TAGGED AS: casting, Comedy, Drama
This week in TV news: a new Stephen King adaptation, a Marvel crossover, and casting updates for Joss Whedon’s HBO sci-fi project The Nevers, DC Universe’s Titans, season 3 of The Sinner, and more.
CBS All Access has planned a limited event series based on Stephen King’s The Stand, for which the author will write a final chapter not found in the book. The cast includes Westworld‘s James Marsden as working-class factory man Stu Redman, Aquaman‘s Amber Heard as the conflicted Nadine Cross, Odessa Young as the young, pregnant Frannie Goldsmith, and Henry Zaga as the deaf and mute newfound leader Nick Andros.
The series takes place a post-apocalyptic world decimated by plague where the forces of good and evil, and “the fate of mankind rests on the frail shoulders of the 108-year-old other Mother Abagail and a handful of survivors. Their worst nightmares are embodied in a man with a lethal smile and unspeakable powers: Randall Flagg, the Dark Man,” per the official description.
The Stand’s previous adaptations include a 1994 miniseries that starred Gary Sinise, Molly Ringwald, and Rob Lowe and a 2008 Marvel comic series.
(Photo by Courtesy Everett Collection)
The Man Who Fell to Earth is turning into a TV series. Based on the novel of the same name and the 1976 film starring David Bowie, the series will follow “an alien who arrives on Earth at a turning point in human evolution and must confront his own past to determine our future,” per the official announcement.
“Walter Tevis’ visionary novel gave us a tech god Willy Wonka from another planet, brought to life by David Bowie’s legendary performance, that foretold Steve Jobs’ and Elon Musk’s impacts on our world. The series will imagine the next step in our evolution, seen through the eyes of an alien who must learn what it means to become human, even as he fights for the survival of his species,” co-showrunners Alex Kurtzman and Jenny Lumet said in a statement. Kurtzman and Lumet are both producers on CBS All Access’ Star Trek: Discovery.
Marvel’s teen superhero shows are staging a crossover: In the upcoming third season of the Hulu drama Runaways, the main characters from the Freeform drama Cloak & Dagger will meet up with the titular teen superhero team. Details about the story line have not yet been revealed.
“It’s so fun being able to do something that revels in the Mighty Marvel Manner! Having these young heroes cross over allows fans of both shows to see the adventure everyone has been waiting for and we’ve only hinted at,” said Marvel TV boss Jeph Loeb in a statement announcing the news.
Season 3 of Runaways premieres all 10 episodes December 13 on Hulu.
The CBS drama Evil, which follows a psychologist, a priest-in-training, and a carpenter who investigate the backlog of unexplained mysteries in the Catholic church, is — as seen in the trailer above — much scarier than any series the network has aired before. But just because it’s a procedural doesn’t mean the series will feel the same from week to week.
“We are trying to avoid exorcism of the week,” co-creator Robert King told reporters at the Television Critics Association summer press tour on Thursday. “The second episode is about miracles. It’s about those question marks in life that you don’t quite know how they happen — a school where all the girls at the school start laughing, and it seems to be almost viral. I would say the other thing is you’re looking at life and you’re seeing evil, not with a capital ‘E’ but with a small e’ — the boss who throws things at his employees. Where does that fit in? So that is really what our people are [doing]: Just figuring out what is genetically based villainy, if you want to use that word instead of evil, and what is something that’s even bigger, something more supernatural? But also looking at hope.”
(Photo by Warner Bros. / Courtesy: Everett Collection)
While West Coast–based Friends fans can visit the Central Perk set as a part of the Warner Bros. Studio Tour, East Coasters will get their chance to sit on the iconic orange couch in a pop-up experience honoring the 25th anniversary of the premiere.
Tickets to the month-long immersive experience in New York’s Soho neighborhood will cost $29.50, and will give timed access to a space containing re-creations of the characters’ apartments and hangout spot, props, and costumes. According to the official announcement, fans will be able to “tick a turkey on your head, peek through Rachel and Monica’s purple door, relax on Chandler and Joey’s recliner after playing some Foosball, or help Ross with the infamous sofa pivot. Learn Monica’s top tidying tips with Method Home Products and surround yourself with Phoebe’s favorite things before heading to the re-created Central Perk for a pic on the legendary orange couch.”
The Friends pop-up will run from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. September 7 through October 6, with a retail store open to all at 503 Broadway.
The full cast of Joss Whedon’s new HBO series The Nevers has been revealed. Olivia Williams (Counterpart), James Norton (McMafia), Ann Skelly (Vikings), Denis O’Hare (American Horror Story: Hotel), Tom Riley (Da Vinci’s Demons), Nick Frost (Fighting with My Family), Ben Chaplin (Cinderella), and more will star alongside leading lady Laura Donnelly (pictured in Outlander above). The series is described as “an epic science fiction drama about a gang of Victorian women who find themselves with unusual abilities, relentless enemies, and a mission that might change the world.”
Chris Messina will star alongside Matt Bomer in the upcoming third season of USA’s The Sinner, which will follow series star Bill Pullman’s Det. Harry Ambrose as he investigates a tragic car accident in upstate New York and soon “uncovers a hidden crime that pulls him into the most dangerous and disturbing case of his career.”
Denise Richards is the latest star to sign on to play a heightened version of herself in the upcoming Beverly Hills, 90210 reboot/sequel series. She celebrated the news in an Instagram post.
The CW’s Dynasty remake has hired a third actress to play the character of Cristal. TV vet Daniella Alonso will step into the role following scheduling issues with the character’s current portrayer, Ana Brenda Contreras.
The cast of Lena Waithe‘s BET comedy Twenties will include JoJo T. Gibbs, Christina Elmore, Gabrielle Graham, Sophina Brown, and musician Big Sean. The series follows a black queer woman and her two BFFs as they chase their dreams in their twenties.
Season 2 of Titans will see Good Girls Revolt star Genevieve Angelson play Cadmus Labs employee Dr. Eve Watson.
Angel star Alexis Denisof will guest star on The CW’s Legacies as an “urbane British sorcerer” named Professor Vardemus who comes to teach at the Salvatore School for supernaturally gifted children and believes in “the superiority of their supernatural world,” according to TVLine.
Modern Family star Ariel Winter will guest on Law & Order: SVU in an upcoming season 21 episode, SVU showrunner Warren Leight announced in a Tweet.
Jeff Daniels will headline Showtime’s drama Rust, playing a small-town police chief in a Rust Belt town who must decide whether to protect the son of the woman he loves when the son is accused of murder.
On FX, Kate Mara and Nick Robinson will star in the adaptation of the 2013 film A Teacher, playing a female high school teacher who has an affair with her male student.
JoAnna Garcia Swisher has joined Netflix’s adaptation of Sweet Magnolias, based on the collection of romance novels from Sherryl Woods about three South Carolina women who have been lifelong friends and supported each other through different phases of life. She replaces Monica Potter in the series.
Short-form streaming service Quibi is readying two new series for its 2020 debut: A series adaptation of the 2003 Kate Hudson–Matthew McConaughey rom-com How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, which will follow “a glib young online columnist and an oversexed advertising executive who both need to prove, once and for all, they’re capable of being monogamous. They soon discover, however, keeping a relationship is harder than Andie Anderson made it look!”
The other is the supernatural drama Last American Vampire, which, per TVLine, is “about a female FBI agent who ends up working alongside a centuries-old bloodsucker to save the world from imminent destruction.”
