Mike Scully, Julie Thacker Scully Sign With Verve (EXCLUSIVE)

Joe Otterson TV ReporterAmazon Studios has ordered a YA pilot based on the Harlan Coben novel “Shelter,” Variety has learned exclusively.Shelter” is the first novel in Coben’s Mickey Bolitar book series. MGM has acquired the rights to all the other books in the Mickey Bolitar series as well.

Joe Otterson TV ReporterHenry Lloyd-Hughes and Thalissa Teixeira will star alongside Lucy Hale in the AMC-Alibi series “Ragdoll,” Variety has learned.The six-episode show, which was ordered to series back in February, is set to begin production on April 19 in London.

Joe Otterson TV ReporterCall it the pilot season that wasn’t. One year later, the COVID-19 pandemic is still casting a long shadow over the new crop of broadcast shows.Across the Big Five networks, the majority of the pilots in contention this year are holdovers from 2020. The backlog is still being sorted out, underscoring the disruption of last spring when the public health crisis shut down work for months just as pilot production would have normally reached its peak.

Joe Otterson TV ReporterThe “Castlevania” series at Netflix will end with its upcoming Season 4, Variety has confirmed.Season 4 of the animated series will debut on May 13 and will consist of 10 episodes.

Joe Otterson TV Reporter“Warrior” has been renewed for Season 3, with the show moving from Cinemax to HBO Max, Variety has learned.The first season of the show aired in 2019, with the second having debuted in October 2020. The series is based on the writings of Bruce Lee.

Joe Otterson TV Reporter“Animal Kingdom” is adding four recurring stars to its cast for the TNT drama’s sixth and final season.Jasper Polish, Kevin Csolak, Darren Mann, and Stevie Lynn Jones will all join the show alongside stars Shawn Hatosy, Ben Robson, Jake Weary, Finn Cole, Leila George, Rigo Sanchez, and Jon Beavers.Polish (“Forces of Nature,” “Locked In”) plays young Julia, described as beautiful, intelligent, and edgy.

Joe Otterson TV ReporterNBC has ordered two more drama pilots for the 2021-2022 broadcast season.The first is an untitled project co-created by Nick Wootton and Jake Coburn, with Wootton having written the pilot.

Animated family comedy Duncanville has been renewed for a third season at Fox ahead of the premiere of its second season.

Joe Otterson TV ReporterNatalia Anderson will direct the ABC single-camera comedy pilot “Maggie,” Variety has learned exclusively.Anderson started out as a director and producer on the CBS comedy series “Life in Pieces,” directing multiple episodes. Other TV directing credits for Anderson include “Black-ish,” “Single Parents,” “Brews Brothers,” “Grown-ish,” “American Housewife,” and “Perfect Harmony.” She previously worked at Brownstone Productions under Elizabeth Banks.

Joe Otterson TV Reporter“Bridgerton” Season 2 at Netflix is officially adding four new cast members.Charithra Chandran, Shelley Conn, Calam Lynch, and Rupert Young will all star in the new season of the popular Shondaland series at the streamer.Chandran will play Edwina Sharma. Edwina has been taught by her older sister Kate to be the perfect debutante.

Joe Otterson TV Reporter“The Powerpuff Girls” live-action pilot at The CW has found its Mojo Jojo.Nicholas Podany has joined the pilot in the role of Joseph “Jojo” Mondel Jr. As a kid, the nerdy, power-hungry, insecure JoJo was obsessed with The Powerpuff Girls, despite his father’s grudge against them.

Joe Otterson TV ReporterRachael Leigh Cook will star in the Netflix original film “A Tourist’s Guide to Love,” Variety has learned exclusively.The film is based on an original idea of Cook’s with Eirene Donohue set to write the screenplay. In the film, after an unexpected break up, a travel executive (Cook) accepts an assignment to go undercover and learn about the tourist industry in Vietnam.

Joe Otterson TV ReporterEugenio Derbez’s upcoming Apple comedy series “Acapulco” has added four new cast members, with Richard Shepard now onboard to direct the pilot.Enrique Arrizon, Damian Alcázar, Camila Perez, and Raphael Alejandro will all star alongside Derbez in the half-hour series.

Joe Otterson TV Reporter“Rick and Morty” Season 5 will debut this summer.Adult Swim announced Tuesday that the hit animated series will return with new episodes on June 20 at 11:00 p.m. ET/PT.

Joe Otterson TV ReporterJohn Waters has joined the cast of “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” Season 4 at Amazon, Variety has learned exclusively.Waters will be appear in a guest starring role in the fourth season of the critically-acclaimed series, with the exact nature of the character he is playing being kept under wraps.

Joe Otterson TV ReporterBen Hardy has been cast in the upcoming BBC One, HBO Max series “The Girl Before,” Variety has learned exclusively.Hardy joins previously announced cast members David Oyelowo, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, and Jessica Plummer. The four-episode series is based on the book of the same name by J.P.

Joe Otterson TV ReporterPatrick Coker and Adam Wiesen have been named the new head writers of the BET series “Tales” going into the show’s third season, Variety has learned exclusively.The series is a scripted anthology of “song stories” weaving classic and current hip-hop songs into visual narratives from the lyrics of some of hip-hop’s greatest hits.

Joe Otterson TV ReporterJamie Foxx will play boxing great Mike Tyson in a new biographical limited series, Variety has learned.The series, titled simply “Tyson,” is not currently set up at a network or streaming service, but will no doubt find one quickly given the names attached to it already.

Joe Otterson TV ReporterErica Watson is set to direct the pilot episode of The CW’s upcoming reboot of “The 4400,” Variety has learned exclusively.“The 4400” reboot was ordered to series at CW in February.

Joe Otterson TV ReporterThe Giannis Antetokounmpo movie at Disney is taking shape, with Variety learning exclusively that the film has found three of its leads.Newcomer Uche Agada will star as the NBA great in the film, which is titled “Greek Freak” in honor of the nickname Antetokounmpo earned for his otherworldly basketball skills.