Noma Dumezweni, Gabby Beans & Sarunas J. Jackson Board Apple TV+ Series ‘Presumed Innocent’

SiriusXM’s “Let’s Talk Off Camera” podcast, the Texas actor revealed the title of the show to host Kelly Ripa.“It’s called ‘Brother From Another Mother,’” McConaughey said of what will be the on-screen reunion between him and fellow Texan Woody Harrelson, who last starred opposite McConaughey in the first season of the HBO crime drama “True Detective.” Both McConaughey and Harrelson were nominated for Emmys for their roles in the show. The two first worked together on the satire film “Edtv” nearly 25 years ago.As previously reported, the new series will center on a “heartfelt odd couple love story revolving around the strange and beautiful bond” between McConaughey and Harrelson’s characters.

EXCLUSIVE: SAG winner Hugo Weaving (The Lord of the Rings), BAFTA winner Joanna Scanlan (Notes On A Scandal), IFTA winner Ruth Bradley (Guilt), Tom Brooke (Empire of Light) and James Callis (Battlestar Galactica) have joined the season four cast of spy series Slow Horses, starring Oscar winner Gary Oldman. 

Following months of meetings, auditions and even several days of driving tests, Apple Studios, Joseph Kosinski and Jerry Bruckheimer look to have found their race car driver to steer their anticipated racing film set in the world of F1. Sources tell Deadline that Damson Idris has been tapped to co-star opposite Brad Pitt. Kosinski is directing.

BreAnna Bell Showtime has announced its forthcoming spy drama, “Ghosts of Beirut,” will make its debut on Friday, May 19, on Showtime’s streaming site and will air on linear on May 21 at 10 p.m. ET/PT. The four-part limited series tells the origin story of 21-year old Mughniyeh (who is also referred to as “The Ghost”), an elusive Lebanese terrorist who evaded capture from the CIA and Mossad for two decades. He was responsible for more American deaths than any other individual prior to 9/11. “Told from the American, Israeli and Lebanese perspectives, the series traces Mughniyeh’s origins from the Shiite slums of South Beirut to his masterminding of the concept of suicide bombers, a deadly tactic that led to his swift rise as the world’s most dangerous terrorist. Based on extensive research of still-classified events, the drama spans decades and weaves in first-hand, real-life interviews with prominent officials from the CIA and Mossad, connecting the turmoil of 1980s Beirut with the spy games of the modern Middle East,” reads Showtime’s official description.

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).

Vanderbilt, a series based on Anderson Cooper and Katherine Howe’s book, has landed at Amazon.

EXCLUSIVE: MGM+ continues to round out the lead cast for Hotel Cocaine, adding Mark Feuerstein as a series regular opposite Danny Pino. In addition to Pino, Feuerstein joins previously announced Michael Chiklis and Yul Vazquez in the streamer’s upcoming crime thriller from creator Chris Brancato.

The Crowded Room,” which stars Tom Holland, Amanda Seyfried and Emmy Rossum. The 10-episode thriller series will premiere with its first three episodes on June 9. The remaining seven episodes will then air one episode per week, concluding on Friday, July 28. “The Crowded Room,” according to its official plot description, follows “Danny Sullivan (Holland) after he was arrested for his involvement in a New York City shooting in 1979. Danny unveils his life through a series of interviews with interrogator Rya Goodwin (Seyfried), and slowly details to Rya, and the audience, his mysterious past that led him to the fateful incident. As Danny retrospectively examines his life, he reckons with his past and a few pivotal moments, that ultimately leads him to uncover a life-altering revelation.”

Apple TV+ has set Friday, June 9 for the premiere of The Crowded Room, its upcoming limited series created by Oscar winner Akiva Goldsman (A Beautiful Mind). Tom Holland, who also executive produces, Amanda Seyfried and Emmy Rossum lead the ensemble cast. The first three episodes of the 10-episode series will drop on June 9, followed by one new episode weekly every Friday through July 28. The streamer also released the first images of the upcoming series (see above and below).

EXCLUSIVE: Broadway casting director Duncan Stewart, whose big-name clients include the Tony-winning Hadestown, the new Life of Pi and the acclaimed The Great Comet of 1812, is dissolving his Stewart/Whitley agency after 14 years to head up the new casting arm of global live event company RWS Entertainment Group.

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.”

EXCLUSIVE: Yul Vazquez is set as a lead opposite Danny Pino & Michael Chiklis in Hotel Cocaine, MGM+’s upcoming crime thriller from creator Chris Brancato.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent U.S.-Lebanese actor Tony Shalhoub, who played the “defective detective” on “Monk,” is set to star as former auto mogul-turned-fugitive Carlos Ghosn in a high-profile TV series directed by Michael Winterbottom. Ghosn is the French-Lebanese-Brazilian former CEO of automakers Nissan and Renault who in 2020 jumped bail and absconded to Beirut hidden in a music case on a private jet while on trial in Japan for alleged financial misconduct. Lebanon does not have an extradition treaty with Japan. The six-part series titled “Fall of the God of Cars” is written by Winterbottom, the prolific British director of “Welcome to Sarajevo,” whose TV work comprises hit sitcom series “The Trip” and, more recently, “This is England” starring Kenneth Branagh as Boris Johnson.

A dramatization of the life of Carlos Ghosn, the former Nissan/Renault CEO who escaped from arrest hidden in a music case, is in the works from Oscar-winner Alfonso Cuarón and This England’s Michael Winterbottom.

Apple TV+ has set the premiere date and offered a first look at Platonic, the upcoming 10-episode comedy series starring and executive produced by Rose Byrne and Seth Rogen.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent While she retired prematurely at the age of 39, Brigitte Bardot has left an indelible mark on France’s popular culture in the 1960’s and 1970’s. With her wild blonde mane, smoky eyes and pouty lips, Bardot became a symbol of a modern and effortlessly sexy French woman, and a style emblem that continues to inspire current trends. The event series “Bardot,” which is penned and directed by Daniele Thompson (“The Queen Margot”) and Christopher Thompson (“La bûche”), world premiered at Series Mania Festival to unanimous praise and has been pre-sold by Federation nearly worldwide. “‘Bardot’ is like the French ‘The Crown’ because Bardot embodied France, and through her journey we reminisce about many parts of France’s history and popular culture in the 1950’s and 1960’s,” Federation’s boss and “Bardot” producer Pascal Breton told Variety.

While he started out as a member of the alt-country group Drive-By Truckers for six years, American singer-songwriter Jason Isbell has now won four Grammy Awards and become a beloved star in his own right. Isbell is famous for a lot of things, but maybe in the movie world, you may know him for writing the soulful, melancholy ballad “Maybe It’s Time” from the “A Star Is Born,” movie and soundtrack where it was performed by actor Bradley Cooper‘s character, Jackson Maine.

EXCLUSIVE: Emmy winner Michael Chiklis is set to star alongside Danny Pino in Hotel Cocaine, MGM+’s upcoming crime thriller from creator Chris Brancato.

Avatar 3 could be made into a limited Disney+ series, according to a Hollywood insider.Jeff Sneider first revealed on his podcast, The Hot Mic, that James Cameron had a nine-hour cut of Avatar 3 back in December. Now, he has revealed on a new episode of the podcast what Cameron plans to do with it.“Months ago, I put out a rumour about James Cameron having a nine-hour cut of Avatar 3 that he wanted to finish the visual effects for,” Sneider.

The upcoming Broadway revival of the Stephen Sondheim musical Merrily We Roll Along starring Daniel Radcliffe, Jonathan Groff and Lindsay Mendez will play its first performance at the Hudson Theatre on Tuesday, September 19, producers announced today.