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[07/15/21 - 11:44 PM]
Development Update: Thursday, July 15
By The Futon Critic Staff (TFC)

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!


FROM SCRATCH (Netflix) - Saad Siddiqui will recur on the Zoe Saldana-led series as Dr. Atluri, "a kind and skilled doctor who shares life-changing news with Amy and Lino." (Deadline.com)
KINDRED (FX) - Newcomer Mallori Johnson has scored the lead role on Octavia E. Butler's novel-turned-drama pilot, about Dana, "a young Black woman and aspiring writer who has uprooted her life of familial obligation and relocated to Los Angeles, ready to claim a future that, for once, feels all her own." Additionally, Janicza Bravo has been tapped to direct and executive produce alongside Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, Courtney Lee-Mitchell, Darren Aronofsky, Joe Weisberg, Joel Fields, Ernestine Walker, Merrilee Heifetz and Ari Handel. (Deadline.com)
LAST OF US, THE (HBO) - Jeffrey Pierce, Murray Bartlett and Con O'Neil have all scored roles on the video game-turned-TV series. Pierce, who voices Tommy in the game, will recur as Perry, "a rebel in a quarantine zone." Gabriel Luna plays Tommy in the series. Bartlett and O'Neill then will guest as Frank and Bill, "two post-pandemic survivalists living alone in their own isolated town." (Deadline.com)
LAW & ORDER: FOR THE DEFENSE (NBC) - The network has officially shuttered the spin-off series from Carol Mendelsohn, which had been set to launch this fall. Casting had been underway and no specific reason for the decision was given. Wolf Entertainment and Universal Television are already developing a replacement "Law & Order" series, "believed to be moving in another creative direction with an offshoot that is not a legal drama." Other tabled spin-offs include "Law & Order: Hate Crimes" in 2019 and "Law & Order: You the Jury" in 2016. (Deadline.com)
MOONHAVEN (AMC) - Ayelet Zurer will star opposite Dominic Monaghan in the upcoming drama as Maite Voss, "the political leader of Moonhaven. Chosen and beloved by its citizens, Maite embodies the lunar mission to save humanity from self-destruction. Haunted by a troubled past, she is drawn into a madness that risks the future of Earth." (Deadline.com)
RAY DONOVAN FEATURE-LENGTH FILM (Showtime) - Chris Gray has been cast as a young Ray Donovan in the follow-up film: "Like his older self, he is a physically imposing young man who can convey much with only a few words and is decisive and calm in times of crisis." (Deadline.com)
REBEL (ABC) - The short-lived drama, led by Katey Sagal, is the latest series heading to IMDb TV in a deal that includes an option for a second-season order should the metrics merit. Producer ABC Signature still has the cast under options, making a revival a realistic possibility. Fellow ABC alum "For Life" is also available on the streaming service in a similar pact. (Deadline.com)
SPACE (TBS) - Nick Stoller and Conor Welch's Stoller Global Solutions has renewed its overall deal with Sony Pictures Television, its home for the past three years. (Deadline.com)
SYMPATHIZER, THE (HBO, New!) - Robert Downey, Jr. is attached to star in and executive produce a potential drama series adaptation of Viet Thanh Nguyen's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel at the pay channel, billed as "an espionage thriller and cross-culture satire about the struggles of a half-French, half-Vietnamese communist spy during the final days of the Vietnam War and his resulting exile in the United States." A24, Team Downey, Rhombus Media, Cinetic Media and Moho Film are behind the project with writer Park Chan-wook, director Don McKellar, Susan Downey, Amanda Burrell, Niv Fichman and Kim Ly also on board to executive produce. (Deadline.com)
UNTITLED BLUMHOUSE FILM SERIES (Epix) - Katey Sagal will topline "Tattered Hearts," an upcoming installment of the film series which "will follow an up-and-coming country music duo who seek out the secluded mansion of their idol, Harper Dutch (Sagal). What starts out as a friendly visit devolves into a twisted series of horrors that force the friends to confront the lengths they'll go to in order to realize their dreams." Brea Grant will direct from a script by Rachel Koller Croft with Jason Blum, Chris McCumber and Jeremy Gold of Blumhouse Television executive producing along with John Ierardi. (THR.com)
WILLOW (Disney+) - Jonathan Entwistle has bowed out as director of the film-turned-TV series' pilot episode due to a scheduling conflict with his Apple TV+ series "Hello Tomorrow!" Stephen Woolfenden, a producing director on the series, has since "stepped in to shoot the first two episodes, which now have been completed." (Deadline.com)





  [july 2021]  
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· BLUMHOUSE FILM SERIES (EPIX)
· DEVELOPMENT UPDATE (TFC)
· FROM SCRATCH (NETFLIX)
· KINDRED (FX ON HULU)
· LAST OF US, THE (HBO)
· LAW & ORDER: FOR THE DEFENSE (NBC)
· MOONHAVEN (AMC PLUS)
· RAY DONOVAN: THE MOVIE (SHOWTIME)
· REBEL (ABC)
· SPACE (TBS)
· SYMPATHIZER, THE (HBO)
· WILLOW (DISNEY PLUS)





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