Rueben's Ramblings

Hey All,

Here are the few entertainment news items for this past holiday week:

BOX OFFICE NEWS

The upcoming live-action box office movie Voltron, based on the animated series, already includes Man of Steel star Henry Cavill, but will also now include among its cast This Is Us alum Sterling K. Brown as well as singer-actress Rita Ora, Warrior Nun (and Mrs. Chris Evans) Alba Baptista and The Librarians and 9-1-1 start John Harlan Kim. (Variety)

TV CASTING NEWS

Courtney B. Vance will be taking over for the late, great Lance Reddick as Zeus in the second season of the small screen adaptation of Percy Jackson and the Olympians. (Variety)

Rachelle Goulding (Firefly Lane) and Azita Ghanizada (Alphas and Good Trouble) have joined the cast of the upcoming NBC drama sequel (of sorts) Suits LA in recurring roles. Goulding will play Samantha, a powerful entertainment lawyer in her own right who runs the firm that competes with Ted’s (series lead and Arrow alum Stephen Amell) for top-dog status in Los Angeles. She’s also his ex-girlfriend; while Ghanizada will play Roslyn, Ted’s loyal and straight-shooting secretary who’s been with him through thick and thin. She serves as a steady hand and sounding board as Ted navigates a new set of professional circumstances. (Deadline)

Rosa Salazar (Alita: Battle Angel and the Maze Runner movie franchise) will star opposite Criminal Minds alum Matthew Gray Gubler in the potential CBS series Einstein, which is based on the German procedural of the same name, with Gubler play Albert Einstein’s brilliant but directionless great-grandson. (TV Line and Variety)

Matthew Broderick and his son James Wilkie Broderick will both guest star in upcoming episodes of the CBS drama Elsbeth, playing a man who helps Manhattan’s elite get their kids into the prep schools of their choice, and his top success trainer. (TV Line)

ORDERED TO SERIES

2024’s Sexiest Man Alive John Krasinski (Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan) and The Americans and Perry Mason alum Matthew Rhys are attached to star in the Amazon Prime drama series Silent River that was given a series order. Both will also serve as executive producers. The series will be seen through the lens of two men whose lives are far more connected than they realize, exploring the cracks of small-town America in the wake of discovering a serial killer among them. (Variety)

That’s it. Enjoy!

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Hey All,

Here are the entertainment news items for this past week:

RENEWALS

Hulu has finally announced a season two renewal for the period drama The Artful Dodger that starred Thoms Brodie-Sangster (Game of Thrones and Love Actually) as a grown-up Jack Dawkins (aka The Artful Dodger), Maia Mitchell (Good Trouble) and David Thewlis (Harry Potter franchise). The second season will pick up where the heart’s desires of Dodger, Fagin (Thewlis) and Lady Belle (Mitchell) left off, promising more cunning thievery, snappy humor, life-and-death surgeries, and romance with a twist. (TV Line)

Netflix has given A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder a second season renewal, tapping both Emma Myers (also of Wednesday fame) and Zain Iqbal returning in their roles of Pip and Ravi respectively. (TV Line)

MGM+ has given their thriller series From a season four renewal. (Variety)

Peacock has given the Eddie Redmayne-lead assassin thriller The Day of the Jackal a season two renewal. (TV Line)

DEVELOPMENT NEWS

The team behind the Syfy-Amazon hit sci-fi series The Expanse have a new series at Amazon MGM Studios called The Captive’s War, which is based on the book series by James S.A. Corey, which will be set in a distant future of galactic empires and alien civilizations and is inspired by the biblical Book of Daniel. It will follow a group of prisoners who rise from the ashes of catastrophe to destroy their conqueror’s society from within. It is an epic tale about the transformative power of individuality in a totalitarian world. (Variety)

TV CASTING NEWS

Javier Bardem will star in the Apple TV+ series adaptation of Cape Fear based on the novel by John D. MacDonald, the 1962 original film as well as the 1991 remake. This version will focus on the storm coming for happily married attorneys Amanda and Steve Bowden when Max Cady (Bardem), a notorious killer from their past, gets out of prison. (Variety)

Scott Foley (Felicity and Scandal) will recur in season 3 of Will Trent, playing Dr. Seth McDale, the confident and down-to-earth head of emergency medicine at a local hospital and Angie’s (series regular Erika Christensen) new romantic interest. (TV Line)

The Equalier will introduce a pair of new characters later this season that could potentially lead to their own spinoff series. One character, an older male, is reportedly a former CIA operative while the other character, a younger female, is a martial artist with a vast knowledge of weapons and criminology — and a secret origin story. Casting is currently underway. (Deadline and TV Line)

Original Suits alum Gabriel Macht will be back in his role of Harvey Specter for a guest-starring arc in the upcoming NBC Suits spin-off Suits L.A. that is set to debut in Febuary. (Deadline and TV Line)

Storm Reid will not be returning as Gia in the third season of Euphoria on HBO. (TV Line)

Genesis Rodriguez, who is currently starring alongside Zoe Saldana in Lioness, just might be joining season three of The Night Agent over at Netflix. Her role is being kept under wraps, but it’s sounding like she just might be a series regular. Season two of the hit series will get underway starting on January 23, 2025. (Deadline)

Zachary Quinto (Brillian Minds) and Clark Gregg (Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.) as well as Patti LuPone and Hank Azaria will appear in a Gilded Age murder mystery limited series called The Artist that will run on the ad-supported streamer The Network, starring alongside Mandy Patinkin, Janet McTeer and Danny Huston. The series will be set in the twilight of the Gilded Age, following an ensemble of the era’s celebrities including Thomas Edison (Azaria), Edgar Degas (Huston) and Evelyn Nesbit who meet at the home of Norman Henry (Patinkin), an eccentric and failing tycoon, and his wife Marian (McTeer) which ends in his untimely demise. Quinto will play Delphin Delmas, a white shoe lawyer from San Francisco while LuPone will play Rosie Morsch, Marian’s (McTeer) mercurial and disapproving sister. Gregg will play Harry Kendall Thaw, the spoiled son of an American coal and railroad baron. (Deadline)

BOX OFFICE NEWS

Josh O’Connor (The Crown and Challengers) has joined the cast of the next Steven Spielberg film that is yet-to-be-titled. He joins the cast that already includes Emily Blunt, Colin Firth, Colman Domingo and Bono’s daughter Eve Hewson. There are no details yet about the film, but it will be released in May of 2026. (Variety)

Bridgeron hunk Luke Newton and Pretty Little Liars alum Lucy Hale will star in the sci-fi thriller film White Mars that will be set in an isolated Aquila Research Facility, following microbiologist Sammie (Hale) as she and Leo (Newton) fight to save their fellow crew members from a malevolent entity whose sole intention is to extinguish them all. (Deadline)

Anne Hathaway will star in the upcoming film adaptation of the best-selling novel Verity by Colleen Hoover. Hathaway will play Verity Crawford, a famous author who is unable to finish her thriller novel after a car accident leaves her badly injured. So her husband Jeremy offers a struggling writer named Lowen a huge sum of money to complete the remaining books in the series. Lowen accepts the gig but uncovers secrets — including an unfinished manuscript that hints at chilling admissions about Verity and her family’s past — leaving Lowen to determine if Verity is a gifted fictionist or deranged psychopath. The roles of Jeremy and Lowen have yet to be cast. (Variety)

1883 star Isabel May will play the daughter of Nevel Campbell in Scream 7, the next movie in the long-running franchise. (Variety)

Bailee Madison (Good Witch), Joel Courtney (The Kissing Booth) and Annie Potts (Young Sheldon) [among others] will appear in the rom-com 40 Dates and 40 Nights. The story revolves around Leah Jones (Madison), who is navigating the challenges of dating. Gigi (Potts), her grandmother, bets her a full year’s rent if she can prove love isn’t out there after 40 consecutive dates. (Deadline)

That’s it. Enjoy!

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Hey All,

Here are the entertainment news items for this past week:

SAYING GOODBYE

The streaming service Freevee, formerly IMDbTV, is being shut down with its content heading to parent company Amazon Prime. (Variety)

CROSSOVER EVENT

Five years ago, the NBC franchise series Chicago Fire, Chicago Med and Chicago P.D. staged an epic three-show crossover. The franchise will be doing that again later this season in a storyline that will center on a massive explosion in an office building that upends the entire city, above and below ground. (TV Line)

DEVELOPMENT NEWS

It looks like Universal Television is working on a reboot of Friday Night Lights with multiple bids coming from the lies of Peacock, Netflix and Amazon. (TV Line)

TV CASTING NEWS

Never Have I Ever mom Poorna Jagannathan has joined the cast of the upcoming HBO series Lanterns, which will star Kyle Chandler and Aaron Pierre as Hal Jordan and John Stewart, respectively, two of the best-known characters in the DC Comics’ long history. Jagannathan will recur as Zoe, an effortlessly confident and poised woman in any setting, and as composed and cunning as the influential men around her. (The Hollywood Reporter)

Singer-songwriter Lady Gaga will make a cameo appearance in season 2 of Wednesday over on Netflix, but what role she will play is being kept under wraps. (Variety)

Season 2 of Avatar: The Last Airbender over on Netflix will include new cast members Hoa Xuande from The Sympathizer, Justin Chien from The Brothers Sun, Chin Han from the box office movie Skyscraper and Rekha Sharma from Yellowjackets and Battlestar Galactica [among others]. (Variety)

Haley Lu Richardson (The White Lotus and Five Feet Apart) will star opposite Game of Thrones alum Emilia Clarke in the upcoming Peacock series Ponies, which is an espionage thriller set in Moscow in 1977. “Two ‘Ponies’ (‘persons of no interest’ in intelligence speak) work anonymously as secretaries in the American Embassy. That is until their husbands are killed under mysterious circumstances in the USSR, and the pair become CIA operatives. Bea (Clarke) is an over-educated, Russian-speaking child of Soviet immigrants. Her cohort, Twila (Richardson), is a small-town girl who is as abrasive as she is fearless. Together, they work to uncover a vast Cold War conspiracy and solve the mystery that made them widows in the first place. (Variety)

Amazon Prime is working on a Tomb Raider series, and it appears that Sophie Turner (Game of Thrones and Joan) is in negotiations to play the protagonist. (Deadline and TV Line)

The upcoming HBO limited series Task which will star Mark Ruffalo as an FBI agent leading a task force investigating a string of drug-house robberies in the Philadelphia suburbs has added Martha Plimpton and Mireille Enos to the cast. Plimpton will play Kathleen McGinty, a career FBI agent who recruits Tom (Ruffalo) to head up the task force, just as she learns that she is being forced to retire. Meanwhile, Enos will play Susan Brandis, Tom’s wife and the heart and soul of their family. (The Hollywood Reporter)

Yancey Arais (Bosch) will recur in season 4 of the FOX drama The Cleaning Lady, playing Neto, a hitman and high-ranking member of the cartel. (TV Line)

BOX OFFICE NEWS

Benedict Cumberbatch, Rosamund Pike and Sir Anthony Hopkins will appear in the upcoming Guy Ritchie box office flick Wife & Dog that is being described as a return to the colorful, back-stabbing world of the British aristocracy Richie explored in The Gentlemen film and TV series. (Deadline)

Oscar winner Lupita Nyong’o will star alongside Matt Damon, Tom Holland, Zendaya and Anne Hathway in the upcoming Christopher Nolan film, but the movie has no title yet and has been shrouded in secrecy. It will also not be released until July 2026. (Variety)

That’s it. Enjoy!

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Hey All,

Here are the entertainment news items for this past week:

RENEWALS/CANCELLATION

Netflix has renewed Outer Banks for a 5th season, but that will be the show’s final season. (TV Line)

CBS has given freshman series NCIS: Origins a season two order. (TV Line)

BOX OFFICE MOVIE NEWS

Henry Winkler, Lena Headey and Bob Odenkirk will star in the upcoming action movie Normal. Odenkirk will play Ulysses, who is appointed substitute sheriff in the tiny Minnesota town of Normal, populated by friendly Midwesterners. When the local bank is sacked, Ulysses unknowingly uncovers something far more explosive than a simple bank robbery. Winkler will play the mayor of Normal, while Headey will play the local bartender, Moira. (Variety)

Long-time married couple Kyra Sedgwick and Kevin Bacon will direct and star in the horror-comedy Family Movie that will feature their children Travis and Sosie Bacon. The movie follows an eclectic but tight-knit family of filmmakers who suddenly find themselves in a real-life horror movie when a body turns up on the set of their latest low-budget slasher. As the production spirals comically out of control, they realize the only solution to keep filming is to cover up the murder, by any means necessary. (Variety)

The upcoming box office movie Pressure, a WWII drama-thriller, will include among its cast Andrew Scott, Brendan Fraser, Kerry Condon, Chris Messina and Damian Lewis. The true story will find Scott playing Britain’s Chief Meteorological Officer James Stagg, whose job it was to inform Supreme Allied Commander Dwight Eisenhower (Fraser) of weather conditions that would make or break their Normandy invasion. The complex decision-making was critical in the fate of WWII and the course of history. (Deadline)

Zendaya and Anne Hathaway will join Tom Holland and Matt Damon in the next, upcoming Christopher Nolan film, but plot details are being kept under wraps. (Variety)

It looks like Ice Age 6, the next animated film in the long-running franchise, is in the works with Ray Romano, John Leguizamo, Queen Latifah, Denis Leary, and Simon Pegg all set to lend their voices, once again. (Variety)

Marc Maron, Gaby Hoffman and David Krumholtz will join Jeremy Allen White in the upcoming Bruce Springsteen biopic Deliver Me From Nowhere with Maron set to play Chuck Plotkin, the music producer who mastered Springsteen’s “Nebraska” album, turning his unprocessed cassette demos into a high-quality record while Hoffmann will play Springsteen’s mother, Adele Springsteen, a singer in her own right who died at age 98 earlier this year, and Krumholtz will play Al Teller, a record label executive who oversaw the release of “Nebraska.” (Variety)

TV CASTING NEWS

Dominic West (The Crown) has joined the cast of the upcoming political thriller drama The Agency that will air on Paramount+ with Showtime that includes among its cast Michael Fassbender, Jeffrey Wright and Jodie Turner-Smith [among others]. The series follows “Martian (Fassbender), a covert CIA agent, ordered to abandon his undercover life and return to London Station. When the love he left behind reappears, romance reignites. His career, his real identity and his mission are pitted against his heart, hurling them both into a deadly game of international intrigue and espionage. (Variety)

Golden Globe and Grammy winner Andra Day has been cast in the second season of Percy Jackson and the Olympians where she will play Athena, the Greek goddess of wisdom and mother of Annabeth Chase (Leah Sava Jeffries), Percy’s (Walker Scobell) close friend and fellow demigod. (Variety)

That’s it. Enjoy!

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Hey All,

Here are the entertainment news items for this past week:

BOX OFFICE MOVIE NEWS

It looks like there will be a reboot to the Sylvester Stallone action classic flick Cliffhanger but this time around the creative overhaul will find Lily James (Pam & Tommy and Downton Abbey) will take over the lead role. Pierce Brosnan will play seasoned mountaineer Ray Cooper, who operates a luxury chalet in the Dolomites with daughter Sydney; but during a weekend trip with a billionaire’s son, they are targeted by a gang of kidnappers. Ray’s daughter Naomi (James), still haunted by a past climbing accident, witnesses the attack and escapes. To save her family, she must confront her fears and fight for survival. (Variety)

Alicia Vikander will star in the upcoming box office film The Last Day that follows a writer and mother who confronts her lack of creative purpose and embarks on a journey of rediscovering herself after encountering figures from her past. (Variety)

Johnny Depp and Penelope Cruz will star in the upcoming action thriller Day Drinker, which will follow a cruise ship bartender who meets a mysterious day drinker — only for both of them to find themselves entangled in a criminal underbelly. (Variety)

Eva Longoria and ubiquitous actor Nicholas Galitzine will lend their voices to the upcoming Mexico-set animated adventure film Wings of Freedom. Longoria will voice Salana, a home-loving Eagle who lives in the safety of her hidden bird colony until a twist of fate propels her out of her comfort zone. Galitzine will play Lieutenant Pirro, a fearless Swift and member of the Animal Air Force. Together, they must confront Eternity, a malevolent AI determined to seize control of the world. (Variety)

Clive Owen will star in the WWII historical thriller Kristallnacht, which is based on a true story. He will play police lieutenant Wilhelm Krützfeld over the course of 24 hours as he navigates a city turned into a powder keg. Following the assassination of a German attaché in Paris, which is wrongfully labeled a “Jewish terrorist attack” by Nazi propaganda, the people turn on the perceived “enemy within” and violently descend on Jewish neighborhoods and places of worship. As the city spirals into chaos and dozens of innocent people are murdered, orders are handed down to “let the people riot.” Krützfeld is faced with the moral choice between upholding the system or taking a stand. (Variety)

Uma Thurman, Sir Anthony Hopkins and Bridgerton alum Phoebe Dynevor will star in the upcoming box office movie The Housekeeper, which will be set in the mystic, brooding and wild landscape of Cornwall, the rugged Atlantic foot of England, where Danni (Thurman), the housekeeper at Manderville Hall — a grand and historic house owned by the wealthy and widowed Lord DeWithers (Hopkins) — falls prey to the glance of a young and beautiful visitor, the novelist Daphne Du Maurier (Dynevor). For one, their affair is an all-consuming love, for the other an intoxicating realization of her secret longings. (Variety)

It’s looking like Amazon MGM Studios is developing a Jack Ryan feature film that would find John Krasinkski back in the title role along with Wendell Pierce back as CIA operative James Greer. There are no plot specifics about the film yet, though. (TV Line)

TV CASTING NEWS

Kelly Macdonald (Gosford Park and No Country for Old Men) has joined the cast of the upcoming Lanterns series at HBO. The show follows new recruit John Stewart (Aaron Pierre) and Lantern legend Hal Jordan (Kyle Chandler), two intergalactic cops drawn into a dark, earth-based mystery as they investigate a murder in the American heartland. Macdonald will star as Sheriff Kerry, a no-nonsense woman deeply devoted to her family and close-knit town. Her resilience, shaped by a complex past that’s hardened her resolve, anchors her when the community’s secrets begin to surface. Also, Garret Dillahunt (Fear the Walking Dead) has also joined the cast, playing modern cowboy William Macon, a self-righteous, conspiracy-minded man who masks his ruthless ambition behind a charming and calculated facade. (Variety and Deadline)

Singer and dancer Omarion will star as a charismatic hitman with a conscience in the new original drama series Wild Rose from AMC Networks’ Allblk titled, which will follow Roosevelt aka “Rose,” who comes from a family of assassins that also happen to run a nonprofit organization, but behind the nonprofit facade is an elite, family-run, hired-gun agency known for taking down high-profile targets. (Variety)

Amber Midthunder and Reacher alum Alan Ritchson are set to star in the would-be action franchise flick Painter that will center on a young woman, trained from a young age, who must employ every skill in her arsenal to rescue her father after he is kidnapped. (Deadline)

An ensemble cast including Dave Bautista, Cate Blanchett, Steven Yeun, Zoe Kravitz, Lea Seydoux, Riley Keough and Channing Tatum will star in the upcoming alien invasion comedy Alpha Gang, which will center on a group of alien invaders sent to conquer Earth. Disguised in human form as an armed and dangerous 1950’s leather-clad biker gang, they show no mercy until they catch the most toxic, contagious human disease of all: emotion. (Variety)

1883 star Isabel May is in final discussions to star in the upcoming revenge thriller flick Wild World that would follow a young woman who must use her survival skills to track down her little sister and exact revenge on the men who abducted her. (Variety)

Castle alum Molly C. Quinn and Krypton lead Cameron Cuffe will star in the upcoming psychological thriller flick The Weight, which centers on Mia (Quinn), who wakes up chained in a remote cabin, only to witness her captor, David (Cuffe), burying a body outside. Knowing she’ll be next, she breaks free and flees through treacherous cliffs and waterfalls while David, haunted by remorse and grief, pursues her relentlessly through the wilderness. (Deadline)

Adam Driver, Jeremy Strong and Anne Hathaway will star in the upcoming crime-drama-thriller flick Paper Tiger that will follow two brothers who pursue the American Dream—only to become entangled in a scheme that turns out to be too good to be true. As they try to navigate their way through an ever-more dangerous world of corruption and violence, they find themselves and their family brutally terrorized by the Russian “Mafiya.” Their bond begins to fray, and betrayal—once utterly unthinkable—now becomes all too possible. (Deadline)

STREAMING MOVIE NEWS

Mark Wahlberg and Michelle Monaghan will be back for the Apple TV+ sequel to The Family Plan. Zoe Colletti and Van Crosby, who played their teenage children will return as well, but there are no plot details yet. (Variety)

DEVELOPMENT NEWS

First there was Virgin River on Netflix then there was Sullivan’s Crossing, which US viewers can watch on CW, now author Robyn Carr (the woman behind the books for which both of these TV shows are based), has another book franchise that is being developed for the small screen with showrunner Roma Roth at the helm. Carr’s Thunder Point novels take place in the coastal town of Thunder Point, a place filled with lots of rugged charm and mystery. When newcomer Hank Cooper arrives in the town to attend an old friend’s funeral, he is surprised to learn that he’s been left a beachfront property which has become the center of a town dispute. Cooper soon finds himself with a community’s destiny in his hands as well as a lot of unanswered questions. Never being a man to settle in one place, Cooper finds himself drawn to both the town, and Sarah Dupre, a woman as complicated as she is beautiful. (Deadline)

That’s it. Enjoy!

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Hey All,

Here are the entertainment news items for this past week:

RENEWALS

Virgin River has been renewed by Netflix for a 7th season. (TV Line)

After only two episodes, the CBS reboot of Matlock, starring Kathy Bates, has been given a second season order. (TV Line)

TV NEWS

The third and final season of Good Omens will consist of just one, 90-minute episode. (TV Line)

TV CASTING NEWS

Olivia Thirlby has joined the cast of the 5th season of Law & Order: Organized Crime. She’ll have a recurring role, but exact details on her character are being kept under wraps. (Variety)

Laurie Metcalf and Eric McCormack will guest star in upcoming episodes of season two of Elsbeth. Metcalf will play Regina Coburn, the star of a police procedural who yearns for artistic fulfillment after playing a no-nonsense, hardened detective for two decades while McCormack will play Tom Murphy, the charismatic and charming founder of Heiwa Zen Center, an upscale holistic wellness retreat that caters to the one-percent. (Variety)

Season 2 of the Netflix anthology series BEEF will feature Oscar Isaac and Carey Mulligan. The new season will focus on a young couple who witnesses an alarming fight between their boss and his wife, triggering chess moves of favors and coercion in the elitist world of a country club and its Korean billionaire owner. (TV Line)

Hugh Bonneville will guest star in the upcoming Paramount+ with Showtime espionage political thriller series The Agency, playing James Richardson, a British agent who has a long-standing history with Martian. The series will star Michael Fassbender as Martian, a covert CIA agent, ordered to abandon his undercover life and return to London Station. When the love he left behind reappears, romance reignites. His career, his real identity and his mission are pitted against his heart; hurling them both into a deadly game of international intrigue and espionage. (Variety)

BOX OFFICE CASTING NEWS

Last week I included in my weekly report that Disney was planning a live-action Prince Charming movie. Now it looks like an actor has been possibly chosen. Chris Hemsworth is in talks to play that iconic role, but plot details are being kept under wraps. (Variety)

Reacher star Alan Ritchson will star in the upcoming box office movie Runner which will be about a high-end courier who has three hours to transport an organ to save a seven-year-old girl in need of an immediate transplant. The seemingly simple mission turns deadly when the leader of a notorious crime syndicate becomes hell-bent on claiming the organ. (Deadline)

1923 and It Ends With Us star Brandon Sklenar will join Sydney Sweeney and Amanda Seyfriend in The Housemaid. Sweeney will play Millie, a struggling woman who is relieved to get a fresh start as a housemaid to Nina (Seyfried) and Andrew (Sklenar), an upscale, wealthy couple; but she soon learns that the family’s secrets are far more dangerous than her own. (Deadline)

That’s it. Enjoy!

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Hey All,

Here are the entertainment news items for this past week:

RENEWAL/CANCELLATION

Apple TV+ has given a 6th season renewal to Slow Horses, months ahead of its Season 5 premiere that is set for some time in 2025. (TV Line)

AMC has pulled the plug on the Giancarlo Esposito-led drama Parish after only one season. (TV Line)

DEVELOPMENT NEWS

Netflix is in the early stages of developing Pride, a movie based on the 2018 young-adult novel by author Ibi Zoboi, which is a modern retelling of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice that will be set in the gentrifying Bushwick area of Brooklyn, NY, centering on Afro-Latina teen Zuri Benitez, who fights to preserve her neighborhood and manage family chaos. But when the wealthy Darcy family moves in next door, Zuri’s disdain for the arrogant Darius Darcy turns into an unexpected connection that forces her to reconsider everything she thought she knew about pride, prejudice and home. (Deadline)

TV CASTING NEWS

Sophia Bush will recur on Grey’s Anatomy, playing Dr. Cass Beckman, a slightly-messy around the edges trauma surgeon at Seattle Presbyterian Hospital. Cass’ husband David is a cardiothoracic surgeon at Grey Sloan, though it’s unclear if he is also being cast. She’ll make her debut on November 7. (Deadline and TV Line)

The third season of the anthology series Monster has added new cast members, including Laurie Metcalf, Tom Hollander and Olivia Williams, joining Charlie Hunnam, who will star as Ed Gein, one of the inspirations for Norman Bates and Hitchcock’s film Psycho. Metcalf will play Gein’s mother, Augusta, while Hollander will play Alfred Hitchcock and Williams will play Alma Reville, Hitchcock’s wife. (Variety)

Michael Emerson will join his real-life wife Carrie Preston in the CBS drama Elsbeth. He will recur as Judge Milton Crawford, a haughty, soft-spoken and bespectacled man from an old New England family of public servants who sees his place in the nation’s elite as a birthright. He will be a foil to Elsbeth. (TV Line)

Orphan Black and She Hulk alum Tatiana Maslany will guest star in the upcoming first season of Star Trek: Starfleet Academy that will star Holly Hunter and Paul Giamatti. There are no details on what role Maslany will play, though. (The Hollywood Reporter)

Amazon Prime has announced a star-studded voice cast for its upcoming adult animated series Secret Level that will include Arnold Schwarzenegger, Kevin Hart, Keanu Reeves, Temuera Morrison, Ariana Greenblatt. Gabriel Luna, Ricky Whittle, Patrick Schwarzenegger, Merle Dandridge, Claudia Doumiy, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Clive Standen and Michael Beach. The series is described as featuring original stories set within the worlds of some of the world’s most beloved video games, including Armored Core, Dungeons & Dragons and Spelunky. (Variety)

BOX OFFICE MOVIE NEWS

Anthony Hopkins will star in the upcoming box office movie Maserati: The Brothers about the family behind the high-performance automobiles that, along with Ferrari and Lamborghini, Italy is known for. Hopkins will play an Italian financier who bankrolls the Maserati brothers. (Variety)

Chloe Grace Moretz, Hamilton alum Anthony Ramos and The Acolyte’s Manny Jacinto will star in the upcoming box office rom-com Love Language along with Lukas Gage (The White Lotus), Isabel May (1883) and Billie Lourd (Booksmart) round out the cast. Plot details on the movie are being kept under wraps, though. (Variety)

It looks like Prince Charming (yep, that one from Disney) is getting his own feature film, but it’s unclear if the film will be live-action or animated and no casting has been announced. (Variety)

Alicia Silverstone has joined the cast of the latest box office movie from Poor Things director Yorgos Lanthimos that will star Emma Stone and Jesse Plemons. The movie will follow two conspiracy-obsessed young men who kidnap the high-powered CEO of a major company, convinced that she is an alien intent on destroying planet Earth. (Variety)

BROADWAY NEWS

It looks like Lionsgate is adapting Dirty Dancing as a Broadway musical set for a late 2025 launch. (Variety)

That’s it. Enjoy!

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Hey All,

Here are the entertainment news items for this past week:

RENEWALS/CANCELLATIONS

Netflix has given the drama The Night Agent a third season renewal. Season two has yet to air, but is anticipated to air sometime in early 2025. (TV Line)

Meanwhile, Netflix has pulled the plug on the Jeff Goldbum-led series KAOS after only one season. (TV Line)

Netflix has also given a third season renewal to The Diplomat, which will premiere its second season at the end of this month. (Variety and TV Line)

And, Netflix has also given a second season renewal to the rom-com Nobody Wants This, which stars Kristen Bell and Adam Brody. (TV Line)

Amazon Prime has renewed Reacher for a 4th season ahead of the upcoming season 3 which will premiere sometime next year. (TV Line)

Starz has cancelled the historical drama The Serpent Queen after two seasons. (Deadline and TV Line)

DEVELOPMENT NEWS

While Starz has pulled the plug on The Serpent Queen, the cabler is developing a spin-off series that will be centered around Queen Elizabeth I, who was played by Minnie Driver. She is expected to reprise her role should the series move forward. (Deadline and TV Line)

TV CASTING NEWS

Amber Midthunder has joined the second season of the Apple TV+ drama Monarch: Legacy of Monsters, where she will play Isabel, an intelligent and powerful businesswoman. (Variety)

Alice Braga, Scoot McNairy and Paul Ben-Victor have joined the cast of the Netflix series adaptation of Man on Fire based on the novels by A.J. Quinnell (which served as the source material for the Denzel Washington flick). This small screen version will center on John Creasy (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II from the Aquaman franchise), a former special forces mercenary now suffering intense PTSD. Determined to overcome his personal demons, he sets out on a path to redemption. But before he can adjust to this new life, he finds himself back in the fire, fighting harder than ever. Braga will play Valeria Melo, a professional driver with family connections to a gang that runs a favela in Brazil. Creasy hires her and quickly comes to rely on her as he tries to protect a young girl while pursuing terrorists. McNairy will play Henry Tappan, an intelligent and calculating CIA field agent stationed in Brazil. Ben-Victor will play Moncrief, the director of the CIA. (The Hollywood Reporter)

Aaron Pierre (recently seen in the Netflix movie Rebel Ridge) has joined the HBO TV series Lanterns where he will star alongside Kyle Chandler. Pierre will play John Stewart while Chandler will play Hal Jordan. The series will follow new recruit John Stewart and legend Hal Jordan, two intergalactic cops drawn into a dark, Earth-based mystery as they investigate a murder in the American heartland. (TV Line)

Looks like the BBC will return to the Pride and Prejudice universe with a new spin-off drama about Lizzy Bennet’s sister. The series, The Other Bennet Sister, will focus on Mary Bennet, Lizzy’s unassuming and oft-overlooked middle sibling, and will be based on the Janice Hadlow novel; in which Mary finally gets to experience an epic love story of her own, as she travels from the safety and claustrophobia of her family home in Meryton to the glitz of Regency London and the pastoral charm of the Lake District as she searches for independence, romance and acceptance. Casting has yet to be announced. (Variety)

Alicia Silverstone will star in and executive produce the new AMC and Acorn TV series Irish Blood, a murder-mystery drama where she will play Fiona Sharpe, a Los Angeles divorce lawyer who receives a letter from her estranged father and travels to Ireland to uncover the mystery of his disappearance. The cast will incldue Wendy Crewson, Jason O’Mara and Simone Kirby [among others]. (The Hollywood Reporter)

BROADWAY NEWS

Recent Tony winner Jonathan Groff will star in Just In Time, a new musical about the life and times of singer Bobby Darin that will chart the great American entertainer’s meteoric journey — from soaring highs to crushing lows, whose short but remarkable life took him from teen idol to global sensation, inspiring generations of performers who followed. Darin passed away in 1973 at age 37 due to complications from open heart surgery. (Variety)

BOX OFFICE MOVIE NEWS

Sydney Sweeney and Amanda Seyfried will star in the film adaptation of The Housemaid based on the popular novel by Freida McFadden that will find Sweeney playing Millie, a struggling young woman who is relieved to get a fresh start as a housemaid to wealthy couple Nina (Seyfried) and Andrew, but Millie soon learns the family’s secrets are far more dangerous than her own. (Variety)

Henry Cavil will star in the live-action film Voltron based on the TV franchise that follows a team of space explorers who pilot a giant super robot. Plot details are being kept tightly under wraps at this time. (Variety)

That’s it. Enjoy!

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Hey All,

Here are the entertainment news items for this past week:

RENEWALS

MGM+ has given the western period piece drama Billy the Kid a third and final season renewal. (The Hollywood Reporter)

Apple TV+ has given the Colin Farrel-led drama Sugar a second season renewal. (TV Line)

OFFICIAL SERIES ORDER

Amazon Prime has given an official series order to a spin-off to Reacher, the series starring Alan Ritchson in the lead role. The spin-off will be centered around Maria Sten, played by Frances Neagley in both the 1st and 2nd season of Reacher. It will follow Neagley as a private investigator in Chicago. (TV Line)

The FX drama series The Sensitive Kind, that will star Ethan Hawke, has been ordered to series, but exact plot details are being kept under wraps other than the show being a Tulsa noir about a guy (Hawke) who knows too much. Among the cast members are Keith David, Jeanne Tripplehorn, Tim Blake Nelson and Kyle Maclachan [among others]. (Variety)

FX has also given a series order to the drama The Beauty from uber-producer Ryan Murphy. Evan Peters, Ashton Kutcher and Anthony Ramos will star in a series being described as focusing on modern society and its obsession with outward beauty. (Variety)

SPIN-OFF NEWS

Looks like the 9-1-1 franchise is growing with Ryan Murphy confirming he has plans to expand with another spin-off. He and series co-creator Tim Minear are working on a new spin-off that they hope will air next fall, but no specific location has been announced yet. (Variety and TV Line)

TV CASTING NEWS

Elizabeth Henstridge (Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD) has not only directed an episode of Superman & Lois in both seasons two and three, but she will now play a pivotal role in the show’s final season; that of Lex Luthor’s daughter. (ComicBook.com)

Trevor Donovan has joined the cast of When Hope Calls, which will now air its second season on Great American Family (instead of Hallmark Channel). He will play Constable Jim Reynolds, an experienced Mountie who is known for his strong presence and skills in the field. (MSN)

CSI alum Matthew Gray Gubler has been cast in the upcoming CBS procedural Einstein, which is based on the German dramedy of the same name that focuses on Albert Einstein’s brilliant but directionless great-grandson Lew, who spends his days as a comfortably tenured professor until his bad boy antics land him in trouble with the law and he is pressed into service helping a local police detective solve her most puzzling cases. (TV Line)

Gossip girl alum Leighton Meester has joined the cast of the second season of The Buccaneers on Apple TV+. Details on what character she will be playing are being kept under wraps. (The Hollywood Reporter)

The Hallmark+ drama Ripple, which will explore how unexpectedly connected we are as human beings through the eyes and stories of its four main characters, has announced its lead cast members. Nate will be played by Pretty Little Liars alum Ian Harding; Walter will be played by veteran actor Frankie Faison; Kris will be played by British actress Julia Chand and Aria will be played by Sydney Agudong. (Deadline)

Brittany Snow, Natalie Morales, David Lyons and Tim Guinee will star in the upcoming Netflix limited drama series The Beast in Me. The tagline for the show is: Since the tragic death of her young son, acclaimed author Aggie Wiggs (Claire Danes) has receded from public life, unable to write, a ghost of her former self. But she finds an unlikely subject for a new book when the house next door is bought by Nile Jarvis (Matthew Rhys), a famed and formidable real estate mogul who was once the prime suspect in his wife’s disappearance. At once horrified and fascinated by this man, Aggie finds herself compulsively hunting for the truth – chasing his demons while fleeing her own – in a game of cat and mouse that might turn deadly. Snow will play Nina, Nile’s spouse; Morales will play Shelley, Aggie’s ex-wife; Lyons will play FBI agent Brian Abbot and Guinee will play Wrecking Ball, an intimidating presence in Nile’s life. (Variety)

It looks like Meryl Streep has found her next TV role. She will star in the series adaptation of The Corrections based on the novel by Jonathan Franzen. No streaming service nor network is attached yet, but the series will be taken to market soon. The series will follow an elderly Midwestern couple who try to hold a Christmas reunion with their three adult children due to the father’s failing health. (Variety)

BOX OFFICE NEWS

John Boyega and Danielle Deadwyler will star as the late soul legend Otis Redding and his widow Zelma Redding respectively in the upcoming biopic Otis & Zelma. Redding’s burgeoning superstar career was tragically cut short when he died at the age of only 26 in a 1967 plane crash, leaving behind Zelma and three young children. (Variety)

Kirsten Dunst will star opposite Channing Tatum in the upcoming true crime film Roofman that is based on the remarkable story of Jeffrey Manchester, an eccentric and charming serial robber who broke into more than 60 McDonald’s overnight via their roofs, then emptied the cash register in the morning after herding staff into freezers. (Deadline)

Reacher star Alan Ritchson will appear in the box office adaptation of the Nicholas Sparks best-seller Counting Miracle that finds a former Ranger (Ritchson) returning to his small hometown with one mission: to find the father he never knew. While there he crosses paths with a doctor who is balancing her own life as a single mother of two and a reclusive old man with a mysterious past, leading to unexpected connections and a journey toward belonging. (Variety)

Fran Drescher will play the mother of Timothee Chalamet in the upcoming table tennis movie Marty Supreme that will follow Chalamet as a young ping pong pro. (Variety)

Katy O’Brian (Love Lies Bleeding and The Mandalorian) will join Glen Powell in the reboot of The Running Man, to be directed by Edgar Wright and based on the novel by Stephen King. (Deadline)

J.K. Simmons and Tony winner Nina Arianda will star in the magical realism dramedy 109 Billion Followers that will follow a film student (Olivia Simmons, the real-life daughter of J.K. Simmons) who makes a documentary about a homeless man (J.K. Simmons) who is convinced that he’s the Grim Reaper. Her cameraman and unlikely love interest (Jake Ryan) adds laughs and heart, while her broken but loving mother (Nina Arianda) adds drama and mess. (Variety)

That’s it. Enjoy!

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Hey All,

Here are the entertainment news items for this past week:

CANCELLATION

Sadly, Hulu has pulled the plug on the comedy UnPrisoned that starred Kerry Washington and Delroy Lindo after only two seasons. (TV Line)

NEW SERIES ORDERED

MGM+ has ordered a new drama series about Robin Hood that will follow the Norman invasion of England, focusing on Rob – a Saxon forester’s son – and Marian, the daughter of a Norman lord – who fall in love and work together to fight for justice and freedom. As Rob rises as the leader of a band of rebel outlaws, Marian infiltrates the power at court, as both work together to thwart royal corruption and bring peace to the land. (Variety)

DEVELOPMENT NEWS

Looks like Amazon is working on developing Robocop as a TV series (not the first time this has been done either, by the way). The series would focus on a giant tech conglomerate that collaborates with the local police department to introduce a technologically advanced enforcer to combat rising crime — a police officer who’s part man, part machine. (Variety)

TV CASTING NEWS

Not only is Floriana Lima (who was last seen in A Million Little Things) joining Grey’s Anatomy for its 21st season, but she will be cropping up in a recurring role on season two of Tracker on CBS, playing Camille Picket, an off-and-on lover of Colter Shaw (series lead Justin Hartley). (TV Line)

Snowpiercer and Hamilton alum Daveed Diggs has joined the season 5 cast of The Boys, but details on his role are being kept under wraps. (Entertainment Weekly)

Michelle Pfeiffer will join Elle Fanning and Nicole Kidman in the upcoming Apple TV+ 8-part drama series Margo’s Got Money Troubles, which is from David E. Kelley (Pfeiffer’s husband of 31 years). Fanning will star as Margo Millet, the child of Shyanne, a Hooters waitress (Pfeiffer) and an ex-pro wrestler, who has always known she’d have to make it on her own. Kidman is believed to be playing a mediator. (Deadline)

Kyle Chandler will play Hal Jordan in the HBO series Lanterns, which will follow Jordan and John Stewart, two members of the Green Lantern Corps, as in two intergalactic cops who drawn into a dark, earth-based mystery as they investigate a murder in the American heartland. (Variety)

Jessica Rothe (Happy Death Day) and Callum Kerr (Monarch) will appear in the 6th season of Virgin River on Netflix, as the biological parents – Sarah and Everett – of lead character Mel (Alexandra Breckenridge). These new characters will be seen in flashbacks mostly set in or around 1972. There is also the possibility of a prequel to Virgin River that would be focused on these characters. (Deadline)

Max Irons will appear as Mycroft Holmes, older brother to Sherlock Holmes (Hero Fiennes Tiffin) in the upcoming Amazon Prime Young Sherlock series from Guy Ritchie. (Deadline and CBR.com)

Marnee Carpenter (the short-lived TV series Clarice) will guest star in an upcoming episode of Matlock, starring Kathy Bates. Carpenter will appear in flashbacks as Matty’s dearly departed daughter Ellie. (TV Line)

Oscar winner Hilary Swank has joined the third season cast of the Showtime series Yellowjackets, but details about her character have not been revealed. (Deadline)

Florence Pugh and Christopher Abbott will star as Cathy and Adam (respectively) in the Netflix limited series adaptation of East of Eden, based on the John Steinbeck novel that explores the multigenerational saga of the Trask family, focusing new attention on its indelible antihero, Cathy Ames. (Variety)

More cast members have been added to the upcoming second season of the FOX anthology series Accused, including Sonequa Martin-Green, Mike Colter, Jamie Chung, Sherri Saum, and Kiara Barnes. (Deadline)

MOVIE CASTING NEWS

A slew of actors has joined the cast of the upcoming Netflix feature film The Woman in Cabin 10, based on the best-selling novel by Ruth Ware, that is already slated to star Keira Knightley. The movie follows a journalist who witnesses a passenger being thrown overboard a luxury yacht at night — only to be told that it didn’t happen as all the passengers and crew are accounted for. Despite no one believing her, she continues to look for answers, putting her own life in danger. Those cast members recently added include Guy Pearce, Hannah Waddingham, David Ajala, Kaya Scodelario and Gugu Mbatha-Raw. (Deadline)

Oscar winner Emerald Fennell will be adapting and directing a new version of Wuthering Heights with Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi in the lead roles of Catherine Earnshaw and Heathcliff. (Variety)

Anthony Hopkins will star in the Netflix biblical epic film Mary, playing King Herod. The film is a coming-of-age story in which Mary is shunned following a miraculous conception and forced into hiding. (Variety)

It would seem that Matthias Schoenaerts just might be joining the cast of the latest incarnation of Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow that will star House of the Dragon alum Milly Alcock as Kara Zor-El (aka Supergirl). It is believed that Schoenaerts will play the villain Krem of the Yellow Hills, who encounters Supergirl after he murders the father of a young girl. (Variety)

Brian Tee (Chicago Med) has joined the next film to be directed by Oscar winner Kathryn Bigelow. The film is cloaked in secrecy but is expected to include among its cast Rebecca Ferguson, Idris Elba, Jared Harris, Greta Lee, Anthony Ramos, Tracy Letts, Moses Ingram and Gabriel Basso. Plot details are being kept under wraps, though. (Variety)

Elle Fanning will be joined by Callum Turner, Riley Keough, Jamie Bell, Lukas Gage and Pamela Andreson (among others) in the upcoming box office film Rosebush Pruning that will be adapted from the Marco Bellocchio 1965 debut feature “Fists in the Pocket,” a dark satire of family and social values now considered a landmark piece of Italian cinema. (Variety)

MADE-FOR-TV MOVIE NEWS

Hip-hop star and actress Mary J. Blige will executive produce new movies at Lifetime. Family Affair (the current working title) will be inspired by Blige’s 2001 song of the same name and will debut in 2025. The movie will star Ajiona Alexus and Da’Vinchi, reprising their roles from “Real Love” and “Strength of a Woman,” which both aired on Lifetime previously. (Variety)

That’s it. Enjoy!

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