TV News Wrap-Up: ‘Dexter’ Revival Ordered by Showtime, CBS Sets Premiere Dates for 10 Scripted Shows, ‘Last Man Standing’ to End with Season 9

It’s been a wild week in the world of TV news. Some high profile renewal reversals have swept the headlines, and so has one big revival. 

Additionally, many new shows have rounded out their casts as they proceed into production.

Take a look at some of the biggest headlines in this week’s TV news wrap-up. 

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Star Trek: Discovery has been renewed for Season 4 by CBS All Access.

• The renewal news comes a day after the Season 3 premiere with production slated to begin on November 2nd. 
• Deadline reports that news of the renewal came via a video with stars Sonequa Martin-Green and Doug Jones and executive producers/co-showrunners Alex Kurtzman and Michelle Paradise.

Kiera Knightley has backed out of The Essex Serpent, putting the Apple TV+ production on delay.

• A representative reportedly told the Daily Mail that Knightley “… was not participating for family reasons related to the coronavirus pandemic.”
• The second wave of coronavirus cases in the UK meant that there “…wasn’t a comfortable scenario for Keira that could be put in place for an extended period of childcare required for the four-and-a-half-month production.”
• According to Deadline, the series was to begin filming in November, but now Knightley will be recast. As a result, the show will be on hiatus until it can begin shooting in 2021.

Joshua Jackson has been cast in the titular role on Peacock’s limited series Dr. Death.

• He will be replacing Jamie Dornan who was originally cast in the role in August 2019 but had to step back from the role due to the COVID-19 production start delay.
• Deadline reports that Stephen Frears recently exited as director on the project for the same reason. 
• Dr. Death is based on the Wondery podcast of the same name and follows “…the true story of Dr. Christopher Duntsch (Jackson), a rising star in the Dallas medical community. Young, charismatic, and ostensibly brilliant, Dr. Duntsch was building a flourishing neurosurgery practice when everything suddenly changed. Patients entered his operating room for complex but routine spinal surgeries and left permanently maimed or dead. As victims piled up, two fellow physicians, neurosurgeon Robert Henderson (Baldwin) and vascular surgeon Randall Kirby (Slater) set out to stop him. Dr. Death explores the twisted mind of Dr. Duntsch and the failures of the system designed to protect the most defenseless among us.”
• Production is now set to start next fall. 

The Syfy series Day of the Dead has added five series regulars to the cast. 

• A Deadline exclusive reports that the cast includes, Keenan Tracey (Bates Motel), Daniel Doheny (Alex Strangelove), Natalie Malaika (Fractured), newcomer Morgan Holmstrom and Kristy Dinsmore (Vikings).
• The series is based on George A. Romero’s class zombie film and tells the story of six strangers trying to survive.
• Tracey will play Cam McDermott, “…a high school senior and son of a local police detective who spends his free time working odd jobs to get out of his small Pennsylvania hometown.”
• Doheny has been cast as the mayor’s son, Luke Bowman.
• Malaika will play Lauren Howell, “a sarcastic assistant mortician at the local mortuary.”
• Holmstrom will play Sarah Blackwood. “former Special Forces now working on a fracking crew outside of town. She discovers a mysterious body which plunges her into the middle of a zombie invasion.”

Showtime has ordered a revival of the serial killer drama, Dexter, as a limited series. 

• The premium cable network has ordered ten new episodes of the show. 
• Star Michael C. Hall will return as Dexter Morgan, as will showrunner Clyde Phillips. 
• Deadline reports that production is set to start in early 2021 with a tentative premiere date of fall 2021. 
• Showtime was reportedly only interested in reviving the character if they could find a new and creative take for what comes next. The Deadline report contains spoilers for the original series which aired between 2006 and 2013.

Regina King has signed on to executive produce Slay, a new supernatural drama for The CW. 

• Slay is a series that tells the story of “Carson Jones, a bold, witty teenager with afro puffs, leather boots, seventies cool, and – thanks to her mother’s ancient African bloodline – supernatural gifts and the responsibility to use them to protect Virginia’s Historic Triangle (one of the most haunted areas in the country) from the forces of darkness.”
• According to Deadline, King and her sister Reina King will produce the series through their company Royal Ties Prods. 
• The series was written by Julian Johnson with supervision from CSI: NY showrunner Pam Veasey supervising.
• This production reunites King and Veasey who first worked together on King’s pilot directing debut, The Finest, about five African-American sisters, all officers in the NYPD. The script was written by Veasey.

Stumptown‘s Michael Ealy has been cast in an ABC medical drama pilot entitled Triage. 

• Deadline reports that Ealy has been tapped as the male lead, Nathaniel Price, starring opposite Parisa Fitz-Henley.
• Triage is described as, “a character-driven medical drama that follows pioneering surgeon Finley Briar (Fitz-Henley) over three distinct decades at the same hospital. With the evolution of medicine as the backdrop, the show explores the interconnected careers, friendships, and romances of Finley and her colleagues, and their tenuous relationship with time.”
• Nathaniel Price is described as a brilliant neurosurgeon and one of Finley’s closest friends and colleagues. 

Billy Burke has joined the cast of Maid. 

• Burke will star opposite Margaret Qualley and Andie MacDowell in Netflix’s adaptation of Stephanie Land’s bestselling memoir. 
• Deadline reports that Burke will play Hank, the father to Alex (Qualley), and estranged husband to Paula (MacDowell). He is described as, “A contractor whose life and career was hard hit by alcoholism and the recession, Hank has survived by becoming deeply religious and sobering up. Now remarried with twins, he denies any of the darkness in his past.”
• Burke also joins recent additions to the cast, including Nick Robinson, Anika Noni Rose, and Tracy Vilar.

Showtime has canceled the second season of On Becoming a God in Central Florida due to the pandemic. 

• Earlier this week, Showtime released a statement saying, “Last year, Showtime renewed On Becoming a God in Central Florida but unfortunately, due to the pandemic, we were unable to move forward with production on the new season. The pandemic has continued to challenge schedules across the board, and although we have made every effort to reunite the cast and crew for a second season, that has become untenable. It is with great regret that we are acknowledging On Becoming a God will not return.”
• Variety confirmed the cancellation remarking that it brings the series journey to the screen to the end. The series was originally picked up by YouTube Premium after being in development at AMC. 

The new Chuck Lorre series, B Positive, has set several series regulars and some recurring characters.

• According to Deadline Izzy G, from AJ and the Queen, has joined the cast as a series regular opposite Thomas Middleditch and Annaleigh Ashford.
• She’s been cast as Maddie, and this announcement marks the second recast of the role after the character was played by another actress in the pilot.
• The recurring cast members set to make an appearance include veteran actress Linda Lavin, Briga Heelan (Good News), Darryl Stephens (Noah’s Arc), Bernie Kopell (Silicon Valley), and David Anthony Higgins who previously had a recurring role on Chuck Lorre’s Mike & Molly.
• Darien Sills-Evans (Superior Donuts) has also been cast as a guest star with the potential to be a  recurring character. 
• B Positive is described as being, “…about a therapist and newly divorced dad (Middleditch) who is faced with finding a kidney donor when he runs into a rough-around-the-edges woman from his past (Ashford) who volunteers her own.”

CBS has announced air dates for 10 scripted shows. 

• CBS has set premiere dates for NCIS, NCIS: Los Angeles and NCIS: New Orleans, S.W.A.T and All Rise, and comedies Young Sheldon, The Neighborhood, Bob ♥ Abishola, new comedy B Positive and Mom.
• More premiere dates are expected to come but a Deadline report states that the criteria to launch a new season of any fall shows is that they must have multiple episodes in the can in order to combat any production shutdowns. 
• The shows will begin returning on November 5th and will continue to premiere in the coming weeks. 

Last Man Standing will come to an end with a “gentle and fun” Season 9.

• TVLine reports that Fox has granted a final season to the Tim Allen comedy.
• The series is set to premiere its ninth season in January 2021.
• Allen said in a statement that he had previously intended to sign off last spring with the second revival season, but in talking with Fox agreed to stay on to produce a third season that would give them a chance to say goodbye. 
• Last Man Standing will have a 194 episode run, when the ninth season concludes next spring. 

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What is your favorite bit of TV news from this week? Let us know in the comments below. 

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