TAGGED AS: Apple TV+, Film, movies, Netflix, Prime Video, streaming, television, TV
Phoebe Waller-Bridge, the creator of Amazon hit Fleabag has a new series in the works. Michael Douglas will play Benjamin Franklin in an Apple TV+ limited series. Oscar nominee Kodi Smit-McPhee has joined Cate Blanchett and Kevin Kline in an Apple TV+ drama from director Alfonso Cuarón. Plus, trailers released for season 3 of Emmy-winning FX series Atlanta, Netflix film starring Ryan Reynolds The Adam Project, and an Apple TV+ espionage thriller starring Gary Oldman. Plus more of the biggest news in TV and streaming from the past week.
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(Photo by Dave Benett/Getty Images)
It’s taken a minute, but Fleabag creator and star Phoebe Waller-Bridge has set her next project at Amazon Studios. And no details are being shared. Waller-Bridge signed a three-year deal with Amazon Studios in 2019, after Fleabag’s second, and final, season won six Emmys, including Outstanding Comedy Series, Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series, and Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series for Waller-Bridge.
The star was then briefly onboard to co-star with Donald Glover in a series adaptation of the movie Mrs. and Mrs. Smith at Amazon that never came to fruition. She also served as an executive producer and appeared on-screen in the HBO series Run, co-wrote the last Daniel Craig 007 movie No Time to Die, and was the creator of BBC America’s hit series Killing Eve, currently airing its final season.
Deadline reports specifics of her Fleabag follow-up are under wraps, but that the plan is for filming to begin by the end of 2022.
The first full trailer for the third season of Atlanta arrived on Friday. The long-awaited new season sees creator and star Donald Glover’s Earn traveling to Europe for a tour with Brian Tyree Henry as rapper Paper Boi, Lakeith Stanfield’s Darius, and Zazie Beetz as Van. Season 3 premieres on March 24 on FX.
More trailers and teasers released this week:
• The Adam Project is a movie about a time-travelling pilot who teams up with the younger version of himself and his late dad to come to terms with his past while saving the future. Stars Ryan Reynolds, Mark Ruffalo, Jennifer Garner, Walker Scobell, Catherine Keener, and Zoe Saldaña. Premieres March 11. (Netflix)
• The Minx is a 10-episode comedy series about Joyce (Ophelia Lovibond), living in 1970s Los Angeles, who is an earnest young feminist who joins forces with a low-rent publisher (Jake Johnson) to create the first erotic magazine for women. Premieres March 17 (HBO Max)
• Slow Horses is a darkly humorous espionage drama that follows a dysfunctional team of British intelligence agents who serve in a dumping ground department of MI5 known un-affectionately as Slough House. Gary Oldman stars as Jackson Lamb, the brilliant but irascible leader of the spies, who end up in Slough House due to their career-ending mistakes as they frequently find themselves blundering around the smoke and mirrors of the espionage world. Also stars Kristin Scott Thomas, Jonathan Pryce, Jack Lowden, and Olivia Cooke. Premieres April 1. (Apple TV+)
• The Baby is a British horror comedy, a darkly funny examination of motherhood from the perspective of a woman who doesn’t want to be a mom. Stars Michelle De Swarte. Premieres April 24. (HBO)
• The Girl From Plainville is a limited series retelling the true story of Michelle Carter’s unprecedented “texting-suicide” case. Based on the Esquire article of the same name by Jesse Barron, the series explores Carter’s relationship with Conrad Roy III and the events that led to his death and, later, her conviction of involuntary manslaughter. Stars Elle Fanning, Chloë Sevigny, Colton Ryan, Cara Buono, and Norbert Leo Butz. Premieres March 29. (Hulu)
• Human Resources is the Big Mouth spin-off, a workplace comedy in the world of the monsters from the Big Mouth universe. Starring David Thewlis, Bobby Cannavale, Henry Winkler, Jean Smart, Maya Rudolph, Nick Kroll, Randall Park, Maria Bamford, Aidy Bryant, Thandiwe Newton, and Pamela Adlon. Premieres March 18. (Netflix)
• The Outlaws is a comedy thriller about a disparate group of lawbreakers thrown together to complete a community service sentence. Seven strangers from different walks of life are forced to work together to renovate a derelict community center. When one of their members gets dragged into a dangerous world of organized crime, they unite in ways none of them thought possible. Stars Christopher Walken. From The Office co-creator Stephen Merchant and The Mayans M.C. co-creator Elgin James. Premieres April 1. (Prime Video)
• Trivia Quest is a trivia contest within a videogame where viewers/players answer questions to earn points and help free the friends of cartoon host Willy, who have been imprisoned by the evil Rocky. Premieres April 1. (Netflix)
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(Photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images)
Oscar and Emmy winner Michael Douglas will star in and executive produce an Apple TV+ limited series about founding father Benjamin Franklin and his important stint in France during the American Revolution. The series is based on Pulitzer Prize winner Stacy Schiff’s book A Great Improvisation: Franklin, France, and the Birth of America.
HBO confirms, as has been rumored, that White Lotus favorite Jennifer Coolidge will return to the breakout comedy for season 2, which will increase from six eps to seven, and will also star F. Murray Abraham, Michael Imperioli, Tom Hollander, Haley Lu Richardson, Tanya McQuoid, and Adam DiMarco.
Henry Winkler, soon to return to his Emmy-winning role in HBO’s Barry, will also star in the Israeli TV series Chanshi. The comedy revolves around the titular character (played by series creator Aleeza Chanowitz), a young women from a religious community in Brooklyn who breaks off her engagement and moves to Israel. She embarks on a more wild, free life, but isn’t entirely satisfied with her new situation. Winkler plays her dad, Tatty, who freaks out about her decision and demands she returns home to save the family’s reputation in their community. (Variety)
Peacock’s Pitch Perfect comedy series has cast Sarah Hyland (Modern Family), Lera Abova (Anna), and Jameela Jamil (The Good Place), rounding out the series regulars. They join previously announced series regulars Adam Devine, who will reprise his role of Bumper Allen, and Flula Borg, who will reprise his role of Piëter Krämer. Production is set to begin soon in Berlin, Germany.
John DiMaggio will return for Hulu’s Futurama reboot, reprising his role as Bender, and making the cast complete by joining his castmates Katey Sagal, Tress MacNeille, Billy West, Maurice LaMarche, Lauren Tom, Phil LaMarr, and David Herman.
(Photo by Netflix)
The Power of the Dog Oscar nominee Kodi Smit-McPhee has joined Cate Blanchett and Kevin Kline in director Alfonso Cuarón’s Apple TV+ drama Disclaimer, based on the novel of the same name by author Renee Knight.
Several cast members have joined Daniel Radcliffe in Roku Channel’s WEIRD: The Al Yankovic Story. Radcliffe leads the comedy as uber-talented and beloved Weird Al, while Evan Rachel Wood will play Madonna; Julianne Nicholson will play Weird Al’s mom, Mary; Rainn Wilson will play Weird Al’s mentor, legendary DJ Dr. Demento; and Toby Huss will play Nick, Weird Al’s dad.
Kal Penn has signed on to star with Tim Allen in the Disney+ series based on Allen’s The Santa Clause movies. Penn will play a talented game inventor and single dad whose life takes a major turn after a trip to the North Pole. (Deadline)
Kevin Alejandro and Billy Burke will co-star with Max Thieriot in the Cal Fire pilot that Thieriot co-created and stars in for CBS. The drama is about a program that sees convicts helping to fight wildfires in Northern California. (Deadline)
New cast members for season 2 of Netflix’s Sarah Shahi drama Sex/Life: adds Craig Bierko, Dylan Bruce, Wallis Day, Cleo Anthony, and Darius Homayoun. (TV Line)
Raymond Lee (Kevin Can F— Himself) has been cast in one of the lead roles of NBC’s Quantum Leap sequel. Lee will star as Dr. Ben Seong, a physicist working on the Quantum Leap time-travel project. (Variety)
J.B. Smoove has joined the cast of the Netflix comedy Blockbuster, about the last Blockbuster store. He joins leads Randall Park and Melissa Fumero.
William Harper Jackson and Cristin Milioti will star in The Resort, the Peacock comedy thriller from the writer of Hulu’s Palm Springs, in which Milioti also starred. Mr. Robot creator Sam Esmail will executive produce the limited series, about a married couple, celebrating their anniversary, get caught up in a Mayan Riviera unsolved mystery that happened 15 years earlier.
Assad Zaman (Hotel Portofino, Small Axe) has been cast in the role of “Rashid” in AMC/AMC+ series Interview with the Vampire, based on Anne Rice’s Vampire Chronicles book series. Zaman joins previously announced cast, including Sam Reid (Lestat), Jacob Anderson (Louis) and Bailey Bass (Claudia). The series is set to premiere later this year.
Entourage creator Doug Ellin’s new series takes him back to Hollywood. The comedy/drama, called Ramble On, will star Charlie Sheen, Entourage alums Kevin Connolly and Kevin Dillon, Martin Sheen, Mark Cuban, John C. McGinley, and Jamie-Lynn Sigler playing themselves, in a story about veteran actors looking to make career comebacks.
Oscar winner and American Idol alum Jennifer Hudson will host a new daytime show that will launch in syndication next fall. The Jennifer Hudson Show will replace The Ellen DeGeneres Show, currently in its final season, in some markets.
(Photo by Jason Bell/Starz)
Outlander season 6 arrives Sunday, and a much-anticipated prequel series for the Starz drama is in the works. Outlander EP and showrunner Matthew B. Roberts will write and EP the prequel, with a writers’ room currently being hired to begin working in the next few weeks, and Outlander series creator Ronald D. Moore will also be an EP on the prequel (Variety).
Peacock has announced a live-action comedy series adaptation of the video game series Twisted Metal, with Anthony Mackie starring as John Doe, and executive producing with Will Arnett. Cobra Kai writer Michael Jonathan Smith will serve as showrunner of the series, about a “smart-ass milkman who talks as fast as he drives. With no memory of his past, John gets a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to make his wish of finding community come true, but only if he can survive an onslaught of savage vehicular combat.”
Ray Liotta will executive produce Five Families, an eight-episode docuseries about the famous five families of the New York mafia: Gambino, Bonnano, Columbo, Genovese, and Lucchese, for the History Channel. The series is based on the book Five Families: The Rise, Decline and Resurgence of America’s Most Powerful Mafia Empires by author Selwyn Raab.
David R. Kelley has signed a deal with ABC for Avalon, a mystery drama that teams him with author Michael Connelly. ABC won a bidding war for the project, giving it a straight-to-series order for the 2022-23 season. The series is based on a short story by Connelly, set on Catalina Island and the local sheriff who is pulled into a major mystery on the small, but active tourist spot.
Kelley is also collaborating with Oscar and Emmy-winning director Barry Levinson for another of his upcoming series, Peacock’s crime drama The Missing. Levinson will direct several episodes of the series, including premiere, and serve as an EP on the show, marking the first time he and Kelley have worked together. The limited series, based on the bestselling novel The Missing File by author Dror A. Mishani, centers on a religious detective (Unorthodox star Jeff Wilbusch) who is shaken when a case he’s investigating goes very wrong.
Another project from the previously mentioned Sam Esmail: Apple TV+ has greenlit his new, original series Metropolis, a drama inspired by the seminal science fiction work by Fritz Lang. Esmail will write and serve as showrunner for the series.
A&E has ordered 130 new hours of WWE programming, including Biography: WWE Legendsand WWE Rivals. The network, under its initiative called Home.Made.Nation, has also announced 200 new hours of lifestyle programming, including series from Rachael Ray and multiple new home flipping series.
I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson star Robinson and his series co-creator Zach Kanin have collaborated on another comedy, Computer School. Robinson will star in the HBO pilot, which revolves around a recent high school graduate and his uncle, who are in the same computer course in Michigan. Robinson plays the uncle. (Variety)
Lifetime and Grammy-winning/Oscar-nominated singer Mary J. Blige are partnering in a movie based on her classic song “Real Love.” Blige will executive produce the movie via her Blue Butterfly production banner, and will add more of her music to the movie’s soundtrack.
Lindsay Lohan has signed a deal to make two movies for Netflix, in addition to her role in the upcoming holiday rom-com Falling for Christmas.
Pamela Anderson is joining with Netflix to release a documentary that is her own take on her life and career, in response the Hulu’s Pam and Tommy series. Anderson posted to Instagram: “My life. A thousand imperfections, a million misperceptions. Wicked, wild and lost. Nothing to live up to – I can only surprise you. Not a victim, but a survivor. And alive to tell the real story.”
