TV News Wrap-Up: ‘Tiger King’ to be Reincarnated, ‘The 100’ Drops Trailer, Hilary Duff ‘Younger’ Spin-Off in the Works, and More
It’s going to be a long time before the entertainment industry finds a semblance of normal, but The SAG-AFTRA Foundation continues to focus on helping members in need. Plus, there is still content to look forward to as many networks have decided to push original programming planned for the spring to the fall.
Without further ado, let’s get into all of the casting news, programming notes, and deals signed this week.
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Nicholas Cage to star in Tiger King scripted series. The Leaving Las Vegas actor will play Oklahoma zookeeper Joe Schreibvogel aka “Joe Exotic”, Variety reported. It’s based on The Texas Monthly article “Joe Exotic: A Dark Journey Into the World of a Man Gone Wild,” by Leif Reigstad, which CBS optioned in 2019. The series will explore how the excentric zookeeper “lost himself to a character of his own creation.” Cage will executive produce the project — his first series regular TV role — via Saturn Films.
The 100 releases final season trailer. The hit show will return to the network on Wednesday, May 20. You can get a taste of your favorite characters’ final adventures in The 100 Season 7 trailer.
Space Force trailer drops at Netflix. Steve Carell will star in the series that he co-created with Greg Daniels. His workplace is no longer The Office, but a branch of the military called Space Force, dedicated to helping the U.S. achieve “complete space dominance”. His character General Mark R. Naird also has a rebellious teenager to discipline, so we don’t blame him for wanting to escape to “Kokomo”. The series also stars John Malkovich and Lisa Kudrow as Mark’s wife Maggie. You can watch the trailer here.
CBS renews 23 series for fall, cancels three. Dramas like FBI, All Rise, and SEAL Team will return along with comedies like Bob ♥ Abishola, The Neighborhood, and The Unicorn. Unfortunately, not all series made the cut. Man With A Plan and Tommy join God Friended Me on the network’s canceled list. You can read more about the renewals here. The news of renewals should come as no surprise to fans of the NCIS franchise as Deadline reported stars like Mark Harmon, Chris O’Donnell, and LL Cool J signed deals to return to their respective shows this week. There is also new original content coming as Deadline also reported CBS has also ordered the Queen Latifah-led reboot The Equalizer to series along with two other titles. The network’s streaming service CBS All Access is preparing for a summer expansion that will add some Star Trek franchise titles, The Godfather and more to its library.
Disney and WarnerMedia cancel upfronts.The two companies will have private conversations with buyers instead, The Hollywood Reporter reports. There will be no public presentations, even remotely. Instead, Disney will host a “virtual roadshow” exclusively for ad agencies the week of May 26 featuring network talent. WarnerMedia will follow a similar model.
Younger spinoff in development for Hilary Duff. We don’t have much information about the show that might split Duff’s Kelsey and Sutton Foster’s lead character Liza up, as Deadline reports that the project doesn’t even have a network yet. Some possibilities include TV Land, which currently airs Younger or Paramount Network, where Younger almost moved for Season 6.
Patrick J. Adams, James Lafferty have The Right Stuff for Disney+. The series about the very beginning of the U.S. space program was first developed by Nat Geo. Adams will play John Glenn, the test pilot with traditional values, while Jake McDorman plays Lieutenant Commander Alan Shepard, TV Line reports. The rest of the cast will portray NASA’s Project Mercury team, created to beat Russia in the space race. Lafferty will play Scott Carpenter, and his team members will be portrayed by Once Upon a Time‘s Colin O’Donoghue and Mad Men‘s Aaron Staton, to name a few other cast members.
The Morning Show and Dickinson showrunners ink deals at Apple. Kerry Ehrin and Alena Smith are just two names that signed deals with Apple TV+ for their respective shows, according to Deadline. Other names who have signed deals with the streaming network include Friday Night Lights creator Jason Katims, Oprah Winfrey, Sharon Horgan and Julia Louis-Dreyfus.
Hollywood looks ahead at reopening. According to Dr. Michael Smit in a Deadline interview, there is simply not enough testing available for the entertainment industry to go back safely. Cast and crew would have to be tested every day. High-budget productions that can afford to test cast and crew every day present an ethical issue. In a separate interview with Deadline, national executive director of SAG-AFTRA Dave White said the industry won’t return to normal until a vaccine is available and testing and tracing is in place. “As a general matter, it’s worth noting that a vaccine is right now maybe not a consensus but overwhelmingly viewed as the time when everything can go back to normal,” White told Deadline. “And broad and reliable testing and tracing is the rule-of-thumb standard as to when we will have some organized, sustained production returning to stages.” Other union representatives echoed the same sentiment, saying they are doing everything they can to ensure Hollywood can return to work, but only when it’s safe.
Peacock to reboot Battlestar Galactica gets showrunner. Michael Lesslie will executive produce and write the series, according to Deadline. Lesslie is known for running AMC’s spy drama The Little Drummer Girl.
Chris Pratt to Star in The Terminal List at Amazon. The series is based on the Jack Carr novel of the same name and is Pratt’s first series since Parks And Recreation, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The actor bought the series to the streaming network with executive producer and director Antoine Fuqua. Pratt will star as James Reece, and will follow his character after his entire platoon of Navy SEALs is ambushed during a high-stakes covert mission. When he returns to his family, James has conflicting memories of the event and questions his responsibility. He soon discovers there are forces working against him that also threaten his family.
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Esme Mazzeo
Esme Mazzeo is a lifestyle and entertainment journalist from Long Island. When she's not writing for work, she's writing for fun, or searching for something to satisfy her sweet tooth. She thinks rainy days are the best kind of days. Certified night owl.