Rueben's Ramblings

Hey All,

Here are the news items for this past week:

RENEWALS

HBO has renewed the new drama Succession for a second season. (Variety)

Netflix has picked up the recent cancelled FOX drama Lucifer, giving the show a fourth season after all. (TV Line)

CASTING NEWS

Actors Paul Wesley (The Vampire Diaries) and James Wolk (Zoo) and actress Dania Ramirez (Devious Maids and Once Upon a Time) have joined the cast of the CBS All Access series Tell Me A Story, which takes the world’s most beloved fairy tales and reimagines them as a dark and twisted psychological thriller. Wesley will play Eddie, a derelict and troubled individual whose petulance is fueled even more by his problems with drugs and alcohol. Although he works as a bartender, he also splits his time as a low-level drug dealer and part-time thief with his older brother Mitch, who never fails to treat Eddie as the lowly delinquent that he is. Wolk will play Jordan, a young, idealistic and successful NYC restaurateur. When the unimaginable happens, Jordan’s life falls apart and he begins a decent into madness that could cost him everything, even himself. Ramirez will play Hannah, a young Army vet who has returned from the war with scars both inside and out. She comes back to New York City in an attempt to rebuild her life, but when her estranged brother calls for help she finds herself in a deadly chase for survival. (The Futon Critic and Deadline)

Actor Tony Curran (Defiance) has landed a recurring role on Ray Donovan, playing NYPD Sgt. Mikey “Rad” Radulovic, a tough, no-nonsense cop. (The Futon Critic and Deadline)

Actress Danielle Nicolet has been promoted to a series regular on The Flash, where she has been playing Cecile Horton. Actor Hartley Sawyer has also been promoted to series regular where he plays Ralph Dibny. (Deadline and The Futon Critic)

Actress Jean Smart (Designing Women) has joined the cast of the upcoming Bravo anthology series Dirty John, which is based on a popular podcast hosted by Los Angeles Times reporter Christopher Goffard. It will follow John Meehan (Eric Bana) as he romances Debra Newell (Connie Britton), later pulling her into his web of lies. Smart will play Connie’s mom Arlane Hart. (TV Line)

Actor Jesse Rath will be a series regular on the next season of Supergirl while actor Jeremy Jordan will only return on a recurring basis. (TV Line and The Futon Critic)

That’s it. Enjoy!

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Hey All,

Here are the news items for this past week:

RENEWALS/CANCELLATIONS

Freeform has pulled the plug on the fantasy series Shadowhunters. The remainder of show’s current third season, consisting of 12 episodes, will finish in the spring of next year, culminating in a two-hour finale. (Deadline and TV Insider)

Netflix has renewed 13 Reasons Why for a third season. (Variety)

TV Land has given their dramedy Younger a 6th season renewal. (TV Line)

CASTING NEWS

Actress Danielle Campbell (The Originals) has been cast in one of the three lead roles in the CBS All access psychological thriller Tell Me a Story from Kevin Williamson. The cast already includes Kim Catrall (Sex and the City) and Billy Magnussen (Into the Woods and As the World Turns). The series will be set in modern day New York City, taking on the world’s most beloved fairy tales and reimagines them as a dark and twisted psychological thriller. Campbell will play Kayla, who has just moved from Oakland to New York with her dad. She lost her mother a year ago and since then has strayed from her once promising path. Catrall will play Kayla’s grandmother. (Deadline)

Actress Grace Byers (Empire) has landed a role in the FOX drama The Gifted where she will play Reeva, a smart, charming, authoritative, elegant, beautiful woman who is ruthless in her efforts to fight for her people. She will lead an elite band of followers, joining up with Polaris, Andy and The Frost Sisters in the “Inner Circle.” (The Futon Critic)

Actor Adrian Holmes (Arrow) has joined the cast of the upcoming Netflix vampire drama V-Wars where he will star alongside former The Vampire Diaries star Ian Somerhalder. Somerhalder will play Dr. Luther Swann, who enters a world of horror when a mysterious disease transforms his best friend (Holmes) into a murderous predator who feeds on other humans. (Deadline and TV Line)

Actress Lizzy Caplan (Masters of Sex) will star in the Apple streaming series Are You Sleeping that will offer a glimpse into America’s obsession with true-crime podcasts. Caplan will play twin sisters Josie and Lanie, whose lives have taken very different paths. She will star opposite Octavia Spencer (Hidden Figures). (The Hollywood Reporter)

That’s it. Enjoy!

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Hey All,

Here are the news items for this past week:

RENEWALS/CANCELLATIONS

Legion has been given a season three renewal by FX. (Variety)

Bravo has cancelled its drama Imposters after two seasons. (Variety)

The Arrangement has been canceled by E! Entertainment Network after two seasons. (The Futon Critic and Deadline)

Paramount Network has scrapped the drama Heathers. The satirical reboot of the 1980s cult hit film has been shelved at the former Spike TV as Viacom aggressively searches for a new home for the anthology. (The Hollywood Reporter)

Apple has given a straight-to-series order to a half-hour series about 19th century poet Emily Dickinson with actress-singer Hailee Steinfeld in the title role. The series is described as a comedic look into Dickinson’s world, exploring the constraints of society, gender, and family from the perspective of a budding writer who doesn’t fit in to her own time through her imaginative point of view. (Variety)

CASTING NEWS

Actor Kelsey Grammer has joined the cast of the upcoming FOX legal drama Proven Innocent, replacing actor Brian d’Arcy James in the role of Gore Bellows, a hard-as-nails and tough-on-crime state’s attorney. (The Futon Critic)

The Walking Dead actor Andrew Lincoln will leave the long-running series during the show’s upcoming 9th season. (The Futon Critic and Entertainment Weekly)

Actor Jamie Bamber (Battlestar Galactica) has joined the cast of the Cinemax reboot of Strike Back. He will play Col. Alexander Coltrane, the new commanding officer who tasks Section 20 with chasing stolen contents of Russian jet across Southeast Asia. Actress Roxanne McKee will not be returning for the second season. (TV Line)

That’s it. Enjoy!

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Hey All,

Here are the news items for this past week:

RENEWALS/PICK-UPS/CANCELLATIONS

Krypton has been renewed for a second season by Syfy. (The Hollywood Reporter)

The Expanse has officially been picked up at Amazon for a fourth season. (Variety)

CBS has cancelled Code Black after three seasons. (Variety)

The Broadway show Hair will be the next live NBC musical. (Variety)

The 4th season of the Lifetime drama UnReal will actually air on Hulu, but it still may air on Lifetime although it is not expected to return until potentially 2019 IF Lifetime picks it up at all. (The Hollywood Reporter and The Futon Critic)

The spin-off series to the soon-to-be-ending Freeform drama The Fosters, which will focus on Callie (Maia Mitchell) and Mariana (Cierra Ramirez) as they embark on the next phase of their young adult lives in Los Angeles has been given an official title: Good Trouble. (The Futon Critic)

CASTING NEWS

Actress Kim Raver will reprise her role of Dr. Teddy Altman, coming back to Grey’s Anatomy as a series regular for the show’s upcoming fall TV season. (The Hollywood Reporter)

Actor Cheyenne Jackson has joined the cast of the Disney Channel made-for-TV movie Descendants 3, playing Hades, the underworld ruler. The movie is set to debut in 2019. (Deadline)

Movie star Richard Gere will appear in the upcoming BBC drama MotherFatherSon, his first TV role in almost three decades. He will play Max, a charismatic self-made American businessman who owns media outlets in London and around the world. (Variety)

Ryan Reynolds (Deadpool) will appear in the Netflix film Six Underground, the latest action flick from Michael Bay. The film will release in 2019. (Variety)

Actor Zachary Levi (Chuck) will have a recurring role in the 2nd season of the Amazon comedy The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, playing an eclectic Manhattan doctor who suddenly starts orbiting the world of Midge Maisel (series lead Rachel Brosnahan) and her parents, Abe (Tony Shaloub) and Rose Weissman (Marin Hinkle). (Variety)

The HBO pilot Watchmen [from producer Damon Lindelof] has cast Regina King, Don Johnson and Louis Gossett, Jr. [among others]. The exact details of their characters are being kept under wraps, though. (Variety)

Actor John Malkovich (Red) and Rupert Grint (Harry Potter) will appear in the small screen adaptation of the Agatha Christie mystery The ABC Murders that will air on the BBC in Britain and on Amazon in the US. (Variety)

Actor Martin Kove has joined the YouTube Red series Cobra Kai as a series regular. (Deadline)

Actor Ryan Guzman (Heroes Reborn) has joined the cast of the FOX drama 9-1-1, playing a firefighter who joins the firehouse led by Capt. Bobby Nash (series regular Peter Krause). (Deadline)

Veteran Actor James Cromwell will have a major recurring role in the Starz spy thriller Counterpart, playing Yanek, the enigmatic warden of Echo, an underground facility where Howard (J.K. Simmons) finds himself fighting for his life. (Deadline)

Actress Kim Cattrall (Sex and the City) and soap actor Billy Magnussen will star in the CBS All Access series Tell Me a Story that takes the world’s most beloved fairy tales and reimagines them as a dark and twisted psychological thriller. (Deadline)

BOX OFFICE CASTING NEWS

Actors Sam Heughan (Outlander) and Michael Sheen (Masters of Sex) and actress Eiza Gonzalez (Baby Driver) are expected to join Vin Diesel in the box office film Bloodshot based on the comic, which is about a mortally wounded soldier resurrected with cutting-edge nanotechnology and tasked with rounding up super-powered outcasts known as “harbingers.” (Variety)

Actors Tyler Posey (Teen Wolf and Jane the Virgin), KJ Apa (Riverdale) and Maia Mitchell (The Fosters) will air in the box office film The Last Summer, which will follow a group of young adults who spend their “last summer” before college on the precipice; ready to take control of their lives and their futures for the first time. (Deadline)

Actress Caitriona Balfe (Outlander) will appear alongside Christian Bale and Matt Damon in the untitled Ford vs. Ferrari movie, revolving around car manufacturer Ford’s quest to beat Ferrari as the top maker of race cars. Damon will play Carol Shelby, the eccentric engineer who designs from scratch the Ford GT 40, the car that just may win the 1966 Le Mans race, while Bale will play Ken Miles, the hotshot British racer who drives it. Balfe will play Bale’s wife, who is also an accomplished driver. (The Hollywood Reporter)

That’s it. Enjoy!

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Hey All,

Here are the news items for the past week:

RENEWALS/CANCELLATIONS

Lost in Space has been given a second season renewal by Netflix. (Variety)

Freeform has given a second season order to the network’s new drama Siren. (Variety)

TNT has announced that The Last Ship will end after its upcoming fifth season, which will air sometime this summer. (Variety)

The USA Network has cancelled the drama Falling Water after two seasons. (TV By the Numbers)

Amazon has picked up The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel for a third season. (Variety)

SERIES PICK-UP

The cable network EPIX has given a series order to the Batman prequel called Pennyworth that will focus on the early life of Bruce Wayne’s butler and surrogate father Alfred Pennyworth. The series will tell the story of the title character’s time as a former special-forces officer living in London and working for Bruce Wayne’s father, Thomas Wayne. (Variety)

TV NEWS

The CW has announced that the December crossover event between the DC dramas – Arrow, Legends of Tomorrow, The Flash and Supergirl – will involve the introduction of Batwoman as well as the city of Gotham. (The Futon Critic)

Entertainment One, the producers behind the recently canceled ABC series Designated Survivor are reportedly in talks with Netflix for a potential third season of the show. (Deadline and The Futon Critic)

CASTING NEWS

Actress Nicollette Sheridan has been promoted to series regular on The CW series Dynasty when it returns for its second season this fall. (TV Line and The Futon Critic)

Actress Sofia Pernas (The Brave) will star in the CBS summer hour-long series called Blood & Treasure. The show centers on a brilliant antiquities expert, Danny, and a cunning art thief, Lexi (Pernas), who team up to catch a ruthless terrorist who funds his attacks through stolen treasure. As they crisscross the globe hunting their target, they unexpectedly find themselves in the center of a 2,000-year-old battle for the cradle of civilization. The cast includes Katia Winter (Sleepy Hollow) and James Callis (Battlestar Galactica). (Deadline)

That’s it. Enjoy!

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Hey All,

Here are the news items for this past week:

RENEWALS/CANCELLATIONS

Outlander has been a two-season renewal by Starz, taking the show to 6 seasons. Both new seasons will consist of 12 episodes each. (Variety)

YouTube Red has given Cobra Kai a second season renewal. (Variety)

Syfy has pulled the plug on The Expanse after its currently airing third season. (Variety)

NOTE: I will be reporting on all of the upfront presentations for the major networks this coming week, which will elaborate on the renewals and cancellations of existing dramas and the pick-ups of new dramas. In fact, I posted NBC’s fall schedule, details about the new dramas and trailers for the new dramas this afternoon.

TV TO THE STAGE

Actress Melissa Benoist (Supergirl) will star as the lead of Beautiful: The Carole King Musical, which will mark her Broadway debut. The limited run begins June 7 through August 4. (Deadline)

TV CASTING NEWS

Actors Josh Hopkins (Cougar Town) and Lonnie Chavis (young Randall on This Is Us) and actress Jodi Balfour (Rellik and Quarry) are set to recur in the third season of True Detective that will tell the story of a macabre crime in the heart of the Ozarks and a mystery that deepens over decades and plays out in three separate time periods. Hopkins will play Jim Dobkins, a private attorney in Fayetteville, Arkansas involved in deposing state police detectives in an ongoing investigation. Balfour will play Lori, long-term love interest to Det. Roland West. Chavis will play Wayne Hays’ (series lead Mahershala Ali) son at age 9. (Deadline)

Actress Kate Walsh (13 Reasons Why, Private Practice) has joined the cast of the Netflix original series The Umbrella Academy, which is based on the award-winning comic book series by Gerard Way. This will be a live action series, following the estranged members of a dysfunctional family of superheroes – Luther, Diego, Allison, Vanya, Klaus and Number Five – as they work together to solve their adoptive father Reginald Hargreeves’ mysterious death, while coming apart at the seams due to their divergent personalities and abilities. Walsh is set for the recurring role of “The Handler,” a composed and confident leader of a mysterious, bureaucratic company. The cast already includes Ellen Page (Juno), Mary J. Blige (Mudbound), Tom Hopper (Black Sails), Ashley Madekwe (Revenge), and Colm Feore (House of Cards) [among others]. (The Futon Critic)

That’s it. Enjoy!

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Hey All,

Here are the news items for this past week:

RENEWALS

Westworld has been renewed for a third season by HBO. (Variety)

McMafia has been renewed for a second season by BBC One, but the network has not yet made a decision on a renewal. (Deadline)

The Handmaid’s Tale has been given a third season renewal by Hulu. (Variety)

CBS All Access has given The Good Fight a third season order. (Variety)

FOX has renewed Empire for season five. (Variety)

NBC has given New Amsterdam a series order, the first pilot to be picked up for the 2018-2019 TV season. The series is inspired by Bellevue the oldest public hospital in America. It will follow the brilliant and charming Dr. Max Goodwin (Ryan Eggold from The Blacklist), the institution’s newest medical director who sets out to tear up the bureaucracy and provide exceptional care. The cast includes Freema Agyeman (Doctor Who), Janet Montgomery (Salem), Jocko Sims (The Last Ship), Anupam Kher (Sense8) and Tyler Labine (Deadbeat and Reaper). (Variety)

CASTING NEWS

Actor Paul Blackthorne will not be returning to The CW superhero series Arrow for the show’s 7th season this fall. (Entertainment Weekly).

Actress Vanessa Morgan and actor Charles Melton have been promoted to series regulars for the next season on The CW drama Riverdale. (TV Line)

Actress Carrie Coon (Fargo) will appear in the second season of the USA Network series The Sinner, where she will play a formidable, mysterious woman who struggles between upholding the ideals of the community she leads and fulfilling her own desires. (Variety)

Actress Michelle Monaghan (The Path) has been cast in the 10-episode Netflix drama Messiah, which chronicles the world’s reaction to a man (Mehdi Dehbi from Tyrant) who emerges from the Middle East creating a groundswell of followers who claim he is sent from God. Other people question whether he is what they say he is or rather a dangerous fraud bent on dismantling the world’s geopolitical order, causing civil havoc as he beguiles the world’s media and its audience. Monaghan will play Eva Geller, a highly specialized US intelligence officer who pits her wits and years of experience against Al-Masih (Dehbi). (Variety)

Actress and Tony Award winner Laura Benanti (Supergirl) will appear in two episodes of the TV Land dramedy Younger, which returns for its 5th season on June 5. She will play a self-made billionaire named Quinn who pitches a book to Millennial on her every-woman-for-herself approach to business. (TV Line)

That’s it. Enjoy!

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Hey All,

Here are the news items for this past week:

RENEWALS/CANCELLATIONS

Crackle has given the streaming drama The Oath a second season order. (Variety)

Amazon has already given its upcoming Jack Ryan streaming series an 8-episode second season before the first season even debuts, which will happen on August 31. (Variety)

Hulu has canceled the streaming series The Path after three seasons. (Variety)

HBO has canceled drama Here and Now after only one season. (Variety)

Billions have been renewed for a 4th season by Showtime. (Variety)

CASTING NEWS

Actress Katee Sackhoff (Battlestar Galactica) is going back to space on the small screen in the 10-episode sci-fi Netflix series Another Life, which centers on astronaut Niko Breckinridge (Sackhoff) who is focused on searching for alien intelligence. She leads a crew on a mission to explore the genesis of an alien artifact. As Niko and her young crew investigate, they face unimaginable danger on what might very well be a one-way mission. (Deadline)

Actress Lindsay Wagner (the Bionic Woman herself) will appear on Grey’s Anatomy as Helen Karev, the mother of Alex Karev (series regular Justin Chambers). (Deadline)

That’s it. Enjoy!

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Hey All,

Here are the news items for the past week:

CASTING NEWS

Actor Ian Somerhalder (The Vampire Diaries) will be returning to the world of vampires, starring in the 10-episode Netflix series V-Wars, based on the best-selling book by Jonathan Maberry. Somerhalder will star as Dr. Luther Swann, who enters a world of untold horror when a mysterious disease transforms his best friend, Michael Fayne, into a murderous predator who feeds on other humans. As the disease spreads and more people are transformed, society fractures into opposing camps pitting normal people against the growing number of these “vampires.” Swann races against time to understand what’s happening, while Fayne rises to become the powerful underground leader of the vampires. (Deadline)

Actors Cary Elwes (The Princess Bride) and Jake Busey (From Dusk Till Dawn: The Series) have joined the cast of Stranger Things for the Netflix’s hit series third season. Elwes will play Mayor Kline while Busey will play a character named Bruce, a journalist for the The Hawkins Post, with questionable morals and a sick sense of humor. (Variety)

RENEWALS/CANCELLATIONS

CBS announced the following renewals: Blue Bloods, Bull, Hawaii Five-O, Madam Secretary, MacGyver, NCIS: Los Angeles and NCIS: New Orleans. The dramas NCIS, SEAL Team and S.W.A.T. were renewed earlier. No announcement has been made yet for Scorpion or Criminal Minds yet, though. (Variety)

Seven Seconds has been canceled after just one season at Netflix. (Variety)

Taken has been removed from the Friday night line-up as of this past Friday, returning on May 26 (a Saturday), burning off the rest of the show’s second season episodes at 8 PM. While it isn’t official, this move almost assures that the show will be cancelled. (Variety)

Syfy has officially cancelled the horror series Ghost Wars after one season. (Deadline)

The Nat Geo anthology series Genius is getting a third season, which will focus on Frankenstein author Mary Shelley. (Variety)

AWARD WINNERS

Congrats to the following Peabody Award winners: The Handmaid’s Tale, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel and A Series of Unfortunate Events. (The Hollywood Reporter)

That’s it. Enjoy!

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Hey All,

Here are the news items for the past week:

RENEWALS/CANCELLATIONS

BET has cancelled The Quad after two seasons. (Variety)

Jessica Jones has been renewed for a third season by Netflix. (Variety)

CASTING NEWS

Actor Colton Haynes will return to Arrow full time for the show’s 7th season. (The Hollywood Reporter)

Actor Anson Mount (Hell on Wheels) will take on the key role of Captain Christopher Pike in the second season of Star Trek: Discovery. (The Hollywood Reporter)

Actress Susan Sarandon will return to Ray Donovan as Samantha Winslow for the show’s upcoming 6th season. (The Hollywood Reporter)

Actor Kyle Chandler (Friday Night Lights) will take over the role of Colonel Cathcart in the Hulu series Catch-22, taking over the role originally set to be played by George Clooney. Clooney will take on the smaller role of Scheisskoft, a training commander. (Variety)

Actress Peyton List (Gotham and Frequency) and actors Wayne Brady (Whose Line Is It Anyway), Waleed Zuaiter (Altered Carbon) and Graham McTavish (Outlander) have all joined the cast of the USA Network series Colony for the upcoming 3rd season. List will play Amy Leonard, a doctor and member of the San Fernando cell, who embarks on a dangerous journey; Brady will play Everett Kynes, a highly successful tech entrepreneur who has risen in the new world to become the head of the rebuilt Seattle Colony; McTavish will play Andrew MacGregor, the leader of the most successful Resistance camp in what used to be the western United States and Zuaiter will play Vincent, a moral man who finds himself caught in an impossible position while working for a powerful Resistance group. (Deadline and The Futon Critic)

MOVIE CASTING NEWS

Actor Gabriel Luna (Matador and Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.) has been cast as the Terminator in the new version of the James Cameron reboot of the franchise. (Deadline)

Actress Stana Katic (Castle) will appear in the untitled female-driven WW II spy drama based on the real-life spies in Winston Churchill’s secret army. The film will center on British intelligence officer Vera Atkins (Katic) and two of the women she sends to France as spies. (Deadline)

That’s it. Enjoy!

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