Rueben's Ramblings

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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Hey All,

Here are the news items for the past week:

RENEWALS

Fear the Walking Dead has been renewed for an 8th season by AMC. (TV Line)

Leverage: Redemption has been given a 2nd season renewal from IMDbTV. (Variety)

Truth Be Told has been given a third season renewal by Apple TV+. The streaming service has also given Invasion a second season renewal. (Variety)

Netflix has renewed Outer Banks for a third season. On the other spectrum, Netflix has cancelled Cowboy Bebop after only one season. (TV Line and The Hollywood Reporter)

Power Book II: Ghost has been given a third season renewal. (Variety)

TV CASTING NEWS

The return of Law & Order on NBC – after 12 years off the air – will now include The Practice alum Camryn Manheim as part of the cast. She will fill the lieutenant role that was played by S. Epatha Merkerson. The series will return to the network on February 24. (The Hollywood Reporter)

BOX OFFICE NEWS

Director Christopher Nolan has added more cast members to his upcoming World War II drama Oppenheimer, which will be a story about the development of the atomic bomb. The cast already includes Robert Downey Jr., Matt Damon, Cillian Murphy and Emily Blunt; and now includes Oscar winner Rami Malek and Oscar nominee Florence Pugh. (Variety)

DEVELOPMENT NEWS

The CW is planning on expanding the Walker universe with an origin story. Walker: Independence, which will include series star Jared Padalecki as creator and one of the executive producers, will be set in the late 1800s, following 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. Our newfound family will struggle with the changing world around them, while becoming agents of change themselves in a town where nothing is what it seems. (Deadline)

It looks like HBO is in the early development phase of a follow-up to Six Fett Under; however, no writer is attached to the project nor has any plotline been decided. This follow-up could then possibly be a reboot or more of a sequel series following up on existing characters from the show in the present day, but no decision has been made. (Variety)

STREAMING SERVICE NEWS

Netflix has found the star for their upcoming 4-part adaptation of the Pulitzer-Prize winning novel “All The Light We Cannot See.” Newcomer Aria Mia Loberti has landed the role of Marie-Laure, the blind teenager whose greatest strength is the tenacity of her hope and the power of her voice across the airwaves during wartime. (Variety)

That’s it. Enjoy!

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Hey All,

Here are the news items from the past week:

RENEWALS/CANCELLATION

David Tennant will star in the new adaptation of Around the World in 80 Days on PBS on January 2; and a second season has already been ordered. It is being reported that Tennant is almost certain to return in the lead role of Phileas Fogg. (Variety)

Men in Kilts will be back for a second season with Sam Heughan and Graham McTavish back for the reality series that will head to New Zealand for 6 episodes this time around. (TV Line)

Disney+ has pulled the plug on the small screen adaptation of Turner & Hooch after only one season. (PopCulture.com and Deja View)

STREAMING CASTING NEWS

The 10 episode adaptation of the 2013 best-selling novel Bad Monkey by Carl Hiaasen will debut on Apple with Michelle Monaghan, Jodie Turner-Smith and Meredith Hagner in the lead roles alongside Vince Vaughn. The straight-to-series drama revolves around Andrew Yancy (Vaughn), a one-time detective demoted to restaurant inspector in South Florida. A severed arm found by a tourist out fishing pulls Yancy into the world of greed and corruption that decimates the land and environment in Florida and the Bahamas. And yes, there’s a monkey. Monaghan will play Bonnie, a woman trapped in an abusive marriage who complicates Yancy’s life as a secret from her past resurfaces; Turner-Smith will play Dragon Queen/Gracie, who is both revered and feared on Andros Island as she practices Obeah alongside her contentious grandmother; and Hagner will play Eve, who is questioned by Yancy about her dead husband and whom he feels might know more than she’s saying. (The Hollywood Reporter)

Cara Delevingue has joined the cast of the second season of Only Murders in the Building. She will play Alice, a sophisticated art world insider who becomes enmeshed in the mystery. (Variety)

Apple has ordered a thriller called Disclaimer, based on the novel by Renee Knight, that will star Cate Blanchett and Kevin Kline. Blanchett will star as Catherine Ravenscroft, a successful and respected television documentary journalist whose work has been built on revealing the concealed transgressions of long-respected institutions. When an intriguing novel written by a widower (Kline) appears on her bedside table, she is horrified to realize she is a key character in a story that she had hoped was long buried in the past. (Variety)

PICK-UP ORDER

A new series to air on AMC and AMC+, based on the Anne Rice trilogy Lives of the Mayfair Withces has been given a greenlight. The series will focus on an intuitive young neurosurgeon who discovers that she is the unlikely heir to a family of witches. As she grapples with her newfound powers, she must contend with a sinister presence that has haunted her family for generations. This is the second Anne Rice series with Interview with the Vampire set for a late 2022 premiere. (AMC Press Release and Variety)

BOX OFFICE NEWS

Phoebe Dynevor (Bridgerton) will star opposite Alden Ehrenreigh in the upcoming film Fair Play. The film is set after a woman’s promotion at a cut-throat hedge fund threatens to uncover unspeakable secrets that might impact her relationship with her fiancé. (Deadline and Digital Spy)

While doing PR for the upcoming Spider-Man: No Way Home, lead star Tom Holland confirmed that he will step into the shoes of the one and only Fred Astair in an upcoming biopic, which is still in its early stages of development, about the legendary actor, dancer and singer. (Variety)

That’s it. Enjoy!

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Hey All,

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

TV CASTING NEWS

Anthony Anderson will be reprising his role of Det. Kevin Bernard in Law & Order when the flagship series returns to NBC. Hugh Dancy (Hannibal and The Path) will also join the cast, playing an assistant district attorney. (TV Line)

John Gabriel Rodriquez has been promoted to series regular in the FOX reboot of Fantasy Island where he plays the character Javier. (Deadline)

STREAMING SERVICE CASTING NEWS

New cast members for season 4 of Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan have been announced. They include Zuleikha Robinson (Lost and Homeland), who will play a character named Zeyara; Louis Ozawa (Hunters), who will play a character named Chao Fah and Okieriete Onaodowan (Station 19), who will play a character named Adebayo ‘Ade’ Osoji. (Deadline)

That’s it. Enjoy!

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Hey All,

Here are the news items for this past week:

RENEWAL/CANCELLATIONS

OWN has renewed Queen Sugar for its 7th and final season. (Variety)

Netflix has cancelled YA skating drama Zero Chill after one series. (Deadline)

The Sinner will come to a conclusion at the end of its current fourth season, meaning the December 1 episode on the USA Network will be its series finale. (Variety)

STREAMING CASTING NEWS

More cast members have been added to the upcoming Netflix, live-action series Avatar: The Last Airbender. Paul Sun-Hyung Lee (Kim’s Convenience and The Mandalorian) will play Uncle Iroh, a retired Fire Nation general and the wise and nurturing mentor to his hot-headed nephew, Prince Zuko. Lim Kay Siu (Anna and The King and Nightwatch) will play Gyatso, a kind and caring Air Nomad monk who is the guardian, father figure and best friend to Aang; and Ken Leung (Star Wars: The Force Awakens and Lost ) will play Commander Zhao, a scheming and ambitious Fire Nation military officer who’s eager to leverage an unexpected encounter with a desperate Prince Zuko to advance his personal goals. (Variety)

TV CASTING NEWS

Newcomer Senan West, the 13-year-old, real-life son of actor Dominic West – who will be playing Prince Charles in the upcoming 5th season of The Crown – will portray Prince William in the streaming series. (Variety)

BOX OFFICE NEWS

Derek Luke will be reuniting with Katie Holmes (nearly 2 decades after they starred in 2003’s Pieces of April) in the upcoming movie Rare Objects which Holmes will not only star in, but also produce and direct. The movie, based on the Kathleen Tessaro novel, tells the story of a young woman with a traumatic past who seeks to rebuild her life when she begins working at an antique store. Luke will play antiques dealer Winshaw. (Variety)

Sterling K. Brown (This Is Us) will star in the box office movie The Defender as pioneering lawyer Scipio Africanus Jones, who risked his life and career to defend the Elaine Twelve: a group of 12 Black sharecroppers sentenced to death for allegedly being involved in the murder of a white man during the Elaine Massacre of 1919 in Arkansas. (Variety)

Jurnee Smollett (Lovecraft Country and Birds of Prey) has landed the female lead in the new courtroom drama The Burial from Amazon Studios. She will star opposite Jamie Foxx and Tommy Lee Jones in thefilm that is based on a true story. The film follows a bankrupt funeral home owner who decides to sue a rival businessman over a handshake deal gone wrong. The owner hires a flamboyant attorney (Foxx) to handle the case. Smollett will play Foxx’s opposing counsel. (Variety)

The one and only Delroy Lindo has joined the cast of the Marvel Studios movie Blade that will star Moonlight actor Mahershala Ali as the titular human-vampire hybrid. It is unclear who Lindo will be playing, but one strong possibility is Jamal Afari, who in the Marvel comics is the man who raised and mentored Blade (aka Eric Brooks) in the ways of vampire hunting when Eric was young. (Variety)

That’s it. Enjoy!

Read Full Post »

Hey All,

Here are the news items for this past week:

RENEWALS

Squid Games, the popular Korean thriller, has been renewed for a second season. (Variety)

NBC has renewed La Brea for a second season. (TV Line)

MADE-FOR-TV MOVIE NEWS

Jane Krakowski has stepped down from the role of Lily St. Regis in the upcoming NBC made-for-TV movie Annie Live! due to being diagnosed with a breakthrough case of COVID. The role will be taken over by Megan Hilty (Smash and Wicked). (Deadline)

TV CASTING NEWS

Colby Lewis (Chicago Med) has been tapped to portray Peter, Alina Park (Laura Sohn)’s protective husband on The Blacklist. (Deadline)

HBO is developing a limited series based on the Mob Queens podcast that will star Lena Dunham and Ruth Wilson. The series tells the story of Anna Genovese (Wilson), most widely known as the second wife of infamous crime boss Vito Genovese and a fixture in the Village’s drag bar scene in the 1930s who later broke Cosa Nostra law when she spilled the illegal dealings of her husband in divorce hearings. (Variety)

The FX eight-episode limited series Class of ‘09 has added new cast members including Jake McDorman (The Right Stuff), Sepideh Moafi (The L Word: Generation Q), Brian J. Smith (Sense8 and Stargate Universe) and Brooke Smith (Grey’s Anatomy) [among others]. The series follows a class of FBI agents set in a near future where the U.S. criminal justice system has been transformed by artificial intelligence. The show already stars Brian Tyree Henry (Eternals) and Kate Mara (A Teacher and Shooter). (Deadline)

City On a Hill has added new cast members in recurring roles for its upcoming third season, which will premiere in 2022. Those cast members include Corbin Bernsen (Psych and L.A. Law), Joanne Kelly (Warehouse 13) and Ernie Hudson (Ghostbusters franchise). Season three brings us to Boston’s high society Beacon Hill. Following his dismissal from the FBI, Jackie Rohr (series lead Kevin Bacon) lands a lavish new gig running security for a wealthy family. Life is good until secrets begin to unravel. When an investigation opens – implicating local and federal authorities – assistant district attorney Decourcy Ward (series lead Aldis Hodge) sees an opportunity to finally rip out the machinery perpetuating a broken system.  Bernsen will play Sinclair Dryden, an old money Beacon Hill socialite and former outstanding FBI agent who has been a mentor to Jackie; Kelly will play Letitia, the strong-willed wife of Sinclair and Hudson will play Franklin Ward, the widowed father of Decourcy, who is a Baptist minister in Brooklyn. (Deadline)

BOX OFFICE NEWS

It looks like MGM is going to remake the Patrick Swayze movie Road House with Doug Liman set to direct and Jake Gyllenhaal set to star. There are no details yet on who Gyllenhaal would play, however. (Variety)

The new rom-com film Loveboat, Taipei, based on the best-selling novel by Abigail Hing Wen, will star Ashley Liao (Fuller House, Physical and Secret Society of Second Born Royals) and Ross Butler (Shazam! franchise, Riverdale and 13 Reasons Why). The movie will center on Ever Wong (Liao), whose summer takes an unexpected turn when her parents surprise her with a trip to Taipei for a cultural immersion program. Ever is surprised to discover that she hasn’t signed up for homework and history lessons, but instead for a summer-long free-for-all the locals and other students call “Loveboat.” It quickly lives up to its name when Ever finds herself trying not to fall for two attractive, but wildly different boys who are vying for her attention, while at the same time finding the courage to defy her parents’ high expectations and pursue her true passion: dancing. Butler will play the dashingly handsome Rick Woo. Embarrassingly nicknamed “Boy Wonder” by the smitten Ever, Rick is an infamous prodigy in both sports and scholastics who has yet to meet his match until he meets her. (Deadline)

STREAMING CASTING NEWS

Netflix fave Noah Centineo (To All the Boys franchise, Charlie’s Angels and The Fosters) will star in a currently untitled Netflix thriller created by Alexi Hawley. The 8-episodes series revolves around a fledgling lawyer (Centineo) at the CIA, who becomes enmeshed in dangerous international power politics when a former asset threatens to expose the nature of her long-term relationship with the agency unless they exonerate her of a serious crime. The cast includes Vondie Curtis Hall (Harriet), Kristian Bruun (Orphan Black), Laura Haddock (The Capture) and Colton Dunn (Superstore) [among others]. (Deadline)

Timothy Olyphant has joined the cast of the upcoming Amzon drama Daisy Jones & The Six. Based on the novel by Taylor Jenkins Reid, the 10-episode series focuses on the rollercoaster journey of a 1970s rock band coping with the trials of tribulations of becoming famous. Olyphant will play the character responsible for bringing The Six together. The cast includes Riley Keough, Suki Waterhouse and Sam Coflin [among others]. (The Hollywood Reporter and Outsider)

The upcoming Peacock 8-episode crime drama The Missing from David E. Kelley will star Jeff Wilbusch (from the HBO film Oslo and the Netflix series Unorthodox) in the lead role. Based on the novel by Dror A. Mishani focuses on Avraham Avraham, an NYPD detective with the 77th precinct, whose belief in mankind is his superpower when it comes to uncovering the truth. He is left to question his own humanity when a seemingly routine investigation turns upside down. (Variety)

Paramount+ has ordered a small screen adaptation of the box office film Fatal Attraction that will star Lizzy Caplan (Masters of Sex and Party Down) in one of the lead roles. 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. Caplan will star as Alex (the role played by Glenn Close in the film), who becomes obsessed with her lover after a brief affair. (Variety)

Michael Ealy (Stumptown and Secretsand Lies) will star opposite Kristen Bell (Veronica Mars and The Good Place) and Tom Riley (Da Vinci’s Demons and The Nevers) in the upcoming Netflix 8-episode limited series The Woman in the House, that is set to premiere in early 2022. The series centers around heartbroken Anna (Bell), for whom every day is the same. She sits with her wine, staring out the window, watching life go by without her. But when a handsome neighbor (Riley) and his adorable daughter (Samsara Yett) move in across the street, Anna starts to see a light at the end of the tunnel. That is until she witnesses a gruesome murder… Or did she? Ealy will play Douglas, Anna’s ex-husband. (Deadline)

Jennifer Garner will take over for Julia Roberts in the upcoming Apple drama The Last Thing He Told Me, which is based on the novel by Laura Dave. The series follows a woman (Garner) who forms an unexpected relationship with her sixteen-year-old stepdaughter while searching for the truth about why her husband has mysteriously disappeared. (Variety)

That’s it. Enjoy!

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