‘King Shaka’ Drama Series Not Moving Forward at Showtime

The Good Doctor will go on!

Joe Otterson TV Reporter Ewan McGregor is set to star in a drama series currently in development at Amazon Prime Video, Variety has learned exclusively. Currently titled “Lodi,” the series is inspired by a true story as told in an Alta online article by Andrew Dubbins. The official description of the series states, “In 1977, a car salesman, Lou (McGregor), goes from ordinary small-town citizen to FBI informant infiltrating the mafia when a key member of organized crime offers to buy his Cadillac dealership. Over the next three years, Lou finds his quest for glory tested when he becomes embroiled in the inner workings of the crime family – from fronting a multimillion-dollar operation, to becoming a surrogate son– before procuring the first-ever conviction of an infamous crime boss.”

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).

Chrissy Teigen, Tina Fey, Daniel Radcliffe and more are lending their voices for a new adult animated comedy series, , from the producers behind and . The Netflix series will launch Friday, May 12, it was announced Tuesday.picks up «after Earth is destroyed by an alien attack, a rag-tag band of survivors has to start society over from scratch.

Joe Otterson TV Reporter The upcoming Netflix animated comedy series “Mulligan” has set its full voice cast. The series regulars for the show include: Nat Faxon, Chrissy Teigen, Tina Fey, Sam Richardson, Phil Lamarr, and Dana Carvey. Kevin Michael Richardson, Ayo Edebiri, Daniel Radcliffe, Ronny Chieng have been cast in recurring guest star roles. Full character descriptions can be seen below. The series, which was originally ordered at Netflix in March 2020, hails from co-creators Robert Carlock and “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt” writer and executive producer Sam Means. Per the official logline, “After Earth is destroyed by an alien attack, a rag-tag band of survivors has to start society over from scratch. It’s an opportunity to learn from humanity’s past mistakes and get things right this time. Or make the same mistakes all over again. Probably the second one.”

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.

BreAnna Bell A series of changes have taken place at Showtime. Variety has confirmed the network has canceled “Ziwe” after just two seasons and has picked up Mandy Patinkin’s “Seasoned” to series, delivering a six-episode order. Hosted and executive produced by comedian Ziwe Fumudoh, the talk show focused on presenting trending hot topics concerning race, politics and other cultural issues as well as musical numbers, interviews, guest stars and comedic sketches. Guests on Season 2 included Drew Barrymore, Rowan Blanchard, Blake Griffin, Emily Ratajkowski and Mia Khalifa, among others. The series first debuted in 2021. With the loss, that leaves Showtime without a current late night talk show following the cancellation of “Desus & Mero” (which Ziwe also served as a writer on before moving to her own show). The changes come as part of Showtime’s reevaluation of the programming slate after MTV Entertainment Group president and CEO Chris McCarthy stepped in to oversee the cabler once former CEO David Nevins left in October.

EXCLUSIVE: Angela Bassett and Courtney B. Vance’s film Heist 88, which had been earmarked for Paramount+, will be moving to Showtime, Deadline has learned. Additionally, I hear the network has made decisions on two of its three comedy pilots, handing a six-episode series order to Seasoned, starring Mandy Patinkin and Kathryn Grody, and passing on The Wood, based on the 1999 feature film. Showtime also has opted not to renew Ziwe, hosted and executive produced by comedian Ziwe Fumudoh, for a third season.

EXCLUSIVE: Showtime has set Ghosts Of Beirut, a four-part spy drama based on the real-life espionage story of the manhunt for Imad Mughniyeh, the elusive Lebanese terrorist who outwitted his adversaries in the CIA and Mossad for over two decades. The limited series, from Fauda creators Avi Issacharoff and Lior Raz, features an international cast led by Dina Shihabi (Jack Ryan), Dermot Mulroney (My Best Friend’s Wedding), Garret Dillahunt (12 Years a Slave), Iddo Goldberg (Snowpiercer), Hisham Suleiman (Fauda), Amir Khoury (Image of Victory) and Rafi Gavron (A Star is Born).

EXCLUSIVE: Robert De Niro is attached to star in a Billy Ray-penned crime drama series that is in the works at Paramount+.

EXCLUSIVE: Showtime has axed King Shaka, its upcoming epic drama series, executive produced by Antoine Fuqua, which tells the sweeping story of the Zulu Empire founder.

Joe Otterson TV Reporter The Showtime limited series “King Shaka” is no longer moving forward at the premium cabler, Variety has confirmed. The series tells the story of the titular Zulu king, who will be played by Charles Babalola. According to an individual with knowledge of the production, filming had been mostly completed on the historical epic series and Showtime and producer CBS Studios plan to shop it to other outlets. This marks the latest completed series to be moved off Showtime as the network prepares to be merged with Paramount+. The drama “Three Women” recently left Showtime only to be picked up by Starz. Likewise, “Ripley” starring Andrew Scott moved to Netflix after originally being ordered at Showtime.

Yellowstone is on television (and certainly the most popular show for ), which is why fans were thrilled in December 2022 when it was first announced as one of several shows participating in the 40th anniversary of the iconic festival, PaleyFest, which takes place at Los Angeles' Dolby Theatre (home of the ).The festival usually includes a screening of an upcoming (or recent) episode, plus a moderated Q&A with the cast and producers. Given that upward of 3,000 fans typically attend each panel, and there's also opportunities for meet and greets and special opportunities, it is one of the premiere television fan events in the country. The Dolby Theatre, home to the Academy Awards, seats 3,400 on four levels.

EXCLUSIVE: Fox has given a straight-to-series order to medical procedural drama Doc, a U.S. adaptation of the popular Italian series Doc — Nelle tue mani, to premiere during the 2023-24 season. The project, which landed at the network in February in competitive situation with a script-to-series commitment, hails from writer, executive producer and showrunner Barbie Kligman (Magnum P.I.), executive producers Hank Steinberg (For Life) and 3 Arts’ Erwin Stoff, Sony Pictures Television, which acquired the international rights to the format in 2020, and Fox Entertainment Studios.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Netflix is set to reteam with Anne Bjørnstad and Eilif Skodvin, the creators of the popular crime comedy series “Lilyhammer,” on a new Norwegian program, with the working title “Salmon Island.” The series is set up at leading Norwegian production banner Rubicon and will be helmed by Marit Moum Aune (“Made in Oslo”), who also serves as a conceptual director on the series. “Salmon Island” takes place in a small coastal community in Norway and revolves around two families who are sworn enemies in the global salmon industry. The contemporary series delivers a portrait of the fish farming business, weaving together comedy and drama.