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[10/25/24 - 11:28 PM]
Development Update: Week of October 21-25
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!


ABBOTT ELEMENTARY (ABC) - Matthew Law will recur on the series as O'Shon, "the school district IT rep," beginning with this past week's installment. (Deadline.com, 10/23)
ARMY OF THE DEAD: LOST VEGAS (Netflix) - Executive producer Jay Oliva has confirmed the streamer is not moving forward with the film's animated spin-off series: "I mean, they haven't said I can't say anything. We completed mostly everything. We were in animation, but then Netflix eventually pulled the plug. So I don't know. I offered to say, hey, let's try to finish it. But I think their plan is to maybe do a Rebel Moon animated. I don't know. I'm not a part of that." (ScreenRant.com, 10/23)
BEEF (Netflix) - Oscar winner Youn Yuh-jung has signed onto the show's second season about a young couple who witnesses an alarming fight between their boss and his wife, triggering chess moves of favors and coercion in the elitist world of a country club and its Korean billionaire owner. She'll play the latter character. (Deadline.com, 10/23)
BILLIONAIRE APOCALYPSE (FOX, New!) - Jay Carson is developing a new drama at the network: "The series follows the richest man on the planet, 200 of his employees, and his family as they are forced to flee to his private island in the wake of a global financial collapse, where the employees and family members - who he's treated as afterthoughts for decades - quickly realize he's no longer rich and thus no longer in charge." Hugh Jackman, Lawrence Bender and Kevin Brown will also executive produce for FOX Entertainment Studios. (Deadline.com, 10/20)
CARRIE (Amazon, New!) - Mike Flanagan is spearheading a new eight-episode adaptation of Stephen King's iconic novel for Amazon MGM Studios. Flanagan and Red Room Pictures' Trevor Macy are the executive producers of the series, which is set to open a writers' room shortly. No other details were given. (Deadline.com, 10/21)
DO YOU WANT KIDS? (ABC, New!) - Rachel Bloom is attached to star in a proposed single-camera comedy at the Alphabet: "Do You Want Kids? is about a husband and wife who in one universe have a baby and the other do not, and the many ways that huge decision alters their lives." Bloom will co-write the project alongside her real-life husband Dan Gregor with Steve Levitan and Danielle Stokdyk of Levitan Productions also among the executive producers for 20th Television. (Deadline.com, 10/21)
EAST OF EDEN (Netflix) - The seven-episode limited series has cast Tracy Letts (as Cyrus Trask), Martha Plimpton (Faye), Ciarán Hinds (Samuel Hamilton), Joseph Zada (Cal Trask) and Joe Anders (Aron Trask). They'll join the previously announced Florence Pugh (Cathy Ames), Christopher Abbott (Adam Trask), Mike Faist (Charles Trask) and Hoon Lee (Lee). (Deadline.com, 10/21)
ELSBETH (CBS) - Laurie Metcalf and Eric McCormack are the latest bound for the new season. Metcalf will appear in the eighth episode this season as Regina Coburn, "the star of a police procedural who yearns for artistic fulfillment after playing a no-nonsense, hardened detective for two decades." And McCormack will visit episode nine as Tom Murphy, "the charismatic and charming founder of Heiwa Zen Center, an upscale holistic wellness retreat that caters to the one-percent." (Variety.com, 10/23)
GHOSTS (CBS) - Series star Rose McIver will make her directorial debut later this season while Sakina Jaffrey and Bernard White will guest star as "Jay's (Utkarsh Ambudkar) parents in the one-hour Christmas special airing on Thursday, December 19." (Deadline.com, 10/19)
GIRL FROM PLAINVILLE, THE (Hulu) - Writer/director Liz Hannah has signed a multi-year overall deal with Sony Pictures Television where she'll develop new series projects via her banner Happy Friday Productions. (Deadline.com, 10/24)
GOD OF WAR (Amazon) - Ronald D. Moore has been tapped as showrunner of the video game-turned-TV series. He succeeds Rafe Judkins, Hawk Ostby and Mark Fergus, who bowed out last week. (Deadline.com, 10/22)
GOOD OMENS (Amazon) - The show's third and final season will now be truncated into a one 90-minute finale. Pre-production on said season was paused after sexual assault allegations were made against creator Neil Gaiman. Gaiman has since departed the project. (Deadline.com, 10/24)
IT'S ALWAYS SUNNY IN PHILADELPHIA (FX) - The show's crossover with "Abbott Elementary" will work both ways: after Rob McElhenney, Charlie Day, Glenn Howerton, Kaitlin Olson and Danny DeVito appear in the ABC comedy's episode 409, Quinta Brunson and company will also drop by one of Season 17's eight episodes of the FX comedy series. (Variety.com, 10/25)
LAW & ORDER: ORGANIZED CRIME (Peacock) - Olivia Thirlby is slated to recur on the new Peacock-bound season in a top secret role. (Variety.com, 10/21)
MINIATURE WIFE, THE (Peacock) - Greg Mottola has been tapped to direct and executive produce the first two episodes of the Elizabeth Banks/Matthew Macfadyen-led series. (Deadline.com, 10/22)
NIGHT COURT (NBC) - Mayim Bialik will drop by fellow "The Big Bang Theory" alum Melissa Rauch in an upcoming episode as "a defendant, a heightened version of herself, apparently, and Rauch's character, Judge Abby Stone, is thrilled to meet her as a fan of the 1990s sitcom Blossom. However, the situation takes a turn when Abby discovers Bialik is actually stalking her." (Deadline.com, 10/21)
PAIN & SUFFERING (Netflix, New!) - Don Todd has booked a potential drama at the streamer: "Described as a new way into a fun episodic crime-solving show, Pain & Suffering centers on a curmudgeonly, misanthropic insurance adjuster whose job is coldly assigning monetary value to human lives, teams up with a homicide cop to look beyond the numbers and become the reluctant solver of overlooked murders." Aaron Kaplan also executive produces for Kapital Entertainment. (Deadline.com, 10/25)
PHONY (Hulu) - Connie Britton is set to star in the comedy - "a comedic coming-of-age mystery about a teenager, Sonny, who wakes up in the hospital after a car accident to discover his mom - his only parent and his best friend - appears to have been replaced by an impostor" - which has formally been ordered to pilot. She'll play "Sonny's single mom Ellen and the principal of his high school." Writer/director Nick Paley is behind the project, with Britton, Charlie Alderman, Drew Goddard and Sarah Esberg also executive producing for Charlie's Production Company, Goddard Textiles and 20th Television. Andrea Massaro is a producer. (Deadline.com, 10/23)
PITT, THE (Max) - Mika Abdalla will recur on the upcoming medical drama in a yet-to-be-revealed capacity. (Variety.com, 10/23)
RAINMAKER, THE (USA Network) - Tommie Earl Jenkins will recur on the John Grisham adaptation as Prince Thomas, "owner of Yogi's Bar, where Rudy works as a bartender when we meet him. Prince is a mysterious character whose motives are often as murky as his loyalties." (Deadline.com, 10/23)
SCARPETTA (Amazon) - Hunter Parrish will recur on the upcoming drama as the younger version of Benton Wesley, "an FBI profiler who strikes up a romance with Kay in the books." Simon Baker plays the present day character. (Variety.com, 10/25)
SHOGUN (FX) - Co-creator Justin Marks has signed a new overall deal with FX Productions. (Deadline.com, 10/22)
UNTITLED SPIKE JONZE PROJECT (Netflix, New!) - A long-in-the-works, top secret limited series from Spike Jonze and production company Sister is not going forward at the streamer. A writers' room was commissioned however it never began production. No plot details were given. (Deadline.com, 10/24)





  [october 2024]  
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· ABBOTT ELEMENTARY (ABC)
· ARMY OF THE DEAD: LOST VEGAS (NETFLIX)
· BEEF (NETFLIX)
· BIG BANG THEORY, THE (CBS)
· BILLIONAIRE APOCALYPSE (FOX)
· CARRIE (AMAZON)
· DEVELOPMENT UPDATE (TFC)
· DO YOU WANT KIDS? (ABC)
· EAST OF EDEN (NETFLIX)
· ELSBETH (CBS)
· GHOSTS (CBS)
· GIRL FROM PLAINVILLE, THE (HULU)
· GOD OF WAR (AMAZON)
· GOOD OMENS (AMAZON)
· IT'S ALWAYS SUNNY IN PHILADELPHIA (FXX)
· LAW & ORDER: ORGANIZED CRIME (PEACOCK)
· MINIATURE WIFE, THE (PEACOCK)
· NIGHT COURT (NBC)
· PAIN & SUFFERING (NETFLIX)
· PHONY (HULU)
· PITT, THE (HBO MAX)
· RAINMAKER, THE (USA)
· SCARPETTA (AMAZON)
· SHŌGUN (FX ON HULU)
· UNTITLED SPIKE JONZE PROJECT (NETFLIX)





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