Hey All,
Here are the entertainment news items for this past week:
RENEWAL
Disney+ has given Percy Jackson and the Olympians a second season renewal. Disney+ has also given Goosebumps a second season renewal. (TV Line and Variety)
BACK FROM THE BEYOND
The series Wynonna Earp came to an end on April 9, 2021, but there is still life left in that Syfy series. The folks over at Tubi, the free streaming service, have give the show a 90-minute special tentatively titled Wynonna Earp: Vengeance that will find the original cast – Melanie Scrofano (Wynonna herself), Tim Rozon (Doc Holliday), Dom Provost-Chalkley (Waverly Earp) and Katherine Barrell (Nicole Haught) all reprising their role along with the show’s creator and executive producer Emily Andras back at the reigns. The special will come out later this year. (Vanity Fair)
NETWORK CHANGES
At the recent winter Television Critics Association press tour, the folks at Hallmark announced some big changes to two of their networks. After 20 years, Hallmark Movies & Mysteries will now be known as Hallmark Mystery, as of March 6 that is; and Hallmark Drama will become Hallmark Family starting on February 28. (Heavy.com)
TV DEVELOPMENT NEWS
Amazon Prime has ordered a psychological mystery thriller limited series from author Harlan Coben and screenwriter Danny Brocklehurst that is based on an original story idea by the two men. Sam Claflin and Bill Nighy are attached to star in Lazarus, which is to follow a man who returns home after his father’s suicide and begins to have disturbing experiences that can’t be explained. He quickly becomes entangled in a series of cold-case murders as he grapples with the mystery of his father’s death and his sister’s murder 25 years ago. Claflin will star as Laz, a well-respected forensic psychologist who has spent his whole life running from the pain of his past. It is only now when he returns home that he is forced to finally face up to it. While Nighy will play Doctor Lazarus, or Dr L., a psychologist and father to Laz, Jenna and Sutton. A beloved figure within his community, he shares his son’s charm, dry humor, and charisma. In death, he wants his son to understand that they are more similar than Laz thinks. (Variety)
MADE-FOR-TV MOVIE NEWS
Former When Calls the Heart co-stars Erin Krakow and Daniel Lissing are reuniting for a new Hallmark holiday movie called Santa Tell Me. (Heavy.com)
STAGE ADAPTATION NEWS
Waitress composer and award-winning singer-songwriter Sara Bareilles and Pulitzer finalist playwright Sarah Ruhl are teaming up on a stage musical adaptation of The Interestings, based on the best-selling 2013 novel by Meg Wolitzer. Bareilles will compose the music and lyrics, while Ruhl will write the book that tells the story of six teenagers who meet at summer camp in the 1970s and form a lifelong bond over their shared dream of leading creative and inspiring lives. Decades later in New York City, that bond remains powerful, but so much else has changed. The story traces their lives as they grow together and apart to explore friendship, love, envy, class, art, money, and power; and how all of it can shift and tilt precipitously over the course of a friendship and a life. (Deadline)
BOX OFFICE MOVIE NEWS
Lauren Graham has landed her first movie role in 8 years. She will appear in the upcoming holiday movie The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, which is based on the classic book by Barbara Robinson, which tells the story of six misfit children who volunteer to star in their town’s Christmas pageant. (Digital Spy and Deadline)
Jack Quaid and Amber Midthunder will star in the upcoming action thriller Novocaine. Quaid will play a sheltered bank executive named Nathan Caine, who has a rare genetic condition that prevents him from feeling physical pain when he is enduring it. When his bank is robbed and one of his co-workers kidnapped, he has to act and finds his greatest liability becomes his greatest strength. (CBR.com)
Toni Collette will star in the comedy A French Pursuit, which is a heartwarming and whimsical tale about a free-spirited woman pursuing love, only to go on a surprising journey of self-discovery. Collette will play Zoe Turner, an unconventional and lively British art teacher who is head over heels for fellow rebel spirit Jean-Louis. But when their plans for a romantic getaway are dashed, she’s heartbroken. (Variety)
Lily Gladstone will star in the Apple Original Films Fancy Dance, in which she also makes her feature directorial debut. The story follows Jax (Gladstone) on the Seneca-Cayuga Reservation in Oklahoma as she cares for her niece Roki (Isabel Deroy-Olson) in the wake of her sister’s disappearance. The pair hit the road together in search of Roki’s missing mother, and unearth deep truths around the treatment of Indigenous women in a colonized world. (Variety)
America Ferrera will make her directorial debut in the upcoming Amazon MGM Studios flick I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter based on the best-selling novel by Erika Sanchez, which follows Julia Reyes, a teen with a sharp tongue, a fierce wit and big dreams of becoming a famous writer, somewhere far, far away from Chicago and her traditional Mexican immigrant parents who just can’t understand her love for Whitman, Dickinson and the Ramones. They wish she was more like Olga, Julia’s sister, now eternally perfect since her tragic death. As Julia seeks to break free of her oppressive home, she tries to uncover her sister’s truth, and in the process gains a deep understanding of the wounds her family carries. (Deadline)
Miles Teller has joined cast of Michael, the biopic about Michael Jackson, playing John Branca, the high-powered attorney who helped shepherd Michael’s career from boy band member to King of Pop. (The Wrap)
Naomie Harris and Jameela Jamil have joined the cast of the upcoming rom-com Lola and Freddie, which follows a couple who were once inseparable and totally in love but now, in their 40s and having grown in different directions, are getting a divorce. Lola is thriving in her career while Freddie continues to chase his dream of becoming a screenwriter. When Freddie is hired by a big studio and rekindles a relationship with an old flame, he matures and aligns more with what Lola desired in their marriage. (Variety)
The upcoming rom-com Worth the Wait will star Lana Condor (To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before franchise) in a story about the intertwining lives of Asian-American strangers over the course of a year as they find new loves, mend their relationships, and create new connections. This fillm will be a modern approach to Love Actually with a star-studded Asian American cast, including Ross Butler (Shazam! franchise), Sung Kang (Fast & Furious franchise) and Elodie Yung (The Cleaning Lady) [among others]. (Variety)
Karen Gillan will play Mary Tudoer in the upcoming period comedy Fools about the monarch’s friendship with her female court jester. (Deadline)
Claire Foy and Brendan Gleeson will star in the upcoming movie H Is For Hawk, which is based on the memoir by Helen MacDonald that follows Helen (Foy) who, after losing her beloved father (Gleeson), finds herself saved by an unlikely friendship with a stubborn hawk named Mabel. Through the bond, Helen rediscovers the beauty of being alive. (Deadline)
An upcoming biopic called Mr Burton will focus on the man who inspired screen legend Richard Burton. Toby Jones stars in the title role in a story that tells the true story of the relationship between Welsh schoolmaster Philip Burton and a wild young schoolboy called Richard Jenkins. Richard dreamed of becoming an actor, but his ambitions were in danger of being derailed by a combination of family trouble, the pressure of war, and his own lack of discipline. Lesley Manville will play Ma Smith, Philip Burton’s landlady and close confidante, who acts as a watchful eye and guiding force over young Richard. (Deadline)
Margot Robbie and Colin Farrell will star in the upcoming box office flick A Big Bold Beautiful Journey, which is being described as an imaginative tale of two strangers and the unbelievable journey that connects them, but major plot details have not been revealed. (Variety)
TV CASTING NEWS
Don Cheadle has joined the cast of the Peacock limited series Fight Night: The Million Dollar Heist, which tracks an armed robbery (and its fallout) on the night of Muhammad Ali’s 1970 comeback fight in Atlanta. Cheadle joins a cast that already includes Kevin Hart, Samuel L. Jackson, Taraji P. Henson, Terrence Howard and Dexter Darden (who’s playing Ali) [among others]. (The Hollywood Reporter)
Demi Moore has joined the cast of the newest Taylor Sheridan drama series Landman where she will play Cami, the wife of one of the most powerful oil men in Texas and a friend of Tommy Norris (Billy Bob Thornton). The series will be set in the proverbial boomtowns of West Texas and will be an upstairs/downstairs story of roughnecks and wildcat billionaires fueling a boom so big, it’s reshaping our climate, our economy and our geopolitics. The cast will include Ali Larter (Heroes), Michelle Randolph (1923) and Kayla Wallace (When Calls the Heart) [among others]. (The Hollywood Reporter)
Veteran actor Scott Glenn has joined the cast of The White Lotus for season 3, but his role is being kept under wraps. (Variety)
Leslie Grossman (American Horror Story) has joined the cast of Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story, playing Judalon Smyth, who was Dr. Jerome Oziel’s former patient and mistress who found herself entangled in the Menendez case, and who ultimately played a key role in Lyle and Erik’s arrests. (Deadline)
The Netflix drama Department Q has added Matthew Goode and Kelly Macdonald to the cast; The series is based on the popular crime novel written by Danish author Jussi Adler-Olsen. Goode will play DCI Carl Morck. After a violent incident turns Morck’s life upside down, the emotionally scarred detective is charged with setting up cold case unit, Department Q, upon his return to work. At first, the disillusioned cop is happy to waste his days away, but his detective instincts are ultimately reawakened and his new department becomes a magnet for a crew of misfits and mavericks. Macdonald will play Dr. Rachel Irving, a therapist tasked with getting officers back on the front line. (Deadline)
James Marsden, Sarah Shahi and Julianne Nicholson have joined the Sterling K. Brown-led Hulu series – which has yet to be given an official title – from This Is Us creator Dan Fogelman that will find Brown starring as the head of security for a former president. No character details have been released for Marsden, Shahi and Nicholson, though. (TV Line)
Haley Bennett and Dominic Cooper have joined the cast of the upcoming Apple TV+ series The Last Frontier, joining previously announced series lead Jason Clarke. The 10-episode series follows US Marshall Frank Remnick (Clarke), the lone Marshal in charge of the quiet, rugged barrens of Alaska, whose jurisdiction is turned upside-down when a prison transport plane crashes in the remote wilderness, setting free dozens of violent inmates. Tasked with protecting the town he’s vowed to keep safe, he begins to suspect the crash wasn’t an accident, but the first step of a well-crafted plan with international political implications. Bennett will star as Sidney, a CIA Agent who is tasked with working with Frank while Cooper will play Havlock, a former Navy Seal and fugitive who is being hunted by US Marshals and the CIA. (Variety)
Anthony Michael Hall and Sonya Cassidy will appear in season three of Reacher that will find the main man going undercover to rescue an informant held by a haunting foe from his past. Hall will play Zachary Beck, a formidable and successful businessman, while Cassidy will play Sarah Duffy, an extremely intelligent and tough DEA agent from Boston with a sharp and sarcastic sense of humor. (Deadline)
Beau Bridges will take over the role played by Jamey Sheridan in the pilot of the CBS series Matlock that will find Kathy Bates in the title role. He will recur as Senior, the managing partner of New York’s most prestigious law firm, with an indomitable presence that immediately alters the temperature of any room. The man’s influence reaches far and wide, and although he loves his son, Julian (Jason Ritter), he might respect his daughter-in-law, Olympia (Skye P. Marshall), more. (TV Insider)
Jessica Capshaw will be back as Arizona Robbins, in a guest star capacity, on Grey’s Anatomy while Natalie Morales will appear as Monica Beltran, a pediatric surgeon whose pragmatism and level-headedness have made her one of the best in her field. Her willingness to push boundaries can be admirable and aggravating, but it’s always aimed at providing top-quality care to her patients. (TV Line)
Ginacarlo Esposito will take over for the late, great Andre Braugher in the Shonda Rhimes Netflix murder-mystery drama series The Residence, which will star Uzo Aduba, in the screwball whodunnit set in the upstairs, downstairs and backstairs world of the White House, among the eclectic staff of the world’s most famous mansion. After a dead body is found, one wildly eccentric detective (Aduba) comes in to investigate 157 suspects attending a state dinner. Among the cast are Julian McMahon, Jason Lee, Ken Marino, Bronson Pinchot, Susan Kelechi Watson, Isiah Whitlock Jr., Randall Park, Kylie Minogue, Jane Curtin, Eliza Coupe, Brett Tucker and Rebecca Field. (Deadline)
That’s it. Enjoy!
Rueben's Ramblings 