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A Supernatural reunion is happening on The Boys, Obi-Wan Kenobi star Ewan McGregor is headed back to TV, Paul Rudd will return for more Only Murders in the Building, Julianna Margulies and Nicole Beharie have joined The Morning Show, and The Umbrella Academy creator Steve Blackman is developing the Horizon Zero Dawn video game adaptation. Plus, more of the biggest news in TV and streaming from the past week.
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The Walking Dead star Jeffrey Dean Morgan, a self-professed superfan of Amazon’s dark comedy superhero series The Boys, is finally making a guest appearance on the series, and it’s leading to a reunion, or two, between JDM and his Supernatural brethren.
First, his role on The Boys: it’s a mystery. That’s it. Mum’s the word on details, but we do know the fourth season is currently in production (i.e., spoilers, or officially announced scoop, should be forthcoming shortly).
And we know that Morgan is especially excited about the fact that The Boys showrunner – and his old boss at The CW drama Supernatural – Eric Kripke was able to work out his complicated and demanding schedule with work on The Walking Dead universe series.
“SO DAMN STOKED!!” Morgan tweeted (all caps and exclamation points his, along with a photo plea that his character be outfitted in tights).
Can’t tell you how excited I am! Big thanks to @therealKripke and @AMCPlus & @TheBoysTV for finding a way with both schedules. No easy task. SO DAMN STOKED!! https://t.co/NZT94seB0z
— Jeffrey Dean Morgan (@JDMorgan) August 25, 2022
Another mystery for JDM’s time on the series is whether or not it also may reunite him with his Supernatural son, Jensen Ackles, who played the villainous Soldier Boy on the third season of The Boys. There has been no confirmation that Soldier Boy/Ackles will return to the series; but there has been no confirmation that he will not, either. As per EW.com, Ackles did post something on co-star Karl Urban’s Instagram – “Pour me a double … I’m on my way” – that certainly hints he may be back just in time to welcome his TV papa to their next collaboration.
As for the rest of the aforementioned packed work schedule for Morgan, he, of course, will finish off the final eight episodes of the final season of the original Walking Dead series, which premieres on October 2. He is also currently filming on the upcoming Negan and Maggie TWD spin-off — previously, Isle of the Dead — which has an official new title: The Walking Dead: Dead City, EW reports.
The spin-off, set in apocalyptic New York City, will follow more Negan and Maggie storyline developments that are set up in the final episodes of the original series, which airs its Greg Nicotero-directed series finale on Nov. 20.
More trailers and teasers released this week:
• White Noise is from director and writer Noah Baumbach, hilarious and horrifying, lyrical and absurd, ordinary and apocalyptic, drama about a contemporary American family’s attempts to deal with the mundane conflicts of everyday life while grappling with the universal mysteries of love, death, and the possibility of happiness in an uncertain world. Stars Adam Driver, Greta Gerwig, Don Cheadle, Raffey Cassidy, Sam Nivola, May Nivola, Lars Eidinger, Andre Benjamin, and Jodie Turner-Smith. Premieres soon. (Netflix)
• Secret Origin of the Batwheels is the half-hour special that will introduce viewers to Bam (the Batmobile), Bibi (the Batgirl Cycle), Redbird (Robin’s Sports Car), Batwing (the Batwing Jet Plane), and Buff (the Bat Truck), and tell the backstory of how this team of young sentient super-powered vehicles came to be, as a preview of the Batwheels preschool ‘toon that premieres later this fall. Stars Ethan Hawke (as Bruce Wayne/Batman), Jacob Bertrand (as Bam), Gina Rodriguez (as Catwoman), Xolo Maridueña (as Snowy), Jordan Reed (as Redbird), Madigan Kacmar (as Bibi), Noah Bentley (as Buff), Lilimar (as Batwing), and Kimberly D. Brooks (as The Batcomputer). Premieres Sept. 17. (Cartoonito on HBO Max)
• In Hellraiser, a reimagining of Clive Barker’s 1987 horror classic from director David Bruckner, a young woman struggling with addiction comes into possession of an ancient puzzle box, unaware that its purpose is to summon the Cenobites, a group of sadistic supernatural beings from another dimension. Starring Odessa A’zion Jamie Clayton, Adam Faison, Drew Starkey, Brandon Flynn, Jason Liles, Selina Lo, and Goran. Premieres Oct. 7. (Hulu)
• Los Espookys season 2 finds our charismatic Los Espookys leader and gore enthusiast, Renaldo (Bernardo Velasco), haunted by the ghost of a beauty pageant queen, while Úrsula (Cassandra Ciangherotti), enlists an old acquaintance to challenge the political status quo. Úrsula’s well-meaning sister, Tati (Ana Fabrega), is adjusting to her life as a newlywed, while balancing a new gig, and Renaldo’s ominous best friend, Andrés (Julio Torres), tries to find his place in the world after appeasing his inner demons (literally). Meanwhile, Uncle Tico (Fred Armisen) is searching for a new purpose after his valet career is derailed. Premieres Sept. 16. (HBO Max)
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(Photo by Karwai Tang/WireImage)
Emmy winner Ewan McGregor has signed on to star in and executive produce a limited series adaptation of Amor Towles’ bestselling novel A Gentleman in Moscow, in which the actor will play Count Alexander Rostov. In the aftermath of the Russian Revolution, Rostov finds that his gilded past places him on the wrong side of history. Spared immediate execution, he is banished by a Soviet tribunal to an attic room in the opulent Hotel Metropol, threatened with death if he ever sets foot outside again. As the years pass and some of the most tumultuous decades in Russian history unfold outside the hotel’s doors, Rostov’s reduced circumstances provide him entry into a much larger world of emotional discovery, as he builds a new life within the walls of the hotel.
Oscar winner Joe Pesci has joined Pete Davidson and Edie Falco in the Peacock half-hour comedy Bupkis, an autobiographical, but heightened story about Davidson’s life. Falco will play Davidson’s mom, while Pesci will play his grandfather.
Simu Liu, Sterling K. Brown, and Abraham Popoola have joined the cast of Jennifer Lopez’s Atlas, a sci-fi thriller for Netflix. Shang-Chi and The Legend of the Ten Rings and Kim’s Convenience star Liu will play the villain in the drama about an analyst (Lopez) who gets stranded on a distant planet and must use AI to fight an AI soldier who wants to end humanity. (Deadline)
Tony winner and Saturday Night Live alum Rachel Dratch and Frasier alum Peri Gilpin will guest star in the final season of AMC’s Kevin Can F**K Himself. Dratch will use the Boston accent that was a favorite of her “Boston teen” character on SNL as a former Boston City Hall employee who tries to help Allison (Annie Murphy) with her new plan to get away from Kevin, while Gilpin will play Allison’s mom in a flashback episode the sheds light on how Allison ended up where she ended up.
The Morning Show castings: Julianna Margulies will return for the third season of Apple TV+’s drama, playing UBA news anchor Laura Peterson. Nicole Beharie (Miss Juneteenth), who will play new anchor Christina Hunter, a “grounded, competitive, and charismatic Millennial.” Christina “works hard, plays hard” and deals with her workplace with “good-humored irreverence.” The season, which will also include new cast member Jon Hamm, is currently in production.
(Photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images)
Spoiler ahead if you haven’t seen the season 2 finale of Only Murders in the Building — still here? Paul Rudd, who made an appearance in the finale, will co-star in the show’s third season, continuing the new mystery that was introduced at the end of season 2.
Scott Foley has joined the cast of the HBO Max series The Girls on the Bus, based on a chapter in Amy Chozick’s book Chasing Hillary. The dramedy will follow four female journalists who find love, friendship, and scandal while on the trail of presidential candidates. Foley will play the mayor of a small town in Kansas who makes a presidential bid. Melissa Benoist, Christina Elmore, and Natasha Behnam star, while the series is being written and executive produced by Chozick and Julie Plec (The Vampire Diaries) and Rina Mimoun (Gilmore Girls, Dawson’s Creek) will be the showrunner and an EP on the series. (Variety)
The Killing star Mireille Enos is joining the cast of Bob Odenkirk’s Better Call Saul follow-up Straight Man, the AMC adaptation of Richard Russo’s novel of the same name, from The Killing writer and producer Aaron Zelman and The Office cast member, writer, and EP Paul Lieberstein. The dramedy revolves around Odenkirk’s William Henry Devereaux Jr., the reluctant chairman of the English department at a Pennsylvania rust belt college. He is unsatisfied with his station in life, in no small part because of his relationship with his dad, his uninspired students, and division in his department. Enos will play his wife, the more grounded half of the couple who is also the vice principal of the local high school and begins to questions her life choices when her husband’s life spirals out of control. (Deadline)
Charles Babalola (The Outlaws) will star in Showtime’s new drama King Shaka, an epic drama centered around one man’s personal journey from stigmatized childhood to legendary king. Joining Babalola in the series: Aïssa Maïga (The Fear Index) as Nandi, Shaka’s devoted mother who will sacrifice everything to fulfill her son’s destiny; Thando DIomo (The Woman King) as Pampatha, a herder who finds her fate entwined with Shaka’s; Thapelo Mokoena (Bulletproof) as Gendeyana, a Qwabe leader who grows close to Shaka and Nandi; and Warren Masemola (Queen Sono) as Magazwa, who provides safe haven to Shaka and Nandi, but at a cost. The series will be fully shot in South Africa and will debut in 2023.
Toni Collette and Josh Charles will star in The Power, Prime Video’s 10-episode thriller based on Naomi Alderman’s sci-fi book. Collette and Charles replace Leslie Mann and Tim Robbins who left the project earlier this year. The story takes place in a world where teenage girls suddenly have the ability to electrocute people whenever they want to. It becomes a global power shift as the teens’ abilities become stronger. Collette plays Seattle mayor Margot, whose personal and professional life makes a dramatic shift as The Power intensifies, while Charles plays Dandon, the governor of Washington, who is on a path to become a senator, until The Power interrupts those plans. The cast also includes John Leguizamo, Eddie Marsan, and Ted Lasso’s Toheeb Jimoh. (Deadline)
Mayim Bialik will play host to Simu Liu, Ray Romano, Aisha Tyler, Patton Oswalt, Michael Cera, Candace Parker, Constance Wu, Iliza Shlesinger, and B.J. Novak on Celebrity Jeopardy, which premieres Set, 25 on ABC. (EW)
Christian Slater has signed on for a major role in Disney+’s live-action series adaptation of The Spiderwick Chronicles fantasy book series from Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black. Slater will play Mulgarth (the alter ego of Dr. Dorian Brauer), a villain who eats people. Also cast in the series: Lyon Daniels and Noah Cottrell as twin brothers Jared and Simon, who, along with their mother and sister move from New York to Michigan. There they live in their family home, The Spiderwick Estate, and an alternate world. (Deadline)
Law & Order: SVU fans are unhappy about the upcoming departure of Kelli Giddish and her Det. Amanda Rollins character. Giddish confirmed on social media that she will leave during the show’s upcoming 24th season. The controversial cast shake-up was not Giddish’s choice, reports Variety.
Dania Ramirez and Scott Caan will star in the Jamie Foxx–produced Alert, a new Fox procedural about the Philadelphia Police Department’s missing persons unit. Ramirez is an officer whose own 11-year-old son went missing years earlier, and Caan is her ex-husband, who shows up six years after their son disappeared with alleged proof that he is still alive. (Deadline)
Salma Hayek Pinault and Annie Murphy are reportedly set to join the season 6 line-up of Black Mirror that already includes Rory Culkin, Aaron Paul, Josh Hartnett, Kate Mara, Zazie Beetz, Clara Rugaard, Danny Ramirez, Paapa Essiedu, Auden, and Anjana Vasan. (Variety)
Elijah Wood will be a season-long guest star on Yellowjackets’ sophomore season. He’ll play Walter, “a dedicated Citizen Detective who will challenge Misty (Christina Ricci) in ways she won’t see coming.” (Variety)
Rescue Me alum Steven Pasquale will co-star opposite Neve Campbell in Avalon, the David E. Kelley series adaptation of a Michael Connelly short story about Det. Nicole Searcy, who’s pulled into a career-defining case on Catalina Island, in the sheriff’s office on the tourist-heavy island. Pasquale will play Det. William Claypool, from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Office, who’s also called in to work on Searcy’s case. (Variety)
Younger and Entourage star Debi Mazar has been cast as Medusa in Kaos, the darkly comedic, modern take on Greek mythology series from End of the F***ing World creator Charlie Covell. In addition to Mazar, the cast includes Jeff Goldblum (who replaced original star Hugh Grant) as Zeus, David Thewlis, Janet McTeer, Aurora Perrineau, Cliff Curtis, Killian Scott, Misia Butler, Stanley Townsend, Misia Butler, Leila Farzad, Nabhaan Rizwan, and Rakie Avola. (Deadline)
HBO’s Succession will bring back nine familiar faces for the series’ upcoming fourth season: Alexander Skarsgård as tech CEO Lukas Mattson; Arlan Moayed as Kendall’s friend and rival Stewey Hosseini; Dagmara Domińczyk as Waystar Royco PR head Karolina Novotney; Hope Davis as media heiress Sandi Furness; Cherry Jones as Nan Pierce, the Pierce Global Media family head; Juliana Canfield as Kendall’s assistant Jess Jordan; Annabelle Dexter-Jones as Kendall’s love interest Naomi Pierce; Justin Kirk as right-wing congressman Jeryd Mencken; and Stephen Root as creepy Future Freedom Summit leader Ron Petkus. (Deadline)
Barbie Ferreira has announced she is leaving HBO’s Euphoria and her role as fan favorite Kat Hernandez. (Vulture)
The cast of FX’s Donald Sterling limited series The Sterling Affairs is set, with previous cast Laurence Fishburne (Clippers head coach Doc Rivers), Ed O’Neill as Donald Sterling, and Jacki Weaver as Sterling’s wife Shelly to be joined by Cleopatra Coleman (Dopesick) to star as Sterling’s mistress V. Stiviano, Kelly AuCoin as former Clippers president Andy Roeser, Austin Scott as Clippers star Blake Griffin, J. Alphonse Nicholson as Clipper star Chris Paul, Sheldon Bailey as player Andre Jordan, Sarunas J. Jackson as Matt Barnes, and Charlie McElveen as JJ Reddick. The series unfolds the story of Donald Sterling’s downfall, specifically his notoriously racist behavior, as Doc Rivers was trying to lead the team (historically one of the worst in the NBA) to a championship. (Deadline)
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On the heels of Netflix’s announcement that a fourth season of The Umbrella Academy would be the series’ final one, Academy creator Steve Blackman has extended the deal with Netflix and his Irish Cowboy production company. Among the new projects he’s developing: a TV series adaptation of the video game Horizon Zero Dawn and Orbital, a drama set on the International Space Station. Blackman says the series, which will not feature aliens, will include his “love of black humor, characters who live on the edge, and wild action sequences.”
Disney+ is in early development on King Kong, a live-action origin story about the classic monster, and the “supernatural mysteries of his home” on Skull Island. The series will be produced by James Wan (Saw, Insidious), and written by Paper Girls creator Stephany Folsom. (Deadline)
Netflix has announced a double dose of comedian Nick Kroll: Season 6 of his animated series Big Mouth will premiere on Oct. 28, while he makes his Netflix stand-up special debut with Nick Kroll: Little Big Boy on Sept. 27.
An Ally McBeal sequel series may be in the works with a possible return of original star Calista Flockhart. Ally will not be the main character this time, however; the series would revolve around a young Black woman, believed to be the daughter of Lisa Nicole Carson’s Renee Raddick from the original series. Her daughter would join the law firm from the original series right out of law school. (Deadline)
Showtime has signed an overall development deal with Emmy-nominated Yellowjackets creators Ashley Lyle and Bart Nickerson. The marrieds, who are nominated for Outstanding Drama Series and two writing Emmys for the series, currently serve as showrunners and executive producers on season two of Yellowjackets, which is set to go into production at the end of this month in Vancouver.
ABC has added The Company You Keep, a drama starring This Is Us alum Milo Ventimiglia, to its 2022-23 midseason schedule. The series finds Ventimiglia playing Charlie, who has a romantic night with Emma (Catherine Haena Kim), with neither of them aware what the other does for a living: con man for him, CIA agent for her. William Fichtner, Tim Chiou, Freda Foh Shen, James Saito, Sarah Wayne Callies, Felisha Terrell, and Polly Draper also star. (THR)
Community creator Dan Harmon says there is a script in place for a movie spin-off of the NBC series, and that negotiations with cast have begun. (The Wrap)
Peacock and Universal have announced that Halloween Ends, the final installment of the revered horror franchise, will debut as Peacock’s Halloween movie event Friday, October 14, day-and-date with its theatrical release. The story: after 45 years, the most acclaimed, revered horror franchise in film history reaches its epic, terrifying conclusion as Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) faces off for the last time against the embodiment of evil, Michael Myers, in a final confrontation unlike any captured on-screen before. Only one of them will survive.
More Peacock news: Starting Sept. 19, Peacock will become the next-day streaming home for NBC and Bravo shows, including Law & Order, La Brea, Quantum Leap, Saturday Night Live, The Real Housewives, Top Chef, and Below Deck.
(Photo by Will Hart/NBC)
It’s all Law & Order, all the time: for the first time, NBC’s Law & Order, Law & Order: SVU, and Law & Order: Organized Crime will open their seasons on Sept. 22 with one story shared across all three series. As the three-hour telecast begins, a mysterious young girl is shot in cold blood and Det. Frank Cosgrove (Jeffrey Donovan) teams up with Det. Jalen Shaw (Mehcad Brooks, first episode) to track down her killer. Capt. Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay) and Det. Elliot Stabler (Christopher Meloni) are called in to help when they realize they have more than a typical homicide case on their hands. After uncovering key evidence, Jack McCoy (Sam Waterston) and ADA Nolan Price (Hugh Dancy) seek justice against an international crime ring, but complications threaten the outcome of their case.
Marlee Matlin is teaming with Amblin Television and Scholastic Entertainment to develop and produce a live-action limited series based on the memoir Signs of Survival: A Memoir of the Holocaust, Joshua M. Greene’s story about Renee Hartman, the only hearing person in her family in 1940s Czechoslovakia as Nazi soldiers came to their home during the Holocaust. It was to Renee to warn her parents and sisters as the Nazis approached, and after her parents were taken away, it was up to Renee and her sign language skills to keep she and her sister alive. (Variety)
The Good Doctor is going to spin-off The Good Lawyer; Deadline reports ABC’s The Good Doctor will air a backdoor pilot that seeks to introduce the beginning of another series, a legal spin-off of the Freddie Highmore hit The Good Doctor. Two characters from The Good Lawyer will be introduced in the upcoming 13th episode of the fourth season of The Good Doctor, though no casting has been set yet. The new series will revolve around Joni, a twentysomething attorney who represents Highmore’s Dr. Shaun Murphy when he has a legal issue. (Deadline)
Showtime is developing a documentary about the sexual harassment scandal revolving around Louis CK. Paramount Global executive David Nevin said during the Edinburgh TV Festival the project will involve the New York Times reporters who broke the story the Louis CK had been accused by several women of sexual harassment, as well as larger #MeToo issues. (THR)
