Rachael Leigh Cook to Star in Netflix Movie ‘A Tourist’s Guide to Love,’ Eirene Donohue to Write (EXCLUSIVE)

Joe Otterson TV ReporterThe “Wings of Fire” books by Tui T. Sutherland are being adapted into an animated series at Netflix with Ava DuVernay set to executive produce.The “Wings of Fire” books have sold more than 14 million copies around the world to date.

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 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 ReporterSerena Williams has signed a first-look TV deal with Amazon, which includes a docuseries about her personal and professional life.“I’m very excited to be partnering with Amazon Studios – they are developing some of the most inspiring and important content for a global audience,” Williams said.

Joe Otterson TV ReporterMcKenna Grace and Lexi Underwood will star in their own standalone episodes of the upcoming Disney Plus anthology series “Just Beyond,” with Nasim Pedrad set to join Grace in a guest starring role.The horror-comedy series is based on the RL Stine graphic novels of the same name. Disney Plus ordered eight episodes of the show last year.

Joe Otterson TV ReporterNikolaj Coster-Waldau will star in and executive produce a series adaptation of the Christina Clancy novel “The Second Home” currently in the works at Sony’s TriStar TV, Variety has learned.The story follows the Gordon and Shaw families beyond a fateful summer on Cape Cod. Told through two generations, the story explores how a devastating secret can derail young love, tear apart families, and change the fate of countless individuals forever if they let it.

Joe Otterson TV ReporterAdepero Oduye has been cast in the upcoming Apple series “Five Days at Memorial.”Oduye joins previously announced cast member Vera Farmiga. The series is based on the Sheri Fink novel of the same name.

Joe Otterson TV ReporterTom Holland is set to star in “The Crowded Room,” an anthology series from Akiva Goldsman that has been ordered at Apple.The first season of the series will be based on the biography “The Minds of Billy Milligan” by Daniel Keyes. It tells the story of Billy Milligan (Holland), the first person ever acquitted of a crime because of Multiple Personality Disorder (now known as Dissociative Identity Disorder).

Joe Otterson TV ReporterThe Apple drama series “The Essex Serpent” has added four actors to its cast.Frank Dillane, Hayley Squires, Clémence Poésy, and Jamael Westman will join series leads Claire Danes and Tom Hiddleston in the show, which is an adaptation of the Sarah Perry novel of the same name.The one-hour drama series follows newly widowed Cora (Danes) who, having being released from an abusive marriage, relocates from Victorian London to the small village of Aldwinter in Essex, intrigued

Joe Otterson TV ReporterSamantha Morton has been cast in the lead role of the Starz drama series “The Serpent Queen.”Morton will star as Catherine de Medici. Based on the book “Catherine de Medici: Renaissance Queen of France” by Leonie Frieda, the eight-episode series is described as an account of one of the most influential women ever to wear a crown.

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 ReporterHBO Max has given a series order to the half-hour comedy “Minx.”The streamer has given the show a 10-episode order. Set in 1970s Los Angeles, “Minx” on around an earnest young feminist (Ophelia Lovibond) who joins forces with a low-rent publisher (Jake Johnson) to create the first erotic magazine for women.In addition to Lovibond and Johnson, the show also stars Idara Victor, Jessica Lowe, Lennon Parham, Michael Angarano, and Oscar Montoya.

Joe Otterson TV ReporterSarah Michelle Gellar is set to star in the YA comedy “Hot Pink,” which has been ordered to pilot at Amazon, Variety has learned.The show is loosely inspired by Elana K. Arnold’s book “What Girls Are Made Of.” In the book, Nina Faye was raised to believe that there is no such thing as unconditional love, meaning she will do anything for her boyfriend to prove her worthiness.

Joe Otterson TV ReporterIn a competitive situation, Mike Scully and Julie Thacker Scully have signed with Verve, Variety has learned exclusively.The husband and wife duo most recently co-created the Fox animated series “Duncanville” with Amy Poehler, on which they also serve as co-showrunners. Poehler also provides the voice of the lead character on the show and serves as an executive producer along with Scully and Thacker Scully.

Joe Otterson TV Reporter“The Witcher: Blood Origin,” the “Witcher” prequel series currently in the works at Netflix, has cast Laurence O’Fuarain in a lead role.Set in an elven world 1200 years before the events of “The Witcher,” “Blood Origin” will tell a story lost to time – the creation of the first prototype Witcher, and the events that lead to the pivotal “conjunction of the spheres,” when the worlds of monsters, men, and elves merged to become one.O’Fuarain will star as Fjall.

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 ReporterForest Whitaker has joined Tom Hardy in the upcoming Netflix crime drama film “Havoc,” Variety has learned.The film hails from writer, director, and producer Gareth Evans, the first under a new exclusive multi-year deal to produce and direct films for the streamer.In “Havoc,” after a drug deal gone wrong, a bruised detective must fight his way through a criminal underworld to rescue a politician’s estranged son, while unraveling a deep web of corruption and conspiracy

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.