Hey All,
Here are the news items for this past week:
CANCELLATION
Netflix has cancelled the drama The OA after two seasons. (TV Line)
CASTING NEWS
Actress Auli’i Cravalho (the voice of Moana) will play the lead role in the ABC live musical The Little Mermaid. Queen Latifah will play the villainous Ursula while Shaggy will play the crab Sebastian. The musical is slated to air on November 5. (Variety)
Actresses Tiffany Haddish and Carmen Ejogo will star alongise Octavia Spencer in the 4-part Netflix limited series Madam CJ Walker, inspired by the book ‘On Her Own Ground’ by A’Lelia Bundles, the great-great granddaughter of Walker. Spencer will play the title character; and the story follows how Walker overcame hostile turn-of-the-century America, rivalries, tumultuous marriages and family challenges to become America’s first black, self-made female millionaire. Haddish will play Lelia, the smart and feisty daughter of Sarah Breedlove (Madam Walker) and her late first husband. Raised by her single, hard-working mother, she is eager to be independent. After falling in love and marrying the feckless John Robinson, she frequently finds herself coming to her husband’s defenses. Meanwhile Ejogo will play Addie, a hairstylist and former friend of Sarah Breedlove. Addie is described as a savvy business woman herself, who parlays her good looks and social standing into a profitable African American hair care business. The cast will also include Blair Underwood. The series is slated to premiere on Netflix in 2020. (Variety)
Actress Alicia Silverstone and actor Mark Feuerstein have landed roles in the Netflix adaptation of the popular The Baby-Sitter’s Club books by Ann M. Martin. Silverstone will star as Elizabeth Thomas-Brewer, the mother of BSC founder Kristy Thomas. Feuerstein will play her love interest, Watson Brewer. The series is expected to be a “contemporary” adaptation of the beloved ’90s teen book series, which centers on Kristy and her four friends — Mary Anne Spier, Claudia Kishi, Stacey McGill, and Dawn Schafer — whose childcare business brings them together as they experience the nuances of adolescence and their individual home lives. Netflix has ordered a 10-episode freshman season. (TV Guide)
Actress Q’orianka Kilcher (The Alienist and cousin of singer-actress Jewel) and actress Jennifer Landon (Animal Kingdom) will have recurring roles in the third season of Yellowstone. [NOTE: The show is currently in its second season.] Kilcher will play Angela Blue Thunder, a Native American and political opponent of Tom Rainwater (Gil Birmingham); she is a woman with pain in her past and unadulterated fury in her present. Convinced that Rainwater’s management of the casino has been a catastrophe, she shows up in his office, ready to punish the world (and Tom Rainwater) for all the things it did to her. Meanwhile, Landon will play Teeter, a new wrangler on the Yellowstone Ranch. Teeter is a snuff dipping, sunbaked, expert wrangler. (Deadline)
Actor Alberto Rosende (Shadowhunters) has landed a recurring role on Chicago Fire, playing Blake Gallo, a young firefighter who loves his job and joins Firehouse 51 as the CFD expands the number of firefighters on second shift. Casey (Jesse Spencer), Herrmann (David Eigenberg) and Severide (Taylor Kinney) — impressed with Gallo’s relentless energy — take him under their wings. (Deadline)
Actress Emily Swallow (The Mentliast and Supernatural) has landed a recurring role on SEAL Team, playing Dr. Natalie Pierce, a Research Physiologist working for the NHRC Department of Warfighter Performance who’s assigned to DEVGRU (and Bravo Team) to increase the SEALs’ operational longevity, a job she’s undeniably brilliant at. Brimming with raw intelligence and capability, she’s unintimidated by the ‘alpha male’ environment her role places her in, and totally devoted to her mission of keeping these men on the battlefield. (Deadline)
Colton Haynes will not be back as a regular for the final season of Arrow on The CW. (TV Line and The Futon Critic)
MADE-FOR-TV MOVIE CASTING NEWS
Actor Bryan Greenberg (The Mindy Project) and Charles Micahel Davis (The Originals and Younger) will play the male leads opposite actress-singer Lea Michele in the ABC holiday movie Same Time, Next Christmas about Olivia (Michele), a young woman who met her childhood sweetheart (Davis), during her family’s annual Christmas visit to Hawaii. After being separated by distance and years, the two reunite at the same Hawaii resort years later and the old chemistry between them flares up anew – but circumstances conspire to keep them apart. Greenberg will play Gregg Harris, Olivia’s boyfriend, a super fit triathlete, dapper real estate agent who is always angling for the next big deal. He envisions him and Olivia as a super-team in Cincinnati real estate. Davis is Jeff Cutler, a handsome, affable, charming young man — Olivia’s childhood friend and teenage heartthrob from their annual Christmas trips to Hawaii. The movie is slated to premiere in December. (Deadline)
That’s it. Enjoy!
