Here are the entertainment news items for this past week:
CANCELLATION
Paramount+ has pulled the plug on Wolf Pack, the series that starred Sarah Michelle Gellar, after only one season. (TV Line)
STREAMING MOVIE NEWS
Lindsay Lohan and Tim Meadows will pull a Mean Girls reunion of their own in the upcoming Netflix rom-com movie Our Little Secret, starring alongside Broadway alum Kristin Chenoweth. The film follows two resentful exes (Lohan and Pretty Little Liars alum Ian Harding) who are forced to spend Christmas together after discovering their current partners are siblings. (Variety)
Ben Affleck and Matt Damon are teaming up yet again for a new crime thriller called Animals that was acquired by Netflix. Affleck will direct while Damon stars. Plot details are scarce but the story will focus on a kidnapping. (Variety)
DEVELOPMENT NEWS
Netflix has given a greenlight for two more adaptations of novels by Harlan Coben given how much of a global hit Fool Me Once has become for the streaming service. Those novels will be Missing You tells the story of detective Kat Donovan who stumbles across her estranged fiancé on a dating app, forcing her to delve back into the mystery surrounding her father’s murder. Meanwhile, Run Away centers on Simon, whose perfect life is shattered when his oldest daughter, Paige, runs away and is found vulnerable and strung out on drugs in a city park. Simon’s search takes him into a dangerous underworld, where a shocking act of violence further rocks his life. (Deadline)
Colin Firth will star in the upcoming Sky and Peacock original series Lockerbie that will focus on the 1988 flight disaster in which 259 passengers and crew members were killed. Firth will play Dr. Jim Swire, who tragically lost his daughter Flora in the disaster and has worked with his wife, Jane, to seek justice for the victims’ families ever since. (Variety)
TV CASTING NEWS
The Umbrella Academy alum Tom Hopper has been cast in a key role in the upcoming THe Terminal List prequel that is set to air on Amazon Prime. He will play the series regular role of Raife Hastings, a hunter, protector, guardian and Navy SEAL. The Terminal List: Dark Wolf will be set five years prior to the events of The Terminal List. (Variety)
The upcoming new CBS drama Elsbeth, the spin-off of The Good Wife, has announced a list of guest stars, including Jane Krakowski, Linda Lavin, Retta and Blair Underwood. (Variety)
Yanic Truesdale (Gilmore Girls) will have a recurring role in the upcoming Amazon Prime drama Etoile from Gilmore Girls creators Amy Sherman-Palladino and Daniel Palladino. Set in New York City and Paris, the 8-episode series follows the dancers and artistic staff of two world-renowned ballet companies, as they embark on an ambitious gambit to save their storied institutions by swapping their most talented stars. Truesdale will play Raphael, the right-hand to Genevieve (Charlotte Gainsbourg) who heads the Parisian ballet company. (Deadline)
Morena Baccarin (Firefly, Homeland and the Deadpool movie franchise) is set to appear in an upcoming episode of Fire Country on CBS, playing a sheriff character that could lead her own series. She will guest star in the Season 2 episode with an option to become a series regular in a potential spinoff series. She’ll play Mickey, a Sheriff’s Deputy for fifteen years who knows every corner of Edgewater and every one of its inhabitants. This is her town and she’s fiercely protective of it. (Deadline)
Malin Akerman (Watchmen and 27 Dresses) will star in the small screen adaptation of The Hunting Wives by author May Cobb that will air on Starz. She will play Margo Banks in the series, which tells the story of Sophie O’Neil and her family’s move from the East Coast to deep East Texas, where she succumbs to socialite Margo’s irresistible charms – and finds her life consumed by obsession, seduction, and murder. (Variety)
Tom Ellis (Lucifer) has joined the cast of the Hulu original Tell Me Lies for the show’s second season. He will play the series regular role of Oliver, a professor at Baird College whose tough love attitude makes him an intimidating presence that isn’t appreciated by all students. He is married to Lucy’s professor Marianne (Gabriella Pession), but as one of the main characters begins seeking his approval, his influence will have chaotic repercussions. (Deadline)
Wilson Bethel (All Rise and Hart of Dixie) will reprise his role of Benjamin Poindexter aka Bullesye in Daredevil: Born Again. He is expected to appear in three episodes. (Deadline)
Maria Sten will be back as Frances Neagley in season three of Reacher, which will focus on Persuader, book number 7 of author Lee Child’s book franchise that finds Reacher going undercover to rescue an informant being held by someone from Reacher’s past. Neagley doesn’t appear in the book, so her presence in the series will diverge from the text. (The Hollywood Reporter)
Allison Janney has joined the cast of The Diplomat for its second season on Netflix. She will play Vice President Grace Penn. (Variety)
BOX OFFICE MOVIE NEWS
Gillian Anderson has joined the cast of Tron: Ares, the third movie in the franchise that already includes Jared Leto, Evan Peters, Greta Lee, Jodie Turner-Smith and Cameron Monaghan in the cast. (Deadline and ComicBook.com)
The action thriller movie called G20 will star Violas Davis along with Anthony Anderson and Marsaid Martin (both from black-ish), Ramon Rodriguez (Will Trent), Antony Starr (The Boys) and Clark Gregg (Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD) [among others]. The movie is about terrorist laying siege on the annual G20 summit. (Deadline)
Fresh of hiis first Oscar nomination, Colman Domingo has landed two films. He will play legendary singer Nat King Cole in a movie musical from a script he co-wrote for which he will also make his feature directing debut. And, he will play Joe Jackson, the father of Michael Jackson in the biopic Michael, to be directed by Antoine Fuqua. (Variety)
Chris Pratt will star in the sci-fil film Mercy, which will be set in the near future when capital crime has increased. The picture will follow a detective (Pratt) who is accused of a violent crime and is forced to prove his innocence. (Deadline)
Edward Norton will be taking over the role of Pete Seeger from the departing Benedict Cumberbatch, due to scheduling issues, in the upcoming movie A Complete Unknown that will have Timothee Chalamet portraying legendary singer Bob Dylan. Elle Fanning will play Syliva Russo, Dylan’s early-’60s love interest, a university student and artist. (Deadline)
Aaron Eckhart, Olga Kurylenko and Alex Pettyfer will star in the spy thriller Chief of Station with Eckhart playing Ben, a former CIA European Station Chief whose world comes crumbling down after his wife, a former operative, dies in a terrible accident. After receiving cryptic information that his wife’s death might not have been an accident, Ben heads back into the shadowy underworld of Eastern Europe, teaming up with a former adversary to unravel a conspiracy that challenges everything he thought he knew about his wife and the agency he worked at for more than 20 years. (Deadline)
That’s it. Enjoy!
Rueben's Ramblings 