Rueben's Ramblings

Hey All,

Here are the entertainment news items for this past week:

RENEWALS

Netflix has given a second season renewal to The Hunting Wives. (Variety)

Apple TV+ has given a fourth season order to Foundation. (Deadline)

Acorn TV has ordered a second season for the drama Irish Blood. (Deadline)

ON INDEFINITE HOLD

It looks like Amazon Prime has pushed back the release of the planned season two of Mr. & Mrs. Smith to an uncertain future. Supposedly, the delay is due to cast issues. (Deadline)

BOX OFFICE MOVIE NEWS

Idris Elba will star in and direct a feature film adaptation of This is How it Goes by Neil LaBute for Apple Original Films. The psychological thriller tells the story of a couple who reconnect with an old school acquaintance, apparently randomly, and offer to take him in but then things turn a bit scarier. (Variety)

Twilight alum and The English star Chaske Spencer (who is also a BAFTA nominee) will play th role of Ponca chief and Native American civil rights leader Standing Bear in a film of the same name. The film will chronicle the Ponca Tribe’s harrowing “Trail of Tears” march and the landmark 1879 trial of Standing Bear vs Crook that helped recognize Native Americans as “human beings” under U.S. law. (Deadline)

Hannah John-Kamen (Thunderbolts* and Killjoys) has joined the cast of One Second After, the new thriller flick that will star Lost and Duster alum Josh Holloway. The movie, based on the best-selling novel by William R. Forstchen follows John Matherson (Holloway), a college professor and former military officer charged with protecting his community after a catastrophic electromagnetic pulse attack cripples the nation. Set in the hills of North Carolina, the film will find John as he confronts a world suddenly stripped of power, communication, and modern infrastructure, guiding those around him through life-or-death decisions in a fight for survival. John-Kamen will play Makalya, a nurse stranded in Black Mountain following the attack. Partnering with John, Makalya fights to keep the community alive as modern society unravels, offering both medical expertise and emotional resilience in the face of collapse. (Deadline)

Game of Thrones star Nikolaj Coster-Waldau will play the lead role, opposite Jennifer Lopez, in The Last Mrs. Parrish, the anticipated film adaptation of the hit novel by Lynne and Valerie Constantine. Also joining the cast are Isobel May (1883) and Pierson Fodé (The Wrong Paris and The Bold and the Beautiful). The film will center on a twisted con artist who ends up with more than she bargained for in targeting a wealthy couple. Daphne Parrish (Lopez) and Jackson Parrish (Coster-Waldau) have it all on paper, as Amber Patterson (May) looks to befriend the wife and seduce her husband. Daphne’s shoes, Amber learns, are far more complicated to slip into than she expected. (Deadline)

Jessica Chastain will star alongside Oscar-nominee John Hawkes and country singer Carter Faith in the upcoming Netflix mystery thriller film Heartland that will follow Misty Jones (Chastain), a former country star who comes out of seclusion to investigate the disappearance of her missing niece (Faith), herself a rising country musician. She must grapple with her own past and Nashville’s seedy underbelly, and her search uncovers a murky side of Nashville where no one, including Misty, is who they seem. (Deadline)

Shadowhunters co-stars Katherine McNamara (Arrow) and Alberto Rosende (Chicago P.D.) as well as Arden Cho (from the recent hit KPop Demon Hunters and the small screen series Teen Wolf) and Margaret Cho will star with Josh Plasse (The Baxters and Butterfly) in the upcoming indie rom-com flick Cheap AF that will tell the story of Carol, a money-saving influencer (Arden Cho) seeking her big break, who risks losing her wedding and relationships when she goes all out to win Wedding Magazine’s “Best Wedding on a Budget” social media competition. (Deadline)

GREEN LIGHT ORDER

Amazon Prime has given a series order to Bishop, an original thriller drama that will star Joel Kinnaman (The Killing, For All Mankind and Altered Carbon). In this new series, he will play homicide detective Bishop Graves, brilliant, battle-scarred, who will put all of his skills to the test in the hunt for an elusive killer targeting San Francisco’s moneyed class. (Deadline)

TV CASTING NEWS

The Bold and the Beautiful actor Victor Rivas Rivers has joined the season two cast of The Pitt where he will play Trent Norris, the CEO of Pittsburgh Trauma Medical Center. (Deadline and TV Line)

Lucifer alum Aimee Garcia has landed a series regular role on The Walking Dead: Dead City for the show’s upcoming third season, playing Renata, a disarmingly charming leader with a natural ability to win people over with her optimism and convivial personality. (Deadline)

New Zealand actress Luciane Buchanan has appeared in not only the first two seasons of The Night Agent but also the Jason Momoa-led Apple TV+ period piece drama Chief of War, but she will not be returning for season three of The Night Agent, as it appears the powers-that-be behind the show have decided to focus solely on FBI agent Peter Sutherland (series lead Gabriel Basso) for the upcoming third season. (Deadline)

Spence Moore (Brilliant Minds and Creed III) and Charlie Mann (The Watchers) have landed the lead roles in the Starz spin-off series Power: Origins, playing Ghost and Tommy, respectively, the younger versions of the characters portrayed by Omari Hardwick and Joseph Sikora in the mothership Power series. In this spin-off Ghost (Moore) and Tommy (Mann) are ambitious young entrepreneurs on the rise, determined to make their mark on the streets of New York City. (Deadline)

Matthew Rhys (The Americans and Perry Mason) will star opposite Rachel Brosnahan (The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel) and Jack Reynor (On the Basis of Sex and Midsommar) in season two of the Apple TV+ legal drama Presumed Innocent, which will center on an ambitious defense attorney (Brosnahan) who takes on a high-profile case. Rhys will play her husband, the prosecutor on the case while Reynor will play her client, the defendant. (Deadline)

Joshua Malina (Scandal and The West Wing) will guest-star in an upcoming episode of season 25 of Law & Order, playing the managing partner of a prominent law firm. (TV Line)

The cast members for the spin-off series S.W.A.T. Exiles has been announced, including Lucy Barrett (Charmed and Deep Water), Adain Bradley (Warfare and Tarot), Zyra Gorecki (La Brea), Freddy Miyares (When They See Us) and Ronen Rubenstein (9-1-1: Lone Star). Also, Jay Harrington and Patrick St. Esprit will reprise their S.W.A.T. roles of Sergeant David “Deacon” Kay and Commander Robert Hicks (respectively) will make guest appearances. (Variety and Deadline)

That’s it. Enjoy!

Read Full Post »

Hey All,

Here are the entertainment news items from this past week:

RENEWAL

SAS Rogue Heroes has been renewed for a third season by MGM+. (Deadline)

TV CASTING NEWS

Harry Potter alum Warwick Davis will return as Charms Professor Filius Flitwick in the small screen TV adaptation of the box office films and novels on which they are based. (Variety)

30 Rock alum Jane Krakwoski will guest star in the upcoming 2nd season of Brillian Minds on NBC, appearing as Arianna Burnett, a high-powered businesswoman who fights her conservatorship despite her family’s growing concerns. (Variety)

Amazon Prime is working on a small screen live-action series of Tomb Raider with Game of Thrones alum Sophie Turner taking over the lead role of Lara Croft. (Variety)

Veteran actor Ed Harris has joined the cast of The Dutton Ranch, the working title for the Yellowstone spin-off that will focus on Beth Dutton and Rip Wheeler (Kelly Reilly and Cole Hauser). The series will focus on the couple and their new home – The Dutton Ranch. Harris will play Everett McKinney, a weathered veteran and veterinarian who treats animals with compassion and understanding and possesses a good sense of humor. (Deadline)

Veteran actor Kurt Russell has joined the cast of the other Yellowstone spin-off The Madison that will star Michelle Pfeiffer. This spin-off is a heartfelt exploration of grief and human connection, following a New York City family in the Madison River Valley of central Montana. The role Russell will play is being kept under wraps, but he joins a cast that includes Patrick J. Adams (Suits), Matthew Fox (Lost), Beau Garrett (Firefly Lane) and Kevin Zegers (The Rookie: Feds). (Deadline)

Chicago Med alum Nick Gehlfuss and actress Michael Michele (the Dynasty reboot and ER) have joined the cast of the upcoming FBI spin-off CIA that will center on two unlikely partners – a fast-talking, rule-breaking loose cannon CIA case officer (Lucifer’s Tom Ellis), and a by-the-book, seasoned and smart FBI agent (Gehlfuss) who believes in the rule of law. When this odd couple are assigned to work out of CIA’s New York Station, they must learn to work together to investigate cases and criminals posing threats on U.S. soil, finding that their differences may actually be their strength. Michele is believed to be playing the series’ third lead, the head of CIA’s New York Station. (Deadline)

Ron Perlman (Sons of Anarchy and Poker Face), Ted Levine (Monk) and Margarita Levieva (Daredevil: Born Again and Revenge) have all landed major recurring roles in the upcoming Apple TV+ small screen adaptation of Cape Fear. The drama series is a tense, Hitchcockian thriller, examining America’s obsession with true crime in the 21st century. In it, a storm is coming for happily married attorneys Anna (Amy Adams) and Tom Bowden (Patrick Wilson) when Max Cady (Javier Bardem), a notorious killer from their past, gets out of prison. What roles Perlman, Levine and Levieva are being kept under wraps. (Deadline)

Aidan Turner (Being Human and Poldark) will play a key recurring guest star role in the upcoming third season of The Diplomat, but details about his character are being kept under wraps. (Deadline)

Netflix is developing a limited series TV adaptation of The Age of Innocence based on the classic novel by Edith Wharton. The cast of this adaptation will include Camila Morrone (Daisy Jones & the Six), Kristine Froseth (The Buccaneers), Ben Radcliffe (Masters of the Air) and the one and only Margo Martindale (Justified and The Sticky). The main theme of this classic story is about forbidden love in 19th-century New York. Morrone will play Ellen Olenska, the intelligent and independent cousin of May Welland, who returns to New York after a failed marriage to Count Stanislas Olenski, a Polish nobleman. A free spirit who is playful, intelligent, and strong-willed, yet carries conflict and guilt surrounding her new position in society. Froseth will play the aforementioned May Welland, a kind and genuine woman who is a product of her social class. Traditional, a rule follower and believer in the status quo, but not without rebellion. Radcliffe will play Newland Archer, a handsome, progressive, and intelligent society gentleman who craves a deeper and more passionate connection to the world and someone in it. And, Martindale will play Mrs. Manson-Mingott May and Ellen’s grandmother, who is entertaining, scurrilous, defiant, capricious, and stubborn. (Deadline)

Annabeth Gish (Mayfair Witches) will have a multi-episode guest starring role in the upcoming 14th season of Chicago Fire playing the mayor’s chief of staff, Annette Davis. (TV Insider)

Season 3 of Elsbeth on CBS will see William Jackson Harper (The Good Place) and Annaleigh Ashford (Happy Face) in guest starring roles. Harper will play the founding director of a New York City poetry journal, desperate for funding while Ashford will appear in a special Halloween-themed episode playing Sharon Norman, a murderous suburban housewife. (Deadline)

STREAMING MOVIE NEWS

Charles Melton (May December and Riverdale), Rachel Brosnahan (Superman) and Will Poulter (Guardians of the Galaxy) will star in the Netflix flick Saturn Return, a Chicago-set romance that will explore the themes of love, loss and life’s complicated turns in the 10 years between the aspirational young love of college and the complicated realities of adulthood. (Deadline)

BOX OFFICE MOVIE NEWS

Jennifer Taylor (Two and a Half Men) and Hallmark hunk Kristoffer Polaha will star in the faith-based drama flick Between the Lines that will be set in a small town near a military base, focusing on a woman in her late forties who forms an unexpected bond with a young soldier, sparking a journey that challenges her marriage and faith – and ultimately leads her and her husband toward surrender, renewal, and the redemptive power of forgiveness. The cast includes Josh Swickard (General Hospital and A California Christmas) and Mayan Lopez (Co-creator and star of NBC’s Lopez vs Lopez). (Deadline)

Djimon Hounsou has joined the cast of the upcoming box office reboot Highlander, starring Henry Cavill and Russell Crowe in the lead roles. Hounsou will play an immortal warrior from Africa. (The Hollywood Reporter)

Christian Slater (Mr. Robot) will star in the upcoming box office film Father Of Us, a bittersweet family saga based on a true story, set in 1968 suburbia, following five siblings caught between their magnetic but reckless father and their radiant but overwhelmed mother. Slater will play Bob Olson, the adored but flawed father at the heart of the story. (Deadline)

Scott Eastwood (Suicide Squad and The Fate of the Furious) will star opposite Djimon Hounsou and Halle Berry in the upcoming action-thriller flick Red Card that will follow Max Elmi (Hounsou), a veteran ranger battling poachers in Kenya who joins forces with Dane Harris (Eastwood), a tenacious special agent and part of a team led by FBI supervisor Amanda Bruckner (Berry) working with international law enforcement to fight trafficking rings abroad. When Max’s son, a talented soccer player, falls prey to a deceitful sports agent and disappears into the criminal underworld of North Africa, Max will stop at nothing to find his child, and Dane will have to decide how far he’s willing to go. According to the synopsis, their odyssey takes them from the quiet Masai villages of Kenya to the dangerous, simmering streets of Casablanca in Morocco. (Variety)

Walton Goggins (Fallout and The White Lotus) and Lewis Pullman (Lessons in Chemistry and Thunderbolts) will star alongside Jessica Biel in the upcoming box office movie Batso that will tell the true story of a trio of trailblazing climbers, who in the early 1970s took on the most difficult route up iconic peak El Capitan in Yosemite National Park. Goggins will play Harding while Pullman will play Caldwell and Biel will play Beryl Knauth, a key pillar in the Yosemite climbing community. (Deadline)

That’s it. Enjoy

Read Full Post »

Hey All,

Here are the entertainment news items for this past week:

CANCELLATIONS

The YA drama Motorheads has been cancelled after only one season by Amazon Prime, but the producers and the series creator are shopping it around for a new potential home. (Deadline)

Netflix has pulled the plug on the drama The Waterfront after only one season. (Variety)

TV CASTING NEWS

Yellowstone alums Gil Birmingham, Mo Brings Plenty and Brecken Merrill will reprise their roles of Thomas Rainwater, Mo and Tate Dutton respectively on the CBS spin-off series Y” Marshals that will focus on youngest son Kayce Dutton (Luke Grimes). The series find Kayce joining an elite unit of U.S. Marshals, combining his skills as a cowboy and Navy SEAL to bring range justice to Montana, where he and his teammates must balance family, duty and the high psychological cost that comes with serving as the last line of defense in the region’s war on violence. Arielle Kebbel (Rescue: Hi-Surf) will star as Belle and veteran actor Brett Cullen will appear as Harry Gifford, the head of the U.S. Marshals in Montana. (Variety)

Nick Gehlfuss will reprise his role of Dr. Will Halstead in a guest-starring role on Chicago Med after leaving the show in 2023. Meanwhile, one of the last three remaining original cast member Marlyne Barrett will not be returning to the medical drama for its upcoming season 11. (Deadline and Variety)

A-lister Annette Bening has joined the cast of the upcoming Yellowstone spin-off that will focus on Bet and Rip. Bening will star as Beulah Jackson, the powerful, cunning, and charming head of a major ranch in Texas. (Variety)

Adam Campbell, who played the younger version of Dr. Donald “Ducky” Mallard in the mothership series NCIS will reprise that role in the prequel series NCIS: Origins. The episode will also pay tribute to the late David McCallum, who played Ducky for 20 seasons on NCIS. (The Hollywood Reporter)

Guest stars for season two of the FOX drama Murder in a Small Town will include Camryn Manheim (Law and Order), Tyler Posey (Teen Wolf), Jamie Chung (Once Upon a Time and Lovecraft Country), Noah Reid (Schitt’s Creek) and Sara Canning (The Vampire Diaries). Manheim will play Jocelyn Tait, an iron-tough, working-class matriarch, who has lived her life in the shadow of a family feud, who comes to Gibsons for a “Romeo and Juliet-style” wedding; Posey will play Ryan, a former party boy turned holistic health aficionado, who is desperate to leave behind a reckless past; Chung will play Lanni Soo, a career-driven and straight-forward, Deputy Prosecuting Attorney General, who approaches Alberg (series lead Rossif Sutherland) with an intriguing case; Reid will reprises his role of Tommy Cummins, the unassuming high school art teacher whose greatest work put him behind bars and Canning will play Mackenzie Rankin, a woman who organizes a memorial gathering following the death of her younger sister. (Deadline)

DEVELOPMENT NEWS/PILOT ORDER NEWS

Hulu has given a pilot order to a series adaptation of the Nash Jenkins novel Foster Dade Explores the Cosmos that will be written and executive produced by uber-producer Greg Berlanti and Bash Doran. The series will be a teen mystery series set at a boarding school on the East Coast that explores privilege, scandal, sexuality and masculinity amid the rise of social media, millennial anxiety and pharmaceuticals. (Variety)

Warner Bros Television is developing a limited series set around the Karen Read trial, which will follow the trial that captivated the country and turned Read into a household name. When a Boston police officer is found dead in the snow, all eyes are on his girlfriend, Read. The case fractures a community, with some believing she is guilty of first-degree murder, and others that she’s the victim of a sweeping cover-up by state and local law enforcement. This series explores society’s obsession with true crime, the allure of conspiracy and the deepening crisis of trust in our institutions. Elizabeth Banks is on board to play the lead character. (Deadline)

BOX OFFICE CASTING NEWS

Nina Dobrev (The Vampire Diaries), Tyler Hoechlin (Superman and Lois) and Virginia Gardner (Runaways) will star in the upcoming rom-com flick It Happened One Summer that will focus on Piper Bellinger, a glamorous LA It Girl whose glittering world comes crashing down after a viral mishap gets her cancelled overnight. Cut off from her wealthy family’s safety net, she’s exiled to a rugged fishing town with one ultimatum: fix up her late father’s dive bar – or lose everything. There, she butts heads with Brendan, a gruff sea captain who has zero patience for influencers. He’s the last person she expected – and exactly what she needs. (Deadline)

Amy Adams and Aaron Pierre will join Ryan Gosling in the upcoming movie Star Wars: Starfighter, an entirely original story set in a period of time never before explored within the franchise. There are no plot or character details though. (Variety)

MADE-FOR-TV MOVIE CASTING NEWS

The upcoming Hallmark holiday movie A Grand Ole Opry Christmas has added Sharon Lawrence, James Denton, Rob Mayes and Luke Benward to the cast. Nikki DeLoach and Kristoffer Polaha will lead the film. (Variety)

That’s it. Enjoy!

Read Full Post »

Hey All,

Here are the entertainment news items for this past week:

RENEWALS/CANCELLATION

Netflix has given a second season order to Dept. Q. (Deadline)

Paramount has decided not to bring Dexter: Original Sin for a second season despite the prequel getting a renewal order. (Variety)

MGM+ has given The Institute a second season order. (Variety)

TV CASTING NEWS

Amalia Williamson (Sullivan’s Crossing) and Tom Cavanagh (The Flash) will star opposite Brooke Shields in the upcoming crime drama series You’re Killing Me on Acorn TV. The 6-episode series follows bestselling novelist (Shields) who forms an unlikely alliance with Andi, an aspiring writer and podcaster (Williamson) to find the killer of a close friend. Williamson’s Andi is a sassy Girl Wonder who was once an up-and-coming celebrity, until she lost it all. Cavanagh will play Jack, the new lead detective of the Founders Cove Police Department and former city slicker who is trying to acclimate to the quirks of small-town life. (Deadline)

This Is Us alum Mandy Moore has joined the cast of the Dan Fogelman (the creator of This Is Us) upcoming untitled football drama that will star Law & Order alum Christopher Meloni and William H. Macy. Set inside the world of the NFL, the series has a generational family component to it with Moore set to play Lauren, the daughter of NFL team owner Hank Durkin (Macy) and his heir apparent. Meloni is playing the team’s head coach, Danny Roarke. (Deadline)

Dominic West and Sienna Miller will star in a new legal thriller series at HBO that has already received a two-season commitment with West set to play tech titan Morgan Henderson and Miller his estranged wife, the international film star Carla Duval. Set in the prestigious world of London law, the show opens with a scandalous divorce case that sends shockwaves through boardrooms, bedrooms and courtrooms alike. (Variety)

Dafne Keen (His Dark Materials and Logan) and Saara Chaudry (The Mysterious Benedict Society) have joined the cast of the second season of Percy Jackson and the Olympians, with Keen playing the powerful goddess Artemis and Chaudry playing her fan-favorite lieutenant Zoë Nightshade. (The Hollywood Reporter)

Season 2 of the Disney+ series Rivals has announced that Agent Carter alum Hayley Atwell and Rupert Everett (My Best Friend’s Wedding) will guest star will Malise Gordon and Helen Gordon, respectively. (Deadline)

LIMITED SERIES NEWS

Alexa Davalos (FBI: Most Wanted), Tom Mison (Sleepy Hollow), Tom Payne (The Walking Dead) and Ben Robson (Animal Kingdom) have joined the second installment of the upcoming Biblical limited series The Faithful, which is based on The Old Testament’s Book of Genesis told through the eyes of five of the Bible’s most iconic women: Sarah and her former slave Hagar; Sarah’s great-niece Rebekah; and Rebekah’s nieces, sisters Leah and Rachel. The second installment centers on Rebekah, played by Davalos, with Mison playing her husband Isaac, and Payne and Robson portraying their adult sons Jacob and Esau, respectively. (Deadline)

BOX OFFICE MOVIE NEWS

Doctor Who and Guardians of the Galaxy alum Karen Gillan will star alongside Henry Cavill, Russell Crowe, Dave Bautista and Marisa Abela in the upcoming box office reboot of Highlander. Gillan will play Heather, MacLeod’s (Cavill) mortal wife and the love of his life. (The Hollywood Reporter)

Blake Lively will star in the rom-com The Survival List that follows a highbrow reality TV producer named Annie who is assigned against her wishes to a new show hosted by famous survival expert Chopper Lane. When a shipwreck strands them on a deserted island, Annie discovers Chopper is a fraud and knows nothing about survival, leaving her in charge of figuring out how to keep them alive. Forced to work together, they begin to discover an unlikely chemistry. The role of Chopper Lane has yet to be cast. (Variety)

The Night Agent star Gabriel Basso will star in the upcoming romantic drama Love of Your Life alongside Margaret Qualley, Aaron Pierre and Patrick Schwarzenegger, which tells the story of a young woman (Qualley), suddenly single, who goes on a journey to find a way forward in her life. The script is written by Julia Cox. Character details are being kept under wraps, though. (The Hollywood Reporter)

Kevin Costner and Jake Gyllenhaal will star in the upcoming dramedy film Honeymoon with Harry that follows a man (Gyllenhaal) as he decides to go on a honeymoon with his would-be father-in-law (Costner) after his fiancée dies two days before their wedding. (Deadline)

Duster and Lost alum Josh Holloway will play the lead in the upcoming screen adaptation of One Second After based on the best-selling novel by William R. Forstchen where he will play John Matherson, a college professor and former military officer charged with protecting his community after a catastrophic electromagnetic pulse attack cripples the nation. Set in the hills of North Carolina, the film follows John as he confronts a world suddenly stripped of power, communication, and modern infrastructure, guiding those around him through life-or-death decisions in a fight for survival. (Deadline)

Vera Farmiga will star opposite Mark Wahlberg in an untitled film based on the 2023 German language sports comedy-drama that follows a father and his autistic son, who wants to find a favorite Premiere League soccer club and makes his father take him to see every single team so he can decide. (Deadline)

The Diplomat alum David Gyasi has landed his first lead film role in the upcoming movie The Bard, which will tell the true story of George Moses Horton, the first Black poet to be published in America while enslaved, a feat punishable by death. Horton wrote love poems and anti-slavery protests and was assisted by the white wife of a UNC Chapel Hill professor, who eventually became an anti-abolitionist. (Variety)

Hailee Steinfeld, Ron Perlman, Freida Pinto (Slumdog Millionaire) and Rhenzy Feliz (The Penguin) will star in the upcoming thriller flick Asteroid that will follow a group of strangers who take the risk of a lifetime to travel to a nearby asteroid for the opportunity to mine for wealth beyond their wildest dreams. (Deadline)

That’s it. Enjoy!

Read Full Post »

Hey All,

Here are the entertainment news items for this past week:

TV CASTING NEWS

William H. Macy (Shameless) has joined the cast of the as-yet-untitled Hulu drama from Dan Fogelman, This Is Us and Paradise series creator, that will be set inside the world of the NFL with a generational family component. Macy will play Hank Durkin. He joins the previously announced series lead Law & Order alum Christopher Meloni, who will play Danny Roarke, the head coach of an NFL team. (Deadline)

Merrin Dungey (Alias) is among the new cast members of the upcoming Buffy the Vampire reboot, which has a pilot order at Hulu and will find Sarah Michelle Gellar back in her signature role of Buffy Summers as well as working as executive producer. Dungey will play Ms. LaDuca, the College Counselor at New Sunnydale Academy. The baton of the slayer has been passed to Ryan Kiera Armstrong (Skeleton Crew) as an introverted high-school student named Nova. (Deadline)

Lindsay Lohan and Shailene Woodley will star together in the upcoming Hulu limited series Count My Lies, which is based on the recently published novel by Sophie Stava. The series is about what happens when compulsive liar Sloane Caraway (Woodley) fibs her way into a nanny position for the gorgeous and charismatic Violet (Lohan) and Jay Lockhart, it seems she’s finally landed her dream job. But little does Sloane know, she’s just entered a household brimming with secrets that are about to explode — with potentially catastrophic consequences for all. (Deadline)

The one and only John Malkovich has joined the cast of the upcoming rom-com Apple TV+ series Prodigies that will star The Bear alum Ayo Edebiri as Didi. The series focuses on two ex-child prodigies who have been together since they were children. Now in their early 30s, they are starting to question whether their very ordinary existence is living up to the extraordinary promise of their childhood. Inevitably, they find themselves asking the same questions of their relationship. Details about Malkovich’s character have not yet been announced, though. (Variety)

NCIS Hawai’i alum Noah Mills has landed a recurring role in the CBS medical drama Watson for the show’s upcoming second season. Mills will play Beck Wythe, who has newly returned to his hometown of Pittsburgh after blowing up a career in Silicon Valley with reckless, risk-seeking behavior. He meets Ingrid Derian (Eve Harlow) in group therapy for people trying to manage their Cluster B personality disorders. The two of them form a bond that may be exactly what they need to rebuild their lives or might be just the latest dangerous indulgence for both. (Deadline)

Corinne Massiah and Elijah M. Cooper, who play May and Harry Grant (respectively) – the grown children of Athena Grant (Angela Bassett) – on 9-1-1 have been promoted to series regulars for the show’s upcoming 9th season. (Deadline)

TV SERIES ORDER

Disney+ and Disney Channel have given a greenlight to Coven Academy, a dramedy about a group of young witches in New Orleans. White Collar alum Tiffani Thiessen will star along with Malina Pauli Weissman (A Series of Unfortunate Events), Malachi Barton (Zombies 4: Dawn of the Vampires), Louis Thresher (Boarders) and Jordan Leftwich (Family Switch) [among others]. (The Hollywood Reporter)

BOX OFFICE MOVIE NEWS

Maggie Grace (Lost and the Taken movie franchise), Devon Sawa (Nikita and Final Destination), Tiffany Haddish (Girls Trip) and Ralph Macchio (Cobra Kai) will star in the upcoming indie crime thriller The Girl in the River, which is about a seasoned criminologist and a young female psychologist who are lured to a remote Mississippi town to investigate the murder of a little girl and the disappearance of her twin sister. (Deadline)

Sarah Gadon (Ferrari), Max Martini (The Unit and Castle), Dianna Agron (Glee), Mike Vogel (Under the Dome) and Charles Esten (Outer Banks and Nashville) will star in the indie Western film Flint that will also star Lost and Duster alum Josh Holloway. The film, based on the Louis L’Amour novel, centers on James Kettleman (Holloway), a hardened East Coast businessman who returns to the Montana frontier under the name Flint, the alias of the notorious killer who raised him. As he’s pulled into a violent range war, a chance encounter with a strong-willed rancher forces him to reckon with the man he’s become — and the legacy he hopes to leave behind. Gadon will play Nancy Kennigan, a strong, single woman forced to step into her father’s shoes after his passing to take over his ranch. Martini will play Porter Baldwin, a cutthroat East Coast businessman clawing his way back to respectability through a land swindle in the West. Agron will play Lottie Kettleman, an East Coast socialite who traveled West after being abandoned by her wealthy husband. Vogel will play Buck Dunn, a long-range assassin. And, Esten will play Flint, the hired killer who, in taking young Kettleman in, is forced to become a father figure. Hallmark star Kristoffer Polaha and Bailey Chase (Longmire) also star. (Deadline)

Captain Marvel star Brie Larson, Lily Collins (Emily in Paris), Jack Quaid (The Boys) and Henry Golding (Crazy Rich Asians) will star in the upcoming box office film Close Personal Friends. Plot details are being kept under wraps, though. (Deadline)

That’s it. Enjoy!

Read Full Post »

Hey All,

Here are the entertainment news items for this past week:

BOX OFFICE MOVIE NEWS

Djimon Hounsou and Halle Berry will star in the Africa-set trafficking thriller Red Card, which is based on real events out of Africa. Hounsou will star as Max Elmi, a veteran ranger battling poachers in Kenya who joins forces with Dane Harris, a tenacious special agent and part of a team led by FBI supervisor Amanda Bruckner (Berry) working with international law enforcement to fight trafficking rings abroad. When Max’s son, a talented soccer player, falls prey to a deceitful sports agent and disappears into the criminal underworld of North Africa, Max will stop at nothing to find his child, and Dane will have to decide how far he’s willing to go. Their odyssey takes them from the quiet Maasai villages of Kenya to the simmering streets of Casablanca. (Deadline)

Dakota Fanning, Jake Johnson and Cory Michael Smith will star in an untitled romantic drama that will be set in various locations throughout Alaska. Plot details are under wraps, though. (Deadline)

Doctor Who and House of the Dragon alum Matt Smith will star in the upcoming Star Wars: Starfighter flick alongside Ryan Gosling. The film is set five years after the events of Star Wars: Episode IX — The Rise of Skywalker, which concluded the Skywalker saga and currently stands as the final feature chronologically on the Star Wars timeline. Details are vague about who Smith will play, but it is believed he will play one of the villain roles. (Deadline)

Jason Isaacs (The White Lotus and the Harry Potter film franchise) will star alongside Taylor Kitsch and Diego Luna in the indie hostage thriller Eleven Days that takes place in the sweltering heat of a Texas summer in 1974, watching as ruthless prisoner Federico Carrasco takes control of the Huntsville Penitentiary. The prison’s priest, Father Joseph O’Brien (Isaacs) joins forces with Jim Estelle (Kitsch), head of the Texas Department of Corrections, by entering the eye of the storm and offering himself as a hostage to out-game Carrasco and his men, in an attempt to save the lives of the other hostages that have been taken. (Deadline)

Yellowstone alum Jefferson White, Crispin Glover (Back to the Future franchise), Mena Suvari (American Beauty) and Teen Wolf alum Tyler Posey are set to star in the upcoming box office movie Death of a Brewer, which will be set against the backdrop of 1884 where a young doctor becomes entangled in a deadly conflict between a brewing empire and a radical temperance movement, forcing him to confront his morals in a world where survival and loyalty are at odds. (Deadline)

Ben Kingsley, Andy Serkis and Grammy winner Joel David Smallbone will star in the presidential origin story Young Washington, which will focus on a young George Washington, chronicling the beginnings of America’s first president. Kingsley will play Robert Dinwiddie, the strong-willed Governor of Virginia who entrusts the young Washington with his first command while Serkis will play General Edward Braddock, an overconfident British officer who gives the defeated Washington another chance at military glory. Meanwhile, Smallbone will play the cunning William Fairfax, a friend and romantic rival to George, who moves effortlessly in the world of the British upper class to which Washington aspires. (Deadline)

Aubrey Plaza (Agatha All Along and Legion) is set to portray the infamous “Hollywood madam” Heidi Fleiss in the upcoming movie about the woman who was busted in the early ‘90s for what was said to be the world’s largest high-end prostitution ring, which implicated Hollywood, politicians and other power figures. (Variety)

Riverdale hunk KJ Apa will star in a biopic about legendary actor Jimmy Stewart, chronicling the beloved actor’s life as a rising star before World War II, during which he served as a combat pilot in the U.S. Army Air Corps. After his return home, he starred in the 1946 classic It’s a Wonderful Life. Days of Our Lives alum and Great American Family movie star Jen Lilley will play Gloria Stewart, Stewart’s wife while Hallmark star Sarah Drew (Mistletoe Murders) will play famed gossip columnist Hedda Hopper. (People and Entertainment Now)

Desperate Housewives alum Eva Longoria will star in the upcoming box office movie The Last Sunrise, an adaptation of the bestselling romance novel by After series author Anna Todd. Longoria will play Isolde, the protective mother of Oriah “Ry” Pera, a 22-year-old whose life has been shaped by chronic illness and a well-meaning but overbearing mom. When a summer relocation gives her a taste of freedom, she meets Julián, who draws her into the kind of adventure she’s always longed for. But with a return to the U.S. on the horizon, Ry faces a decision that could change everything. (Deadline)

TV CASTING NEWS

Logan Marshall-Green (Big Sky and the Netflix movie Carry On) will star opposite Luke Grimes in the CBS Yellowstone spin-off series Y: Marshalls, playing Pete Calvin, a friend from Kayce’s (Grimes) time in the military. The series will focus on Kayce, joining an elite unit of U.S. Marshals, combining his skills as a cowboy and Navy SEAL to bring range justice to Montana, where he and his teammates must balance family, duty and the high psychological cost that comes with serving as the last line of defense in the region’s war on violence. (Deadline)

Will Trent has promoted Kevin Daniels to series regular for its upcoming 4th season on ABC. (Deadline)

Evil and Luke Cage alum Mike Colter has signed on for a leading role in Cupertino, which comes from Robert and Michelle King – the brains behind the CBS drama Evil. The show is described as a David vs. Goliath legal drama with Colter playing a lawyer fired by a Silicon Valley start-up intending to cheat him out of his stock options. Refusing to back down, he joins forces with another recently fired attorney to represent those taken advantage of by the tech elite and help them fight back in a high stakes battle against the Goliaths controlling Silicon Valley. Cupertino has not been greenlit yet, but all signs are pointing to it heading that way. (Variety)

Actress-comedian Amy Sedaris, late night star Andy Richter and Lindsay Mendez (Broadway’s Wicked and All Rise) will make guest appearances in the premiere episode of Elsbeth over on CBS this fall. Sedaris will play Laurel Hammond-Muntz, the headstrong and devoted head writer and executive producer of the popular late-night talk show Way Late. Richter will play Mickey Muntz, the hilarious but long-suffering sidekick to Scotty Bristol (Stephen Colbert), the host of Way Late. He’s also Laurel’s husband. Meanwhile Mendez will play Officer Grace Hackett, a hard-working officer and an aspiring stand-up comic when off the clock. When she teams up with Elsbeth for a case focused on the world of comedy, her knowledge of the business comes in handy. (Deadline)

That’s it. Enjoy!

Read Full Post »

Hey All,

Here are the entertainment news items for this past week:

RENEWALS/CANCELLATIONS

Netflix has given the Eric Bana led series Untamed a second season renewal. Meanwhile, the streamer has pulled the plug on FUBAR, the Arnold Schwarzenegger action comedy, after only two seasons. (Variety, Deadline and TV Line)

HBO Max is pulling the plug on the sequel series And Just Like That… after a three-season run. The show will air a two-part series finale on August 7 and August 14. Meanwhile, the network (HBO that is) has given a season four renewal to The Gilded Age. (TV Line and Deadline)

TV CASTING NEWS

Ella Beatty (Feud: Capote vs. The Swans and also the daughter of Warren Beatty and Annette Bening) will play the lead in the fourth installment Monster, the true-crime franchise at Netflix, which this time around will focus on Lizzie Borden, who was tried and acquitted of the 1892 axe murders of her father and stepmother in Fall River, Massachusetts. (Deadline)

Lawrence Robinson (Sistas) has joined the cast of The Pitt for its upcoming second season. He will have the recurring role of Brian Hancock, a sweet, charming and kind-hearted patient who turns a soccer injury into a possible meet-cute with one of the doctors. (Deadline)

Robert Carlyle (Once Upon a Time) will play Sherlock Holmes in the second season of the new CBS drama Watson, which stars Morris Chestnut in the title role. (Deadline)

Season two of the new TNT drama The Librarians: The Next Chapter won’t happen until sometime in 2026, but the guest star line-up has already been announced, including Lost alum Dominic Monaghan, Jeremy Swift (Ted Lasso), Discovery Channel’s host Josh Gates as well as Christian Kane back as Jacob Stone along with original cast member Lindy Booth back as Cassandra Cillian. (TNT Press Release)

Casey W. Johnson (For All Mankind) has been promoted to series regular on the Netflix soap drama Ransom Canyon. He plays the role of Kit Russell. (Deadline)

FBI: Most Wanted’s Edwin Hodge and Quantum Leap’s (the reboot, that is) Caitlin Bassett will have recurring roles in the second season of The Terminal List (not to be confused with the prequel series The Terminal List: Dark Wolf). The mothership series follows James Reece (Chris Pratt) after his platoon of Navy SEALs is ambushed during a high-stakes covert mission. He returns home to his family with conflicting memories of the event and questions about his culpability. As new evidence comes to light, Reece discovers dark forces working against him, endangering not only his life but the lives of those he loves. (Deadline)

Claudia Doumit (The Boys and Timeless) and Ellie De Lange (Wolf Hall) have joined the cast of 3 Body Problem for its upcoming 2nd season on Netflix. The series chronicles humanity’s first contact with an alien civilization, following a young woman, whose fateful decision in 1960s China reverberates across space and time into the present day. When the laws of nature inexplicably unravel before their eyes, a close-knit group of brilliant scientists join forces with an unflinching detective to confront the greatest threat in humanity’s history. In Season 2, As the alien invasion nears, humanity prepares — on Earth and elsewhere. Doumit will play Captain Van Rijn and De Lange will portray Ayla. (Deadline)

Justina Machado (One Day At a Time) will have a major recurring role in the upcoming second season of Matlock over on CBS, playing Eva, the 4th ex-wife of Senior (Beau Bridges), a formidable, smart and ambitious attorney; she’s the one who made Senior swear off marriage. (Deadline)

The new USA Network series Anna Pigeon, which is set to premiere in 2026, will star Chicago P.D. alum Tracy Spiridakos and Star Trek: Discovery alum Ronnie Rowe Jr. The series will focus on Anna Pigeon (Spiridakos), a former city slicker who became a park ranger after a devastating loss changed the trajectory of her life forever. While Anna tries to outrun her demons, her focus turns to solving crimes that have taken place within national park grounds, no matter who or what gets in her way. Rowe will play Frederick Stanton, an FBI agent and charismatic wanderer who chases crimes through national parks and keeps his cool, except when it comes to ranger Anna Pigeon. (Deadline)

Days of Our Lives actor Al Calderon has joined the cast of Brilliant Minds for its upcoming second season on NBC, playing Nurse Scotty Silva, who runs the hospital and looks good doing it. With charisma to spare, he’s widely regarded as the Mayor of Bronx General. His warm, funny and outgoing charm may or may not be the reason why he knows everything about everyone at work. (Deadline)

BOX OFFICE MOVIE NEWS

Lily James (Pam & Tommy and Downton Abbey), Chris Hemsworth (Thor) and Michael Pena (Ant-Man) have joined the cast of the upcoming, new submarine action flick Subversion that will follow a once-promising naval commander (Hemsworth) who is blackmailed by a cartel-like organization into piloting a dangerous submarine carrying illegal cargo across international waters. Thrust into a high-stakes game of cat and mouse, with a Coast Guard officer (James) in hot pursuit, he must outmaneuver blockades and navigate perilous threats both inside and outside the submarine. Details about Pena’s role are being kept under wraps, though. (Deadline)

Charlize Theron and Channing Tatum are set to star in the upcoming comedy flick Dance Parents, which will be set in the world of young competitive dancers and their super-passionate parents. The pic will mark a dancing reunion of sorts for the two thespians, who first paired up on a dance floor at the 2013 Academy Awards. (Deadline)

More cast members have joined the small screen TV series adaptation of Pride and Prejudice over on Netflix. Those cast members now include Rufus Sewell (The Diplomat) who will play Mr Bennet; Fiona Shaw (the Harry Potter franchise) will play Lady Catherine de Bourg; Louis Partridge (Enola Holmes) will play Mr Wickham and Daryl McCormack (Good Luck to You, Leo Grande) will play Mr Bingley. (The Hollywood Reporter)

DEVELOPMENT NEWS

Ubiquitous star Sterling K. Brown, Oscar winner Da’Vine Joy Randolph and Winston Duke (Black Panther and Fall Guy) are said to be leading a limited series based on Percival Everett’s acclaimed 2022 novel The Trees, a fast-paced thriller that tackles racism and police violence. Their roles have not been confirmed, but Sterling and Duke are believed to be playing the detectives. (Deadline)

Do you remember the 2006 rom-com flick The Holiday? The one that starred Jude Law, Jack Black, Kate Winslet and Cameron Diaz. Well, it would seem that Apple TV+ is working on a limited series adaptation of the flick that would (much like the film) center on two women, one British and one American, who swap houses during the Christmas season and find love along the way. Casting is supposedly currently underway. (Variety)

That’s it. Enjoy!

Read Full Post »

Hey All,

Here are the entertainment news items for this past week:

RENEWALS/CANCELLATIONS

Netflix has given Wednesday a season three renewal ahead of the show’s upcoming second season. (TV Line)

Sadly, the Syfy series Resident Alien will come to an end after its upcoming fourth season. (TV Line)

AMC has given The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon a fourth season renewal, but the show will come to an end after season four. (TV Line)

Paramount+ has pulled the plug on Happy Face after only one season. (TV Line)

BOX OFFICE MOVIE NEWS

Revenge star Emily VanCamp and her real life husband Josh Bowman will star in the upcoming supernatural spiritual mystery flick Little Audrey that will be inspired by the real life story of Audry Santo, who died at age 23 in 2007 after she was left in a vegetative state since childhood, the film centers on a Vatican-ordered investigation into reported miracles surrounding the teenage girl with akinetic mutism. The cast will also include Jennifer Esposito and Aidan Quinn. (Deadline)

Dawson’s Creek co-stars Katie Holmes and Joshua Jackson will star in Happy Hours, a new feature film trilogy, in which she will also direct. The movie is about two people (Jackson and Holmes) navigating their relationship within the challenges of careers and family responsibilities and the pursuit of love, despite life’s inevitable obstacles. It’s a character-driven dramedy that explores the emotional journey of young love who reconnect as adults, with the connective thread of shared joys, loss, and hope. (Deadline)

More cast members have been announced for the new adaptation of the Jane Austen classic Sense and Sensibility. George MacKay (1917) will play Edward Ferrars, Outlander alum Caitriona Balfe will play Mrs. Dashwood, the mother of Elinor (Daisy Edgar-Jones) and Marianne (Esme Creed-Miles) and Fiona Shaw (Harry Potter franchise) will play Mrs. Jennings. (Variety)

Andor alum Adria Arjona has joined the cast of the reimaging of The Thomas Crown Affair that will star Michael B. Jordan, Kenneth Branagh, Lily Gladstone and Danai Gurira. Jordan will not only star in the film but also direct it. (Variety)

Kelsey Grammer, Benjamin Hollingsworth (Virgin River) and One Tree Hill alum Jana Kramer will star in the upcoming holiday movie The Christmas Ring, an adaptation of the Karen Kingsbury novel. Kramer will play the widow of a U.S. Armed Forces member, looking for her missing family Christmas ring when she meets a charming antiques dealer (Hollingsworth), whose father might unwittingly have the lost heirloom. (Deadline)

Acting siblings Dakota and Elle Fanning will star as sisters in the upcoming movie The Nightingale, based on the Kristin Hannah best-selling novel. The movie will follow two sisters coming of age in France on the eve of World War II and their struggle to survive the German occupation of their country. (People)

It looks like director Gurinda Chadha will be revisited Bend It Like Beckham, as a sequel is officially in the works, and cast members Parminder Nagra, Keira Knightley, Archie Panjabi, Juliet Stevenson and other members of the original cast “are aware that a sequel is being developed, but they obviously want to see a script before they commit. (Deadline)

TV CASTING NEWS

New Girl alum Jake Johnson and Orphan Black star Tatiana Maslany will star in the upcoming Apple TV+ series Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed, a half-hour darkly comedic thriller that follows Paula (Maslany), a newly divorced mom who falls down a dangerous rabbit hole of blackmail, murder, and youth soccer. Johnson will star as Karl, Paula’s ex-husband. (Deadline)

Law & Order alum Chris Meloni will star alongside William H. Macy in the upcoming Hulu drama tentatively titled 17 Sundays from creator Dan Fogelman (the man behind This Is Us and Paradise). Plot details are being kept under wraps, but it is believed the show will be a sprawling drama set inside the world of the NFL with a generational family component. (TV Line)

Arienne Mandi (The Night Agent) has joined the cast of Chicago P.D. as a series regular. She will play police officer Naomi Kerr, a former soldier and military contractor who is said to thrive in dangerous situations. (Deadline)

MADE-FOR-TV MOVIE CASTING NEWS

Lifetime has greenlit a new holiday movie that will star singer-actress Brandy Norwood and her real-life daughter Sy’Rai Smith, in her acting debut. Christmas Everyday will see Norwood play Francine “Fancy” Ballantine, a devoted fashion designer juggling family obligations and career ambitions. Following the death of her father, Fancy (Norwood) has been more determined than ever to uphold her father’s cherished Christmas traditions as her mother Evelyn (Debbi Morgan) has also begun losing her sight. But things aren’t a smooth ride as Fancy simultaneously is planning her bridezilla baby sister’s, Belle (Smith), wedding. When a water pipe bursts and disrupts the fairytale wedding plans, Fancy finds herself unexpectedly drawn to the rugged, yet charming, contractor Jaylen (Robert C Riley) who is tasked with renovating the house. Through all the chaos, she learns valuable lessons about faith, family, and the true meaning of Christmas. (SoulTracks.com)

That’s it. Enjoy!

Read Full Post »

Hey All,

Here are the entertainment news items for this past week:

RENEWALS

AMC has renewed The Walking Dead: Dead City for a third season. (TV Line)

The CW has announced they will air the 4th season of the Canadian drama Sullivan’s Crossing. (TV Line)

TV CASTING NEWS

It would seem that the CBS hit series Tracker is going to be down two more series regulars as Eric Graise and Abby McEnany are leaving the show before the start of the drama’s upcoming third season. That leaves only Justin Hartley in the lead role and Fiona Rene, who plays Reenie Green as series regulars. (TV Line)

Marvel star Brie Larson will star opposite Olivia Colman in the upcoming limited series Cry Wolf at FX that will be a psychological family thriller following a social worker (Colman) and a mother (Larson) who are thrust into crisis when the mother’s teenage daughter alleges abuse, pushing both women to their limits as they navigate an impossible situation. (Variety)

Minnie Driver (Speechless and The Riches), Jeffrey Donovan (Burn Notice) and Natacha Karam (9-1-1: Lone Star) will appear in the first installment of the FOX Biblical limited series The Faithful, which is based on The Old Testament’s Book of Genesis, told through the eyes of five of The Bible’s most iconic women. Driver will play Sarah, Donovan will play Abraham and Karam will play Hagar. (Deadline)

Austin Nichols (One Tree Hill) has joined the cast of the popular Netflix series Virgin River, but details about his character remain under wraps for now. (TV Line)

Former Supergirl star Mehcad Brooks is leaving Law & Order after three seasons, as the actor wants to explore other acting opportunities. (Deadline)

The 100 alum Richard Harmon has joined the cast of the upcoming FOX drama Memory of a Killer that will star Patrick Dempsey as Angelo Ledda (Patrick Dempsey), a hit man who has developed early onset Alzheimer’s. Harmon will play Joe, a hit man who works for Angelo and Dutch (Michael Imperioli). Harmon will play a character named Joe, who gets stuck with the grunt work – gathering recon and sorting getaway plans – but that puts him in prime position to witness Angelo’s Alzheimer’s decline. Joe knows he could make or break Angelo, but he also knows that choice could cost him everything. (Variety)

Freida Pinto (Slumdog Millionaire) will star in the Netflix drama Unaccustomed Earth that is inspired by the short story collection by Jhumpa Lahiri. The series will be an epic, soapy, and culturally vibrant about a tight-knit Indian American community navigating love, desire, and belonging. Rich with nuance, passion, and unforgettable characters, the series invites you into the elite and insular Indian-American community of Cambridge, MA. When a star-crossed romance between a devoted wife and her long-lost love comes to light, a scandalous affair is born and new battle lines are drawn in this intensely interconnected immigrant community. Pinto will play a character name Parul Chaudhury. (Deadline)

BOX OFFICE MOVIE CASTING NEWS

Esmé Creed-Miles (the title lead in the small screen adaptation of Hanna) will play Marianne Dashwood in the upcoming film adaptation of Sense and Sensibility that will star Daisy Edgar-Jones (Where the Crawdads Sing and Twisters) as Elinor Dashwood. (Variety)

Andor star Diego Luna has joined the cast of the indie thriller Eleven Days where he will star opposite Taylor Kitsch in a story that will be set in the sweltering heat of a Texas summer in 1974, when ruthless prisoner Federico Carrasco (Luna) plays a deadly game against Jim Estelle (Kitsch), head of the Texas Department of Corrections, after taking over Huntsville Penitentiary and holding dozens hostage when his pre-planned escape goes awry. Lines between captor and captive, and justice and survival, begin to blur as the siege spirals for 11 endless, terrifying days. (Deadline)

Lewis Pullman (Thunderbolts) and Maya Hawke (Stranger Things) will star in the surrealist relationship comedy movie Wishful Thinking that will focus on a volatile couple who discover their emotional state has supernatural consequences on the world around them. The pair must decide whether to fight for their relationship or accept that their powerful connection might be doing more harm than good. (Variety)

That’s it. Enjoy!

Read Full Post »

Hey All,

Here are the entertainment news items for this past week:

RENEWALS/CANCELLATIONS

Netflix has given Virgin River an 8th season renewal one week after production on season 7 of the long-running series wrapped. (Deadline and TV Line)

PBS has announced that the long-running mystery series Grantchester will come to an end after its upcoming 11th season. (TV Line)

HBO Max has pulled the plug on the J.J. Abrams series Duster, which starred Lost alum Josh Holloway after only one season. (The Hollywood Reporter)

The crime drama Rebus, which stars Outlander alum Richard Rankin in the lead role, has been renewed for a second season with Rankin set to return as Detective Sergeant John Rebus. (Deadline)

Apple TV+ has given a 7th season renewal to Slow Horses. The streamer has also given the new series Murderbot, starring Alexander Skarsgard, a second season renewal. (Variety and TV Line)

BOX OFFICE MOVIE NEWS

Dianne Wiest and Stockard Channing will reprise their roles of Aunt Jet and Aunt Franny in the Practical Magic sequel that will find Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman, once again, playing sibling witches Sally and Gillian. Joey King will play the role of Sally’s daughter while Lee Pace (Pushing Daisies and Foundation), Maisie Williams (Game of Thrones), Xolo Mariduena (Cobra Kai) and Solly McLeod (House of the Dragon) have also joined the cast, but there are no details about their characters nor full details about the film’s plot. (Deadline)

Friday Night Lights alum Taylor Kitsch will star in the indie survival thriller Eleven Days, which will be set in Texas during the summer of 1974, following the head of the Texas Department of Corrections Jim Estelle (Kitsch), who plays a deadly game against a convicted heroin dealer, who is holding dozens of people hostage at a local penitentiary after a pre-planned escape goes awry. (Variety)

The cast of the sequel to The Devil Wears Prada just keeps growing with Lucy Liu, Justin Theroux and B.J. Novak joining the cast. Additionally, Bridgerton beauty Simone Ashley has also joined the cast. (Variety and Deadline)

Thirty years after Clueless, Paul Rudd and Jeremy Sisto will star in the upcoming feature film Rain Reign, based on the best-selling novel by author Ann M. Martin. The film tells the story of Rose Howard, a neurodivergent 12-year-old girl raised by her volatile single father (Sisto), who is forced to abandon her daily routines when a superstorm devastates their town and her beloved dog, Rain, goes missing. With the support of her uncle (Rudd), Rose embarks on a determined search for Rain — a journey that challenges her resilience and compels her to make an impossible choice between her own needs and doing what is right. (Deadline)

Looks like the folks at 20th Century Studios are planning a reimagining of Night at the Museum with a fresh story at the museum and new characters. (Variety)

Oscar nominee Lily Gladstone will join Michael B. Jordan and Kenneth Branagh in the reimagining of The Thomas Crown Affair, but there are no plot details or information on what characters they will play other than Jordan being the primary star of the flick. (Deadline)

Hailee Steinfeld (Sinners) and Miles Teller (The Gorge) will star opposite each other in the upcoming box office movie Winter Games that will be set in the high-stakes arena of the Winter Olympics, following a perpetually overlooked skier (Steinfeld) and a self-sabotaging hockey legend (Teller) who collide at their breaking points. Their unexpected connection threatens her chance for a medal and his shot at a comeback as they navigate romance and redemption in the Olympic Village. (Deadline)

TV CASTING NEWS

Timeless alum Abigail Spencer and Annie Potts have joined the cast of Best Medicine, the upcoming US adaptation of the popular British series Doc Martin. The series will center on Martin Best (Josh Charles), a brilliant surgeon who abruptly leaves his illustrious career in Boston to become the general practitioner in a quaint East Coast fishing village where he spent summers as a child. Unfortunately, Martin’s blunt and borderline rude bedside manner rubs the quirky, needy locals the wrong way, especially local school teacher Louisa Glasson (Spencer), however tenacity is the creed of everyone in their small village, and the people who live there may be exactly what the doctor ordered. Potts will play Martin’s aunt Joan, a strong, sturdy, lobster woman who still goes out every day on her boat. (Variety)

Finn Little will reprise his role of Carter in the upcoming Yellowstone spin-off series that will focus on Beth and Rip (Kelly Reilly and Cole Hauser). (Deadline)

Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Jay Duplass will have recurring roles in the upcoming young adult series Sterling Point that will air on Amazon Prime, the show is expected to follow a set of adopted twins who travel to an island on a lake that was left to them by their estranged grandfather in his will, but exact plot details are being kept under wraps. (Variety)

Tracy Ifeachor will not be returning for season two of the HBO Max medical drama The Pitt. (TV Line)

Brian Altemus (The Time Traveler’s Wife) and John Clarence Stewart (Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist) have joined the cast of the NBC medical drama Brillian Minds as series regulars for the show’s upcoming second season. Altemus will play Dr. Charlie Porter, the new neurology resident who is guarded, competitive and hiding something from his fellow doctors while Stewart will play Dr. Anthony Thorne, a mid-career ER doctor who’s grown a little too comfortable with the maxim that emergency medicine is blue-collar work. (Deadline)

John Slattery (Mad Men) and Jessica Henwick (Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery) have joined the cast of the limited series Vladimir that will air on Netflix. Rachel Weisz will star in and executive produce the series that will find Leo Woodall (One Day and Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy) in the title role. The series will focus on what happens as a woman’s life unravels, and she becomes obsessed with her captivating new colleague. (Deadline)

Marcia Gay Harden (So Help Me Todd), JD Pardo (High Potential and Mayans M.C.), James Remar (Dexter: Resurrection), Robert Wisdom (Prison Break and Barry), Bruce Greenwood (The Resident), Kirk Acevedo (Lioness), Ben Cotton (The Night Agent) and Jason Ralph (The Magicians and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel) have all joined the cast of the upcoming Netflix drama Trinity that will follow a heroic female Naval Officer (Gugu Mbatha-Raw) who becomes involved with the outwardly charismatic Secretary of Defense (Richard Madden), only to discover he may be at the heart of a dangerous conspiracy. Harden will play Margaret Vandenburg, the CEO and matriarch of her family’s business empire; Pardo will play Tom Reyes, a Lieutenant Commander in the US Navy; Greenwood will play Special Agent Eric Colby; Wisdom will play Admiral Griff Tatum; Acevedo will play Captain Jock Campbell; Cotton will play Special Agent Jake Ryan; Remar will play President Paul Barnard and Ralph will play Brooks Vandenburg. (Deadline)

Relative newcomer Mika Amonsen will take over the role of Sean Reagan, the son of Danny Reagan (played by Donnie Wahlberg) in the Blue Bloods spin-off series Boston Blue. He takes over the role from Andrew Terraciano, who played the character across all 14 seasons of the original series. (TV Line)

DEVELOPMENT NEWS

Apple has landed for development a TV series based on the best-selling novel Funny You Should Ask by author Elissa Sussman. Bridgerton hunk Rege-Jean Page is expected to star in and produce the project that centers on a restless young journalist with big dreams who interviews a Hollywood heartthrob – and then reunites with him ten years later to discover exactly how he feels about her. (Deadline)

The hit Netflix anthology series Monsters has yet to announce the premiere date for season three, but plans are already in the works for season four with the focus being on Lizzie Bordon, the Massachusetts woman who in 1892 was accused of murdering both her father and her stepmother with an axe at their shared home. Borden was eventually acquitted of the crimes, but the brutal nature of the murders attracted nationwide attention and contributed to Borden’s place in popular culture. (Variety)

That’s it. Enjoy!

Read Full Post »