City Hightown Showbiz Latest News and Updates

Joe Otterson TV Reporter Gary Lennon has extended his deal with Lionsgate Television. Lennon is currently the showrunner on the hit Starz/Lionsgate TV spinoff series “Power Book IV: Force,” which was renewed for a third season back in December. Under his deal, he will work with Lionsgate Television and Starz to develop expansions of the “Power” franchise.

Outlander fans will be relieved following the news that the time-travelling drama has found a new home in the UK.

Netflix has revealed the cast of Tyler Perry’s Beauty in Black, a new series coming to the streamer that’s the result of a previously announced creative partnership.

Naman Ramachandran Amazon has struck a deal that will see premium Lionsgate and Starz programming made available to to MGM+ customers in the U.K. Lionsgate+ subscribers who joined via Prime Video Channels in the U.K.

A live-action Teen Titans movie is in development at DC Studios, Deadline has confirmed.

Peabody Award-winning producer, showrunner and writer Gary Lennon has signed a new deal with Lionsgate extending their partnership.

EXCLUSIVE: James Badge Dale is set for a major recurring role in Apple TV+limited series The Savant, starring and executive produced by Jessica Chastain. Nnamdi Asomugha also stars in the eight-episode series from writer/executive producer/showrunner Melissa James Gibson, Fifth Season and Anonymous Content.

EXCLUSIVE: Film Mode Entertainment has locked a series of deals on Blue Light, the latest feature from American filmmaker Andy Fickman (Race to Witch Mountain, Parental Guidance, The Game Plan, and She’s The Man). 

Selome Hailu Brittany Snow has been cast in Starz‘s upcoming drama series “The Hunting Wives,” joining previously announced star Malin Åkerman. She will play Sophie O’Neill. Adapted from the May Cobb novel of the same name, “The Hunting Wives” follows Sophie, who moves with her family from the East Coast to deep East Texas.

EXCLUSIVE: Bankside Films has boarded international sales rights to Caroline Lindy’s Sundance Midnight movie Your Monster, starring Melissa Barrera (Scream).

Joe Otterson TV Reporter Malin Åkerman has been cast in a leading role of the Starz series adaptation of the May Cobb novel “The Hunting Wives,” Variety has learned. Åkerman will appear in the role of Margo Banks. The series was ordered at the premium cabler back in October 2023.

Prime Video has given a series order to Criminal, a drama based on the multi-Eisner Award-winning graphic novel series created by Ed Brubaker, who writes the comic, and Sean Phillips, who illustrates it. Brubaker, who penned the pilot script, will co-showrun the TV series with crime fiction author Jordan Harper (Hightown).

EXCLUSIVE: Todd Eisner, a 30-year veteran talent agent, has resigned from A3 Artists Agency, where he was a Senior Agent in the Los Angeles talent department for almost seven years, to join the Paradigm Talent Agency.

Peacock has unveiled a trailer, premiere date and first look photos for Genie, its previously untitled holiday fairytale comedy, starring Melissa McCarthy and Paapa Essiedu, which Love Life creator Sam Boyd directed from a script by Richard Curtis, the Oscar nom best known for Love Actually.

K.J. Yossman Bella DeLong (“The Winchesters”) and Amber Janea (“A Predator Returns”) have been cast in Andy Fickman’s upcoming horror feature “Blue Light.” Daryl Tofa (“Two-Bit”), Ana Zambrana (“La Traición en la Amistad”), Crystal Lake Evans (“Hightown”), Jarrett Brown (“Colin in Black and White”), John Bucy (“Frasier”) and Finley Rose Slater (“Playing with Fire”) round out the cast. “Race to Witch Mountain” and “Anaconda” helmer Fickman directs the film, which “follows a group of friends on a road trip who soon realize something terrifying and unworldly is threatening their lives.” It is apparently based on “true and and terrifying unexplained events.” The feature, which is set to premiere at AFM, has already sold to Germany (Lighthouse Home Entertainment), India (VR Films and Studios), the Middle East (Eagle Films Middle East) and Poland (Media4Fun).

BreAnna Bell Starz has officially ordered “The Hunting Wives” to series with eight episodes. Based on May Cobb’s best-selling novel of the same name, the story follows Sophie O’Neil and her family as they pack up their things and move away from the East Coast and head down south to East Texas where she’s introduced to socialite Margo Banks. Sophie falls prey to Margo’s irresistible charms and soon winds up consumed by obsession, seduction, and murder.

Stan Refreshes Lionsgate Output Deal

Ever since “The Idol” premiered earlier this month, there’s been much critique about its sexual material, including a scene in the premiere episode where pop star Jocelyn (Lily-Rose Depp) decides to flash her nipples during a photoshoot, despite the nudity rider in her contract.

Joe Otterson TV Reporter The Peacock limited series adaptation of Liane Moriarty’s novel “Apples Never Fall” has found its last two series regulars. Variety has learned exclusively that Jeanine Serralles and Dylan Thuraisingham have joined the series. They will star alongside previously announced cast members Annette Bening, Sam Neill, Alison Brie, Jake Lacy, Conor Merrigan-Turner, Essie Randles, and Georgia Flood. Serralles (“Hightown,” “Utopia”) will play the role of Detective Elena Camacho. The official character description states, “When Joy Delaney (Bening) goes missing, Detective Elena Camacho runs lead on the case. But she quickly grows frustrated — and suspicious— when Joy’s own family creates roadblocks in her investigation. Her pursuit of answers takes her deeper into her own struggles to balance the demands of motherhood and her job.”

Several actresses like Ever Carradine (The Handmaid’s Tale), Merrin Dungey (Big Little Lies) and Sprague Grayden (Hightown) turned to Twitter this week to express frustration over the pandemic-era trend of (costly) tape auditions and whether in-person tryouts are truly a thing of the past.

The Marble Arch has been named in the top five gastropubs in the UK. The iconic pub, on Rochdale Road, came in at number four in the annual list, behind famous names like The Sportsman in Seasalter, Kent, and The Star Inn at Harome in North Yorkshire, which landed at number one.

EXCLUSIVE: The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial has rounded out its cast with Monica Raymund (Hightown), Lance Reddick (Bosch), Griffin Dunne (This Is Us), Elizabeth Anweis (Batwoman), Lewis Pullman (Top Gun: Maverick), Francois Battiste (Ten Days in the Valley), and Gabe Kessler (Hightown). They join previously announced leads Keifer Sutherland, Jake Lacy, and Jason Clarke.

EXCLUSIVE: Batgirl’s Leslie Grace to set to star in and produce a vampire comedy-thriller podcast series.

Sandra Stern has been promoted at Lionsgate TV.

Paramount+ is offering a sneak peek at 1923, Taylor Sheridan’s latest Yellowstone origin story that stars Harrison Ford and Helen Mirren as Jacob and Cara Dutton. The action picks up on familiar grounds in Montana, where fans will see the beginnings of the Dutton homestead that is now featured on Yellowstone.

Now that Yellowstone is back in action, Paramount+ is whetting the whistle of Dutton fans by dropping a teaser for 1923 — the prequel starring Helen Mirren and Harrison Ford.

EXCLUSIVE: The upcoming Apple TV+ series Land of Women is adding four cast members to its roster: Amaury Nolasco (Hightown), Santiago Cabrera (Star Trek: Picard), Gloria Muñoz (Dangerous Moms), and newcomer Victoria Bazua. Production is currently underway in Spain.

BreAnna Bell Darren Mann, Michelle Randolph, James Badge Dale, Marley Shelton, Brian Geraghty, Aminah Nieves and Julia Schlaepfer have been cast in Paramount+’s “Yellowstone” prequel series, “1923.” They join previously announced actors Hellen Mirren and Harrison Ford on the series. Mirren will portray Cara Dutton, the wife to Jacob Dutton (Ford) and family matriarch. Jacob Dutton is the head of the Yellowstone ranch and brother of James Dutton. Mann will play Jack Dutton, John Dutton Sr.’s son and great nephew to Jacob Dutton. He is a dedicated rancher who is deeply loyal to his family. Randolph (“A Snow White Christmas”) will play Elizabeth Strafford, a feisty and capable young woman set to marry into the Dutton family. Dale (“Hightown”) will play John Dutton Sr., the oldest nephew and right-hand man of Jacob Dutton.

The Dutton family is expanding with the addition of James Badge Dale (Hightown, 24), Darren Mann (Animal Kingdom, Chilling Adventures of Sabrina), and Marley Shelton (Never Been Kissed, Rise) to the Paramount+ spinoff .

EXCLUSIVE: Garret Dillahunt (Sprung) is the newest addition to Prime Video’s film A Million Miles Away, starring Narcos: Mexico‘s Michael Peña, which is in production in Mexico City.

'P-Valley' Season 2: Watch the Sizzling First Teaser for the Hit Starz Series Mo'Nique Added to the Cast of 'BMF' Season 2 on Starz 'Hightown': Starz Shares First Trailer and Key Art for Season 2 (Exclusive)

EXCLUSIVE: Peabody Award-winning showrunner, producer and writer Gary Lennon (Power Book IV: Force) has signed with M88.

EXCLUSIVE: Warner Bros. Television Group has announced the seven directors selected for the 2022 WBTV Directors’ Workshop.

EXCLUSIVE: Garret Dillahunt (Army of the Dead), Jeanine Serralles (Utopia), Kaya Rosenthal (The Time Traveler’s Wife), Michael Drayer (Mr. Robot), newcomer Ellie Barone and Taja V. Simpson (The Oval) have signed on for recurring roles in the third season of Starz’s crime drama, Hightown.

Jerry Bruckheimer Television veteran KristieAnne Reed has been promoted to CEO of the company from her current position as President. She will succeed Jonathan Littman, who recently announced he was leaving JBTV, which he helped launch and led for the past 25 years, to launch his own production company.

Cynthia Littleton Business EditorAfter 25 years and more than 1,000 episodes, KristieAnne Reed has been promoted to CEO of Jerry Bruckheimer Television.Reed’s promotion follows Jonathan Littman’s departure as Bruckheimer TV chief after 25 years in the role. Reed has also logged more than a quarter-century with Bruckheimer, starting out on the feature side.