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[04/13/21 - 11:49 PM]
Development Update: Tuesday, April 13
By The Futon Critic Staff (TFC) |
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LOS ANGELES (thefutoncritic.com) -- The latest development news, culled from recent wire reports:
Looking to keep track of all the various projects in development? Click here to visit our signature "Devwatch" section. There visitors can view our listings by network, genre, studio and even development stage (ordered to pilot, cast-contingent, script, etc.). It's updated every day!
ACAPULCO (Apple TV+) - The Eugenio Derbez-led comedy series has cast Jessica Collins as Diane, "the CEO and the face of the resort"; Chord Overstreet as Chad, "Diane's son"; Vanessa Bauche as Nora, "Maximo's mother"; Rafael Cebrián as Hector, "an energetic poolside employee at the resort"; Fernando Carsa as Memo, "Maximo's loyal and supportive best friend"; and Regina Reynoso as Sara, "Maximo's outspoken younger sister." (Deadline.com)
ARLINGTON ROAD (Paramount+, New!) - Director Mark Pellington is looking to bring his 1999 film to the small screen at the streaming service. Said feature "tells the story of a widowed George Washington University professor who suspects his new neighbors are involved in terrorism and becomes obsessed with foiling their plot." No specifics were given about the TV series incarnation, to be penned by Seth Fisher. CBS Studios and Village Roadshow Television are co-producing. (Deadline.com)
DAYS OF ABANDONMENT, THE (HBO, New!) - Natalie Portman is attached to star in a new project for HBO Films and Medusa based the novel by Elena Ferrante, which "centers on Tess (Portman), a woman who abandoned her own dreams for a stable home life and is in turn abandoned by her husband, throwing her world off its axis." Writer/director Maggie Betts is behind the project. MountainA's Sophie Mas; Maven Screen Media's Celine Rattray and Trudie Styler; Crash & Salvage's Len Amato; Fandango's Domenico Procacci; and Maria Zuckerman will executive produce alongside Portman, Ferrante and Betts. (THR.com)
FIRST LADY, THE (Showtime) - The anthology series has cast Regina Taylor as Marian Shields Robinson, "Michelle Robinson Obama's mother and Barack Obama's mother-in-law"; Saniyya Sidney as Sasha Obama, "the younger of Michelle and Barack's two daughters"; Julian DeNiro as young Barack Obama "during his early adult years as an emerging politician and passionate community organizer in Chicago"; and Evan Parke as Allen Taylor, "Michelle Obama's first and longtime security agent." (Deadline.com)
GAMES PEOPLE PLAY (BET) - Brandi Denise, Cynthia Bailey, Nazanin Mandi, Ro Parrish, Hitman Holla, Leon Seabrooks and Calvin Seabrooks are among the latest faces bound for the upcoming season. Denise will play Quanisha, "Kareem's longtime ride or die girlfriend who becomes his fiancé"; with Bailey as Ndasia, "an indy-documentarian who is currently working on an in-depth expose on The Foundation"; Mandi as Zara, "wife to new Viper player Tyreck"; Parrish as himself, "a Vipers' NBA Commentator"; Holla as Rome, "the new cocky point guard traded to the Vipers with hopes of bringing them the championship win"; Leon Seabrooks as Walter, "Marques father"; and Calvin Seabrooks as Andre, "a successful ex from MJ's past with ties to The Foundation." (Deadline.com)
GOOD GIRLS (NBC) - Jordan Belfi has booked an arc on the series as Z, "who is part of the multi-level marketing group Dean (Matthew Lillard) gets involved with to help him find a way out of his dire situation with his wife Beth (Christina Hendricks)." (Deadline.com)
HUNGRY (NBC) - The Demi Lovato-led comedy has been ordered to pilot by the network and Universal Television. Hazy Mills' Sean Hayes and Todd Milliner and SB Projects' Scooter Braun, Scott Manson and James Shin will executive produce alongside Lovato and writer Suzanne Martin. Its logline is as follows: "Friends who belong to a food issues group help each other as they look for love, success and the perfect thing in the fridge that's going to make it all better."
JUST BEYOND (Disney+) - The supernatural anthology series has cast Mckenna Grace, Lexi Underwood and Nasim Pedrad. Grace and Underwood will lead their respective-stand-alone episodes, both directed by Marc Webb. No details were given about their roles. (Deadline.com)
LA BREA (NBC) - The upcoming drama series has cast Josh McKenzie and Chloe De Los Santos. The former will play Lucas: "Sarcastic with an air of danger, Lucas has gone down a road of crime and works as a drug dealer. He is on a much different path than his police officer mother, Marybeth." And the latter is Lilly: "At 12 years old, Lilly is quiet and introverted. She's Veronica's much younger sister and Aaron's other daughter." (Deadline.com)
LOL: LAST ONE LAUGHING CANADA (Amazon, New!) - Jay Baruchel has been tapped to host the Canadian version of the the Japanese format for the streamer, "in which comics compete to try and get each other to laugh while keeping a straight face themselves." Insight Productions is producing. (THR.com)
MIDNIGHT CLUB, THE (Netflix) - The horror series from Mike Flanagan and Leah Fong has cast Iman Benson, Larsen Thompson, William B. Davis, Crystal Balint and Patricia Drake in yet-to-be-revealed roles. (Deadline.com)
MIRZAPUR (Amazon) - Puneet Krishna has sold a pair of projects to the streaming service: a dark comedy and a drama, respectively. No details were given about the projects, which are expected to be in production by early 2022. Amazon renewed "Mirzapur" for a third season on November 11 of last year. (Deadline.com)
ROOKIE, THE (ABC) - Jason Canela will recur on the current season as Cesar Madrigal, "the son of criminal royalty who is impetuous, entitled and in line to take over his father's empire." (Deadline.com)
SAVE OUR SQUAD (Disney+, New!) - Global soccer icon David Beckham will topline a new series for the streamer in which Beckham returns "to the east London soccer pitches where he played as a child, where he will mentor a young grassroots side who are struggling to survive in the league. Beckham and his team will take these players, their coach and their community on what is being described by producers as an 'uplifting, transformative journey of a lifetime.'" Twenty Twenty and Beckham's own Studio 99 are producing with Sean Doyle as an executive producer. (THR.com)
SLUMBER PARTY MASSACRE (Syfy, New!) - Shout! Studios and Blue Ice Pictures have sold their contemporary reimagining of the cult 1982 feature film to the cable channel, "a seminal example of the teen slasher genre set against the backdrop of a girls basketball team's sleepover and a crazed killer who starts knocking them off." Hannah Gonera, Frances Sholto-Douglas, Mila Rayne, Alex McGregor and Reze-Tiana Wessels star in the project, due later this year from director Danishka Esterhazy and writer Suzanne Keilly. Executive producing are Brent Haynes, Bob Emmer and Garson Foos and Jordan Fields. (Deadline.com)
SOMEONE OUT THERE (NBC) - The network is once again moving forward with Josh Siegal and Dylan Morgan's single-camera comedy to pilot. Aimee Carrero, Kimia Behpoornia, Neil Casey and Ryan Hansen were originally cast in the project last year but production was shut down prior to filming due to the coronavirus pandemic. Matt Hubbard, Emiliano Calemzuk and Javier Veiga also serve as executive producers for Universal Television. Its logline is as follows: "A romantic comedy about two set-in-their-ways adults who are challenged by very unexpected strangers to become the best versions of themselves in order to find love and possibly each other. Based on the format "Pequenas Coincidencias," created by Javier Veiga."
UNTITLED TOM SMALLWOOD PROJECT (CBS) - Katie Lowes is set to star opposite Pete Holmes in the multi-camera comedy pilot as Jen, "Tom's warm and caring wife and son Graham's loving mother. When she's not working at the hair salon, her supportive "family first" approach will ensure things stay the course as Tom pursues his dream." (Deadline.com)
WOMEN OF THE MOVEMENT (ABC) - The limited series has tapped Leslie Silva as Ruby Hurley, "a famed NAACP activist and leader in the Civil Rights Movement"; Chris Butler as Rayfield Mooty, "Chicago Labor Union Leader, and second cousin to Mamie Till-Mobley"; Alex Désert as Theodore Roosevelt Mason Howard, "a brilliant maverick, was an American civil rights activist, surgeon, and one of the most influential Black leaders in Mississippi"; Miles Fowler as Simeon Booker, "a celebrated Black journalist with Jet Magazine"; Tongayi Chirisa as Medgar Evers, "the beloved NAACP field secretary who was one of Mississippi's most prominent civil rights activists"; Jason Turner as James Hicks, "one of Black journalism's most prominent reporters"; and Daniel Abeles as Chet Packton, "a southern gentleman and journalist who unexpectedly becomes part of the Emmett Till murder investigation," all recurring roles. (Deadline.com)
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[02/20/26 - 06:02 AM]
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