Rueben's Ramblings

Hey All,

Here are the news items for this past week:

CANCELLATION

Netflix has cancelled the drama The OA after two seasons. (TV Line)

CASTING NEWS

Actress Auli’i Cravalho (the voice of Moana) will play the lead role in the ABC live musical The Little Mermaid. Queen Latifah will play the villainous Ursula while Shaggy will play the crab Sebastian. The musical is slated to air on November 5. (Variety)

Actresses Tiffany Haddish and Carmen Ejogo will star alongise Octavia Spencer in the 4-part Netflix limited series Madam CJ Walker, inspired by the book ‘On Her Own Ground’ by A’Lelia Bundles, the great-great granddaughter of Walker. Spencer will play the title character; and the story follows how Walker overcame hostile turn-of-the-century America, rivalries, tumultuous marriages and family challenges to become America’s first black, self-made female millionaire. Haddish will play Lelia, the smart and feisty daughter of Sarah Breedlove (Madam Walker) and her late first husband. Raised by her single, hard-working mother, she is eager to be independent. After falling in love and marrying the feckless John Robinson, she frequently finds herself coming to her husband’s defenses. Meanwhile Ejogo will play Addie, a hairstylist and former friend of Sarah Breedlove. Addie is described as a savvy business woman herself, who parlays her good looks and social standing into a profitable African American hair care business. The cast will also include Blair Underwood. The series is slated to premiere on Netflix in 2020. (Variety)

Actress Alicia Silverstone and actor Mark Feuerstein have landed roles in the Netflix adaptation of the popular The Baby-Sitter’s Club books by Ann M. Martin. Silverstone will star as Elizabeth Thomas-Brewer, the mother of BSC founder Kristy Thomas. Feuerstein will play her love interest, Watson Brewer. The series is expected to be a “contemporary” adaptation of the beloved ’90s teen book series, which centers on Kristy and her four friends — Mary Anne Spier, Claudia Kishi, Stacey McGill, and Dawn Schafer — whose childcare business brings them together as they experience the nuances of adolescence and their individual home lives. Netflix has ordered a 10-episode freshman season. (TV Guide)

Actress Q’orianka Kilcher (The Alienist and cousin of singer-actress Jewel) and actress Jennifer Landon (Animal Kingdom) will have recurring roles in the third season of Yellowstone. [NOTE: The show is currently in its second season.] Kilcher will play Angela Blue Thunder, a Native American and political opponent of Tom Rainwater (Gil Birmingham); she is a woman with pain in her past and unadulterated fury in her present. Convinced that Rainwater’s management of the casino has been a catastrophe, she shows up in his office, ready to punish the world (and Tom Rainwater) for all the things it did to her. Meanwhile, Landon will play Teeter, a new wrangler on the Yellowstone Ranch. Teeter is a snuff dipping, sunbaked, expert wrangler. (Deadline)

Actor Alberto Rosende (Shadowhunters) has landed a recurring role on Chicago Fire, playing Blake Gallo, a young firefighter who loves his job and joins Firehouse 51 as the CFD expands the number of firefighters on second shift. Casey (Jesse Spencer), Herrmann (David Eigenberg) and Severide (Taylor Kinney) — impressed with Gallo’s relentless energy — take him under their wings. (Deadline)

Actress Emily Swallow (The Mentliast and Supernatural) has landed a recurring role on SEAL Team, playing Dr. Natalie Pierce, a Research Physiologist working for the NHRC Department of Warfighter Performance who’s assigned to DEVGRU (and Bravo Team) to increase the SEALs’ operational longevity, a job she’s undeniably brilliant at. Brimming with raw intelligence and capability, she’s unintimidated by the ‘alpha male’ environment her role places her in, and totally devoted to her mission of keeping these men on the battlefield. (Deadline)

Colton Haynes will not be back as a regular for the final season of Arrow on The CW. (TV Line and The Futon Critic)

MADE-FOR-TV MOVIE CASTING NEWS

Actor Bryan Greenberg (The Mindy Project) and Charles Micahel Davis (The Originals and Younger) will play the male leads opposite actress-singer Lea Michele in the ABC holiday movie Same Time, Next Christmas about Olivia (Michele), a young woman who met her childhood sweetheart (Davis), during her family’s annual Christmas visit to Hawaii. After being separated by distance and years, the two reunite at the same Hawaii resort years later and the old chemistry between them flares up anew – but circumstances conspire to keep them apart. Greenberg will play Gregg Harris, Olivia’s boyfriend, a super fit triathlete, dapper real estate agent who is always angling for the next big deal. He envisions him and Olivia as a super-team in Cincinnati real estate. Davis is Jeff Cutler, a handsome, affable, charming young man — Olivia’s childhood friend and teenage heartthrob from their annual Christmas trips to Hawaii. The movie is slated to premiere in December. (Deadline)

That’s it. Enjoy!

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Hey All,

Here are the news items for this past week:

RENEWALS/CANCELLATIONS

The CW has announced that The 100 will end after its 7th season, which will air during the 2019-2020 TV season. (TV Line)

Netflix has renewed 13 Reasons Why for its 4th and final season. (Variety)

The Anna Paquin-led series Flack has been given a 2nd season renewal by POP. (The Hollywood Reporter)

Showtime has renewed City On A Hill for a second season. (Variety)

NEW SERIES ANNOUNCEMENTS

Showtime has given a straight-to-series order to American Rust, based on the Phillipp Meyer novel, that is a family drama that will explore the tattered American dream through the eyes of complicated and compromised chief of police Del Harris (Jeff Daniels) in a Rust Belt town in southwest Pennsylvania. When the woman he truly loves sees her son accused of murder, Harris is forced to decide what he’s willing to do to protect him. (Variety)

CBS All Access has given a series order to a new adaptation of The Man Who Fell to Earth, based on the Walter Tevis sci-fi novel that inspired the 1976 David Bowie film that centered on an alien who arrives on Earth at a turning point in human evolution and must confront his own past to determine our future. (TV Line)

CASTING NEWS

The new HBO series The Nevers, from Joss Whedon, that stars Laura Donnelly (Outlander) has has announced other cast members, including Olivia Williams (Counterpart), James Norton (McMafia), Tom Riley (Da Vinci’s Demons), Ben Chaplin (Cinderella), Eleanor Tomlinson (The White Queen) and Denis O’Hare (True Blood) [among others]. The series is an epic science-fiction drama about a gang of Victorian women who find themselves with unusual abilities, relentless enemies and a mission that might change the world. (TV Line)

CBS All Access has set actor James Marsden (Westworld) and actress Amber Heard (Aquaman) to star in the new small screen adaptation of Stephen King’s The Stand, which is an apocalyptic vision of a world decimated by plague and embroiled in an elemental struggle between good and evil. The fate of mankind rests on the frail shoulders of the 108-year-old other Mother Abagail and a handful of survivors. Marsden will portray Stu Redman, an ordinary working-class factory man in an extraordinary situation with a damaged quality to him that belies his exterior. Meanwhile, Heard will play Nadine Cross, a deeply conflicted woman who feels the consequences of her actions, but is still compelled by her allegiance to Randall Flagg, the Dark Man. (Variety)

Actor Chris Messina (The Mindy Project) will star opposite Matt Bomer (White Collar) in the USA Network’s anthology series The Sinner when it returns for a third season. Messina will play Nick Haas, a college friend of Jamie (Bomer’s character), a Dorchester resident and expectant father who looks to Det. Harry Ambrose (returning cast member Bill Pullman) for support in the wake of an accident. A surprise visit years later alters the course of their friendship and their lives. A return date for The Sinner has not been announced. (The Hollywood Reporter)

Actor Sam Witwer (Supergirl and Being Human) will appear in The CW’s series Riverdale, playing Mr. Chipping, a creative writing teacher at the Jughead’s (series regular Cole Sprouse) new school. (TV Guide)

Actress JoAnna Garcia Swisher (Keving Probably Saves the World) will take over one of the lead roles in the Netflix adaptation of Sherryl Woods’ romance novels Sweet Magnolias, taking over the role from Monica Potter. The series will center on three South Carolina women who have been best friends since high school, as they shepherd each other through the complexities of romance, career and family. The cast already includes Brooke Elliott (Drop Dead Diva) and Heather Headley (Chicago Med). (Deadline and TV Line)

Actress Azita Ghanizada (Alphas) will recur in the back half of season 2 of Freeform’s Good Trouble, playing Kendra Zahir, a new employee at Speckulate, where Mariana (series regular Cierra Ramirez) works, who arrives to shake up the company culture. (TV Line)

Actress Gal Gadot (Wonder woman) will star in a Showtime limited series about legendary actress Hedy Lamarr. The as-yet-untitled biopic about the famed actress/inventor. Lamarr stood at the forefront of many issues that challenged women and our society. (TV Line)

TV NEWS

A crossover episode between Freeform’s Marvel’s Cloak & Dagger and Hulu’s Marvel’s Runaways will happen this fall when Runaways enters its 3rd season. (TV Guide)

That’s it. Enjoy!

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Hi All,

RENEWALS/CANCELLATIONS

The Handmaid’s Tale has been renewed for a 4th season by Hulu. (TV Line)

Netflix has cancelled Designated Survivor with four seasons under its belt after rescuing it from ABC. (Variety)

Animal Kingdom has been renewed for its fifth season by TNT. (TV Line)

TV Land has given Younger a 7th season renewal. (The Hollywood Reporter)

Amazon has renewed both the new drama Carnival Row for a second season before its debut on July 30 as well as a fifth season for The Expanse. (Variety)

Amazon has cancelled the cop drama Too Old to Die and the anthology drama The Romanoffs. (TV Line)

TV NEWS

Netflix has given the final season order of Lucifer 6 more hours, bringing the season total to 16 episodes. (Deadline)

The Droughtlander will continue with Starz announcing that Outlander will not be back with its fifth season until early 2020. (Deadline)

NEW SHOW ANNOUNCEMENT

Starz will have a spin-off to their drama Power, which ends after this current season. Power Book 2: Ghost will continue the journey of the show’s most controversial characters, and will feature Mary J. Blige. (Variety)

MOVIE CASTING NEWS

Actor Jason Dohring (Veronica Mars) has landed a lead role in the ensemble indie film You Are Here with Lea Thompson (Switched at Birth), William Baldwin (Netflix’s Northern Rescue), Anna Popplewell (The Chronicles of Narnia franchise) [among others], which is about a dying young man who clashes with his dysfunctional family when his attempts to bring them closer together over one weekend – reveal how truly estranged they are from one another. (Deadline)

Actress Auli’i Cravalho (the voice of Disney’s Moana) has landed the lead role in the Netflix film Sorta Like A Rock Star about a teenage girl who, despite difficult circumstances, is preternaturally optimistic about the world and her place in it. She often helps those around her, resulting in powerful bonds with a disparate group of outsiders in her community, until she faces a devastating loss and can no longer ignore the challenges in her own life. The movie is based off Matthew Quick’s novel of the same name. (Deadline)

TV CASTING NEWS

Veteran actor Jeff Bridges will star in the newly ordered FX drama The Old Man, based on the best-selling novel by Thomas Perry, centering on Dan Chase (Bridges), who absconded from the CIA decades ago and has been living off the grid since. When an assassin arrives and tries to take Chase out, the old operative learns that to ensure his future he now must reconcile his past. (Variety)

Actress Julee Cerda (The Loudest Voice) will have a recurring role in Blindspot, playing Ivy Sands, but further character details are being kept under wraps. (Deadline)

Actor Keir O’Donnell (Sun Records and Ray Donovan) has landed a recurring role in the History Channel drama Project Blue Book. He will play Even William Blake, a charmingly eccentric alien enthusiast with a religious dedication to his weekly U.F.O meetings. He takes a liking to Hynek and, thanks to his encyclopedic knowledge of everything extraterrestrial, quickly becomes friend, confidant, and premier informer to Project Blue Book’s best behind-the-scenes agent. (Deadline)

Actor Steven Pasquale (Rescue Me) has taken over the role, played by David Denman, in the new FOX drama Filthy Rich, starring opposite Kim Cattrall. The series is a southern Gothic family drama in which wealth, power and religion collide – with outrageously soapy results. When the patriarch of a mega-rich Southern family, famed for creating a wildly successful Christian television network, dies in a plane crash, his wife and family are stunned to learn that he fathered three illegitimate children, all of whom are written into his will, threatening their family name and fortune. Pasquale will play Reverend Paul Luke Thomas, the beloved, popular, influential and ambitious minister at the Sunshine Network. (Deadline)

Actress Afton Williamson will not be returning for the second season of The Rookie on ABC in the fall. She played TO Talia Bishop. (TV Line)

TV MOVIE NEWS

Actress Sofia Carson (Disney’s Descendants franchise and Freeform’s PLL: The Perfectionists) will star in the Netflix dance film Feel the Beat that will follow April (Carson), who, after failing to find success on Broadway, returns to her small hometown and reluctantly is recruited to train a misfit group of young dancers for a big competition. The cast will include Enrico Colantoni (Veronica Mars), Wolfgang Novogratz (Sierra Burgess Is a Loser) and Donna Lynne Champlin (Crazy Ex-Girlfriend) [among others]. (Deadline)

That’s it. Enjoy!

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Hey All,

Here are the news items from this past week:

MOVIE CASTING NEWS

Actress Yvonne Strahovksi (The Handmaid’s Tale and Chuck) is expected to join Chris Pratt in the upcoming sci-fi movie Ghost Draft, which will be about a man drafted to fight in a future war where the fate of humanity relies on his ability to confront his past. Strahovski will play a character Pratt meets in the future who has a connection to his past. (Variety)

Actor Austin Butler (The Shannara Chronicles and Switched at Birth) is set to play the one and only Elvis Presley in the upcoming Baz Luhrmann biopic about the king of rock-n-roll. Tom Hanks will play Col. Tom Parker. (Variety)

TV CASTING NEWS

Actress Jaskia Nicole has been promoted to a series regular on the ABC medical drama The Good Doctor. (TV Line)

Actress Andrea Brooks has been promoted to series regular on Supergirl, and it was announced that former co-star Jeremy Jordan will be back to reprise his role of Winn Schott in season 5. (TV Line)

Actor Paul Adelstein (Prison Break) will have a recurring role on Chicago P.D., playing Interim Superintendent Jason Crawford, filling the void left by John C. McGinley’s Brian Kelton, who was murdered in the Season 6 finale. (TV Line)

Actor Josh Charles (The Good Wife) will play the good husband opposite Oscar winner Hilary Swank in the upcoming Netflix drama Away, which centers on Emma Logan (Swank), an American astronaut who must leave her NASA engineer husband (Charles) and teenage daughter behind to command an international space crew embarking upon a treacherous mission to Mars. Away‘s 10-episode first season is slated to bow in 2020. (TV Line)

RENEWALS/CANCELLATIONS

Fear the Walking Dead has been renewed for season 6 by AMC. The network has also renewed NOS4A2 for a second season. (Variety)

Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD will end after the 7th season, which will air sometime next year on ABC. (Deadline and TV Line)

DC Universe has renewed Doom Patrol for a second season. (Variety)

DEVELOPMENT NEWS

Amazon has won the rights to develop a series based on Jack Reacher, the protagonist from Lee Child’s novels. (Variety)

MADE-FOR-TV MOVIE NEWS

Actress-singer Lea Michele (Glee) will appear in the upcoming ABC holiday film Same Time, Next Christmas. Michele will play the lead role of Olivia Henderson, a young woman who met her childhood sweetheart during her family’s annual Christmas visit to Hawaii. After being separated by distance and years, the two reunite at the same Hawaii resort years later and the old chemistry between them flares up anew – but circumstances conspire to keep them apart. (Deadline)

That’s it. Enjoy!

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Hey All,

Here are the news items for this past week:

RENEWALS/CANCELLATIONS

HBO has renewed “Euphoria” for a second season. (Variety)

The upcoming sixth season of How to Get Away With Murder will be its last on ABC. (Variety)

CASTING NEWS

Actresses Danielle Campbell (The Originals) and Carrie-Anne Moss (Jessica Jones) will appear in the second season of the CBS All Access anthology series Tell Me A Story. Campbell appeared in the first season of the series, playing a character inspired by Little Red Riding Hood; but this time around she’ll play Olivia, who is not inspired by Belle but has ties to the Sleeping Beauty storyline. While Moss will play Rebecca, who has ties to all three storylines (Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella and Beauty and the Beast). The cast already includes Odette Annable, Natalie Alyn Lind and Paul Wesley. (Deadline and The Futon Critic)

Actress Alana De La Garza will join the cast of the CBS drama FBI instead of the spin-off series FBI: Most Wanted, playing the series regular role of Assistant Special Agent in Charge Isobel Castile. (Deadline and TV Line)

Actress Katherine McNamara (Shadowhunters) has been promoted to series regular for the 8th and final season of Arrow, where she has been recurring as Mia Smoak, the daughter Olive Queen and Felicity Smoak. (TV Line)

NEW SERIES/CASTING NEWS

Actress Katherine Heigl (Suits) will star and executive producer the upcoming 10-episode Netflix drama Firefly Lane, the adaptation of the best-selling book by Kristin Hannah that centers on two inseparable best friends and tracks their enduring, complicated bond over the course of four decades. Heigl will play Tully Hart, a magnetic, ambitious, reckless and fiercely loyal force of nature. Still bearing the scars of a traumatic childhood, Tully is dogged by inner loneliness, even as she goes on to fabulous fame and fortune as a journalist and talk show host. Her saving grace is her best friend and soulmate, Kate (not yet cast), with whom she shares an unshakable bond, over the course of four tumultuous decades. (TV Line)

BOX OFFICE NEWS

Oscar-winning actress Sophia Loren is returning to the big screen for the first time in a decade, appearing in her son Edoardo Ponti’s film titled La vita davanti a sé (“The Life Ahead”). She will play Madame Rosa, a Holocaust survivor who forges a bond with a 12-year-old Senegalese immigrant boy named Momo. (Variety)

Actor Oliver Jackson-Cohen (The Haunting of Hill House, Emerald City and Man in an Orange Shirt) has landed the title role in the upcoming box office film The Invisible Man that, at one point, was – during early development of the project – going to star Johnny Depp. The cast will include Elizabeth Moss (The Handmaid’s Tale and Mad Men), Aldis Hodge (City On A Hill and Hidden Figures), Harriet Dyer (The InBetween) and Storm Reid (Euphoria and A Wrinkle in Time). (Deadline)

MADE-FOR-TV MOVIE NEWS

Actor Colin O’Donoghue (Once Upon a Time) will star in the upcoming National Geographic NASA drama The Right Stuff, taking over the role [which was to be played by Game of Thrones and Deep State star Joe Dempsie] of Lt. Gordon Cooper, the youngest of the Mercury Seven. The cast of this mini-series, which is set to debut in 2020, already includes Patrick J. Adams (Suits) and Jake McDorman (Murphy Brown). (Deadline and TV Line)

That’s it. Enjoy!

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Hey All,

Here are the news items for this past week:

CANCELLATIONS/RENEWALS

The Canadian series Ransom has been cancelled after three seasons. (Variety)

Hallmark Channel has given Good Witch a 6th season renewal. However, regular cast member Bailee Madison will not be returning to the show for that 6th season. (Deadline)

It looks like Amazon is finalizing a 3rd season renewal for Stana Katic’s series Absentia. (Deadline)

CASTING NEWS

Actors Chris Klein (The Flash) and Justin Bruening (Good Behavior) and actress Jamie Lynn Spears (Zoey 101) have joined the cast of the upcoming Netflix series Sweet Magnolias, which is based on the popular book series by Sherryl Woods. The series is set in the charming small town of Serenity, South Carolina., centering on three women (Monica Potter, Brooke Elliott and Heather Headley), best friends since childhood. Klein will play Bill Townsend, Serenity’s leading pediatrician who struggles to navigate life in a small town after an unexpected fall from grace. Spears will portray Noreen Fitzgibbons, a young woman who came to Serenity to work as a nurse. After a sequence of bad choices, she is determined to build a new life in her new city. And, Bruening will play Cal Maddox, a former professional baseball player who arrived in Serenity looking for a fresh start. (Deadline)

Actress Kari Matchett (Covert Affairs) and actor Stephen Moyer (True Blood and The Gifted) will star in the Canadian spy drama Fortunate Son, which is set in the social and political chaos of the late 1960s. Matchett will play Ruby Howard, an American who fled to Canada as a fugitive from the law. While Moyer will play Vern Lang, a CIA agent. (Deadline)

TV MOVIE CASTING NEWS

Actor Peter Facinelli (S.W.A.T., Supergirl) will play NXIVM leader Keith Raniere in a newly greenlit Lifetime movie about the dangerous sex cult that will premiere this fall. NXIVM Cult: A Mother’s Nightmare will center on the shocking true story of actress Catherine Oxenberg and her fight to save her daughter India from the cult. Andrea Roth (Rescue Me) will play Oxenberg, while Jasper Polish has been cast as India. Additionally, Sara Fletcher (Mom Tested) will play Allison Mack, the Smallville alum who came to be Raniere’s associate in the cult. (TV Line)

FOX drama Star co-creator Lee Daniels announced this week that the series will be getting a movie of the week to wrap “things up” on the cancelled series. (TV Line)

BOX OFFICE MOVIE CASTING NEWS

Actor Sam Claflin (The Hunger Games franchise, Me Before You) has joined the cast of the upcoming box office movie Enola Holmes, which will star Stranger Things actress Millie Bobby Brown in the title role as well as Henry Cavill, Helena Bonham Carter and Fiona Shaw. (Deadline)

That’s it. Enjoy!

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Hey All,

Here are the news items for this past week:

RENEWALS

Blood & Treasure has been renewed by CBS for a second season. (Variety)

One Day at a time has been rescued by Pop for a 4th season after being cancelled by Netflix. (TV Line)

MOVIE CASTING NEWS

Crazy Rich Asians and Fresh Off the Boat star Constance Wu will star in the movie Goodbye, Vitamin – based on the 2017 debut novel from Rachel Khong, which follows Ruth Young (Wu in lead role), who discovers that her father, a renowned history professor, has lost his job after being diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. She decides to return home and work with her father’s former student to stage a fake class so he can continue to teach. (Variety)

Former Superman Henry Cavill is set to star as Sherlock Holmes in the box office movie Enola Holmes, which will star Stranger Things youngster Millie Bobby Brown in the title role, which is based on the Nancy Springer book series that follows Sherlock and Mycroft Holmes’ much younger sister. (TV Line)

TV CASTING NEWS

Actor Matt Lauria (Kingdom and Friday Night Lights) will join Paul Wesley in season two of Tell Me a Story on CBS All Access. Also joining the cast will be actor Eka Darville (Netflix’s Jessica Jones) and actress Ashley Madekwe (Revenge). Season 2 will put fresh twists on the princess-themed tales Beauty and the Beast, Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella. Lauria will play Jackson, the black sheep of a family who is torn between his demons and the desire to be a better man. Darville will play stoic and honorable Beau, whose adherence to a moral code has recently blown up both his personal and professional life. And, Madekwe will play the Cinderella-esque Simone who, upon returning home after her father’s untimely death, is forced to come face-to-face with the life she purposefully left behind. The cast also includes Odette Annable (Supergirl) as Maddie, the piece-keeping, overachieving middle child in a broken family; and Natalie Alyn Lind (The Gifted) as Ashley, a rising country music star who survives a brutal attack, then confines herself to her home. Tell Me a Story Season 2 is slated to bow later this year on CBS All Access. (TV Line)

Actor Henry Ian Cusick (Lost and The 100) has joined the cast of MacGyver for the show’s 4th season, playing the series regular role of Russ, a handsome and quick-witted ex-military man described as a master manipulator and salesman, who is skilled in propaganda and lie detection, and boasts an extremely high emotional intelligence. (TV Line)

That’s it. Enjoy!

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Hey All,

Here are the news items for this past week:

RENEWALS

The Paramount Network has given Yellowstone a third season renewal. (Variety)

FX has renewed Pose for a third season. (Variety)

The Danish Netflix original drama The Rain has been renewed for a third and final season). (Variety)

NEW SERIES NEWS

Netflix has walked away with the rights to Tick, Tick…Boom, a musical adaptation to be directed by Hamilton creator Lin-Manuel Miranda. The series is set in 1990, telling the story of Jon, an aspiring theater composer who is waiting tables in New York City while writing Superbia, which he hopes will be the next great American musical and finally give him his big break. Jon is also feeling pressure from his girlfriend Susan, who is tired of continuing to put her life on hold for Jon’s career aspirations. Meanwhile, his best friend and roommate Michael, has given up on his creative aspirations for a high paying advertising job on Madison Avenue and is about to move out. As Jon approaches his 30th birthday, he is overcome with anxiety — wondering if his dream is worth the cost. (Variety)

CASTING NEWS

Actress Rosamund Pike (Gone Girl) has landed the lead role in the long-gestating Wheel of Time, based on the best-selling fantasy novels by Robert Jordan, for Amazon Studios adaptation, playing Moiraine, a member of the powerful all-female organization called the Aes Sedai. The series is set in a high fantasy world where magic exists, but only certain women are allowed to access it. The story follows Moiraine as she embarks on a dangerous, world-spanning journey with five young men and women, one of whom is prophesied to be the Dragon Reborn, a powerful individual who will either save humanity or destroy it. (Variety)

Once Upon a Time alum Jennifer Morrison will have a major recurring role in season 4 of This Is Us. While her character is being kept under wraps, her character will have a substantial presence on the series. (TV Line)

Lost and Colony alum Josh Holloway will appear in the third season of Yellowstone, playing the major recurring role of Roarke Carter, a handsome, charming, shaggy-haired hedge fund manager with ambitious plans in Montana. (TV Line and Deadline)

Actress Elaine Hendrix (Sex&Drugs&Rock&Roll) and actor Silas Weir Mitchell (Grimm) will appear opposite Josh Hartnett and Bridget Regan in the Spectrum Originals and Paramount Network series Paradise Lost, a Southern Gothic mystery series about a psychiatrist (Regan) who moves with her family from California to her husband’s (Hartnett) hometown in Mississippi only to uncover shameful secrets that irrevocably change the lives of everyone involved. Hendrix will play Devoe Shifflet while Mitchell will play Boyd. (Deadline)

That’s it. Enjoy!

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Hey All,

Here are the news items for this past week:

RENEWALS

Netflix has renewed Russian Doll for a second season. (Variety)

L.A.’s Finest has been renewed for a second season by Spectrum. (Variety)

STRAIGHT-TO-SERIES ORDER

WarnerMedia’s new streaming service has given a straight-to-series order to the sci-fi project Dune: The Sisterhood, which will be told through the eyes of a mysterious order of women known as the Bene Gesserit. Given extraordinary abilities by their mastery of the body and the mind, the Bene Gesserit expertly weave through the feudal politics and intrigue of The Imperium, pursuing plans of their own that will ultimately lead them to the enigmatic planet Arrakis, known to its inhabitants as Dune. (Variety)

CASTING NEWS

Veteran actress Geena Davis will have a recurring role on season 3 of the Netflix series GLOW, playing Sandy Devereaux St. Clair, the entertainment director of Las Vegas’ Fan-Tan Hotel and Casino. (Deadline)

Spectrum Originals and Paramount Network have finalized a 10-episode series order for the Southern Gothic mystery series Paradise Lost, a complex and compelling series full of incredible characters, including the small town in Mississippi where it is set. The cast will include Josh Hartnett (Penny Dreadful, Bridget Regan (The Last Ship and Jane the Virgin), veteran actors Barbara Hershey and Nick Nolte. Regan will play a psychiatrist who moves with her family from California to her husband’s (Hartnett) hometown in Mississippi only to uncover shameful secrets that irrevocably change the lives of everyone involved. (Deadline)

The Vampire Diaries alum Paul Wesley will be returning to the CBS All Access anthology drama Tell Me a Story this time playing a new fairy tale based character named Tucker, a struggling novelist who spends his sleepless nights toiling away in a secluded cabin in the woods and his days trying to prove he’s good enough for his beautiful fiancée as a dark secret threatens to destroy his world. (The Hollywood Reporter)

Actor Drew Van Acker (Pretty Little Liars) has joined the cast of DC Universe’s Titans for the show’s upcoming second season, playing the role of Aqualad aka Garth (Tempest), a founding member of the Titans and Aquaman’s eager sidekick who was also born in Atlantis and is a member of the royal court who trained under Aquaman to be a protector of life in and out of the ocean. (TV Insider and Spoiler TV)

That’s it. Enjoy!

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Hey All,

Here are the news items for this past week:

RENEWALS/CANCELLATIONS

Netflix has given Dead to Me a second season order. (Variety)

Syfy has cancelled both Deadly Class and Happy. (Variety)

Amazon has cancelled Sneaky Pete after three seasons. (Variety)

DC Universe has pulled the plug on its all-new Swamp Thing series less than a week after its debut on the streaming service. (TV Line)

Netflix has given Lucifer a renewal for its 5th and final season. (Variety)

The Red Line has been cancelled by CBS after one season. (Deadline)

STRAIGHT TO SERIES ORDER

WarnerMedia’s streaming series has given a straight-to-series order to the drama Tokyo Vice that is based on the Jake Adelstein non-fiction book of the same name that is a first-hand account of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police beat that will star Ansel Elgort as Jake Adelstein, an American journalist who embeds himself into the Tokyo Vice police squad to reveal corruption. The series will chronicle Jake’s daily descent into the neon soaked underbelly of Tokyo, where nothing, and no one is truly what or who they seem. The series has received a 10-episode order. (Variety)

CASTING NEWS

Actor Patrick J. Adams will return for the final season of the long-running legal drama Suits, reprising his role of Mike Ross at mid-season to get involved in a case that will put him toe to toe with his former mentor Harvey Specter (Gabriel Macht) and Samantha Wheeler (Katherine Heigl). Ross left the firm to move to Seattle with his wife, Rachel (Meghan Markle, now the Duchess of Sussex). (Variety)

Actress Elizabeth Banks will star in the upcoming FX limited series Mrs. America that tells the story of the movement to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) and the unexpected backlash led by a conservative woman named Phyllis Schlafly (to be played by Cate Blanchett. Banks will play Jill Ruckelshaus, a pro-choice, socially progressive Republican who was appointed by President Ford to advance women’s rights and fought to keep the Republican Party from being taken over by Phyllis Schlafly and the Religious Right. (Variety)

Actor Jussie Smollett will NOT be returning to the FOX drama Empire. (TV Line)

Actress Elizabeth Hurley (The Royals) will appear in season 3 of the Hulu streaming series Marvel’s Runaways, appearing as villainess Morgan le Fay, a student of Merlin who is considered the greatest sorceress of all time. With a black crow as her familiar and the ability to 1) enchant objects, 2) manipulate mystic energy and 3) astral project, she is powerful and intelligent while also wielding a cut-throat wit. (TV Line)

Actor Ivan Sergei (Crossing Jordan and Charmed) will recur on the revival of Beverly Hills 90210 that is coming to FOX in August. He will play Nate, the husband of Tori Spelling’s character, an ex-hockey player who wants to be a professional sports announcer. (TV Line and Deadline)

That’s it. Enjoy!

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