Netflix Picks Up Period Soap Drama Series ‘The Decameron’ From Kathleen Jordan, Jenji Kohan

Joe Otterson TV Reporter Taylor Sheridan’s upcoming CIA drama series “Lioness” at Paramount+ has added three new actors to its cast, Variety has learned exclusively. James Jordan, LaMonica Garrett, and Dave Annable have all joined the show. All three have previously worked with Sheridan — Jordan and Annable on the hit Paramount Network series “Yellowstone” and Garrett in the “Yellowstone” prequel series “1883.” Jordan also appeared in “1883” as well as Sheridan’s Paramount+ series “Mayor of Kingstown” and in his features “Wind River” and “Those Who Wish Me Dead.” The three join previously announced cast members Zoe Saldaña and Laysla De Oliveira.

Ruby Stokes has a brand new series lined up following her exit from Bridgerton.

K.J. Yossman Netflix has snapped up “The Anthrax Attacks” from BBC Studios, a feature-length doc about the 2001 anthrax threat that paralyzed the U.S. in the wake of 9/11 and sparked one of the largest FBI investigations in history. The doc will star Marvel’s Clark Gregg (“Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D”) in scripted scenes recreating some of the events that took place. Oscar-nominated Dan Krauss (“Extremis”) will direct the doc, which is set to premiere globally on Thursday, Sept. 8. It is produced by BBC Studios’ science unit. One week after 9/11 the U.S. suffered one of its worst ever biological attacks, resulting in the deaths of five people, while at least 17 more were injured.

Marta Balaga German helmer Alex Schaad takes on the body-swap trope in Venice Critics’ Week title “Skin Deep,” produced by Walker + Worm Film in co-production with Bayerischer Rundfunk and Donndorffilm. Beta Cinema, which handles the sales, has shared its trailer exclusively with Variety ahead of the film’s world premiere at the Italian fest. The intimate, character-driven story sees a young couple – played by “And Tomorrow the Entire World” actor Mala Emde and Jonas Dassler – deciding to visit a remote island, hoping they might be able to solve their problems in a place that literally allows you to be someone else. But Schaad, who co-wrote the script with his brother Dimitrij, wasn’t trying to deliver another “Freaky Friday,” eschewing easy laughs for a much more philosophical approach.

Naman Ramachandran Netflix and the European Producers Club (EPC) have revealed the winners of a pitch contest for fictional series at the ongoing Venice Film Festival. The pitch contest is a joint initiative by EPC and Netflix to help create new opportunities for European women producers. It was launched at Series Mania in March, and open to EPC producers working for women-owned companies. Following a selection process by an independent jury, composed of Cia Edstrom, Francine Raveney and Olivier Kohn, the competition finalists pitched their projects to the Netflix content team. Anna Mannion of Tri Moon Films, Ireland, won the first prize of €50,000 ($49,762), while Ada Solomon of Microfilm, Romania, won the second prize of €20,000.

Brent Lang Executive Editor of Film and Media Nicole Power has joined the ensemble of the upcoming Netflix drama series“Glamorous.” She will appear alongside the previously announced “Sex and the City” icon Kim Cattrall, as well as actor, singer-songwriter and YouTuber Miss Benny. In the show, Power will portray Mykynnleigh, a seemingly guileless corporate consultant who rolls into town to help make a business deal happen. Although she seems wholesome and unsophisticated, those appearances are deceiving as Mykynnleigh possesses a lot of backbone and business acumen. “Glamorous” tells the story of Marco Mejia (Miss Benny), a gender-nonconforming queer young man whose life seems to be stuck in place until he lands a job working for legendary makeup mogul Madolyn Addison (Cattrall). It’s Marco’s first chance to figure out what he wants out of life, who he actually is and what it really means for him to be queer.

EXCLUSIVE: Allen Leech (Downton Abbey, Bohemian Rhapsody) and India Mullen (Normal People, Brassic) will lead the cast of an Irish drama series for AMC Networks’ Sundance Now and local broadcaster Virgin Media Television, we’ve learned.

Selome Hailu Part 1 of “Manifest” Season 4 will premiere on Netflix on Nov. 4. Consisting of ten episodes, Season 4 Part 1 comes over a year after “Manifest” was canceled by NBC, where it originally aired. Before its cancellation, the series arrived on Netflix and quickly rose to the top of the streamer’s Top 10 rankings. Netflix then picked it up for a fourth and final season in Aug. 2021. Season 1 of “Manifest” has spent 16 weeks on the Netflix Top 10, but that success didn’t come during its streaming debut alone. The season reappeared on the chart recently, during the July 4-10 viewing window, and Seasons 2 and 3 followed suit the next week. Its increased viewership comes as a result of a wider reach, as “Manifest” was added to Netflix in India, Latin America and the Nordic countries earlier this summer.

Christopher Vourlias Former Netflix executive Tania Zarak Quintana has joined Iceland’s Truenorth, one of the leading production services companies in the Nordics, as it looks to ramp up development of original content. The production outfit is developing a slate of original shows including “Starlungar,” a 10-part series it’s dubbed “‘The Godfather’ of the 13th century” that follows four wealthy and powerful clans as they fight to gain power over Iceland, and “Eyland,” a dystopian series set in present-day Iceland that questions what would happen if communication with the rest of the world suddenly stopped. Truenorth is also attached to co-produce a feature-film adaptation of bestselling Icelandic author Ragnar Jónasson’s thriller “Outside,” which was optioned by Scott Free Productions.

EXCLUSIVE: Ricardo Chavira has been tapped for a heavily recurring role opposite Kim Cattrall in Netflix drama series Glamorous, from Jordon Nardino (Star Trek: Discovery, Smash) and Damon Wayans Jr.

Netflix has put a doc series about British pop superstar Robbie Williams into production, as its UK original series chief Anne Mensah doubled down on the streamer’s commitment to the UK despite the coming cost of living crisis and concerns over share price drop impacts.

Steven Pasquale has been tapped as the male lead opposite Neve Campbell in Avalon, ABC’s drama series based on Michael Connelly’s short story, from David E. Kelley, A+E Studios and 20th Television. Avalon, which received a straight-to-series order from ABC, takes place in the city of Avalon on Catalina Island, where L.A. Sheriff’s Department Detective Nicole “Nic” Searcy (Campbell) heads up a small office. Catalina has a local population that serves more than 1 million tourists a year, and each day when the ferries arrive, hundreds of potential new stories enter the island. Detective Searcy is pulled into a career-defining mystery that will challenge everything she knows about herself and the island.

Joe Otterson TV ReporterSteven Pasquale is set to star opposite Neve Campbell in the upcoming ABC series “Avalon,” Variety has learned.The announcement of Pasquale’s casting comes just one day after Campbell’s, with Campbell set to play the lead role in the show. It hails from co-creators David E. Kelley and Michael Connelly, with the show based on a short story that Connelly wrote.

EXCLUSIVE: Following the success of Shonda Rhimes-produced steamy Regency romance Bridgerton, Netflix is betting on another soapy period drama produced by a top showrunner from its roster of overall deals, Orange Is the New Black creator Jenji Kohan. The streamer has given an eight-episode series order to The Decameron, from Kathleen Jordan, creator of Netflix’s Teenage Bounty Hunters, and Kohan who executive produced the teen drama alongside her.

There are plenty of down-on-his-luck musician stories in films and TV series. However, the new Netflix film, “I Used to Be Famous,” hopes that there’s still a little more fuel in the tank as the film subgenre gets explored one more time.  READ MORE: ‘Do Revenge’ Trailer: Maya Hawke And Camila Mendes Star In A Hitchcock-ian High School Revenge Dark Comedy As seen in the trailer for “I Used to Be Famous,” the film follows the story of Vince, a former member of a world-famous boy band, who now finds himself older and trying to hold on to any shred of fame he can.

Angelique Jackson With Netflix’s “Never Have I Ever” now speeding toward its senior season, series star Maitreyi Ramakrishnan shared what sets it apart from other high school shows — its heart.“We pack a punch into a good old half-hour comedy,” Ramakrishnan told Variety in an interview ahead of the show’s Season 3 launch. “It’s very heartwarming. Real things are being spoken about, in a way that it’s natural.

K.J. Yossman Amazon Prime Video have given fans a first look at their upcoming U.K.

EXCLUSIVE: Maria Bakalova (Bodies Bodies Bodies) has joined the casts of Andrew Durham’s feature directorial debut Fairyland for American Zoetrope, and Jerry Seinfeld’s first film Unfrosted: The Pop-Tart Story for Netflix. Details as to the roles she’ll be playing in the features have not been disclosed, though we hear she’ll only be making a cameo in the latter.

EXCLUSIVE: As The Gray Man climbs the all-time viewership ranks on Netflix, Joe and Anthony Russo are moving fast on their next event film at the streamer and putting together quite the ensemble. Sources tell Deadline that Michelle Yeoh, Stanley Tucci, Jason Alexander, Brian Cox and Jenny Slate are set to join The Electric State, starring Millie Bobby Brown and Chris Pratt.

Anna Marie de la Fuente Netflix has reaffirmed its $300 million commitment to Mexican cinema and series, announcing a slew of new movie projects to celebrate the country’s National Day of Cinema on Aug. 15 and as part of its #QueMéxicoSeVea initiative.The year-old initiative, which can be roughly translated to “Let Mexico Be Seen” has the mission “to make visible the work of Mexican creators, screenwriters, writers, directors, actors and people who make national cinema possible,” as well as its wealth of original stories.Leading the pack is the widely anticipated directorial debut of Oscar-nominated cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto (“Brokeback Mountain,” “The Irishman”) who is helming an adaptation of Juan Rulfo’s seminal novel, “Pedro Paramo.” Produced by Redrum, the film’s crew includes Oscar-nominated production designer Eugenio Caballero (“Roma,” “Pan’s Labyrinth”) and costume designer Anna Terrazas, whose notable credits include “Roma,” “Spectre” and “Bardo.” “Our commitment to Mexican culture also includes adapting great Mexican works to the cinema, and ‘Pedro Páramo’ will be the first great example of this,” said Francisco Ramos, Netflix VP of Content for Latin America.“The impact of our productions has been very positive so far: We are hyper committed to Mexican cinema,” Ramos added.said Ramos, who asserted that there were no plans to reduce the $300 million-over-three-years pledge.“Mexicans love our content and there is a huge appetite for Mexican cinema in Latin America and in some parts of Europe as well,” he pointed out, adding that they have had the good fortune to be working with some of the biggest players in Mexico, including Redrum, Woo Films, Alebrije Prods.