Actor Henry Simmons (Ravenswood and NYPD Blue) has landed a recurring role on Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. this fall, playing Alphonso “Mack” Mackenzie, a mechanic in his 30s who will be ally of Coulson’s team. (Marvel.com)
ABC has officially pulled the plug on the limited series Black Box. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)
Actor Matt Long (Private Practice and Jack and Bobby) has joined the cast of the Syfy drama Helix, playing Dr. Kyle Sommer, a world-class toxicologist and the newest member of the CDC team. (The Deadline Team)
Actor Robert Knepper (Prison Break) will reprise his role of the Clock King this time in the Arrow spin-off The Flash. There will also be crossover episodes between the two shows later in the upcoming TV season. (Samantha Highfill at Entertainment Weekly)
Actor David Hoflin (Crossbones) and Julian Works (the upcoming made-for-TV movie The Unauthorized Saved By The Bell Story) have joined the cast of the ABC mid-season drama American Crime that explores the pre-conceived notions about race, crime, and gender in the aftermath of a brutal home invasion and homicide. Hoflin will play Mark Skokie, son of Barb and Russ Skokie (Felicity Huffman and Timothy Hutton) while Works will appear in a multi-episode arc as Edgar, a young man who becomes a friend and protector of Tony (Johnny Ortiz), who gets caught up in the juvenile system. (The Deadline Team)
Actress Lolita Davidovich (The L Word) will appear on FOX’s midseason drama Backstrom as the mother of Thomas Dekker’s character. (Vlada Gelman at TV Line)
Actress Ana Ortiz (Devious Maids and Ugly Betty) will guest star in an upcoming episode of the new ABC drama How to Get Away With Murder; but no details about her character are currently available. (Vlada Gelman at TV Line)
DEVELOPMENT NEWS
CBS has given a pilot order to Austen’s Razor, a drama about a brilliant bioethicist who is called in at crisis moments to solve the most complicated, dynamic and confounding medical issues imaginable. (Vlada Gelman at TV Line)
ONLINE SERIES NEWS
Netflix will stream the BBC drama Happy Valley in the US and Canada, starting on August 20. The six-part drama revolves around the personal and professional life of a hard-working, dedicated police woman in a small town where drunkards, drug addicts and teenage pregnancies are a way of life. Her world is turned upside down when the man she thinks is responsible for her daughter’s death is released from prison. (Vlada Gelman at TV Line)
MADE-FOR-TV MOVIE NEWS
Lifetime is working on a biopic about Hollywood icon Marilyn Monroe that will tentatively be called Marilyn. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)
BOX OFFICE TRAILERS
Q&A SECTION (with Samantha Highfill at Entertainment Weekly)
Question: The coming ‘love’ triangle between Hal/Maggie/Ben has a lot of us on edge. Can you give us any information about Hal and Maggie’s future that can boost our spirits? We need them together! – Nettie
Samantha: I would feel really bad if I had to tell you Hal and Maggie were done, so it’s a good thing I don’t! Sunday’s episode of Falling Skies, which is titled “A Thing With Feathers,” shows the 2nd Mass trying to pick up the pieces after an alien attack. Bad news: That attack leaves Maggie fighting for her life. Good news: It also leaves Hal fighting for Maggie!
Question: On Gotham is there any chance we will see Bane or Ra’s al Ghul and his daughters? —Álaric
Samantha: I can tell you that from seeing the pilot myself, there are quite a few hints at future villains, though sadly, neither Bane nor Ra’s made the cut. And considering how the show focuses on the upbringing of these villains, it seems unlikely we’ll see Bane anytime soon. After all, at least in the comics, he spent his childhood imprisoned outside of the U.S. As far as Ra’s is concerned, at least we know he’s coming to Arrow, right?
Question: I’ve been dying for information on Oliver Queen and Felicity Smoak on Arrow as its third season approaches. It sounds like their date blows up (literally?) and I’m wondering how this affects them for the rest of the season—both romantically and as teammates. I think they’re a fabulous couple and I’m rooting for them to come out of this stronger, together, at the end. —Nancy
Samantha: I fully understand your desire for Olicity scoop. I don’t have any specifics on their explosive first date, but it sounds like there’s something—or should I say someone—else who will play a bigger role in potentially hurting Oliver and Felicity’s relationship this year. Executive producer Andrew Kreisberg talked about how they cast Brandon Routh as Ray Palmer, and how one of the key things they loved was his chemistry with Oliver’s Girl Wednesday. “[Brandon] actually did a chemistry test with Emily [Bett Rickards] and we didn’t have any doubt [before], but when everyone saw that, the two of them just jumped off the screen together. It’s funny because we had a picture of Stephen, Stephen’s headshot, and we had Emily’s headshot, and there was a blank on the board. Once you put Brandon’s up there, you’re like, ‘Oh yeah, these are two guys.’” So perhaps we’re worried about the wrong type of explosion?
Question: Have you got any spoilers about NCIS’ Tony going to NCIS: New Orleans? Or any Tony/McGee spoilers? —Marla
Samantha: One storyline that was being discussed involves Michael Weatherly, Pauley Perrette, and David McCallum all partaking in a crossover. As for the New Orleans show itself, don’t expect it to have the same feel as Washington. The writers are working to really infuse the stories with the local culture, not to mention that the New Orleans office doesn’t have nearly as many resources as Washington. Seriously, we’re talking like three or four people working hard.
Question: I’d love some scoop on Sam in season 10 of Supernatural. Will he be having more of a central role, after being sidelined for much of the last season? Will he be the one who gets to save Dean? Thanks! —Frances
Samantha: Fear not, Sam lovers! Despite Dean having such a big storyline with the whole being-a-demon-now thing, executive producer Jeremy Carver assured me that both brothers will get their share of screen time. “I know there’s always this concern of one brother having the story, one brother not having the story, but both brothers will very much be having stories,” Carver said. “It just so happens that at the beginning of this year, their stories very much revolve around the well-being of each other, which we like.”
Actor James Van Der Beek (Dawson’s Creek and Friends With Better Lives) has joined the cast of the upcoming CBS spin-off series CSI: Cyber. He will play FBI agent Elijah Mundo, an expert in battlefield forensics recruited by Special Agent Avery Ryan (Patricia Arquette). Mundo is a savant in weaponry, vehicles and bombs while Ryan brings her expertise in psychology. (Alex Stedman at Variety)
Actress Aly Michalka (Easy A and Hellcats) will have a recurring role on the mid-season CW series iZombie, based on the DC comic of the same name that centers on med student-turned-zombie Olivia “Liv” Moore (Rose McIver from Once Upon a Time), who takes a job in the coroner’s office to gain access to the brains she must reluctantly eat to maintain her humanity. Michalka will play Peyton, Liv’s best friend, which was a series regular role, played by Alexandra Krosney in the pilot, but changed to recurring. (The Deadline Team)
Actor Michael Beach (Third Watch and Sons of Anarchy) will have a recurring role on the upcoming ABC drama Secrets & Lies that stars Ryan Phillippe as a family man who finds the body of a young boy and quickly becomes the prime murder suspect. Beach will play Jim Fenton, a charming, genuine, trustworthy guy who can make anyone feel at ease. (The Deadline Team)
Actor Kyle MacLachlan (Believe and Twin Peaks) will appear in Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. this fall, playing a character best described as Skye’s (series regular Chloe Bennett) father. The question of Skye’s parentage, including who her mom and dad are, how she ended up at an orphanage and why she is classified as an 0-8-4, loomed large during show’s debut season. (Matt Mitovich at TV Line)
Actress Alysia Reiner (Orange is the New Black) will guest star in an upcoming episode of Hawaii Five-0, playing an FBI agent who works with McGarrett on an upcoming case with a dangerous man. (Vlada Gelman at TV Line)
Actress Morena Baccarin (Homeland and Firefly) will reprise her role as Erika Flynn, a sexy sociopath, on The Mentalist when the series returns during mid-season on CBS. (Vlada Gelman at TV Line)
DEVELOPMENT NEWS
The HBO drama Pilot Westworld that already includes Anthony Hopkins and Evan Rachel Wood has added more to its cast, including Jeffrey Wright (Boardwalk Empire), Rodrigo Santoro (300 and Lost), Shannon Woodward (Raising Hope), Ingrid Bolsø Berdal (Hercules), Angela Sarafyan (The Good Guys), and Simon Quarterman (The Devil Inside). (The Deadline Team)
BOX OFFICE NEWS
Actor Lee Pace (Pushing Daisies and Halt and Catch Fire) will star in the sci-fi thriller called Prisoner Of War, a story about an American soldier and a French foreign aid worker who team up in Africa amid humankind’s last stand against a cataclysmic alien invasion. (Jen Yamato at Deadline)
Actors Ian McShane (Deadwood) and Nelsan Ellis (True Blood) have joined the upcoming biopic called Bolden that will focus on legendary musician Buddy Bolden (Gary Carr from Downton Abbey), who is considered by many as the father of jazz. (The Deadline Team)
Actress Alice Eve (Star Trek Into Darkness) will join actors Kevin Costner, Gary Oldman, Tommy Lee Jones and Ryan Reynolds in the CIA thriller flick Criminal that is about a dangerous and unpredictable criminal who finds himself in unfamiliar territory when a dead CIA operative’s skills, secrets and memories are implanted into his brain, with the government agency hoping that he will finish the mission for them. (Linda Ge at The Wrap)
BOX OFFICE TRAILER
Q&A SECTION (with Matt Mitovich at TV Line)
Question: Do you have any scoop about Once Upon a Time’s Belle that doesn’t involve Rumplestiltskin’s dagger? –Natalie
Mitovich: What if I told you that we just may get to see some of Belle’s life before she met Rumplestiltskin.
Question: In Season 10 on NCIS, we finally met McGee’s dad. Will we see him this season or at least get an update on his cancer? –Linda
Mitovich: “I don’t know if we’ll see McGee’s dad or not,” show boss Gary Glasberg said when I brought your question to him, “but we’ll certainly revisit that storyline.”
Question: I’ve heard a rumor that Emily Wickersham (Bishop) will only be back for a couple of NCIS episodes in Season 12. Can you confirm or deny? –Antonia
Mitovich: Let’s dismiss this tall tale, seeing as the show has plans to explore the probie’s past and personal life. Says Gary Glasberg, “We’ll be getting into Bishop’s background a little and meet her husband Jake, understand what their relationship is all about.”
Question: Any scoop at all about the second season of Sleepy Hollow? –Advanteege
Mitovich: When Abbie goes to vote in a November election, Ichabod must take note of the remarkable occasion. “What I like about this moment is it is special for both of them,” says EP Mark Goffman. “Crane, seeing how our society has gotten to the point where [blacks] can actually vote, and having a point of view about that fact that no one is at the polling station. And also the fact that Abbie can vote. It took two constitutional amendments before Abbie got the right to vote.”
Question: Do you have any scoop on Syfy’s Defiance, especially regarding Nolan and Irisa? –Mena
Mitovich: Yes, but no – because this piece of news is about the show’s other dysfunctional family. Ingenue Amy Forsyth, who just landed a gig on MTV’s Scream pilot, will appear in an end-of-season arc as Andina, a Castithan who unwittingly becomes entwined in Tarr family politics.
Question: On Major Crimes, are we going to discover Dr. Morales’ first name? –Ilona
Mitovich: Series creator James Duff likes how you think, Ilona! “If you guys really want to know Dr. Morales’ first name, I will give him a first name,” he told me. “Jonny [Del Arco] has come to me a couple of times and said, ‘Can I have a name?’ — it’s like that episode in Voyager when The Doctor tells Janeway, ‘I’d just like to have a name’ — so I’m thinking about how to introduce it and what the name will be. You know, it took me six seasons to give Provenza a first name! I just wouldn’t do it.”
Question: Please, please, give me anything you´ve got on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Season 2! –Ana
Mitovich: I can confirm the rumblings started over at io9 that Adrian Pasdar and a big, fake mustache will reprise the role of Colonel Glenn Talbot in the season opener.
Question: When can we expect to get some details on why and how the kidnapping went down on Finding Carter? –Bruce
Mitovich: Before the MTV drama directly addresses the kidnapping, we’re going to see a little more of Carter’s life with Lori, beginning this Tuesday. “You keep seeing flashbacks of things Lori did, and they start to seem a bit weird,” star Kathryn Prescott teases. “There’s a scene where they’re looking at babies, and Lori asks Carter which one she wants, but Carter doesn’t get that there’s more to the joke. Over the course of the episode, Carter starts to think, ‘Maybe Lori’s not who I thought she was.’”
The upcoming Syfy drama 12 Monkeys (based on the 1995 Bruce Willis-Brad Pitt film) has added some actors in recurring roles. They include actor Lyriq Bent (Rookie Blue) as Dr. Henri, a brilliant and cutting edge virologist; actor Todd Stashwick (The Originals) as Deacon, the cunning leader of a brutal band of scavengers in the year 2043 called The West 7 and actor Demore Barnes (The Unit and Hemlock Grove) as Whitley, one of the last remaining soldiers of the American military in 2043. The series will star actor Aaron Stanford (Nikita) and actress Amanda Schull (Suits and Center Stage) as a man sent from the future to stop a plague and the current-day scientist who helps him in that endeavor. The series is expected to have a January 2015 premiere. (Matt Mitovich at TV Line)
Actress Angelique Cabral (Enlisted) will guest star in the FOX mid-season drama Backstrom that stars Rainn Wilson (The Office) in the lead role. Cabral will play Samantha Orland, a Fire Bureau investigator who calls Backstrom and his team to help her stop a serial arsonist who is preying on high-end homes in Portland. (Tierney Bricker at E! Online)
Actress Monique Curnen (Lie to Me) will have a recurring role on Person of Interest, playing Captain Felicia Moreno, Fusco’s (series regular Kevin Chapman) latest boss at the 8th precinct. (Matt Mitovich at TV Line)
NOTE: This is the same actor who played Matthew Crawley on Downton Abbey. Be prepared for a VERY different character!!
Q&A SECTION (with Natalie Abrams at TV Guide and Michael Ausiello at TV Line)
Question: Do you know if Once Upon a Time’s Frozen adaptation takes place before or after the movie? — Dave
Natalie: A little bit of both, actually. “There may be some things with the parents we didn’t know about pre-Arendelle,” executive producer Edward Kitsis tells me. Well, that takes care of the flashbacks for the season! As for present-day Storybrooke, it’s pretty obvious that, with Elsa in her Frozen duds, her escape from the urn comes after the movie. “What happened to her to get her into that urn and what was going on in her life at that point is what’s going to be revealed and what’s going to be pushing the story forward,” executive producer Adam Horowitz says. “Hopefully you’ll find that there will be some cool surprising connections between Arendelle and our world.” Question: Will Castle have amnesia on Castle? — Crystal, via Twitter
Natalie: Unlikely. In fact, given creator Andrew W. Marlowe’s refusal to characterize the events of the season finale as a “near-death experience,” we’re not certain Castle was even seriously injured. But Castle will certainly need all his wits to piece together exactly what’s happened and why. “There are going to be some unanswered questions and some really great mysteries that Castle himself is going to be investigating moving forward,” executive producer David Amann teases. Adds Marlowe: “Why does he do what does? Why is he interested in murder? What has gone on in his past? These are rich questions we haven’t really explored.” Pretty hard to do some soul-searching if you can’t remember anything!
Question: Is there any chance that Ressler and Liz will get together on The Blacklist? — Jon
Natalie: Don’t hold your breath. The producers want to spend more time getting to know the man before they actually pair him up with Liz. Then again… “In doing that, [we’ll] put him in emotionally vulnerable places,” executive producer John Eisendrath says. “By putting him in those positions, it will give Liz an opportunity to reach out to him and support him in a way that will deepen their relationship.” Unfortunately, some of the ways Ressler is coping with the horrors of last season might be a turn-off.
Question: Any scoop on Arrow? —Seana, via Twitter
Natalie: The third season will explore themes of identity, but that won’t just apply to Oliver and his struggle between being a man and being a hero, according to executive producer Marc Guggenheim. “For Thea: Am I Thea Queen or am I Thea Merlyn?” he says. “With Diggle: Am I sidekick or am I my own man? Felicity: Do I exist outside the lair? Do I exist as something more than just Oliver’s crush object? Lance: If I’m confined to a desk job, am I still a cop? Laurel: Am I Laurel or am I my sister? Or can I be my sister?” Let’s hope the answer to that last question is yes!
Question: Can you tell us anything about this new woman that Tony will meet this season on NCIS? —Mel
Ausiello: As previously reported, the woman due to enter DiNozzo’s life will do so via a case, and as such his dynamic with her will be “completely different” than what he shared with NCIS colleague Ziva David, show boss Gary Glasberg tells us. “The trick will be casting somebody where the chemistry [with Michael Weatherly] is there, but we’re excited about the opportunity,” Glasberg adds. “We’ll give it a shot and see what we can do.”
Question: Please give us scoop on Jude and Connor from The Fosters before Season 2A ends! —Julius
Ausiello: I will do nothing of the sort! Instead, I can offer you fresh details on the major new love interest the show is introducing for — apologies in advance, Jesus — Emma. His name’s Gabe, he will first air in the Season 2B premiere, he’s a charismatic, easy-on-the-eyes Latino student from a rival school, and, last and most importantly, he’s a fellow wrestler. Gabe becomes infatuated with Emma, and he’s not the least bit concerned about a certain ex-factor. (Again, deepest sympathies Jesus.)
Question: In a previous Falling Skies promo, we saw Ben and Maggie kissing. Any news when this is gonna be shown? —JustinAnn
Ausiello: In the time since you sent this in, that “dream” hook-up has already aired. But what if I told you a real lip-lock ‘tween the two was on the horizon…?
Question: Any scoop on 24‘s return? Comic-Con came and went with no announcement. Are we getting more or has Jack Bauer finally run out of time? —Matthew
Ausiello: All signs point to more 24, but probably not until the 2015-16 season at the earliest. Everyone connected with the stellar Live Another Day — namely, Kiefer Sutherland and his fellow EPs — are taking a little breather.
Question: So I shamelessly binged both Seasons 1 and 2 of Orphan Black last week, and now I’m in Clone Club withdrawal. Got any details on next season? —Syd
Ausiello: Oh, do I. I’ve been saving my exclusive Comic-Con Q&A with EPs Graeme Manson and John Fawcett for a special occasion, and I think the first Ask Ausiello of August qualifies as such. In the following video, the pair not only (sorta) confirm that trans clone Tony will make a reappearance in Season 3, but they share behind-the-scenes scoop on how Tatiana Maslany was able to perfect the character’s deep, masculine voice (spoiler alert: she had help!)
Question: Do you have any Once Upon a Time scoop that isn’t related to the Frozen storyline? —Katia
Ausiello: I think so…? For Season 4’s fourth episode, the ABC series is casting the role of an elderly, grizzled and unflappable knight who for many, many years has dedicated himself to serving a righteous cause. Anyone else getting a Holy Grail vibe from this…?
Question: Any chance we are going to get a Laurel and Felicity friendship on Arrow, now that Laurel knows the secret, instead of some ridiculous catty girl nonsense? —Samantha
Ausiello: EP Marc Guggenheim says that with Laurel now in on everyone’s secret, the dynamic between her and Felicity will be “a lot of fun” — and decidedly not in a catty way. “These characters [including Sara] should all be more than just who they are to Oliver,” Guggenheim notes. “We’re always trying to flesh out Felicity’s character and Laurel’s character and Sara’s character beyond whether or not they’re going out with Oliver that week.”
Question: Any cool Crane-Abbie moments coming up on Sleepy Hollow? —Jeff
Ausiello: I haven’t seen the Season 2 premiere yet, but exec producer Mark Goffman promises the Sept. 22 opener contains a “pretty shocking moment in purgatory” between the two, adding, “I don’t think anyone’s going to see it coming.”
Question: Just wondering if I can get any spoilers on season 2 of Reign. Especially if any of those spoilers feature Francis. — Michelle
Ausiello: I hope you like demons because Francis has plenty of them. “When Henry died, he talked about what it was like to take a life — it’s a big weight you carry with you,” executive producer Laurie McCarthy says. “One of the things you’re going to see this season is that Francis is carrying that weight; he’s carrying that guilt from killing his father. It was a justified killing, but a killing nonetheless.”
Actor David Cubitt (Medium) will appear in episode three of Arrow’s third season, playing Mark Shaw (who becomes Manhunter). (Philiana Ng at The Hollywood Reporter)
Actress Joelle Carter (Justified) will guest star in the new NBC thriller Constantine this fall, playing Jasmine Fell, a beautiful but damaged ex-model and back-up singer who is married to a rock star. (Michael Ausiello at TV Line)
Actor Adam Campbell (Mixology and Touch) will play the younger version of Dr. Donald “Ducky” Mallard on NCIS this fall in a flashback episode. (Jim Halterman at TV Fanatic)
MTV has announced the cast for the network’s upcoming small screen adaptation of Scream. The young stars include Willa Fitzgerald (Royal Pains), Amy Forsyth (Defiance), Carlson Young (Pretty Little Liars) and newcomers John Karna and Amadeus Serafini. Fitzgerald will play Emma Duval, popular but shy and intelligent; Forsyth will play Emma’s former best friend, the artistic loner Audrey; Karna plays Noah, Audrey’s best friend; Young will play Brooke, the leader of the popular clique and Serafini will play Kierna, the mysterious new kid. (Linda Ge at The Wrap)
Actor Eddie McClintock (Warehouse 13) will appear in the FOX mid-season drama Backstrom, playing Lt. Sam D’Agostino, a neighborhood bully who grew up with Backstrom (Rainn Wilson). (Vlada Gelman at TV Line)
DEVELOPMENT NEWS
Syfy is developing a pilot for Ghost Brigades, which is based on the John Scalzi “Old Man’s War” book series. The potential series would follow John Perry, who at 75 enlists into the Colonial Defense Force to fight a centuries-long war for man’s expansion into the cosmos. Technology allows experiences and consciousness to be transplanted into younger bodies that are outfitted to endure the harsher rigors of war in space. However, soon after John arrives, he finds himself involved with a mysterious woman, and at the same time, at the center of an unraveling conspiracy involving an elite fighting force known as The Ghost Brigades. (The Deadline Team)
MINI-SERIES NEWS
Actor Avan Jogia (Twisted and Victorious) has landed the lead role in the Spike TV mini-series Tut, playing Tutankhamun (King Tut). He will star alongside Sir Ben Kingsley. The mini is expected to air sometime in 2015. (Lesley Goldberg at The Hollywood Reporter)
BOX OFFICE TRAILER
Q&A SECTION (with Kristin Dos Santos at E! Online)
Question: Got any scoop to share on Pretty Little Liars? – Lauren D.
Kristin: Will Bradley (The Normal Heart) has been cast as a new character that Spencer will be spending some time with in Rosewood this season. He’s a painter named Johnny Raymond who is cute, edgy and charismatic. I’m told he will first appear in episode 15 (set to air in 2015), and will be sticking around for a little bit (at least three episodes, we’re hearing), mostly interacting with our brainiest Liar.
Question: Saw your tweet about Outlander….welcome to the club! I have seen episode one online. Where does it go from there? – Free2beG
Kristin: It’s a slow burn, and you need to be patient, but the show is GORGEOUS and impeccably well done, and I am so in. The tension/action really ratchets up by the end of episode 6, to the point where I was literally hunched over into a ball watching it with one eye open.
Question: Supernatural. Please. – Sarah
Kristin: Even though Dean’s a demon now, Jared Padalecki promises that Sam’s resolve to find and help his brother is unwavering. “I think seeing his brother as a demon will actually stiffen his resolve since he knows that it wasn’t his brother’s choice,” Padalecki reveals. “When Sam finds out—and he does find out—he doesn’t think it’s Dean’s fault. He doesn’t know if it’s the Mark of Cain, or Crowley, or something else entirely but when he sees what’s happened with his brother, he feels as if someone has wronged his brother and it steels his resolve to fix things.” Now that’s the Sam Winchester we all know and love!
Question: Update me on my favorite TV couple: NCIS: LA’s Deeks and Kensi! – Christina
Kristin: “There’s a lot of love between these characters, whether they’ve established it as being a romantic love or sexual tension or friendship or brotherly and sisterly love,” Daniela Ruah spills. “There’s obviously a really strong connection between these characters and we’ll have to keep watching the build or destruction of the relationship.” Translation: Prepare for more will-they-or-won’t-they goodness.
Actor Peter MacNicol (Numb3rs) will be a series regular on the upcoming CBS spin-off CSI: Cyber that will star Patricia Arquette as Special Agent Avery Ryan, who heads the Cyber Crime Division of the FBI, a unit at the forefront of solving illegal activities that start in the mind, live online, and play out in the real world. MacNicol will play Ryan’s supervisor, Assistant Director Stavros Sifter, a career FBI insider and savvy networker who quickly rose up the ranks and positioned himself in a job where he is the clearinghouse between FBI Cyber and all other branches of government. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)
Actress Natalie Zea (The Following and Justified) will star in the upcoming ABC series Members Only, an upstairs/downstairs drama set at an exclusive Connecticut country club, centering on the club’s leisure-class members and the working-class employees that make the place tick. Zea will play the beautiful, pedigreed, well-educated Mickey, the most together member of the Club’s founding family. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)
BOX OFFICE NEWS
Here are the top 10 box office movies from this past weekend courtesy of Box Office Mojo:
1. Guardians of the Galaxy – 94 million
2. Lucy – 18.3 million
3. Get On Up – 14 million
4. Hercules – 10.7 million
5. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes – 8.7 million
6. Planes: Fire & Rescue – 6.4 million
7. The Purge: Anarchy – 5.5 million
8. Sex Tape – 3.5 million
9. And So It Goes – 3.34 million
10. A Most Wanted Man – 3.32 million
Actress Jennifer Connelly will join actor Ewan McGregor in the upcoming box office film American Pastoral that is being adapted from the screenplay by John Romano that follows Seymour “Swede” Levov, a legendary high school athlete, who grows up to marry a former beauty queen and inherits his father’s business. Swede’s seemingly perfect life shatters when his daughter rebels by becoming a revolutionary and commits a deadly act of political terrorism during the Vietnam War. (Jeff Sneider at The Wrap)
Actor Viggo Mortensen will star in the upcoming film called Captain Fantastic, a comedy-drama (not a superhero flick) that follows an idealistic father (Mortensen) who, after a decade of living off the grid in the forests of the Pacific Northwest, must return with his six young kids and assimilate back into society. The cast will include Steve Zahn (Dallas Buyers Club), Kathryn Hahn (Tomorrowland), Missi Pyle (Gone Girl), and Erin Moriarty (True Detective). (Nancy Tartaglione at Deadline)
Actress Charlotte Ross (NYPD Blue) will appear in a November episode of Arrow, playing Felicity Smoak’s (series regular Emily Bett Rickards) mother. It is unclear, though, whether it will be a scene set in present day or a flashback. (Natalie Abrams at TV Guide and Matt Mitovich at TV Line)
Actor David Zayas (Dexter) will have a recurring role in the upcoming FOX drama Gotham, playing mob boss Salvatore Maroni, one of the city’s most dangerous gangsters. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)
DEVELOPMENT NEWS
Actress Ellen Pompeo is teaming with ABC Family to adapt the 2013 novel “Debt” by Rachel Carey into a potential series for the cable network. The story follows Lillian, a woman in her 20s, who works as an SAT tutor to try to pay off her college loans and explores how everyone she knows — even her tutee’s billionaire father — is in somebody’s debt. ABC Family is targeting older women in an attempt to be perceived as a young-adult network rather than one that caters to families with kids. (Lesley Goldberg at The Hollywood Reporter)
BOX OFFICE MOVIE NEWS
Actor Joseph Fiennes (FlashForward) and Tom Felton (Murder In the First) will star in the upcoming early first-century epic film called Clavius that will be told through the eyes of an agnostic Roman Centurion (Fiennes) charged by Pontius Pilate to investigate rumors of a risen Messiah and locate the missing body of Jesus of Nazareth in order to subdue an uprising in Jerusalem. Along the Centurion’s high-stakes mission, his doubts of such a supernatural occurrence are challenged as he encounters the Apostles and other historical characters while piecing together the mysterious events that unfolded after the crucifixion. (Mike Fleming, Jr. at Deadline)
COMIC CON 2014 TRAILER
Q&A SECTION (with Samantha Highfill from Entertainment Weekly)
Question: I want to hear how involved Hook will be in the Once Upon a Time storyline this season! —Jordan
Samantha: How about some Frozen scoop instead? This season, we’ll be traveling back in time to Elsa’s kingdom of Arendelle to find out how, exactly, she became a prisoner of Rumplestiltskin—and how Anna and Kristoff fit into the fold.
Question: Do you have any Witches of East End scoop? —Chelsea
Samantha: Here’s what I can tell you: Having characters with past lives has its perks (aka endless story opportunities), and fans can get ready to explore one of Freya’s past lives with the hunk of all hunks, Killian. As for Ingrid, she’s also bonding with someone—the Mandragora. And the bond is only getting stronger.
Question: Got any scoop on Stiles and Lydia from Teen Wolf? —Amy
Samantha: Executive producer Jeff Davis gives some information about the next episode that could definitely affect the couple. Let’s just say that the episode is titled “Weaponized,” and it brings in a brand new assassin called The Chemist. According to Davis, the episode “will also include a crucial moment between Stiles and Malia that may threaten to destroy their relationship.”
Question: I’m always looking forward to some scoop on #BATB. Where will the show go from the S2 finale with Vincent & Catherine? —Val
Samantha: For starters, CW president Mark Pedowitz let it be known that season 3 of Beauty and the Beast will pick up a couple months later, with Cat and Vincent out in public. That’ll change their dynamic in terms of finding cases and working together. Speaking of working together: Vincent will get his medical license back.
Tony Award winner Laura Benanti (Royal Pains) will recur on several episodes of Nashville this fall, playing Sadie Stone, an up-and-coming artist in the country music biz. (Andy Swift at TV Line)
Actor Warren Kole (Common Law and The Following) will have a recurring role on this fall’s new CBS drama Stalker that stars Dylan McDermott and Maggie Q as detectives from the Threat Assessment Unit who investigate cases of stalking. Kole will play Detective Trent Wilkes, a lead detective in the Robbery Homicide Division of the LAPD who gets into a turf war with Jack (McDermott). (The Deadline Team)
Actress Bella Thorne (Shake It Up) will guest star on CSI as a popular high school student who becomes the prime suspect in the murder of a classmate. (E! Online and Vlada Gelman at TV Line)
Actress Teri Polo (The Fosters) will have the lead role in the upcoming made-for-TV movie from the Hallmark Movies and Mysteries Channel entitled The Christmas Shepherd. She will play Sally Browing, a children’s book author and illustrator who’s devastated when her beloved German Shepherd, Buddy, runs away during a thunderstorm. Buddy miraculous ends up in Boston with Mark Green (Martin Cummins from When Calls the Heart and Dark Angel) and his teenage daughter who are recovering from losing his wife and her mother three years ago. Sally connects with Mark and Emma in her search for Buddy and everyone is given the best Christmas present possible, the gift of Love. (The Deadline Team)
BOX OFFICE NEWS
Actor-dancer-singer Harry Shum, Jr. (Glee) has landed one of the lead role in the sequel to Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon that will be set 20 years after the events of the original film, revolving around four heroes of the martial arts world – Silent Wolf (Donnie Yen), Yu Shu-lien (Michelle Yeoh), Tie-Fang (Shum Jr.) and Snow Vase — who must use their courage and skills to keep the legendary sword Green Destiny from the hands of the villainous Hades Dai. (Heat Vision and Dark Horizons)
Actress Elle Fanning (Maleficent) will star as Frankenstein author Mary Shelley in the period film A Storm in the Stars that will tell the story of the passionate love affair between charismatic poet Percy Shelley and the well-educated 17-year-old Mary Wollstonecraft (Fanning). A year later, after they were married, she would pen one of history’s most famed literary works, Frankenstein. (The Hollywood Reporter and Dark Horizons)
Actor Simon Kassianides (Nikita) will recur on Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., playing Bakshi, a right-hand man who’s not afraid to do the dirty work. (Tierney Bricker at E! Online)
Actress Elena Satine (Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.) has landed a major recurring role on Revenge this fall, playing Louise, the black sheep daughter of a wealthy Southern family who will stir up trouble when she finds herself out east. (Deadline and Matt Mitovich at TV Line)
Actress Allison Williams (Girls) will star as Peter Pan in the upcoming NBC live musical production of the classic stage show, which will air on December 4. (Chris Harnick at E! Online)
Actress Claire Holt (The Originals) will star in the upcoming NBC drama Aquarius as a series regular. The show will be set in the 60’s, starring David Duchovny as an undercover cop tracking down infamous killer Charles Manson and his followers. She will play Office Chairmain Tully, a beautiful young female police officer who is trying to be taken seriously in the male-dominated world of the LAPD in 1967. (Tierney Bricker at E! Online)
Actress Kelly Frye (Rake) will appear on The Flash this fall as Bette Sans Souci, aka Plastique, who was a bomb disposal expert in Iraq who, following exposure to the energy released by the S.T.A.R. Labs meltdown, now has the ability to turn any object she touches into an explosive device. (Tierney Bricker at E! Online)
VH1 has given their drama Hit The Floor a third season renewal. (The Futon Critic)
Actor J.R. Ramirez (Emily Owens, MD) will appear in the potentially recurring role of Ted “Wildcat” Grant on Arrow this fall. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)
Actor Tom Lipinski (who played Mike’s former roommate on Suits) has been promoted to series regular on the upcoming Cinemax 1900’s-set period drama The Knick that will debut on August 8. Lipinski will play Phillip Showalter, a charming and aristocratic young man whose father is a millionaire rubber king. The series stars Clive Owen and centers on the Knickerbocker Hospital and the groundbreaking surgeons, nurses and staff who push the bounds of medicine in a time of astonishingly high mortality rates and zero antibiotics. (The Deadline Team)
Actor Tiffany Hines (Nikita and Bones) will have a recurring role on the new USA Network medical drama Rush that follows Dr. William Rush, a medical fixer, who privately caters to LA’s elite. Hines will play Steffi, an expert at drumming up drama and chaos in any situation. (The Deadline Team)
Actor Mark Valley (Human Target and Body of Proof) will recur on CSI, as a former detective/current P.I. (Entertainment Weekly and Kimberly Roots at TV Line)
Stage and screen actress Donna Murphy (Tangled) will have a recurring role on Resurrection as a mysterious government agent who will be in charge of monitoring Agent Bellamy (series lead Omar Epps) and the activities in Arcadia. (Philiana Ng at The Hollywood Reporter)
Actress Krysten Ritter (Veronica Mars) will guest star in an upcoming episode of The Blacklist, playing a troubled data security firm analyst. (Matt Mitovich at TV Line)
DEVELOPMENT NEWS
Syfy has a new futuristic thriller in development called Absolute Zero that will be set in 2124, following the denizens of a remote mining colony who discover a dangerous new species on a moon of Jupiter, setting off the first stage of an alien invasion ultimately heading for Earth. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)
Warner Bros. has optioned the book series Dragonriders of Pern by author Anne McCaffrey for the big screen. The 22-volume sci-fi book series focuses on an elite group of warriors who take to the skies on the backs of giant, fire-breathing dragons with telepathic powers. They try to save the exotic planet of Pern from a terrifying airborne menace — a rain of deadly spores that comes with the orbit of the Red Star. (Anita Busch and Mike Fleming, Jr. at Deadline)
Q&A SECTION (with Natalie Abrams at TV Guide)
Question: Do Anna and Elsa have a connection to any of our favorite Once Upon a Time characters? — Nathan
Natalie: You mean other than Elsa having been locked up in Rumple’s vault all those years? It sure sounds like it! “Maybe there is an unlikely friendship that Charming had in his past that maybe literally changed the entire path of his life,” Josh Dallas told me at Comic-Con when I asked the exact same question. Safe money is on him being friends with Anna over Elsa, though.
Question: I’m so excited to see Mary-Louise Parker on The Blacklist. Do you know anything about her role? — Harold
Natalie: Talk about being guilty by association! Parker’s character, Naomi Hyland, has such a deep connection to Red’s past that she’ll find herself in Berlin’s crosshairs when the NBC drama returns for Season 2. In other Blacklist news, I hear Liz won’t waste much time officially cutting ties to faux-husband Tom Keen — though there’s at least one part of him she won’t be able to shed.
Question: I still can’t believe someone is going to die on Chicago Fire! What else can you say about Season 3? — Mitch
Natalie: Executive producer Matt Olmstead hints that the loss will be especially devastating for Chief Boden. “[He’s] at the pinnacle of being happy in his life — [he] just got married, a baby on the way — and then this tragedy happens,” he says. “So, he’s trying to stay present in these great moments in his life while also dealing with the grief of other people, and himself in particular.” Can’t we just pretend no one is going to die?
Question: Anything on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., specifically how Ward might factor into the first couple of episodes? —Mary, via Twitter
Natalie: Don’t worry, Ward will still play a big role in Season 2 — as will Hydra. “He spent his whole life being a follower and being told what to do,” executive producer Maurissa Tancharoen tells me. “Now he’s in our custody and alone, so what does that mean for him? Season 2 is Ward continuing to discover what he wants.”
Question: Is Irving out of the fight now that he’s stuck in Tarry Town Psychiatric Hospital on Sleepy Hollow? — Tara
Natalie: Nope. In fact, he’ll play a pivotal role in the new season, what with his battling demons and all! “He’s up against forces that are incredibly powerful,” executive producer Mark Goffman says. “As we find out, Tarry Town Psychiatric has a history with ghosts. Since it’s a mental institution, they’re not just ghosts, they’re crazy ghosts. He’s got his hands full. Over the course of the season, he will help lead a rebellion.”
Question: Thank you so much for all the Arrow scoop lately! Any more tidbits lying around?
Natalie: Oliver’s list is gone! Stephen Amell revealed to me that when Arrow returns for Season 3, Ollie will be busy picking off all the major crime bosses, whose names are now kept neatly organized on a board in his lair. That could problematic when Ray Palmer (Brandon Routh) comes into the picture. “We both bid for Queen Consolidated in the season premiere,” Amell says. “Spoiler alert: He gets it.”
So, Comic Con 2014 came to an end on Sunday afternoon and I spend nearly all of Monday and part of today putting together the following list of news that includes trailers shown at Comic Con and so much more:
TELEVISION
Actress Lucy Lawless (Xena and Spartacus) and actor Reed Diamond (Dollhouse) will appear on Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. this fall. The character that Lawless will play is being kept under wraps while Diamond will play Hyrda villain Daniel Whitehall, the big bad of season two. (Chris Harnick at E! Online and Natalie Abrams at TV Guide)
Actress-singer Lea Michele (Glee) will guest star on an episode of Sons of Anarchy, playing Gertie, an empathetic truck stop waitress and single mother, who connects with Gemma during a difficult time. (Chris Harnick at E! Online)
Teen Wolf has been renewed by MTV for a 20 episode fifth season. Also, actor Dylan Sprayberry, who plays new werewolf Liam, will be a series regular for that new season. (Tierney Bricker at E! Online)
Actress Michelle Fairley (Game of Thrones and 24: Live Another Day) will have a season-long arc on the returned ABC drama Resurrection this fall, playing Margaret Langston, the formidable matriarch of the Langston clan, the mother of Henry and Fred (Kurtwood Smith, Matt Craven), and dead for over three decades, she will reappear in Arcadia as one of the returned. (The Futon Critic)
Actress Mary-Louise Parker (Weeds) will have a recurring role on The Blacklist this fall, recurring as a character named Naomi Highland, but no other details have been released. (Dominic Patten at Deadline)
Actors Jonathan Pryce (Pirates of the Caribbean franchise) and Alexander Siddig (Da Vinci’s Demons) have been added to the cast of Game of Thrones for the show’s upcoming season. Pryce will play the High Sparrow, a pious man whose fellow believers have swarmed King’s Landing, ministering to the lowest and decrying the corruption of the highest. Meanwhile, Siddig will play Doran Martell, Oberyn’s older brother. (Dominic Patten at Deadline and Dark Horizons)
Actor Michael Landes (The New Adventures of Lois & Clark) will star in the ABC straight-to-series drama Members Only (formerly The Club) that is an upstairs/downstairs drama set at a private country club. He will play Malcolm, an athletic, charming, recently-widowed pediatrician and father of two who has mixed feelings about the Club. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)
Actress Portia de Rossi (Arrested Development) will have a recurring role on Scandal this fall, playing a role that is “top secret”. (The Deadline Team)
Actress Meaghan Rath (Being Human) will have a recurring role on the upcoming ABC mystery series Secrets & Lies that is based on the Australian series that will star Ryan Phillippe as a family man who finds the body of a young boy and quickly becomes the prime murder suspect. Rath will play Nicole, the younger but more mature sister of Jess (Natalie Martinez from Under the Dome). Also actress Melissa Gilbert will play Lisa Daly, a loving and hardworking mom taking care of her two sons on her own. (The Deadline Team and Lesley Goldberg at The Hollywood Reporter)
Actor Anthony Hopkins and actress Evan Rachel Wood will play the leads in the new HBO drama Westworld that is inspired by Michael Crichton’s 1973 sci-fi movie set at an amusement park that is a dark odyssey about the dawn of artificial consciousness and the future of sin. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)
Actress Elisabeth Rohm (Law & Order) has a landed a series regular role in the new CBS fall thriller Stalker that stars Dylan McDermott (The Practice) and Maggie Q (Nikita) as detectives from the Threat Assessment Unit who investigate cases of stalking. Rohm will play Amanda, a Los Angeles Deputy District Attorney who works with the Threat Assessment Unit and a mother to a 10-year-old boy, whose attempt at a new life in L.A. suddenly is derailed when she discovers her past has followed her cross-country. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)
Actress Sonya Walger (Lost) and actor Zak Orth (Revolution) will both guest star in upcoming episodes of Elementary. Walger will play Angela White, an Assistant U.S. Attorney whose high-profile case is derailed when her defendant is murdered. Meanwhile, Orth will play Gabe Coleman, a distraught father whose family was torn apart by tragedy. (Natalie Abrams at TV Guide)
Syfy has announced casting for its new upcoming sci-fi drama called Killjoys. Actors Aaron Ashmore (Warehouse 13) and Luke Macfarlane (Brothers & Sisters) [as well as British stage actress Hannah John-Kamen] will play a trio of fun-loving and hard-living bounty hunters who chase warrants in outer space. (Tim Surette at TV Guide)
Actors Tyler Jacob Moore (Shameless and GCG) and John Rhys-Davies (The Lord of the Rings franchise) will both be appearing in Once Upon a Time this fall. Moore will play Hans (from Frozen), the one-time suitor of Anna while Rhys-Davies will provide the voice of “grandpa” rock troll Pabbie. (E! Online)
Actress Regina King (Southland) has joined the cast of the upcoming ABC mid-season drama American Crime in a recurring role. The series centers on a racially charged murder and the subsequent trial, which are examined through the personal lives of the players involved. Felicity Huffman (Desperate Housewives), Timothy Hutton (Leverage), Benito Martinez (Sons of Anarchy) and Penelope Ann Miller (Mistresses) star. King will appear in at least seven episodes as the devoutly religious sister of a murder suspect. (Matt Mitovich at TV Line)
Actress Sarah Lancaster (Chuck) will have a recurring role in Witches of East End, playing Raven Moreau, who arrives in East End as part of a life-long “secret mission,” though she quickly develops a physical attraction to one of the Gardiner boys. (Andy Swift at TV Line)
Actress Lynn Collins (X-Men Origins: Wolverine and True Blood) will have a recurring role on Covert Affairs, playing a Russian agent named Olga Akarova, who will continuously cross paths with Annie (series lead Piper Perabo). (Michael Slezak at TV Line)
Actor Joseph Fiennes (American Horror Story and FlashForward) will appear in an hour-long drama called Nostradamus that will follow the well-known clairvoyant on a quest for vengeance after his family is murdered. (Samantha Highfill at Entertainment Weekly)
Actor Peter Sarsgaard and actress Mary-Louise Parker will star in the NBC 8-hour mini-series The Slap that is based on the 2011 Australia series of the same name that looks at how one small incident: when a man slaps another couple’s misbehaving child. Sarsgaard will play Hector, a husband and father who loves his wife and family but shows signs of weakness when he finds himself succumbing to the advances of his wife’s teenaged receptionist during his own party. Parker will play Anouk, a close friend of Hector’s who’s the head writer on a TV show and is now dating the younger leading man. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)
DEVELOPMENT NEWS
AMC has ordered the pilot White City, which follows Western diplomats and journalists in Afghanistan. (Sadie Gennis at TV Guide)
The USA Network is developing a pilot called Colony (that includes Carlton Cuse of Lost and Bates Motel fame as one of its executive producers. The series looks at a family torn by opposing forces and making difficult choices as they balance staying together with surviving the struggle of the human race. Set in the near future, the story takes place in Los Angeles, which exists in a state of occupation by a force of outside intruders. Some collaborate with the authorities and benefit from the new order, while others rebel and suffer the consequences. (The Futon Critic)
Actress Blair Brown (Fringe) will appear in the third season of Orange Is the New Black, but details about who she will be playing are being kept under wraps. (Chris Harnick at E! Online)
BOX OFFICE NEWS
Actor Aaron Tveit (Graceland) will star in the rom-com Stereotypically You, playing Charlie, who goes on a hallucination-fueled post-breakup quest in New York City to find new love — and himself. (Jen Yamato at Deadline)
Actor Jeffrey Donovan (Burn Notice) has joined the cast of the upcoming box office film called Sicario. He will star alongside Benecio Del Toro and Emily Blunt, playing Steve Forsing, a no-nonsense DEA Agent who engages in an all-out firefight at the Juarez border while transferring a prisoner. (Jen Yamato at Deadline)
Here are the top 10 box office movies from last weekend courtesy of Box Office Mojo:
1. Lucy – 43.9 million
2. Hercules – 29.8 million
3. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes – 16.8 million
4. The Purge: Anarchy – 10.5 million
5. Planes: Fire & Rescue – 9.5 million
6. Sex Tap- 6.1 million
7. Transformers: Age of Extinction – 4.7 million
8. And So It Goes – 4.6 million
9. Tammy – 3.5 million
10. A Most Wanted Man – 2.7 million
Q&A SECTION (with Natalie Abrams at TV Guide and Michael Ausiello and Matt Mitovich at TV Line)
Question: Is Harrison really going to die on Scandal? — Pamela
Natalie: Sorry to break it to you, Pamela, but executive producer Shonda Rhimes confirmed that he is. All the Gladiators will be deeply affected by Harrison’s death, Rhimes says, but especially Abby. “It’ll be devastating for Abby, but in a surprising way,” she says. “I think you’ll see how she’s coping with it in a very different way than you would expect.”
Question: I need something on Sleepy Hollow, STAT! — Dennis
Natalie: Henry will waste no time waging a psychological war when Season 2 returns. “He’s trying to break up the entire community of Sleepy Hollow to pave the way for the apocalypse,” Tom Mison tells me. “How best to do that? He masquerades as a lawyer. He becomes a respectable member of society and starts planting seeds of doubt.”
Question: Can you tell me who ran Castle off the road in last year’s Castle finale? — Diana
Natalie: Nope, but I can certainly tell you who didn’t. For fans convinced that last year’s fiery cliff-hanger was brought on by either existing nemeses Bracken and 3XK or even Castle’s own father, allow new showrunner David Amann to burst your bubble. “The mythology we’re getting into is going to go past all that into some new territory,” he says. “Those are all fair game, but it’s not going to be what the opening of the season is about.” What the new season is about is unearthing new secrets about Castle. But how will that impact the Castle-Beckett relationship? “Things that are going to come to light that are going to be unsettling for Beckett,” Amann teases. “But we’re committed to that relationship. I don’t think what happened to Castle is going to disrupt the trajectory of that relationship, at least not in the long term.”
Question: Do you have any Agent Coulson scoop for Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.? — Clark
Natalie: Don’t call him an agent anymore. Because there’s a small time jump going into Season 2, he’ll already be in the process of rebuilding S.H.I.E.L.D. as the new director — but that might not be so easy since the alien serum is affecting his brain. “As director, he’ll be faced with some tough decisions, harder decisions than he had to make as an agent,” executive producer Maurissa Tancharoen tells me. “We’ll see the emotional consequences of that and we’ll see the shifts in dynamics between the characters because of that.” (Also: Did you see this?)
Question: Thank you so much for the Arrow scoop, but there was not enough on Felicity! — Mark
Natalie: Let me fix that. The producers are planning a series of Felicity-centric flashbacks that they call “the secret origin of Felicity Smoak.” “We are absolutely going to get to know her,” executive producer Marc Guggenheim tells me. “We know that she went to MIT, we know that her mom was a cocktail waitress in Vegas and we’re going to meet that mom. And we also know that her dad is not in the picture.” Any theories on the identity of Dear Old Dad?
Question: What can you tell me about the new season of NCIS? — Katie
Natalie: Though the show seems to tease as much every season, DiNozzo is definitely getting a new love interest this year. “It’s going to happen early on, probably around Episode 4,” executive producer Gary Glasberg promises, noting that the pair will meet through a case Tony is working. And it sounds like he might finally be ready for a serious relationship post-Ziva. “I think he’s moved past being the wounded bird,” Michael Weatherly says. “[Last year,] we decided to whip that guy into shape and get him excited about the future and not holding on to the past. Tony is making choices that are not passive. He’s not content to sit on the side and cash his check until it’s time to retire. I think he’s going to have more fun than he’s ever had.”
Question: Any info on the crossover episodes of Flash and Arrow? — Leona
Natalie: I hear the shows’ overall narrative arcs will be somewhat related this season, enough so that the crossover will make sense. “Something will happen at the end of Episode 7 of Arrow that will send the Arrow team to Central City and they will discover it was a wider plot, which will drive them all back to Starling City,” executive producer Andrew Kreisberg tells me.
Question: Any new info on Arrow’s Ray Palmer would be appreciated! –Rida
Mitovich: Hmm, I do like to be appreciated. Playing the Arrow newcomer, onetime Superman Brandon Routh is (like onetime Lois Lane Teri Hatcher) “spectacular,” EP Marc Guggenheim tells TVLine. “He has exceeded everyone’s wildest expectations. And what’s fun about the way Brandon interacts with everyone is we wanted someone who would offer a bit of what Grant Gustin did — someone who’s a little more on Felicity’s end of the spectrum in terms of color, and at the same time is very different from Grant. And Brandon, he’s just this change agent that shakes up everybody.” That said, a guy’s gotta have his secrets. “You’re going to see that there’s a lot going on with him,” Guggenheim hints. “He’s not what he initially appears to be.”
Question: Any more Supernatural scoop coming out of press tour or Comic-Con? –Deb
Mitovich: If you’re a fan of the Men of Letters, count on seeing them again this season — just not right away. “One of the reasons for that,” EP Jeremy Carver explains, “is that the boys are on the road actually for a good portion of the first run of episodes. It takes them a while to get back to the Men of Letters.”
Question: I would love any scoop on Longmire’s remaining episodes, especially the finale. –Michelle
Mitovich: Just as a key discovery is made in the David Ridges case, Walt cannot deny that Branch’s erratic behavior is intensifying, making him a danger to himself and others. Meanwhile, as Vic’s marriage continues to unravel, she is forced to make an important decision about her future in Absaroka County.
Question: Are we going to get the backstory on how Abby and/or Ducky started with NCIS? Also, What is the title of Episode 1? –Barbara
Mitovich: I’ve got nada on Abs thus far, but showrunner Gary Glasberg says that Episode 3 is “a Ducky origin story, where people learn all kinds of things about his past and see a younger David McCallum, so we’re excited about that.” The Season 12 premiere, meanwhile, is titled, “20 Clicks.”
Question: Whatever happened to the ABC Family horror drama The Final Girls, with Jamie Lee Curtis, that was announced last September? –Vince
Mitovich: Still in development, I am hearing.
Question: Since Scott Michael Foster is now cast on Once Upon a Time, does that mean he is toast on Chasing Life? –Sarah
Mitovich: For one, I reckon that an ABC Family summer series has a very different, non-overlapping schedule with Once, which just started shooting Season 4. But then there’s this, from Chasing Life EP Patrick Sean Smith: “We don’t want to [kill Leo]. But every character has its purpose on the show.” That said, he notes, “We’re finding so many new opportunities in his relationship with April that we hadn’t considered before.”
Question: Any scoop on Castle’s Esplainie?–Marine
Mitovich: In a word from series creator Andrew W. Marlowe, “Yeah” – but I truly believe him, based on some body language I picked up on as he said. It. “We do have a couple of things that we’re working on, in that relationship,” he added. (To which I suggested: They should quickly make use of the wedding venue! He laughed: “If only we could go back there and afford the location fee!”)
Question: Will Wilke be coming back to Switched at Birth now that The Carrie Diaries is cancelled? –April
Mitovich: Exec producer Lizzy Weiss allows that, since Austin Butler is no longer busy as Ms. Bradshaw’s beau, such an encore could happen. “Like the fans, we love Wilke!” she effuses. “So yes, it’s entirely possible.”
Question: I am a fan of ABC Family’s Twisted — is it coming back? –Erin
Mitovich: “We love Twisted,” ABC Family president Tom Ascheim said when I asked about a possible Season 2, “but we’re going to announce pick-ups toward the end of the summer.”
Question: Will Homeland address the passing of James Rebhorn (Carrie’s father) this season? –Melinda
Mitovich: Remembering Rebhorn as “one of the kindest, most supportive and wonderful men to work with,” EP Alex Gansa was mum at TCA on how exactly the show will write in his absence. ”We want to honor him,” he said, “but how we actually go about doing that, I’d rather not say.”
Question: Got any juicy scoop about Homeland? I love Carrie and Quinn — what’s in store for them in Season 4? –Jane
Mitovich: Again, top secrecy. “We’re all very much invested in the Quinn character,” is all that EP Alexander Cary would say at TCA. But as a consolation prize, Jane, I offer this from Gansa: “I can say unequivocally that Dana Brody will not be back for Season 4.”
Question: Can you give any scoop on Sleepy Hollow? —Kate
Ausiello: Look for Jenny and Abbie’s relationship to “get deeper” in Season 2, per Nicole Beharie. “They’re a lot closer because they’ve faced the tribulations, and they’re learning more about their family — mom, dad, all that kind of stuff,” she explains. “But a few people step into the situation and put a wrench into it, and they end up butting heads.”
Question: I need something to survive the Supernatural hellatus! —Katherine
Ausiello: Here’s your scoop: Scottish actress Ruth Connell is joining the cast in the pivotal recurring role of Rowena, a mysterious old-school witch who, rumor has it, is looking to reclaim her power base.
Question: Do you have any scoop on Supernatural and Demon Dean? —Joanna
Ausiello: Wondering how Cas will handle his buddy’s new persona? Well, first he’ll have to find out about it. “He doesn’t know what happened to Dean,” executive producer Jeremy Carver tells TVLine. “You’ve got to remember, Sam put Dean down on the bed dead. [He] comes back in the room [and] Dean’s not there. So no one knows what happened.”
Question: Have you got any scoop on Season 12 of NCIS? —Tara
Ausiello: As showrunner Gary Glasberg previously told TVLine, coming off a season that 1) wrote out Ziva, 2) added Bishop, 3) planted the seed for a new spin-off and 4) accounted for Ralph Waite’s passing— and thus ended on a quiet, cliffhanger-free note — “the idea was to come out with a bang.” And the Sept. 23 premiere will do just that. “We’ve got a really significant season opener that brings Gibbs and McGee to Russia for a really big story. A crisis comes up and we immediately launch with a significant adversary who will pop up throughout the rest of the season,” played by Russian actor Alex Veadov.
Question: I’m still not over the death of Downton Abbey‘s Matthew. Please tell me we won’t be losing anyone else in Season 5! —Kate
Ausiello: You might want to sit down for this one, Kate. “No one’s safe,” executive producer Gareth Neame tells TVLine — rather bluntly — about the PBS drama’s fifth season, which premieres Stateside on Jan. 4. “We’ve lost so many key characters already. Although the show’s only been on for four years, we’ve actually covered 10 to 12 years, so it’s reasonable that within any family, there’d be deaths in that timeframe.” (In other words, have your funeral attire ready, just in case.)
Question: Any chance you have a scoop on The Blacklist? —Stephanie
Ausiello: Because it’s never too early to be talking about the NBC hit’s midseason time slot change, EP John Eisendrath told us that while the Super Bowl episode will pick up the fall finale’s cliffhanger (airing Nov. 10), that super-special Sunday showcase also needs to be accessible to noobs. “We need to have a reason for people to need to come back when we move to Thursdays [at 9/8c, starting Feb. 5],” he allows, “but… we hopefully design a story where if you’ve never watched the show, you still will be able to enjoy it.” Because unlike 2013’s post-Super Bowl show, Elementary — which, being on CBS, is less-serialized — “We have to be more judicious. That is the challenge.”
Question: Do you have any scoop on any DC heroes or villains coming to Arrow or The Flash? —Michael
Ausiello: I’ve got some explosive scoop on this one (you’ll see what I did there in a minute): Sgt. Bette Sans Souci – AKA Plastique – will make her way to The Flash this season. The series’ incarnation of the metahuman is a fetching young redhead who was a bomb specialist with the Army before she was injured by an IED in Iraq. Since being exposed to the Central City explosion, she can turn any object into a bomb with just a touch of her hand – not a bad comrade for The Flash to have on his team, eh?
FX has given their new drama Fargo a 10-episode second season renewal. This new story will feature different characters, a new time period and a different “true crime” story. (Whitney Friedlander at Variety)
Actor Brian Hallisay (The Client List) will have a heavily recurring role on ABC’s Revenge this fall, playing Ben, a local cop and a new friend of Jack (series regular Nick Wechsler) who is fun-loving, easygoing and drawn to Jack’s world and especially to the people in it. It is possible that Hallisay’s character is being eyed as a potential new love interest for Emily Thorne (series lead Emily Van Camp). (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)
BOX OFFICE NEWS
Here are the top 10 box office movies from this past weekend courtesy of Box Office Mojo:
1. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes – 36 million
2. The Purge: Anarchy – 28.4 million
3. Planes: Fire & Rescue – 18 million
4. Sex Tape – 15 million
5. Transformers: Age of Extinction – 10 million
6. Tammy – 7.6 million
7. 22 Jump Street – 4.7 million
8. How to Train Your Dragon 2 – 3.8 million
9. Maleficent – 3.3 million
10. Earth to Echo – 3.2 million
Q&A SECTION (with Matt Roush at TV Guide)
Question: What are your thoughts on the direction Falling Skies has taken? The writing of the show this season has been so far-fetched it is bordering on ridiculous. What made my husband and I fans of the show in the beginning was the fact that it seemed as though what was happening would really happen if aliens took over the planet. They told the story from the human perspective. Now we have alien/human hybrids and aliens that squeeze dirt and speak to each other in English on their own planet. I read somewhere that Steven Spielberg stepped back and let someone else take over. Do you think there is any hope that he will come back and save the show? The last season of True Blood is a testament to the fact you cannot separate most of the core cast members and expect the show to last. The show keeps telling us that they are all going to be together soon, but that cannot happen quickly enough. Am I missing something here? Are you enjoying the show this season? I try to suspend my disbelief as much as possible when watching this type of show, but it has gone from plausibly realistic to campy in one season and I miss having the cast together. — Susan
Matt Roush: I’ve received several comments like this about the current season, which I’ll admit I haven’t been following. (Too much new summer TV, and something’s gotta give.) From what I remember from where I left off with this show, it did seem like something was lost when the characters began to scatter, and maybe it’s the best thing for everyone that next season will be the last. [Note: I’m told next Sunday’s episode does a great deal to bring many of the characters together, so stay tuned.] Stories like this aren’t meant to go on indefinitely, and perhaps by working toward a definite end point, the producers will find a way to give loyal and even lapsed fans a satisfying finish.
Question: Is it too soon to know if Continuum will get a fourth season? It’s a great show with a terrific cast that really holds your attention. They recently ended their third season with a big cliffhanger, so I was wondering about their renewal chances. Your thoughts? — Tony
Matt Roush: That decision will be made not by Syfy but by the Canadian broadcaster from which Syfy acquires the show. As far as I can tell, a decision is imminent later this summer, and I’d be surprised if a fourth season isn’t produced. And if it is, I imagine Syfy will carry it.
That’s it. Enjoy!
PS: I am leaving for Comic Con tomorrow so my daily updates will be on hold until next week!
Rueben's Ramblings 