Ewan McGregor to Star in Drama Series ‘Lodi’ in Development at Amazon (EXCLUSIVE)

Paramount+ has released first-look photos and an official title for Taylor Sheridan’s upcoming espionage thriller Special Ops: Lioness (fka Lioness), starring Nicole Kidman, Zoe Saldaña, Laysla De Oliveira and Morgan Freeman.

EXCLUSIVE: Starz’ The Venery of Samantha Bird has shut down production as a result of the writers strike.

Brent Lang Executive Editor Poppy Delevingne will star in “The Gun on Second Street,” a new drama from writer, producer, and director Rohit Karn Batra.  The film is described as “an allegory of the gun crisis in the United States.” Its plot follows two Pittsburgh police partners and best friends who are called to an uneventful domestic violence dispute on Second Street. This quickly escalates to a violent confrontation as Officer TJ Meadows III accidentally shoots and kills his partner, Officer Kevin Cooper, with his backup gun. Years later, no longer a cop and still traumatized, he moves back to Pittsburgh and finds his way to his partner’s widow, Kacie (Delevingne). They slowly fall in love as Kacie confronts the history she’s been avoiding, including telling her 15-year-old son, Ralph, TJ’s back-story.

Joe Otterson TV Reporter Sydney Chandler has been cast as a lead in Noah Hawley’s “Alien” series currently in the works at FX, Variety has learned. Plot and character details are being kept under tight wraps on the project, which was first announced in December 2020. The only detail that has been confirmed is that the show will take place on Earth in the not-too-distant future. The role brings Chandler back to FX, as she previously made her network television debut in the cabler’s 2022 limited series “Pistol” from Danny Boyle, which told the story of the legendary band The Sex Pistols. Chandler starred in the series as Chrissie Hynde of the Pretenders. Chandler’s other credits include the film “Don’t Worry Darling” and the Facebook Watch series “SKAM Austin.” She is also set to appear in the upcoming Apple series “Sugar” opposite Colin Farrell.

EXCLUSIVE: Troian Bellisario (Pretty Little Liars) and Brandon Larracuente (The Good Doctor) are set as the leads of On Call. Originally set up at Amazon Freevee, the half-hour drama, from Wolf Entertainment and Universal Television, will stream on Amazon’s main platform, Prime Video. Amazon Studios has handed an official eight-episode order to the project, co-created by Tim Walsh and Elliot Wolf, which marks Wolf Entertainment’s first streaming series and its 10th current scripted series overall.

EXCLUSIVE: Fox has given a straight-to-series order to Rescue: HI-Surf, a Hawaii lifeguard drama from John Wells Productions in Wells’ broadcast return. The series, slated to premiere during the 2023-24 season, will be co-produced by Warner Bros. Television, where JWP is based, and Fox Entertainment.

EXCLUSIVE: Canada’s Thunderbird Entertainment has optioned New York Times bestseller Mad Honey.

Darby Kane’s bestselling suspense novel Pretty Little Wife is getting the small screen treatment. Amazon Studios is developing a series based on the book with Gabrielle Union set to star and executive produce. Meredith Lavender, Marcie Ulin and Kristen SaBerre will write and executive produce the project for Prime Video, from A+E Studios and Range Media Partners.

Ewan McGregor has had decent luck in TV the past decade with shows like “Fargo,” “Halton,” and Disney+‘s “Obi-Wan Kenobi.” Now Variety reports he’ll star in a new show in development at Amazon called “Lodi,” based on an Alta online article by Andrew Dubbins.

The Good Doctor will go on!

EXCLUSIVE: Bret Easton Ellis’ The Shards, which is both a podcast and novel, is in the works at HBO as a drama series, Deadline has learned.

Mip TV is just around the corner and, as ever, the content will be king. Here, Deadline walks you through seven of the buzziest dramas set for the Croisette, featuring police thrillers, a Royal Family docu-drama and Beta Film’s latest about the MS Estonia shipwreck. Read on for the best-in-class projects heading to Cannes for the April 17-19 confab.

Alex Wolff (The Line, Hereditary, A Quiet Place: Day One) has been cast as legendary singer Leonard Cohen in So Long, Marianne, the NRK drama series we first revealed last year.

The Conjuring universe is expanding.

newly dubbed streaming service that combines HBO Max and Discovery+ content, is ready to get spooky, as Warner Bros. Discovery announced Wednesday that it’s developing a drama series set within the universe of “The Conjuring,” with Peter Safran set to executive produce alongside original “Conjuring” filmmaker James Wan.The logline for the new series states it will “continue the story established in the feature films,” so maybe more ghost-hunting adventures with Ed (Patrick Wilson) and Lorraine (Vera Farmiga)? They certainly worked on hundreds of cases, each one more skin-crawling than the last (something that was teased in “Annabelle Comes Home,” which was kind of like the “Jumanji” of the “Conjuring” universe).Wan’s production company Atomic Monster will produce alongside Safran’s The Safran Company in association with Warner Bros.

There is category drama brewing in the race for the 2023 Lead Actor in a Drama Series Emmy Award trophy. The third episode of “Succession’s” final season saw Brian Cox’s character, Logan Roy, pass away (and if that’s a spoiler, you’ve been living under a rock).

Mary Elizabeth Winstead is joining the cinematic universe, and she couldn't be more excited!The actress is taking on the role of pilot Hera Syndulla in the upcoming standalone series — in which Rosario Dawson reprises her role as the titular Jedi, which she originally debuted on .But of course, she's not the only Force-sensitive performer in her household. Winstead married Ewan McGregor in April 2022 after several years of dating, and the pair shares a son, Laurie, who will turn two in June.«We do we have a household, and it's so much fun,» the actress shared with ET's Ash Crossan at Star Wars Celebration in London over the weekend. «My little boy, he hasn't seen anything yet, but he loves Grogu.

McKinley Franklin author TNT has announced an official premiere date for its scripted action thriller “The Lazarus Project,” which was previously set to come out earlier this year. “The Lazarus Project” will make its debut on Sunday, June 4 at 9 p.m. ET. The eight-hour drama will follow the story of George, The Lazarus Project’s latest recruit. The organization holds the power to travel back in time at any moment when the world may be on the brink of extinction. When one of George’s closest friends suffers an accident, he has to come to answer the question — “if you had the power to re-write your past, what would you sacrifice to do it?”  The television series was originally set to release on January 8 but was shelved by its parent company, Warner Bros. Discovery, as it continues to adjust its linear network strategy. “The Lazarus Project” was acquired from the U.K.’s Sky Max, which aired Season 1 in June 2022. The show is now one of the few original scripted series left on TNT, as WBD has wiped most of the original fare off of TBS/TNT in favor of mostly acquired movies and TV repeats, along with sports.

Obi-Wan Kenobi star Ewan McGregor and Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy have given an update on a second season of the Disney+ show.The Star Wars spin-off show, which debuted in May 2022, followed Obi-Wan’s (McGregor) journey to save a kidnapped Leia Organa (Vivien Lyra Blair) and return her to safety.No second season has yet been confirmed for the show, but McGregor shared his desire to return to the role when speaking at this week’s Star Wars Celebration event.Revealing that “it feels really good” to be back in the role, McGregor said (via SFF Gazette): “There’s something that’s opened up in my heart again.”Of a potential second season of the show, he added: Hopefully, someone might think we should do some more…”The person in question may be Kennedy, who told Variety: “That is not in active development. But I never say never, because there’s always the possibility.

Ewan McGregor and Hayden Christensen share a secret handshake on stage at the Obi-Wan Kenobi panel during the 2023 Star Wars Celebration in London at ExCel on Sunday (April 9).