NBCUniversal Developing ‘Pinned,’ Wrestling Drama Series From Vince McMahon and WWE

EXCLUSIVE: We’ll be seeing a new face on NCIS. The Fosters alumna Teri Polo is joining CBS drama series in a recurring role opposite Gary Cole.

EXCLUSIVE: We’ll be seeing a new face on NCIS. The Fosters alumna Teri Polo is joining NBC’s flagship drama series in a recurring role opposite Gary Cole.

Dana Calvo (Good Girls Revolt) has been tapped as showrunner and executive producer on ABC’s Avalon, a drama series based on Michael Connelly’s short story, from David E. Kelley (Big Sky, Big Little Lies), A+E Studios and 20th Television. It’s slated to be part of ABC’s 2022-2023 programming slate.

Glamorous, starring Fuller House’s Miss Benny, was previously in the works as a pilot for The CW. It has now been handed a series order at Netflix.

Emmys snubs! Peak TV has never seen snubs like this. And the Outstanding Drama Series is going to have a ton of them.

Joe Otterson TV ReporterTom Hiddleston is set to star in the Apple limited series “The White Darkness,” Variety has learned.The series is based on the nonfiction book of the same name by David Grann. It is inspired by the true life account of Henry Worsley (Hiddleston), a devoted husband and father, a former soldier, a man of deep honor and sacrifice, but also a man deeply obsessed with adventure, manifesting in an epic journey crossing Antarctica on foot.Soo Hugh, who most recently created and showran the Apple series “Pachinko,” will serve as writer, executive producer, and co-showrunner on “The White Darkness.” Mark Heyman will executive produce and co-showrun. “Pachinko” executive producer Theresa Kang-Lowe and Caroline Garity of Blue Marble Pictures will also executive produce.

EXCLUSIVE: Jayden Elijah (School’s Out Forever) rounds out the lead cast of Saint X, joining Victoria Pedretti, Josh Bonzie and West Duchovny in Hulu’s eight-part series from writer Leila Gerstein and director Dee Rees.

Clayton Davis Variety Awards Circuit section is the home for all awards news and related content throughout the year, featuring the following: the official awards predictions for the upcoming Oscars and Emmys ceremonies, curated by Variety senior awards editor Clayton Davis; Awards Circuit Column, a weekly analysis dissecting the trends and contenders by television editor Michael Schneider (for Emmys) and Davis (for Oscars); Awards Circuit Podcast, a weekly interview series with talent and an expert roundtable discussion; and Awards Circuit Video analyzes various categories and contenders by Variety's leading awards pundits. Variety's unmatched coverage gives its readership unbeatable exposure in print and online, as well as provide inside reports on all the contenders in this year's awards season races.

TOKYO -- The HBO Max drama series “Tokyo Vice” takes the perennial story of a novice reporter on the police beat but places it in the bustling exotic landscape of the Japanese capital of the 1990s.Ansel Elgort of “West Side Story” immersed himself in the leading role not only by learning Japanese so he could speak like a native, but also learning the ropes of an investigative reporter, interviewing people, getting quotes and writing up a story.“It was really cool,” he said in a recent interview with The Associated Press.The characters had to feel real, not just be archetypes, Elgort said.The series, which premieres Thursday, weaves in allusions to the Japanese film genre depicting organized crime, called “yakuza,” as well as exploring the glitzy night life of hostess bars, where powerful corporate Japanese men rub shoulders with their underworld counterparts.“You see the yakuza characters. You see them as a family, too.

Apple TV+ has given a formal green light to Constellation, a conspiracy-based psychological thriller drama series starring Noomi Rapace (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo) and Jonathan Banks (Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul). The project was created and written by Peter Harness (The War of the Worlds), with Michelle MacLaren (Breaking Bad) set to direct the series from Turbine Studios and Haut et Court TV.

EXCLUSIVE: Leonard Cohen’s relationship with muse Marianne Ihlen is going under the microscope in a 1960s-set drama co-production for Norwegian broadcaster NRK.

Carson Burton Emmy-award winning composer Geoff Zanelli is slated to compose the music for “The First Lady,” premiering on Showtime. The new hour-long anthology drama follows the lives of three of America’s First Ladies and stars Viola Davis as Michelle Obama, Michelle Pfeiffer as Betty Ford and Gillian Anderson as Eleanor Roosevelt.Zanelli served as composer of films such as “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales,” “Maleficent: Mistress of Evil” and “Christopher Robin,” and he won an Emmy award for his work in the Steven Spielberg and Dreamworks miniseries “Into the West.” He also was nominated for HBO’s “The Pacific,” another Spielberg collaboration.“I’ve had the honor of writing music for ‘The Pacific’ and ‘Into The West,’ both shows about distinct times in America’s history, but nothing as intimate as ‘The First Lady,'” Zanelli said.

The CW is diving into the legal world with its latest series, “Family Law.” The network announced Thursday that it had acquired the one-hour Canadian drama series, distributed by Entertainment One.Created by “Degrassi” scripter Susin Nielsen, “Family Law” stars Jewel Staite and Victor Garber. It follows lawyer and recovering alcoholic Abigail Bianchi (Staite) struggling to put her career and family back together after hitting rock bottom.

NBCUniversal is developing a fictional series based on the beind-the-scenes goings on in wrestling culture with producers from the WWE. It’s titled “Pinned.”The show is being described as an “adrenalized upstairs-downstairs soap that gives a behind-the-scenes look at a fictional wrestling promotion and the unforgettable characters that populate it,” per NBCU.

Vince McMahon is getting in the ring for another scripted wrestling series.

“The United States of America Vs. Vince McMahon” has found its showrunners. Micah Fitzerman-Blue and Noah Harpster will co-showrun, write and executive produce the series from WWE and Blumhouse Television. The show was in development last year.

Emmy-nominated writers Micah Fitzerman-Blue & Noah Harpster (Transparent) have been tapped as co-showrunners for The United States of America Vs. Vince McMahon, a limited series in development by WWE and Blumhouse TV.

Joe Otterson TV ReporterThe scripted series about WWE boss Vince McMahon’s federal steroids trial has brought on Micah Fitzerman-Blue and Noah Harpster, Variety has learned.The pair will serve as writers, executive producers, and co-showrunners on the limited series, which is titled “The United States of America vs. Vince McMahon.” It was first announced as being in development back in July 2021.