Rueben's Ramblings

Hey All,

Here are the news items for this past week:

RENEWAL

Netflix has renewed the fantasy drama Fate: The Winx Saga for a 2nd season. (Variety)

CANCELLATION

Seemingly due to low ratings, NCIS: New Orleans will come to an end at the conclusion of its current 7th season, ending for good on May 16, which will mark the show’s 155th episode. (TV Line and Deadline)

DEVELOPMENT NEWS

A new NCIS spinoff set in Hawaii is in development at CBS. Few plot details are available other than it will follow a team of Naval criminal investigators who operate on the Hawaiian islands. (Variety)

Actor Billy Campbell (Once and Again and The 4400) has landed the lead role in the ABC drama pilot National Parks, which includes Kevin Costner among its writers and executive producers. The show will take a darker, more sinister look at the parks that attract a vast array of criminal activity, following the small group of elite NPS agents as they solve these crimes while protecting these national treasures. Campbell will star as Cal Foster, an experienced ISB special agent who has worked in the field for years, but is now stepping into a new leadership role. He wonders how the team he’s worked alongside will respond to taking orders from him, but Cal is determined to honor the position and help his fellow agents no matter what. (Variety)

CBS is also plotting another spin-off to the FBI franchise. FBI: International would deal with the agents that make up the international branch of the FBI. (Variety)

HBO Max has given a series order to Subject to Change, a new drama from J.J. Abrams, which will follow a desperate college student who signs up for a clinical trial that is the starting point for a reality-bending adventure. (Variety)

Paramount+ (formerly CBS All Access) is looking at a possible Criminal Minds reboot as a limited event series. (TV Line)

TV CASTING NEWS

Actress Simone Ashley (Sex Education and the UK original Broadchurch) will play Kate Sharma (nee Sheffield), a love interest for the highly eligible Anthony Bridgerton (series regular Jonathan Bailey) in the upcoming season two of Bridgerton. Kate is a smart, headstrong London newcomer “who suffers no fools; Anthony very much included.” Kate is among a number of new characters expected for the 2nd season, which will be based on the second novel in the franchise of books by Julia Quinn entitled “The Viscount Who Loved Me.” (Deadline and TV Line)

New cast members for the upcoming Black Lightning spin-off series Painkiller [Jordan Calloway will play the titular character] have been announced. They include Sibongile Mlambo (Teen Wolf, Siren and Lovecraft Country), Alexander Hodge (Insecure, Tommy and Modern Family) and James Roch (The Night Shift). Mlambo will play Maya, a strikingly attractive woman who is icy and mysterious; Hodge will play Philky, a once homeless alcoholic from Gotham who now works as an inconspicuous bartender and is an exceptionally gifted tech wiz; and Roch will play Cousin Donald, a larger-than-life, gentle giant who was a medic in the Marines. (Deadline)

Actress Archie Panjabi (The Good Wife) has joined the 3rd season of Snowpiercer. She will play a character named Asha, but details are being kept under wraps. (Deadline)

Actor Aaron Eckhart will star opposite Viola Davis and Michelle Pfeiffer in the Showtime anthology series The First Lady, a revelatory reframing of American leadership, told through the lens of the women at the heart of the White House. Season 1 will focus on Eleanor Roosevelt, Betty Ford (Pfeiffer) and Michelle Obama (Davis). Eckhart will play President Gerald R. Ford Jr. Also, Judy Greer will take on the role of Nancy Howe, Ford’s trusted confidante and social secretary. Greer takes over the role from Pamela Adlon, who had to drop out of the project due to a scheduling conflict. (Deadline and Variety)

Actress Minnie Driver has joined the cast of the Amazon series Modern Love for the drama’s second season, but details about the character for which she will play is being kept under wraps. The series depicts an exploration of love in all of its complicated and beautiful forms, with each standalone episode based on some of the most popular stories from the New York Times column on which it is based. (Variety)

Actress Aunjanue Ellis and Andrene Ward-Hammond have been added to the cast of the upcoming AMC drama 61st Street, which has been ordered as a two-season television event with eight episodes per season. The series is a courtroom drama that follows Moses Johnson (Tosin Cole), a promising, black high school athlete, who is swept up into the infamously corrupt Chicago criminal justice system. Taken by the police as a supposed gang member, he finds himself in the eye of the storm as police and prosecutors seek revenge for the death of an officer during a drug bust gone wrong. Ellis will play Martha Roberts, a candidate for alderman on the South Side who is very skilled at telling the voting public that her drive and ambition will be placed at their service. The wife of Franklin Roberts (Courtney B. Vance) and a former stay-at-home mom to their autistic son, David, Martha is torn between her burgeoning career in politics and the needs of her family. Ward-Hammond will play Norma Johnson, a cleaning lady at the local courthouse and a dedicated mother to her two sons, Moses and Joshua (Bentley Green). (Variety)

Netflix has ordered a live action series centered around Wednesday Addams (from The Addams Family). Wednesday will be a young adult TV series about a sleuthing, supernaturally infused mystery charting Wednesday Addams’ years as a student at Nevermore Academy. She attempts to master her emerging psychic ability, thwart a monstrous killing spree that has terrorized the local town, and solve the supernatural mystery that embroiled her parents 25 years ago — all while navigating her new and very tangled relationships at Nevermore. Smallville executive producers Al Gough and Miles Millar created the series and will serve as showrunners and executive producers while Tim Burton is set to direct and executive produce. (Variety)

A series based on the Sally Rooney book “Conversations With Friends” will move forward via Hulu-BBC Three and has announced cast members, which include Alison Oliver, Sasha Lane, Joe Alwyn and Jemima Kirke in four of the lead roles. The series follows Frances (Oliver), a 21 year old college student, as she navigates a series of relationships that force her to confront her own vulnerabilities for the first time. Her ex-girlfriend, now best friend, Bobbi (Lane) is self-assured, outspoken and compelling. Though they broke up three years ago, Frances and Bobbi are virtually inseparable and perform spoken word poetry together in Dublin. It’s at one of their shows that they meet Melissa (Kirke), an older writer, who is fascinated by the pair. Bobbi and Frances start to spend time with Melissa and her husband, Nick (Alwyn), a handsome but reserved actor. While Melissa and Bobbi flirt with each other openly, Nick and Frances embark on an intense secret affair that is surprising to them both. Soon the affair begins to test the bond between Frances and Bobbi, forcing Frances to reconsider her sense of self, and the friendship she holds so dear. The series is scheduled to premiere in 2022 on Hulu in the US and premiere on BBC Three and air on BBC One in the UK. (Variety)

Actor John Wesley Shipp will, once again, reprise his role of The Flash (aka Jay Garrick) in The CW superhero series Stargirl. He will appear in a pivotal flashback episode that establishes the Golden Age Flash as a member of Earth-2’s Justice Society of America, bringing Stargirl (series lead Brec Bassinger) into The CW’s post-Crisis universe alongside existing shows The Flash, Superman & Lois, Batwoman, Black Lightning, Supergirl and DC’s Legends of Tomorrow. (Entertainment Weekly)

Kristin Bell (Veronica Mars herself) and Tom Riley (Da Vinci’s Demons and the upcoming series The Nevers) will appear together in the Netflix limited series The Woman in the House. The tagline for the series is: For heartbroken Anna (Bell), 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 moves 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? You guessed it Riley will play the new neighbor, a charming and handsome single dad. But is this undeniably sexy widower too good to be true? (Deadline and The Futon Critic)

Actor Josh Lucas (Sweet Home Alabama and Ford v Ferrari) will star opposite Rose Rollins (The L Word and Condor) in the upcoming drama Long Slow Exhale from Spectrum Originals that follows J.C. Abernathy (Rollins), the successful head coach of a competitive women’s college basketball team who finds herself in the middle of a potentially career shattering sexual abuse scandal. Sorting through the secrets to unravel the truth, she is forced to make decisions that will affect her, her family and the young female athletes who depend on her. Lucas will play Hilman Ford, athletic director of the university. (Deadline)

MacGyver will welcome Ernie Hudson and Wendy Raquel Robinson as Milton and Lauretta Bozer, the parents of Wilt (series regular Justin Hires). They will guest star in an episode set to air in the Spring. (TV Line)

MOVIE CASTING NEWS

Bridgerton hunk Regé-Jean Page (the Duke of Hastings) has joined the cast of the upcoming movie adaptation of Dungeons & Dragons (the role playing game that has been around for over 45 years), playing a lead role in the movie. He joins previously announced cast members Chris Pine, Michelle Rodriguez and Justice Smith. (Deadline)

Award winner Regina King is set to star in and produce the box office film entitled Shirley where she will play legendary Shirley Chisholm, America’s first Black congresswoman. (Variety)

Soap actress Sasha Calle (The Young and the Restless) has landed the role of Supegirl in the upcoming movie installment of The Flash. Calle will be the first Latina ever to portray the superhero. (Variety)

Charlize Theron and Kerry Washington will star in the Netflix movie The School for Good and Evil that is based on the young adult fantasy novel by Soman Chainani, which follows best friends Sophie and Agatha as they are kidnapped to the School for Good and Evil. After their fortunes are reversed, their friendship is put to the test as the duo attempts to return home. Washington will play Professor Dovey while Theron will play Lady Lesso. (Variety)

Rachel McAdams and youngster Abby Ryder Fortson (she played little Cassie in the Ant-Man films) have been cast in the movie adaptation of the Judy Blume coming-of-age book Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret. Fortson will play Margaret Simon, a sixth-grade girl who is going through puberty and searches the universe for any answers she can find while McAdams will play Margaret’s mother, Barbara. (Variety)

That’s it. Enjoy!

Read Full Post »

Hey All,

Here are the news items for this past week:

NEW DEVELOPMENT

The creators of Game of Thrones are developing a series adaptation of the Richard Power novel “The Overstory” for Netflix. The novel was published in 2018 and won the Pulitzer Prize tells the story of a world alongside ours that is vast, interconnected, resourceful, magnificently inventive, and almost invisible to us. A handful of disparate people learn how to see that world and are drawn into its unfolding catastrophe. (Variety)

Amazon has ordered an adaptation of the Jenny Han YA novel “The Summer I Turned Pretty.” This adaptation has been given an 8-episode order. This project is described as a multigenerational drama that hinges on a love triangle between one girl and two brothers, the ever-evolving relationship between mothers and their children, and the enduring power of strong female friendship. It is a coming-of-age story about first love, first heartbreak, and the magic of that one perfect summer. (Variety)

CBS has a revival of CSI in the works with William Peterson and Jorja Fox set to reprise their roles; and new cast members will include Matt Lauria (Friday Night Lights), who will play Josh, a Level 3 CSI who excels at crime scene reconstruction; Paula Newsome (Chicago Med), who will play Maxine, the new head of the Vegas Crime lab; and Mel Rodriguez (Last Man on Earth), who will play Hugo, the head medical examiner who has a slightly creepy obsession with dead bodies. (TV Line)

The CW has announced their new projects, including the following:

• A straight-to-series order for a remake of The 4400 (a reboot of the USA Network drama). 4400 overlooked, undervalued, or otherwise marginalized people who vanished without a trace over the last hundred years are all returned in an instant, having not aged a day and with no memory of what happened to them. As the government races to analyze the potential threat and contain the story, the 4400 themselves must grapple with the fact that they’ve been returned with a few upgrades, and the increasing likelihood that they were all brought back now for a specific reason. This reboot has been in development at The CW since 2018;
• Naomi, based on the standalone comic book series, has been given a pilot order. The series follows a teen girl’s journey from her small northwestern town to the heights of the multiverse. When a supernatural event shakes her hometown to the core, Naomi sets out to uncover its origins, and what she discovers will challenge everything we believe about our heroes;
• Powerpuff Girls, a live-action series based on the Cartoon Network animated series, has also been given a pilot order. The new series sees the pint-sized superheroes as disillusioned twentysomethings who resent having lost their childhood to crime fighting. Will they agree to reunite now that the world needs them more than ever?; and,
• An untitled religious dramedy about two millennial nuns – a devout true believer, and a new arrival who has yet to take her final vows – who start as strangers and become sisters on a funny, spiritual journey to understand their own faith and place in the Catholic church. (Variety)

YOU’VE BEEN FIRED

This news comes as no surprise for viewers of The Mandalorian on Disney+. Actress Gina Carano has been fired from the show due to problematic things and opinions she has shared/supported all across social media, ranging from anti-trans, anti-mask/anti-vaxxer and racist comments as well as being a supporter of the attempted January 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, among other things. (TV Line)

SMALL SCREEN CASTING NEWS

Actress-singer Christina Milian has joined the cast of the small screen adaptation of Step Up – based on the box office dance franchise of films – which was picked up by Starz from its original airing on YouTube. She will take over the role of Collette that was played by the late Naya Rivera. (Variety)

Another Castle alum will appear in The Rookie. Actress Toks Olagundoye will appear in a multi-episode arc, playing Fiona Ryan, Officer John Nolans (lead star Nathan Fillion) professor in his Ethics and Criminal Justice class. (Digital Spy)

Versatile actor J.K. Simmons and actress Nina Arianda (Midnight in Paris and the TV series Goliath) are in talks to join the Amazon Studios Lucille Ball and Desi Arnez project Being the Ricardos that is set to star Nicole Kidman and Javier Bardem as the legendary couple. Simmons will play William Frawley, the actor who played Fred Mertz; and Arianda will play Vivian Vance, who played Ethel Mertz. (The Hollywood Reporter)

National Geographic has announced the next installment of its anthology series The Hot Zone. This time the scripted series will be The Hot Zone: Anthrax, which takes place in 2001, just weeks after 9/11, where another deadly act of terrorism rocked the United States. Letters containing anthrax were sent to unsuspecting victims in Florida, Washington, D.C. and New York. The anonymous assault claimed five lives and caused panic throughout the country. Despite interagency turf wars and many false leads, an unlikely team of scientists, FBI agents and government departments slowly closed in on a shocking prime suspect. The cast will include the following:

• Tony Goldwyn (Scandal) will play Bruce Ivins, a brilliant microbiologist who becomes embroiled in the hunt to find the 2001 anthrax killer;
• Daniel Dae Kim (Lost and Hawaii Five-0) will portray Matthew Ryker, an FBI agent with a specialty in microbiology, who, just three weeks after the 9/11attacks, risks his career to convince his superiors of the unthinkable, that the United States is under attack again;
• Harry Hamlin (L.A.Law) will play Tom Brokaw, the respected journalist and anchor for NBC News; and,
• Dylan Baker (The Good Wife) will play Ed Copak, a high-ranking FBI lifer. His department is rocked by the recent events of 9/11 and is now charged with finding the anthrax killer. He feels the weight of responsibility for getting justice for a wounded nation. (National Geographic)

HBO is working on a series adaptation of The Last of Us, based on the Sony Playstation franchise; and two cast members have been announced: Pedro Pascal (The Mandalorian) and Bella Ramsey (Game of Thrones). The series takes place twenty years after modern civilization has been destroyed. Joe (Pascal), a hardened survivor, is hired to smuggle Ellie (Ramsey) out of an oppressive quarantine zone. What starts as a small job soon becomes a brutal, heartbreaking journey, as they both must traverse across the U.S. and depend on each other for survival. (Variety)

Actress Claire Danes (Homeland) will star in the lead role in the upcoming Apple drama series The Essex Serpent, which is based on the book by Sarah Perry. Danes takes over the lead role from Keira Knightley. The story follows newly widowed Cora (Danes) who, having been released from an abusive marriage, relocates from Victorian London to the small village of Aldwinter in Essex, intrigued by a local superstition that a mythical creature known as the Essex Serpent has returned to the area. (Variety)

Legendary Dolly Parton will reunite with her 9 to 5 co-stars Lily Tomlin and Jane Fonda, appearing in Grace and Frankie. (NY Post)

Actor Angus Macfadyen (from the box office movie Braveheart) will appear in the new drama Superman & Lois on the CW. He will take on the role of Jor-El, who will be a projection in the Fortress of Solitude, offering his son sage guidance. (ComicBook.com)

Actor Donald Glover (Community and Atlanta) and actress Phoebe Waller-Bridge (Fleabag) will be putting a new spin on a small screen adaptation of the 2005 box office movie Mr. and Mrs. Smith – that starred Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie. Glover and Waller-Bridge will not only star in but also executive produce the series. (Variety)

BOX OFFICE CASTING NEWS

Veteran actress Jamie Lee Curtis will join Cate Blanchett and Kevin Hart in the box office adaptation of the popular video game Borderlands. Curtis will play Tannis, based on the character Dr. Patricia Tannis, an archeologist on the planet of Pandora, whose expertise could help lead to a mysterious vault filled with ancient alien technology. She has a tricky background with Lilith, the character for which Blanchett will play. ALSO, actor Jack Black has joined the cast, providing the voice of Claptrap, a persistently sarcastic robot that isn’t all that invested in the survival of his teammates. (Variety)

Netflix has acquired the Dennis Quaid film Blue Miracle, based on a true story, that centers on Casa Hogar, a Mexican orphanage that was struggling to survive after Hurricane Odile hit in 2014. On the brink of bankruptcy, the residents enter the world’s biggest fishing tournament in hopes of winning the prize money to save their home. (Variety)

Actress Lily Gladstone, a descendant of the Blackfeet and Nez Perce tribes, will star in the upcoming Martin Scorsese film Killers of the Flower Moon, which is based on the best-selling book by David Grann that takes place in 1920s Oklahoma, depicting a string of brutal murders of Osage Nation Native Americans, which came to be known as the Reign of Terror. The Osage Nation, who were the richest people per capita in the world, were killed one by one after oil was discovered on their land. As the death toll rose, the newly-created FBI took up the case and unraveled a chilling conspiracy and one of the most monstrous crimes in American history. Gladstone will play Mollie Burkhart, an Osage married to Ernest Burkhart, who is the nephew of a powerful local rancher. The movie cast will include Leonardo DiCaprio as Burkhart and Robert De Niro as Burkhart’s uncle. (Variety)

Actress Florence Pugh (Little Women and Black Widow) has signed on to play the lead in a sci-fi movie called Dolly, which will be about a robotic “companion doll” that kills her owner then asks for an attorney so she can plead not guilty. The movie is based on a short story by Elizabeth Bear. While the project has been picked up by Apple Studios it hasn’t been given an official green light yet. (Deadline and BBC America)

That’s it. Enjoy!

Read Full Post »

Hey All,

Here are the news items for this past week:

EARLY RENEWALS

The CW got a late start with their new season for the 2020-2021 TV season, but the network has already given the following shows a renewal for the next TV season: The Flash (Season 8), Riverdale (Season 6), DC’s Legends of Tomorrow (Season 7), All American (Season 4), Charmed (Season 4), Legacies (Season 4), In the Dark (Season 4), Roswell, New Mexico (Season 4), Batwoman (Season 3), Nancy Drew (Season 3) and Dynasty (Season 5). (TV Line)

CANCELLATION

The cult favorite, supernatural Western series Wynonna Earp is coming to an end on Syfy. First, though, the final episodes of the current 4th season will get started on March 5 with the series finale set for April 9. (Deadline)

NEW DEVELOPMENTS

Paramount Plus (formerly CBS All Access) is setting up a prequel series to the Paramount Network’s Kevin Costner-led drama Yellowstone. Y: 1883 will follow the Dutton family as they embark on a journey west through the Great Plains toward the last bastion of untamed America. The series will be a stark retelling of Western expansion, and be an intense study of one family fleeing poverty to seek a better future in America’s promised land — Montana. The show is set to debut on the streaming service Paramount Plus sometime this year. (Variety)

Starz has ordered period drama series The Serpent Queen, which is based on the life of Catherine de Medici via the book “Catherine de Medici: Renaissance Queen of France. Considered an immigrant, common and plain, Catherine de Medici is married into the 16th century French court as an orphaned teenager expected to bring a fortune in dowry and produce many heirs, only to discover that her husband is in love with an older woman, her dowry is unpaid and she’s unable to conceive. Yet, only with her intelligence and determination, she manages to keep her marriage alive and masters the bloodsport that is the monarchy better than anyone else, ruling France for 50 years. The series will consist of 8 episodes. (Variety)

The All American spin-off to be titled All American: Homecoming will be moving forward, focusing on the character Simone Hicks (played by Geffri Maya). The series will be set against the backdrop of the historically Black college and university (HBCU) experience, following a young tennis hopeful from Beverly Hills (Maya) and an elite baseball player from Chicago as they contend with the high stakes of college sports, all while navigating the highs and lows of unsupervised early adulthood at a prestigious historically Black college. (TV Line)

Disney+ has a series set in Wakanda (the fictional African nation from which Black Panther is based) in development. (Variety)

SMALL SCREEN CASTING NEWS

Actress Lana Condor (the star of the Netflix movie franchise To All The Boys, based on the popular book franchise) is set to star in and executive produce the comedy series Boo, Bitch,” which has been ordered to series at Netflix. The comedy series will consist of 8 half-hour episodes that, over the course of one night, will follow a high school senior (Condor) who’s lived her life safely under the radar; but she seizes the opportunity to change her narrative to start living an epic life, only to find out the next morning that she’s a ghost. (Variety)

Actress Emily Hampshire (12 Monkeys and Schitt’s Creek) will executive producer AND star as the title character in an updated version of the Norman Lear 1970s syndicated hit Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman. The show will be shopped around to buyers in the coming weeks. (Variety)

Actress Tamara Taylor (Bones) has landed a lead role in the upcoming NBC spin-off Law & Order: Organized Crime. Details on her character are being kept under wraps though. The latest spin-off will follow Christopher Meloni’s SVU character Elliot Stabler as he returns to the New York City police department following a devastating personal loss as he starts to put the pieces of his life back together, joining a high-level task force set on dismantling the city’s biggest crime syndicates. (TV Line)

Actress Neve Campbell (Party of Five and the recent box office movie Skyscraper) has landed a leading role in the Netflix small screen adaptation of The Lincoln Lawyer, playing Maggie McPherson. She joins Manuel Garcia-Rulfo, who will star as Mickey Haller, who runs his law practice out of the back seat of his Lincoln Town Car. Maggie is Mickey’s first ex-wife, a passionately committed Deputy District Attorney known to colleagues as “Maggie McFierce” for her unwavering dedication to her job. (Variety)

Amazon has a new 7-part anthology series called Solos that will include a star-studded cast that will include Morgan Freeman, Anne Hathaway, Helen Mirren, Uzo Aduba, Nicole Beharie, Anthony Mackie, Dan Stevens and Constance Wu. The series is described as exploring the deeper meaning of human connection, as explored through the lens of the individual. It will tell stories, each from a different perspective and moment in time, that illuminate that even during our most seemingly isolated moments, in the most disparate of circumstances, we are all connected through the human experience. The series is slated to debut sometime in 2021. (Variety)

Actor Chiwetel Ejiofor (12 Years a Slave) will star in the Paramount Plus (formerly CBS All Access) original series The Man Who Fell to Earth based on the novel by Walter Tevis made icon in the movie starring David Bowie. The series will follow a new alien character who arrives on Earth at a turning point in human evolution and must confront his own past to determine our future. (The Futon Critic)

Cast members have been added to the upcoming Netflix dramatic thriller Pieces of Her that already announced Belle Heathcote and Toni Collette in the lead roles. Actors Gil Birmingham (Yellowstone and Siren), Terry O’Quinn (Lost) and Calum Worthy (Austin & Ally and The Act) have recurring roles in the series set in a sleepy Georgia town where a random act of violence sets off an unexpected chain of events for 30-year-old Andy Oliver (Heathcote) and her mother Laura (Collette). Desperate for answers, Andy embarks on a dangerous journey across America, drawing her towards the dark, hidden heart of her family. Birmingham will play Charlie Bass, a protective family friend of Laura (Collette) and Andy Oliver (Heathcote) while O’Quinn will play Martin Queller, the charismatic, billionaire founder of pharmaceutical giant QuellCorp; and Worthy will play young Jasper, the eldest of the three Queller siblings. (Deadline)

BOX OFFICE CASTING NEWS

Actress Michelle Williams will portray entertainment icon Peggy Lee in the biopic called Fever. Lee was born Norma Deloris Egstrom in 1920, who is best known for her sultry version of the song “Fever,” which was recorded in 1958. Lee began singing professionally at 16, recording her first number one hit “Somebody Else Is Taking My Place” at 22. Her career, which included an Oscar-nominated performance in the 1955 movie Pete Kelly’s Blues and several roles in the 1955 Disney animated feature “Lady and the Tramp” — spanned into the 1990s. (Variety)

Actress Emma Corrin (who plays Princess Diana on The Crown and was in the first season of Pennyworth) will star alongside British singer Harry Styles in the Amazon Studios romantic drama My Policeman based on the acclaimed novel by Bethan Roberts. The story takes place in the late 1990s, when the arrival of elderly invalid Patrick into Marion and Tom’s home, triggers the exploration of seismic events from 40 years previous: the passionate relationship between Tom and Patrick at a time when homosexuality was illegal. Styles and Corrin are set to star as Tom and Marion, respectively. (Deadline)

Actress Serinda Swan (Coroner and Graceland) will star as a young Elizabeth Taylor in the war movie Devotion that is set to star Jonathan Majors, Glen Powell, Christina Jackson, Joe Jonas and Thomas Sadoski. The aerial epic will chart the true story of U.S. Navy fighter pilots, Jesse Brown and Tom Hudner, two young men from different worlds. Initiated together into the VF-32 squadron, they are pushed to their limits flying a new design of fighter jet. But their friendship is tested when one of them is shot down behind enemy lines. Swan will play the iconic actress, who encounters the 32s during their shore leave in Cannes, France. (Deadline)

That’s it. Enjoy!

Read Full Post »

Hey All,

RENEWALS/BROADCAST RIGHTS/CANCELLATION

Freeform has renewed The Bold Type for its 5th and final season, expected to air later this year. (TV Line)

NBC has renewed The Blacklist for a 9th season. (Variety)

FOX has acquired the first two seasons of the Canadian legal drama Diggstown that is about a star corporate lawyer (Vinessa Antoine) who, after her beloved aunt commits suicide following a malicious prosecution, decides to reconsider her priorities. (Deadline and The Futon Critic)

The Canadian broadcaster CBC has cancelled plans for a 2nd season of the drama Trickster (which is currently airing on The CW with its finale set to air on February 16) in the wake of a controversy over the co-creator of the series not being Indigenous despite claims of being such for the past TWO DECADES. (TV Line)

TV AND STREAMING CASTING NEWS

Actor Joel Kinnaman (The Killing, Altered Carbon and For All Mankind) will star opposite Orange Is the New Black alum Uzo Aduba in the revival of the HBO drama In Treatment. Kinnaman will play Adam, the long-time on-again, off-again boyfriend of Dr. Brooke Lawrence (Aduba’s character). (Variety and The Futon Critic)

Relative newcomer Jay Lycurgo (who will be seen in the upcoming DC film The Batman) will recur on Season 3 of the DC series Titans, playing Tim Drake, a streetwise kid who’s managed to grow up on the toughest streets without losing his indelible belief in heroism. In DC lore, Tim is fated to become the third Robin, succeeding Jason Todd (and Dick Grayson before him) in carrying the superhero mantle. Titans‘ Dick (Brenton Thwaites), after a bit of an identity crisis, has transitioned to the Nightwing persona, while Jason Todd (Curran Walters) is due to become Red Hood in Season 3. (TV Line)

Anne Hathaway and Jared Leto will star in the Apple series WeCrashed based on the Wondery podcast of the same name, which is described as following the greed-filled rise and inevitable fall of WeWork, one of the world’s most valuable startups, and the narcissists whose chaotic love made it all possible. (Variety)

Actor Dylan McDermott (The Practice and American Horror Story) will star opposite Christopher Meloni in the latest spin-off Law & Order: Organized Crime that finds Elliot Stabler returning to the NYPD after a devastating personal loss and joins a new, elite task force designed to take down New York’s most powerful criminal syndicates. Details on the character McDermott will play is being kept under wraps, however. (The Hollywood Reporter)

Actor Tian Richards (the movie Dumplin’ and Being Mary Jane) has landed the title role in the Nancy Drew spin-off Tom Swift at The CW. The series follows the titular Black, gay, billionaire inventor who is thrust into a world of sci-fi conspiracy and unexplained phenomena after the shocking disappearance of his father. (Variety)

Actors Jamie Dornan (The Fall and the recent box office movie Wild Mountain Thyme) and Hugo Weaving (The Lord of the Rings franchise) and actresses Daniell Macdonald (Patti Cake$ and I Am Woman) and Shalom Brune-Franklin (the streaming series Cursed) will star in the HBO Max 6-episode limited series The Tourist. Dornan will star as a British man who finds himself in the glowing red heart of the Australian outback being pursued by a vast tank truck trying to drive him off the road. An epic cat and mouse chase unfolds and the man later wakes in the hospital, hurt, but somehow alive. Except he has no idea who he is. With merciless figures from his past pursuing him, The Man’s search for answers propels him through the vast and unforgiving outback. Macdonald will star as Helen Chambers, a fledgling Probationary Constable; Brune-Franklin will play Luci, a waitress who’s swept into The Man’s journey for answers; and Weaving will play Agent Lachlan Rogers, one of the most highly regarded detective inspectors in Australia, leading Major Crime for the state police. (Variety)

Actors Ted Levine (The Silence of the Lambs) and Kyle Schmid (Blood Ties, Copper and Six) have joined the cast of the new ABC drama Big Sky. Levine, a new series regular, will play Horst Kleinsasser, who has run a ranch empire for decades with a petty ruthlessness, buying up failing ranches, making deals, expanding his grip on the small, rural Lochsa County while Schmid will recur as John Wayne Kleinsasser, who clings to the old ways of the ranch with a ferocity and forcefulness. Also, actress Michelle Forbes (True Blood and Battlestar Galactica) will recur in the show as Margaret, the picture perfect ranch wife who knows her place, likes to bake and loves all of her children equally, but scratch the surface and there’s real steel beneath; actress Britt Robertson (Life UnExpected and Under the Dome) will recur as Cheyenne, Horst’s daughter, who ran off and made poor life choices; actor Michael Raymond-James (True Blood, Terriers and Once Upon a Time) will recur as Blake, who turned his back kon the ranch, going to the city to make his own way; actor Ryan Dorsey (Pitch and Ray Donovan as well as the ex-husband to the late Naya Rivera) will recur as Rand and actor Omar Metwally (Mr. Robot and Treadstone) who will recur as Frank Lindor, a bounty hunter. (Deadline and The Futon Critic)

Actor Alan Cumming will recur on the FOX drama Prodigal Son, playing Simon Hoxley, a supremely confident and cocky Europol agent known as The MindSleuth, who is considered one of the most celebrated criminal profilers in the world. He travels to New York to solve the murder of Nicholas Endicott (played by Dermot Mulroney last season), which puts Malcolm in his crosshairs. (Deadline and The Futon Critic)

Actor Dan Bucatinsky (Scandal) will recur in the upcoming new ABC drama Rebel that will star Katey Sagal (Sons of Anarchy) in the title role. Bucatinsky will play Jason Erickson, an edgy, somewhat bitter university professor who Rebel seeks out to enlist his help. (Deadline and The Futon Critic)

Actress Jodie Turner-Smith (the box office movie Queen & Slim and the TV series The Last Ship) is the first cast member of the spin-off series The Witcher: Blood Origin. She will play Éile, a fierce warrior with the voice of a goddess. (Netflix and The Futon Critic)

Actor Paul Campbell (Battlestar Galactica and numerous Hallmark Channel movies) has joined the cast of the Disney+ small screen adaptation of Turner & Hooch, the show about a detective who solves crimes with the help of an oversized dog. Campbell will play Grady Garland, the ex-husband of Laura Turner (to be played by Lyndsy Fonseca from Nikita). (Deadline and The Futon Critic)

Actress Shiva Negar (the box office movie American Assassin) has landed a recurring role on SEAL Team, playing Chief Petty Officer Mina Hassan, a diligent and uniquely skilled Navy Cryptologist and Special Activities Senior NCO who has developed valuable assets and built an impressive network in the Middle East. (Deadline)

The 2009 Black List script for the music-driven project Mixtape will finally show up as a movie on Netflix, starring Julie Bowen (Modern Family) and Jackson Rathbone (the Twilight movie franchise) as well as newcomer Gemma Brooke Allen. The movie focuses on what happens on the eve of Y2K when orphaned, awkward 12-year-old Beverly Moody (Allen) discovers a broken mixtape crafted by her teen parents. Raised by her grandmother Gail (Bowen), a former teen mom herself who finds it painful to speak about her late daughter, Beverly sees this mixtape as a chance to finally learn more about her parents. So she sets out on a journey to find all the songs on the tape. Rathbone will play Wes, a rocker who knew Beverly’s mother back in the day. He’s now a bitter man who is still playing in a crappy local band. (Deadline)

Actor Jason Scott Lee (Mulan and Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story) has joined the cast of the upcoming Disney+ comedy series Doogie Kameāloha, M.D., which will be set in present-day Hawaii, reimagining Doogie Howser M.D. as a ½ hour medical dramedy with a female lead. The show will follow Lahela “Doogie” Kameāloha (Peyton Elizabeth Lee), a 16-year-old mixed-race girl who juggles a budding medical career and life as a teenager. Lee will play her father, who struggles to accept that his daughter is no longer his little girl. (Deadline)

Actresses Nicole Beharie (Sleepy Hollow) and Tovah Feldshuh (The Walking Dead and Crazy Ex-Girlfriend) and actor Corey Stoll (House of Cards) will have supporting roles in the HBO limited series Scenes from a Marriage, which is an adaptation of the classic Ingmar Bergman mini-series that is set to star Jessica Chastain (who will also executive produce) and Oscar Isaac. The series reexamines depictions of love, hatred, desire, monogamy, marriage and divorce through the lens of a contemporary American couple. (Deadline)

Actress Jessica Barden (Penny Dreadful and the box office film Hanna) and actors Omari Hardwick (Power), Joe Dempsie (Game of Thrones), David Wenham (The Lord of the Rings franchise) and Jacob Scipio (the box office movie Bad Boys for Life) will star opposite Toni Collette and Bella Heathcote in the upcoming Netflix series Pieces of Her, which is based on the best-selling novel by Karin Slaughter. In a sleepy Georgia town, a random act of violence sets off an unexpected chain of events for 30-year-old Andy Oliver (Heathcoate) and her mother Laura (Collette). Desperate for answers, Andy embarks on a dangerous journey across America, drawing her towards the dark, hidden heart of her family. Barden will play Jane, a piano prodigy and the only daughter of a Getty-like billionaire; Hardwick will play Gordon Oliver, a successful lawyer in Savannah; Wenham will play Jasper, the eldest of the three siblings, forever driven to surpass his domineering billionaire father; and Scipio will play Michael Vargas, an enigmatic stranger tracking Andy Oliver as she searches for the truth about her mother. (Variety)

Actor Tom Sturridge (Sweetbitter) has landed the lead role of Dream, Lord of the Dreaming in the Netflix adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman. The series will follow Dream — as well as those who’ve been affected by him — as he goes about putting right the mistakes he’s made during his very long existence. Among the cast will be Gwendoline Christie (Game of Thrones), who will play Lucifer, the ruler of Hell; Charles Dance (Game of Thrones) , who will play Roderick Burgess, a charlatan, blackmailer and magician; and Boyd Holbrook (Narcos, The Fugitive), who will play The Corinthian, an escaped nightmare who wishes to taste all that the world has in store. (TV Line)

Relative newcomer Charmaine Bingwa will join the upcoming 5th season of The Good Fight as a series regular, filling the void left by original cast member Cush Jumbo. Bingwa will play Carmen Moyo, a tough, unsentimental, young lawyer whose working-class background allows her to bond with Reddick, Boseman & Lockhart’s most infamous, difficult clients. (Deadline)

The upcoming new drama Delilah from Craig Wright, the creator of the network’s popular series Greenleaf, will air on OWN. The series revolves around Delilah (Maahra Hill), who left a demanding white-shoe law firm a decade ago and hung up her own shingle so she could make raising her kids her number one priority. Now she takes on cases the big firms ignore and finds herself, more often than not, going head-to-head with the powerful and privileged as she fights for the disenfranchised. The cast will include LaMonica Garrett (Arrow and Designated Survivor), Jill Marie Jones (Girlfriends) and Lyriq Bent (Rookie Blue and Carter). (Deadline)

Actress Jen Landon (Yellowstone) will have a recurring role on FBI: Most Wanted, playing Sarah Allen, a horse riding instructor who will work with Special Agent Jess LaCroix’s daughter, Tali (Yaya Gosselin). (TV Line)

Taron Egerton has been tapped to star in the 6-episode Apple TV+ limited series In With The Devil from author Dennis Lehane, which will be centered around an intimate relationship between two prisoners, exploring the lengths that people will go to in order to seek redemption — and if true absolution is ever really possible. (TV Line)

BOX OFFICE CASTING NEWS

Zach Braff (Scrubs) and Gabrielle Union (Being Mary Jane and L.A.’s Finest) are set to appear in a new film adaptation of Cheaper by the Dozen from Black-ish creator Kenya Barris being developed for Disney+. This new version will center on a multiracial, blended family of 12, navigating a hectic home life while managing their family business. (Deadline)

Actress Samara Weaving (the box office movie Ready or Not) will star in the biopic film Liz that will focus on one of America’s forgotten founding mothers Elizabeth Patterson Bonaparte. The film will tell the story of the country’s first modern celebrity, who gained prominence as the first wife of Napoleon Bonaparte’s youngest brother, Jerome. She revolutionized America’s social scene in the time of Jefferson’s presidency; she has been called one of America’s first international celebrities known for her fashion, wit and independence. (Variety)

Kevin Hart will join Cate Blanchett in Borderlands, the upcoming movie adaptation of the popular video game. Hart will play Roland, a skilled ex-soldier-turned-mercenary. (Variety)

Newcomer Alton Mason will play Little Richard in the box office movie Elvis from director Baz Luhrmann. He joins Austin Butler, who stars in the title role and Tom Hanks as Colonel Tom Parker. (Deadline)

Actor Luke Evans (The Alienist and 2017’s Beauty and the Beast) will play The Coachman in the upcoming live-action retelling of Pinocchio that will star Tom Hanks as Geppetto. (Deadline)

That’s it. Enjoy!

Read Full Post »

Hey All,

Here are the news items for this past week:

RENEWALS/CANCELLATION

Netflix has given Bridgerton a second season renewal. (Variety)

TNT has given Snowpiercer a third season ahead of the show’s second season premiere on January 25. (TV Line)

The hit BBC drama Peaky Blinders will come to an end after its upcoming 6th; however, due to the pandemic that 6th and final season may not air until late 2021 or early 2022. (Variety)

TV CASTING NEWS

Actor Kenneth Branagh will play UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson in a new series that will air on Sky TV, the British broadcaster and telecommunication company. The 5-part series, entitled This Sceptred Isle, will detail Britain’s muddled response to the COVID-19 crisis. The series will launch on Sky TV in fall 2022. (Variety)

Actress Brie Larson will star in and executive produce the new series Lessons in Chemistry that received a straight-to-series order at Apple that will be based on the upcoming debut novel from author, science editor, and copywriter Bonnie Garmus. The series is set in the early 1960s, following Elizabeth Zott (Larson), whose dream of being a scientist is put on hold in a society deeming that women belong in the domestic sphere, not the professional one. When Elizabeth finds herself pregnant, alone and fired from her lab, she musters the ingenuity only a single mother has. She accepts a job as a host on a TV cooking show, and sets out to teach a nation of overlooked housewives – and the men who are suddenly listening – a lot more than recipes, all the while craving a return to her true love: science. Lessons in Chemistry is set to be published in spring 2022 by Doubleday. (Variety)

Actress Lesley Manville (The Crown and World on Fire) will star in the 6-part PBS and Brtibox series Magpie Murders, based on the novel by Anthony Horowitz. Manville will star as Susan Ryeland, an editor who receives an unfinished manuscript of the latest novel by a writer named Alan Conway, but she has little idea it will change her life. (Deadline and TV Insider)

That’s it. Enjoy!

Read Full Post »

Hey there,

Here are the news items for this past week:

GENERAL NEWS

Donald Trump has become the only president in US history to be impeached TWICE (and deservedly so!) after inciting the insurrection/riots on Washington DC and the Capitol Building. (TV Line)

PROGRAMMING NEWS

For years The CW had been airing crossover episodes of their DC shows, but this year the planned crossover between Batwoman and the new drama Superman & Lois will not be happening due to the pandemic. It was also announced that Kara Danvers (aka Supergirl) will not be dropping by Gotham on Batwoman anytime soon. (TV Line)

RENEWALS/CANCELLATION

TNT has renewed Animal Kingdom for its 6th and final season. (Variety)

OWN has renewed Queen Sugar for a 6th season. (Variety)

The last half of season 8 of the Tyler Perry drama The Haves and the Haves Nots will be the OWN dramas last. There will be no season 9. (TV Line)

DEVELOPMENT NEWS

FX has ordered a limited series about the infamous punk band The Sex Pistols. The 6-episode series will be based on the Steve Jones 2018 memoir Lonely Boy: Tales from a Sex Pistols with Academy Award winner Danny Boyle set to direct and executive produce. The limited series, Titled “Pistol,” will star Toby Wallace as Steve Jones, Anson Boon as John “Johnny Rotten” Lydon, Louis Partridge as Sid Vicious, Jacob Slater as Paul Cook, Fabien Frankel as Glen Matlock, Dylan Llewellyn as Wally Nightingale, Sydney Chandler as Chrissie Hynde, Emma Appleton as Nancy Spungen, and Maisie Williams as punk icon Jordan. (Variety)

Netflix has ordered a series adaptation of The Lincoln Lawyer with David E. Kelley as co-writer and executive producer. Manuel Garcia-Rulfo will star as Mickey Haller, an iconoclastic idealist, who runs his law practice out of the back seat of his Lincoln Town Car as he takes on cases big and small across the expansive city of Los Angeles. The series is based on the best-selling novels by author Michael Connelly. (Variety)

HBO Max has given a series order to a new drama based on the life of legendary chef Julia Child, who will be played by British actress Sarah Lancashire. The show has been given an 8-episode order, and the cast include David Hyde Pierce, Bebe Neuwirth, Isabella Rossellini, Jefferson Mays and Fran Kranz. (Variety)

TV CASTING NEWS

Actor Xander Berkeley (24 and The Walking Dead) will appear in the upcoming new series The Republic of Sarah, which centers on a small New Hampshire town that is thrust onto the world stage when the discovery of a valuable resource within its borders compels the residents to declare themselves an independent nation. He will recur as Paul, the father of Sarah (Stella Baker) and Danny (Luke Mitchell), who has been long absent from the lives of his family. (Deadline and The Futon Critic)

Actor Luke James has been promoted to series regular as the character of Trig on the Showtime series The Chi. (Deadline)

Actor Jon Cor (Shadowhunters and several Hallmark Channel movies) will have a recurring role on the upcoming season of The Flash on The CW. He will play the role of Mark Stevens aka Chillblaine, who is described as a charismatic bad boy obsessed with cryogenic technology, who, when he’s not breaking into corporate safes, he’s busy breaking hearts with his irresistible charm and roguish style. Armed with his own cold weapons, he’ll become a new thorn in the side of Team Flash as the DC Comics villain Chillblaine. (TV Line)

Succession has added three new cast members for its upcoming 3rd season. Sanaa Lathan will play Lisa Arthur, a high profile well-connected New York lawyer; Linda Emond will play Michelle-Anne Vanderhoven, a senior White House aide; and Jihae will play Berry Schneider, a leading public relations consultant. Jihae is a highly-regarded musician, having released four albums and performing at major events like the London Olympics and the Cannes Film Festival. (Variety)

Actress Peyton Elizabeth Lee (Andi Mack and Secret Society of Second-Born Royals) has landed the lead role in the Doogie Howser reboot at Disney+. Doogie Kamealoha, M.D. will focus on Lahela “Doogie” Kameāloha, a mixed race 16-year-old girl who works as a doctor in Hawaii. The 10-episode ½ hour comedy follows “Doogie” as she juggles a budding medical career and life as a teenager. (Variety)

Actor Ethan Hawke has landed a leading role in the Moon Knight series at Disney+, but the exact details of what character he will play is being kept under wraps. Moon Knight tells the story of Marc Spector (Oscar Isaac), an elite soldier and mercenary who decides to fight crime after he becomes the human avatar of Khonshu, the Egyptian god of the moon. (Variety)

Season 3 of The Umbrella Academy will consist of 10 episodes and a handful of new characters, who are members of the Sparrow Academy. As viewers may recall (SPOILER ALERT FOR THOSE WHO HAVEN’T SEEN SEASON 2 YET!!), at the end of the 2nd season, the original adopted children of Sir Reginald Hargreeves (Colm Feore) returned from their trip to the 1960s to find their disruption of the timeline yet again caused some major changes, namely in the creation of a class of Sparrows — one that included Ben (series regular Justin H. Min), who had previously died. Those new cast members follow along with the details of their characters, as well as details about the new version of Ben:

Ben aka Sparrow No. 2 is not the sweet one audiences have come to know and love. This Ben is a Machiavellian tactician, wrapped up in a pretty boy body with a rumbling inner-squid. Vicious, pragmatic, and hyper-vigilant, Ben is determined to gain his status as the leader at all costs.

Justin Cornwell (Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey, The In-Between and I Am the Night) will play Marcus, aka Sparrow No. 1, who is charming, chiseled and colossus, but also honest, virtuous and demanding. He will keep this family of children with special abilities together. He is disciplined, rational and in control, oozing confidence and leadership without ever having to raise his voice.

Britne Oldford (Blindspot and The Flash) will play Fei, aka Sparrow No. 3, a woman who sees the world in a special way and comes across as a misanthrope who would rather be alone than spend even a second with you; but, deep down, she wishes she did have a friend. Most of the time she will be the smartest person in the room and willing to work things out, until she is crossed.

Jake Epstein (Degrassi: The Next Generation, Designated Survivor and Suits) will play Alphonso, Sparrow No. 4, a man who spent years fighting crime, which has left him physically scarred by battles but also with a caustic and biting sense of humor. The only thing he likes better than verbally battering anyone foolish enough to get in his face, is a good pizza and a six-pack of beer.

Genesis Rodriguez (the box office movie Man on a Ledge and the Quibi series The Fugitive) will play Sloane, Sparrow No. 5, who is romantic; a dreamer, who feels a higher cosmic calling that leaves her eager to see the world and experience life beyond her upbringing. It is obligations to her fellow Sparrows (and fear of crossing a family line) that keep her tethered to the Academy.

And, relative newcomer Cazzie David will play Jayme, Sparrow No. 6, a loner hidden under a hoodie, who is not one to say much because she doesn’t have to: she has a fear-inducing snarl. She is as smart and sharp as a knife”and as someone who spends most time with Alphonso.

There will also be a new piece of VFX in season 3 billed as “Existential Dread-Inducing Psykronium Cube,” aka Sparrow No. 7, otherwise known as Christopher, who is a telekinetic cube of unknown origin that can turn the room freezing cold and induce paralyzing fear. But among the family, he acts as a consulted oracle, hands out incredible advice, and serves as the family mediator. To the Sparrows he is trustworthy and loyal, but like all of them he is a force with which to be reckoned. (Variety)

MOVIE CASTING NEWS

Actress Nicole Kidman and actor Javier Bardem are expected to appear as iconic Hollywood couple Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz in the upcoming movie called Being the Ricardos that will take place during a production week on the set of “I Love Lucy,” starting with a Monday table read through an audience shoot on Friday. (Variety)

Netflix is developing a film adaptation of the award-winning musical Matilda, based on the beloved Roald Dahl book. Newcomer Alisha Weir will play the title role, a young girl whose vivid imagination, powers of telekinesis, and love for reading clash with her small-minded parents and abusive school principal, Miss Trunchbull, who will be played by the one and only Emma Thompson. Lashana Lynch (Captain Marvel and 007’s No Time To Die) will play Matilda’s kindly teacher Miss Honey. (Entertainment Weekly)

It looks like the MCU (that’s the Marvel Cinematic Universe, in case you’re not familiar) is eyeing to have Chris Evans (who hung up his shield as Captain America in Avengers: Endgame) return in some “nebulous capacity.” He won’t anchor his own movie, but will show up in another Avengers stand-alone adventure. (Variety and Deadline)

MOVIE NEWS

Netflix has landed the worldwide rights to the Gal Gadot-led espionage thriller Heart of Stone, which is now the second major movie that Skydance Media has siphoned off this week. The other movie is The Tomorrow War, a sci-fi spectacle that will star Chris Pratt. (Variety)

That’s it. Enjoy!

Read Full Post »

Hi All,

Here are the news items for this past week:

ENTERTAINMENT NEWS

Roku has bought the majority rights to the original programming provided by the recently defunct Quifi, making more than 75 shows available free to stream in 2021 on the Roku Channel (Variety)

TV CASTING NEWS

Actress Camille Guaty (Scorpion and Daytime Divas) will have a multi-episode arc on The Rookie, playing Sandra De la Cruz, a businesswoman with nefarious connections who has been the target of a murder attempt. (Deadline)

Actor Clancy Brown (Emergence, Billions and Sleepy Hollow) will play the primary villain on the Dexter revival that is in the works at Showtime. Brown will play Kurt Caldwell, the unofficial mayor of the small town of Iron Lake. It’s unclear if Iron Lake will serve as the setting for the 10-episode revival, which will pick up in real-time seven years after the 2013 series finale. The controversial closer sent Dexter into fake death-imposed exile in the woods of Oregon. (TV Line)

Actress Aliyah O’Brien (Rookie Blue and Take Two) has landed a recurring role on DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, playing Kayla, a fearsome warrior with a high body count and low patience for human incompetence. (Deadline)

Big screen actress Catherine Zeta-Jones (Chicago and The Mask of Zorro) will appear in the upcoming season of Prodigal Son, playing Dr. Vivian Capshaw, the on-screen foil to Michael Sheen’s character Martin Whitly. She will appear in the latter half of the season. (TV Line)

DEVELOPMENT NEWS

HBO Max has made it official. The Sex and the City revival, which will have the new title And Just Like That…, will be happening with Sarah Jessica Parker, Kristin Davis and Cynthia Nixon all reprising their roles. Kim Cattral will not be involved in the revival, which will follow Carrie, Miranda and Charlotte as they navigate the journey from the complicated reality of life and friendship in their 30s to the even more complicated reality of life and friendship in their 50s. (TV Line)

A BBC adaptation of the best-selling thriller The Girl Before will star Gugu Mbatha-Raw (The Morning Show) in the lead role of Jane, a traumatized woman who falls in love with an extraordinary minimalist house, which remains under the spell of the architect who originally designed it. When she discovers that another damaged woman died in the same property three years earlier, she starts to wonder if her own story is just a rerun of the girl before. (Deadline)

The CW has decided not to move forward with the Arrow spin-off Green Arrow and the Canaries that would have starred Katherine McNamara as Mia Smoak, Katie Cassidy as Laurel Lance, and Juliana Harkavy as Dinah Drake. The network is still thinking about the potential spin-off to The 100 and a number of other new superhero shows. (Variety and Deadline)

Actor Keegan-Michael Key (The Prom) is set to executive produce and star in the ABC drama series based on the August Snow crime novels from author Stephen Mack Jones. The tagline for the show is this: The son of an African-American father and a Mexican-American mother, August grew up in the city’s Mexicantown and joined the police force only to be drummed out by a conspiracy of corrupt cops and politicians. But August fought back; he took on the city and got himself a $12 million wrongful dismissal settlement that left him low on friends. He has just returned to the house he grew up in after a year away, and quickly learns he has many scores to settle. (TV Line and Deadline)

MOVIE CASTING NEWS

Actress Raven Goodwin (The Clark Sisters: First Ladies of Gospel) will play legendary actress Hattie McDaniel, the first African American to ever win an Oscar, in the upcoming box office film Behind the Smile. (Deadline)

That’s it. Enjoy!

Read Full Post »

Hey All,

The news for this past holiday week is very slim, but here it is:

CASTING NEWS FOR TV AND MOVIES

Actor-Comedian John Bishop has joined the cast of Doctor Who where he will play Dan, who joins Yaz and the Doctor on the TARDIS, traveling through space and time. (Deadline)

Actor Kelvin Harrison Jr. has been cast in the upcoming Baz Luhrmann box office film Elvis that will star Austin Butler in the title role. Harrison will play legendary blues musician B.B. King. Tom Hanks is set to play Colonel Tom Parker. The film delves into the complex dynamic between Presley and the enigmatic Parker spanning over 20 years, from Presley’s rise to fame to his unprecedented stardom, against the backdrop of the evolving cultural landscape and loss of innocence in America. Central to that journey is one of the most significant and influential people in Elvis’s life, Priscilla Presley (Olivia DeJonge). (Deadline)

That’s it. Enjoy!

Read Full Post »

Hey All,

Here are the news items for the past week:

RENEWAL

HBO has renewed His Dark Materials for a third and final season. (TV Line)

TV NEWS

The Book of Boba Fett – the spin-off from The Mandalorian – is already filming with an anticipated December 2021 premiere, and then Mandalorian Season 3 will begin filming in 2021with Pedro Pascal back in the lead role. (TV Line)

CASTING NEWS

Actor-singer Christian Borle (Smash) will recur in the second season of FOX’s Prodigal Son, playing Friar Pete, who became famous for a notorious killing spree that has landed him in the psych ward with Martin Whitley (Michael Sheen). A former friar ejected from his church for extremist views, Pete is a careful listener who offers respite to the other patients and he becomes a key consultant in Bright’s latest case. (TV Line)

Actress Nikki DeLoach (Awkward and numerous Hallmark Channel movies) will appear in the season premiere of 9-1-1, playing Janell, a cyclist who gets caught in the middle of a dam break; Maddie (series regular Jennifer Love Hewitt) in the call center must try to locate and rescue her. (TV Line)

MOVIE NEWS

A third Wonder Woman movie is in the works now that Wonder Woman 1984 has finally been released (it came out in theatres and on HBO Max on Christmas Day). Patty Jenkins will direct again with Gal Gadot back as Diana Prince. (Variety)

The animated movie Sing 2 will be happening with the one and only Bono, actress Letitia Wright (Black Panther) and singer/producer Pharrell Williams lending their voices alongside new characters to be voiced by Bobby Cannavale, Halsey, Eric Andre and Chelse Peretti. Those returning to the sequel include Matthew McConaughey, Reese Witherspoon, Scarlett Johansson, Taron Egerton and Nick Kroll. The sequel is expected out on December 22, 2021. (Variety)

That’s it. Enjoy!

Read Full Post »

Hey All,

Here are the news items for this past week:

RENEWALS/CANCELLATION

The Wilds has been renewed for a second season by Amazon. (Variety)

Locke & Key has been given a third season renewal well ahead of its season 2 premiere that is set for sometime in 2021. (TV Line)

The Flight Attendant has been renewed for a second season by HBO Max. (Variety)

Hulu has cancelled the thriller series Helstrom after only one season. (Variety)

Virgin River has been given a third season renewal by Netflix. (TV Line)

DEVELOPMENT NEWS

Disney+ has picked up the action-adventure drama Secret Guide to Celestial Creatures, which will center on a Korean American family of legendary guardians who protect the supernatural community that lives among us in plain sight. (The Futon Critic and Deadline)

The CW is considering a spin-off of its drama All American, which would be set at a historically Black university, following college-bound Simone Hicks (Geffri Maya, who joined All American in its second season). (TV Line)

The CW is also developing an adaptation of the book The Disasters by M.K. England that is described as The Breakfast Club meets Guardians of the Galaxy, as it’s set in a near-future where humans have colonized space to save Earth from climate crisis. It follows a group of washouts from Earth’s prestigious military academy who are framed for treason and forced to go on the run to the Colonies to clear their names. (Deadline)

SERIES PICK-UP

Actress Alicia Vikander is working with French director Olivier Assayas on the HBO series Irma Vep, loosely based on the 1996 film of the same name. Assayas will write and direct while Vikander will play the lead role. The project revolves around Mira (Vikander), an American movie star disillusioned by her career and a recent breakup, who comes to France to star as “Irma Vep” in a remake of the French silent film classic, “Les Vampires.” Set against the backdrop of a lurid crime thriller, Mira struggles as the distinctions between herself and the character she plays begin to blur and merge. (Variety)

Showtime has given a series order to the drama Yellowjackets, an epic, psychological horror story and coming-of-age drama about a team of wildly talented high school girls soccer players who become the (un)lucky survivors of a plane crash deep in the remote northern wilderness. The series chronicles their descent from a complicated but thriving team to savage clans, while also tracking the lives they’ve attempted to piece back together nearly 25 years later. The cast will include Melanie Lynskey, Juliette Lewis, Christina Ricci and Tawny Cypress as well as Ella Purnell, Sammi Hanratty, Sophie Nelisse and Jasmin Savoy Brown (among others). (Variety)

TV CASTING NEWS

Actors Russell Hornsby and Steve Harris will star in the Starz original series Black Mafia Family, which is inspired by the true story of two brothers who rose from the decaying streets of southwest Detroit in the late 1980’s,giving birth to one of the most influential crime families in this country. Hornsby will play Charles Flenory, the principled patriarch of the Flenory family; a struggling musician who uses faith, fortitude and humor to keep his family on the straight and narrow. Harris will play Detective Bryant, a 20-year veteran of the Detroit Police Department, who has a longstanding relationship with Charles’s brother Demetrius Flenory. (The Futon Critic)

Actor Matthew Rhys will star in the FX series Wyrd, which is the story of the ultimate immigrant, an extraterrestrial in exile. The series centers on Wyrd (Rhys), who was sent to earth in an attempt to better understand humanity. When his people don’t come back for him, he’s forced to assimilate – all while investigating paranormal activity and searching for a way home. (The Futon Critic and Deadline)

Actor Adam Rayner (Tyrant) will appear as sinister media mogul Morgan Edge in the upcoming CW series Superman & Lois. (ComicBookMovie.com)

Actor Jeffrey Nordling (Big Little Lies) will recur in the upcoming CW series Walker as Stan Morrison, a businessman and networker who is a close friend of the Walker family. (TV Insider and TV Line)

Actress Merrin Dungey (Alias) will appear in the 6th and final season of Lucifer (airing now on Netflix). She will play Sonya, a no-nonsense cop who forms an unlikely bond with Amenadiel (DB Woodside). (Netflix and TV Line)

Actress Jessica Lucas (Gotham and Gracepoint) will appear in The Resident, playing Billie, who was once a top neurosurgery resident at Chastain who was cut after a tragic error and left under a cloud. (Deadline)

Actor Ray Fisher (Justice League) will appear in the ABC limited series Women of the Movement that centers on Mamie Till-Mobley (Adrienne Warren), who devoted her life to seeking justice for her son Emmett Till (Cedric Joe), following his brutal killing in the Jim Crow South. Fisher will play Gene Mobley, the man who would have been Emmett Till’s stepfather, if not for his murder. A devoted partner to Emmett’s mother, Mamie, Gene was considered the love of her life. They later married. (Deadline)

Actor Samuel L. Jackson will star in the Apple limited series The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey, based on the novel of the same name by Walter Mosley. He will play Ptolemy Grey, a 91 year old man forgotten by his family, by his friends, by even himself. On the brink of sinking even deeper into a lonely dementia, Ptolemy experiences a seismic shift when he’s given the tremendous opportunity to briefly regain his memories, and uses this precious and fleeting lucidity to solve his nephew’s death and come to terms with his past. (Variety)

Additional cast members have been added to the HBO Max Suicide Squad spin-off series Peacemaker, including Loclyn Munro and Christopher Heyerdahl, but exact character details have yet to be announced. (Variety)

Hulu is planning a limited series centered around Baywatch babe Pamela Anderson and rocker Tommy Lee focusing on their salacious relationship in the 1990s, including the leak of their private honeymoon video and the legal battle that ensued. Lily James (Downton Abbey and Cinderella) and Sebastian Stan (The Falcon and the Winter Soldier) have been cast in the lead roles. (Deadline and TV Line)

Actress Michaela Conlin (Bones) has joined the cast of Apple TV’s upcoming 2nd season of For All Mankind, playing Helena Webster, a former pilot who is now an astronaut. (Deadline)

Actors David James Elliott (JAG) and Joel Murray (Mad Men) will have recurring roles in the 8-episode Starz drama series Heels that is set in the outrageous world of independent professional wrestling, following a family-owned wrestling promotion as two brothers and rivals, Jack Spade (Stephen Amell from Arrow) and Ace Spade (Alexander Ludwig from Vikings), war over their late father’s legacy. Elliott will play patriarch Tom Spade, a former wrestler and proprietor of the Duffy Wrestling League (DWL); and the father of Jack and Ace. Murray will portray Eddie Earl, a local proprietor and sponsor to the DWL, and one of the most successful and determined men in town. (Deadline)

STREAMING MOVIE NEWS

Jennifer Lopez will be working with Netflix on the film adaptation of the best-selling book The Cipher. Lopez will executive produce and star in the series, playing FBI agent Nina Guerrera, who finds herself drawn into a serial killer’s case after he strategically posts complex codes and riddles online. The codes correspond to recent murders, designed to lure her into a cat-and-mouse chase. (Variety)

BOX OFFICE CASTING NEWS

Actress Kiersey Clemons (the thriller box office movie Antebellum) will star in the darkly comic thriller Susie Searches, which centers on Susie (Clemons), an awkward college student who seizes the opportunity to bolster her popularity and her under-the-radar true-crime podcast by solving the disappearance of a classmate. Her investigation reveals that the truth and Susie aren’t at all what they seem to be. (Variety)

Actor Jeffrey Donovan (Burn Notice) has joined Letitia Wright (Black Panther) and actor Jamie Bell (the box office movie Rocketman) in the film Surrounded that follows former Buffalo Soldier Moses “Mo” Washington (Wright) who, five years after the Civil War, travels West to lay claim on a gold mine bequeathed by her late slave owner father. Donovan will play Wheeler, a successful rancher who finds himself in the wrong place at the wrong time. (Deadline)

Actress Naomi Ackie (Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker) will play Whitney Houston in the Sony-Tristar biopic I Wanna Dance With Somebody. (Deadline)

Actress Rachael Leigh Cook has joined the cast of He’s All That, the gender role-flipped remake of She’s All That in which Cook starred as Laney Boggs. In this new version Addison Rae will play Padgett Sawyer, who accepts a challenge to turn the school’s least popular boy (Tanner Buchanan from Cobra Kai) into prom king, attempting to avenge herself following a humiliating fallout with her boyfriend. Cook will play Padgett’s wise and caring mother. (Deadline)

Actress Eiza Gonzalez will star alongside Jake Gyllenhaal and Yaha Abdul-Mateen II (Aquaman and Watchmen) in the action-thriller Ambulance, an action thriller along the lines of Speed and Bad Boys, but the storyline is being kept under wraps. (Deadline)

Actress Florence Pugh (Black Widow and Little Women) will play the title character in the upcoming film The Maid that is set at the Regency Grand Hotel, where Molly the maid leaves every room perfect and pristine, while getting to know each guest’s dirty secrets. A Clue-like, locked-room whodunnit, the movie explores Molly’s descent into the murderous underbelly of her gilded workplace, while telling a timely story about the strengths of our differences. (Deadline)

Actor Simu Liu (who will star in the upcoming Marvel film Shang Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings) will next appear in the Mark Wahlberg flick Arthur the King. Inspired by a true story, the film will follow Lindnord, captain of a Swedish adventure racing team who met and befriended a wounded stray dog during a 400-mile race through the Ecuadoran jungle where they crossed rivers and battled illness and injury through some of the world’s toughest terrain. Wahlberg will play the Swedish adventurer, while Liu will play the role of Liam. (Deadline)

Actor Chirs Pine is anticipated to star in a film adaptation of the popular fantasy role-playing game Dungeons and Dragons. (Variety)

That’s it. Enjoy!

Read Full Post »