’s stepsister. Fee will star as Prince Benoit Berlioz, a childhood friend of Tilly’s, who has grown into a handsome, charismatic, confident prince. Also, actor Jelani Alladin (The Walking Dead: World Beyond) has also joined the cast, playing Jean-Michel, a talented artist who has a quik wit, a sharp intellect and a fierce independent streak. (Deadline and Variety)

The HBO dramedy The White Lotus has added new series regular cast members to its upcoming second season. Oscar winner F. Murray Abraham, Tom Hollander (The Night Manager), Adam DiMarco (The Magicians) and Haley Lu Richardson (Five Feet Apart) have joined the cast. Abraham will play Bert Di Grasso, an elderly man traveling with his son Dominic (newly added cast member Michael Imperioli from The Sopranos) and grandson Albie (DiMarco). Hollander will play Quentin, an English expat, vacationing with his friends and his nephew. Lastly, Richardson will play Portia, a young woman traveling with her boss. (TV Line)

Joshua Jackson (The Affair and Dr. Death) has landed the lead role in the upcoming Paramount Plus small screen adaptation of the box office film Fatal Attraction. The series will explore the timeless themes of marriage and infidelity through the lens of modern attitudes towards strong women, personality disorders and coercive control. Lizzy Caplan (Masters of Sex) will star as Alex, who becomes obsessed with her lover Dan (Jackson) after a brief affair. (Variety)

Toks Olagundoye (Castle and The Neighbors) has joined the revival of L.A. Law on ABCthat will once again be set at the venerable law firm of McKenzie Brackman. She will play the new character, Assistant District Attorney Erika Jackson, starring opposite original series stars Blair Underwood and Corbin Bernsen, who are reprising their roles as Jonathan Rollins and Arnie Becker, respectively. (Deadline and TV Line)

MOVIE CASTING NEWS

Daniel Radcliffe will play Grammy-winning musician ‘Weird Al’ Yankovic in the upcoming Roku original movie Weird: The Al Yankovic Story that will follow every facet of Yankovic’s life, from his meteoric rise to fame with early hits like ‘Eat It’ and ‘Like a Surgeon’ to his torrid celebrity love affairs and famously depraved lifestyle. (Variety)

Johnny Depp will star as French King Louis XV in an upcoming movie set to be directed by French director Maiwenn who will also star as Jeanne du Barry, a countess who was Louis XV’s last mistress. (Variety)

That’s it. Enjoy!

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Hey All,

Here are the news items for this past week:

RENEWALS

Emily in Paris has been renewed for seasons 3 and 4 at Netflix. (TV Line)

Grey’s Anatomy has been renewed for season 19 and Station 19 has been renewed for a 6th season by ABC. (TV Line)

Apple TV+ has renewed The Morning Show for a third season. (TV Line)

Hulu has given The Great a season 3 renewal. (Variety)

EPIX has given Godfarther of Harlem a 3rd season renewal. (Variety)

Peacock has given a second season order to the teen mystery drama One of Us Is Lying. (TV Line)

REBOOT NEWS

Looks like Timothy Olyphant will be reprising his role of Raylan Givens in Justified: City Primeval, a follow-up limited series to the original FX drama Justified. The reboot will find Raylan still living in Miami where he relocated to as seen in the series finale. A walking anachronism balancing his life as a U.S. Marshal and part-time father of his 14-year-old daughter with Winona. A chance encounter on a desolate Florida highway leads him to Detroit, where he crosses paths with Clement Mansell aka “The Oklahoma Wildman,” a violent, sociopathic desperado who’s already slipped through the fingers of Detroit’s finest once and aims to do so again. (TV Line)

Disney+ has ordered a limited series small screen adaptation of The Santa Clause box office movie franchise. Tim Allen will return as Scott Calvin, who, on the brink of his 65th birthday, realizes that he can’t be Santa forever. He’s starting to lose a step in his Santa duties, and more importantly, he’s got a family who could benefit from a life in the normal world, especially his two kids who have grown up at the Pole. With a lot of elves, children, and family to please, Scott sets out to find a suitable replacement Santa while preparing his family for a new adventure in a life south of the pole. (Variety)

PILOT ORDER

Kellie Martin will be back on the small screen on NBC via a sequel to her 80’s TV show Life Goes On that has been given a put-pilot order (which is basically one step shy of the network officially ordering a pilot to be produced/filmed) that will find her back as Becca Thatcher. The series will revisit grown-up Becca Thatcher, now an accomplished doctor, and her extended family as she returns to her hometown. (TV Line)

It looks like NBC is working on a reboot of Quantum Leap that would pick up 30 years after Dr. Sam Beckett (Scott Bakula) stepped into the Quantum accelerator and vanished. Now whether Bakula will be involved in the new project is “to be determined” a new team has been assembled to restart the project in the hopes of understanding the mysteries behind the machine and the man who created it. (TV Line)

BOX OFFICE NEWS

Andrew Burnap, who won a Tony Award for his role in The Inheritance, has landed the male lead in the upcoming Disney live-action film based on the classic animated story of Snow White and the Seven Dwarves that will find West Side Story actress Rachel Zegler in the title lead and Wonder Woman Gal Gadot playing the Evil Queen. Burnap will play a new male character created for the film. (The Hollywood Reporter)

Emeraude Toubia (Shadowhunters and With Love) will executive produce and star in the rom-com The Redo that follows three female best friends who, upon realizing they’re not getting the love they deserve, make a pact to reconnect with their biggest “almost” from their romantic pasts. Toubia will play Cara, an underpaid but ambitious lackey at a record label, who decides to lean into her infatuation with one of her boss’s clients. (Deadline)

JUMPING SHIP

It looks like another Hallmark alum has signed a contract with competitor GAC Family. Jen Lilley has signed a two-year contract, and it looks like she won’t be making Hallmark movies during that time. (Deadline)

TV CASTING NEWS

Mark Ruffalo and Hugh Laurie have joinced the cast of the upcoming Netflix limited series All the Light We Cannot See that is based on the best-selling novel by Anthony Doerr that stars newcomer Aria Mia Loberti as Marie-Laure, a blind teenager at the heart of the story. Marie-Laure’s path collides with Werner, a German soldier, as they both try to survive the devastation of World War II in occupied France. Ruffalo will play Marie-Laure’s father, Daniel LeBlanc, the principal locksmith at the Museum of Natural History in Paris; while Laurie will play Etienne LeBlanc, an eccentric and reclusive World War I hero suffering from PTSD. (Variety)

Mahershala Ali will executive produce and star in the Hulu limited series The Plot based on the Jean Hanff Korelitz novel. He will play Jake, a struggling author who is primed to take advantage of any opportunity that might help revive his career. When a once in a lifetime opportunity presents itself, Jake commits an act of literary theft that changes his life. (Variety)

Sendhil Ramamurthy has landed a recurring role on the new CBS medical drama Good Sam, playing Asher Pyne, the new spouse of Vivian (cast member Wendy Crewson), who is also a licensed therapist. (TV Line)

TV DEVELOPMENT NEWS

FX has ordered a TV adaptation of the Octavia E. Butler novel Kindred. The 8-episode sci-fi series centers on Dana (newcomer Mallori Johnson), a young Black woman and aspiring writer who has uprooted her life of familial obligation and relocated to Los Angeles, ready to claim a future that, for once, feels all her own. But, before she can get settled into her new home, she finds herself being violently pulled back and forth in time to a nineteenth-century plantation with which she and her family are surprisingly and intimately linked. An interracial romance threads through her past and present, and the clock is ticking as she struggles to confront the secrets she never knew ran through her blood, in this genre-breaking exploration of the ties that bind. The cast includes True Blood alum Ryan Kwanten. (Variety)

FOX has a series adaptation of the box office film Hell or High Water in the works. The series version will focus on what happens when a ruthless oil tycoon attempts to plunder a West Texas ranching community, finding two local brothers dodging a zealous Texas Ranger and fighting to keep what’s theirs, one bank robbery at a time. (Variety)

HBO Max has ordered a reboot of Degrassi, the popular Canadian series, for 10 hour-long episodes that will premiere in 2023. The series will focus on a new group of teenagers and school faculty living in the shadow of events that both bind them together and tear them apart. (TV Line)

Arrow alum David Ramsey could be back playing John Diggle in a stand-along series at The CW. Justice U is a drama series currently in development that would find Diggle, after spending years fighting alongside masked heroes, embarking on a new mission to recruit five young meta-humans to live undercover as freshmen at a prestigious university. There he will oversee their education and train them to become the heroes of tomorrow. The show is based on characters from the DC pantheon. (Variety)

Filmmaker Robert Rodriguez and his sister writer-director Rebecca Rodriguez are developing a gender-swapped version of Zorro for The CW that will follow a young Latino woman looking for vengeance for her father’s murder. In her mission, she joins a secret society and takes on the outlaw persona of Zorro. Meanwhile, Disney is working on a new Zorro series set to star Wilmer Valderrama (NCIS) in the title role. (Deadline and TV Insider)

That’s it. Enjoy!

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Hey All,

Here are the news items for this past week:

CANCELLATION/RENEWALS

Amazon has canceled the series I Know What You Did Last Summer after only one season. (Variety)

The reboot of All Creatures Great and Small has been renewed for a third AND fourth season by PBS Masterpiece. (Variety)

TV CASTING NEWS

Prominent Pakistani actor Humayun Saeed will play Dr. Hasnat Khan in season 5 of The Crown. (Variety)

Apple has ordered the limited series Manhunt, which will tell the story of the hunt for U.S President Abraham Lincoln’s assassin, John Wilkes Booth. Tobias Menzies (Outlander and The Crown) will star as Edwin Stanton, Lincoln’s War Secretary and friend, who was driven nearly to madness by the need to catch Booth and to carry out Lincoln’s legacy. (Variety)

Rita Wilson will guest star in an upcoming episode of 1883 on Paramount+. She will playCarolyn, a storekeeper at Doan’s Crossing who helps Margaret (Faith Hill) decompress with some whiskey punch. (Variety)

Three additions have been made to season 2 of Kung Fu in heavily recurring roles. Newcomer Vanessa Yao will play Mia, Nicky’s (series lead Olivia Liang) cousin, the daughter of Nicky’s deceased Aunt Mei-Xue; Annie Q. (The Leftovers) will play Juliette Tan, the clever and conniving daughter of powerful business mogul, Russell Tan; and JB Tadena (SEAL Team) will play Sebastian, Harmony Dumplings’ talented and charming new chef, who steps into the lurch as the restaurant’s newfound success threatens to swallow up Jin and Mei-Li. (Deadline)

BOX OFFICE CASTING NEWS

Kelvin Harrison Jr. (Cyrano) will play American artist Jean-Michel Basquiat in the biographical film Samo Lives that will celebrate the life, career and impact of the groundbreaking New York-born, Haitian-Puerto Rican American artist whose seminal paintings and street art defined the Neo-expressionism arts movement of the 1980s. (Variety)

Rooney Mara (The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo) will star as iconic actress Audrey Hepburn in the Apple biopic. (Variety)

Vanessa Kirby (The Crown and Pieces of a Woman) will take over for Jodie Comer (Killing Eve) in the Ridley Scott film Kitbag that will center on French military leader Napoleon Bonaparte, which is set up at Apple. Joaquin Phoenix will play Bonaparte while Kirby will play Josephine. (The Hollywood Reporter)

That’s it. Enjoy!

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Hey All,

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

TV CASTING NEWS

Chris Noth will no longer appear on The Equalizer on CBS following multiple allegations of sexual assault. (TV Line)

Angel vets Julie Benz and Amy Acker will guest star in separate, upcoming episodes of 9-1-1: Lone Star. Benz will appear in the January 3 season premiere as Sadie, an artist and outdoors woman who lives in the cabin next to Rob Lowe’s Owen Strand. While Acker will play Catherine, the chief of staff to the governor of Texas, in a multi-episode arc, which begins on February 7.beginning with the Feb. 7 installment). (TV Insider and TV Line)

BOX OFFICE NEWS

Awkwafina and Sandra Oh will play estranged sisters in an as-yet-titled 20th Century Studios movie (that was originally announced for Netflix last year), who are forced to reunite and earn money together to pay off their mother’s gambling debts. The two take off across the country in an attempt to win “Jeopardy” and take home the game show’s cash prize. (Deadline and Yahoo)

That’s it. Enjoy!

PS: Hope everyone, who celebrate it, had a wonderful Christmas weekend!

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Hey All,

Here are the news items for this past week:

CANCELLATION/RENEWALS

‘Diary of a Future President’ Canceled at Disney+. The series, one of the few produced by an outside studio for the streamer, ends after two seasons. (The Hollywood Reporter)

Apple TV+ has given the psychological thriller Servant a fourth season renewal about a month before the third season is ready to premiere. (TV Line)

CBS has given CSI: Vegas a second season order. [Fans of the show should be forewarned that Jorja Fox and William Peterson will not be returning for the sophomore season.] (TV Line)

Paramount Plus has renewed the popular, dark comedy anthology series “Why Women Kill” for another season. (Variety)

Showtime has renewed Yellowjackets for a second season. (TV Line)

After a LONG delay, Netflix has unfortunately made the announcement that Julie and the Phantoms will not be returning for a second season. (TV Line)

DEVELOPMENT NEWS

The CW is developing a drama titled Gotham Knights from within the DC Comics universe. The logline for the potential new series is: “In the wake of Bruce Wayne’s murder, his rebellious adopted son forges an unlikely alliance with the children of Batman’s enemies when they are all framed for killing the Caped Crusader. And as the city’s most wanted criminals, this renegade band of misfits must fight to clear their names. But in a Gotham with no Dark Knight to protect it, the city descends into the most dangerous it’s ever been. However, hope comes from the most unexpected of places as this team of mismatched fugitives will become its next generation of saviors.” Fans of the DC Comics world should note that the project is NOT a Batwoman spin-off. (The Hollywood Reporter)

Wilmer Valderrama (NCIS and That 70’s Show) will star in and executive produce a live-action Zorro series that is currently in development at Disney. He would play Don Diego de la Vega and his swashbuckling alter ego, the masked horseman known as Zorro, in the days of Spanish California. The show is a reimagining of the Disney-ABC “Zorro” series starring Guy Williams that aired in the 1950s. (Variety)

NBC is working on an adaptation of the Peachtree Bluff novels by author Kristy Woodson Harvey. The one-hour drama would be centered around Ansley Murphy, who when her three adult daughters run to her in their charming seaside hometown of Peachtree Bluff, Ga., trying to escape problems that are shattering their personal lives, she’s delighted to help, until their presence exposes a secret that has the potential to tear them apart and reshape their very definition of what it means to be a family. (Deadline)

STREAMING SERVICES NEWS

Amazon is working on a 6-part adaptation of the Neil Gaiman best-selling fantasy novel Anansi Boys; and the two female leads have been cast. British actresses Amarah-Jae St. Aubyn (box office film Lovers Rock) will play Rosie Noah, a teacher and fiancée to Charles “Fat Charlie” Nancy, the main protagonist and hero (Malachi Kirby) while Grace Saif (13 Reasons Why) will play Detective Constable Daisy Day, who finds herself deep into several intersecting police cases, including a murder. The series follows Kirby’s Nancy, a young man who is used to being embarrassed by his estranged father (Delroy Lindo). But when his father dies, Charlie discovers that his father was Anansi: trickster god of stories. And he learns that he has a brother, Spider, who is determined to make Charlie’s life much more interesting but also a lot more dangerous. (The Hollywood Reporter)

Blade of the 47 Ronin, a sequel to 47 Ronin, has wrapped its production. This sequel has moved forward by some 300 years to present-day Budapest where a meeting of the five Samurai clans is taking place. The new movie represents a substantial revamp that emphasizes Asian fantasy heroes and female characters and addresses some of the cultural criticisms of its predecessor. The cast is lead by Anna Akana (Jupiter’s Legacy and A Million Little Things); Mike Moh (Once Upon a Time in Hollywood and Empire); veteran actor Dustin Nguyen (21 Jumpt Street and Warrior); Chris Pang (Crazy Rich Asians and 2019’s Charlie’s Angels); and Mark Dacascos (John Wick 3) [among others]. (Variety)

The live-action series Avatar: The Last Airbender that is set to air on Netflix has added to its cast. Newcomer Elizabeth Yu will play Azula, the daughter of Fire Lord Ozai and sister to Zuko. Newcomer Maria Zhang will play Suki, the leader of an elite female fighting force known as the Kyoshi Warriors. Yvonne Chapman (Kung Fu) will play the legendary warrior Avatar Kyoshi, revered for her bravery, fearsome fighting skills and uncompromising dedication to the cause of justice. Tamlyn Tomita (Cobra Kai and The Day After Tomorrow) will play Suki’s mother Yukari, the fiercely protective mayor of Kyoshi Island. The series already boasts its male cast members as Daniel Dae Kim (Hawaii Five-0 and Lost), Ken Leung (Lost and The Night Shift) and Paul Sun-Hyung Lee (Kim’s Convenience). (Variety)

TV CASTING NEWS

Sam Waterston will return to the role of Jack McCoy in the upcoming reboot of Law and Order. (TV Line)

Kaylee Bryant made her last appearance in The CW’s Legacies this week where she has played Josie Saltzman since the series debuted back in October 2018. (TV Line)

That’s it. Enjoy!

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