‘Star Trek: Strange New Worlds’ Casts Paul Wesley as James T. Kirk for Season 2 of Paramount Plus Series

Joe Otterson TV ReporterHarrison Ford has signed on to star opposite Jason Segel in the Apple comedy series “Shrinking,” Variety has learned.The show was first announced in October 2021. Segel will write the series alongside “Ted Lasso” co-creator Bill Lawrence and “Ted Lasso” star, writer, and co-executive producer Brett Goldstein.“Shrinking” follows Jimmy (Segel), a grieving therapist who starts to break the rules and tell his clients exactly what he thinks.

Joe Otterson TV ReporterNaomi Watts has signed on to star in the long-gestating second season of “Feud” at FX, Variety has confirmed with sources.The second season of the Ryan Murphy anthology series will be based on the book “Capote’s Women: A True Story of Love, Betrayal, and a Swan Song for an Era” by Laurence Leamer. Watts will play famed socialite Barbara “Babe” Paley.

Joe Otterson TV Reporter“The Drew Barrymore Show” has been renewed through the 2022-2023 season.The syndicated daytime talk show is produced and distributed by CBS Media Ventures (CMV) and shot in New York City. Barrymore hosts and executive produces, with Jason Kurtz and Chris Miller also executive producing.

Joe Otterson TV ReporterDean Devlin’s new Syfy series “The Ark” has found its core cast members as production gets underway, Variety has learned exclusively.Christie Burke, Richard Fleeshman, Reece Ritchie, Stacey Read and Ryan Adams will all appear as series regulars in the show, which is now shooting at PFI Studios in Belgrade, Serbia. The show was first announced back in January.“The Ark” takes place 100 years in the future when planetary colonization missions have begun as a necessity to help secure the survival of the human race. The first of these missions on a spacecraft known as Ark One encounters a catastrophic event causing massive destruction and loss of life.

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.

Joe Otterson TV ReporterThe upcoming live-action “One Piece” series at Netflix has cast Peter Gadiot in the role of Shanks.Gadiot joins previously announced cast members: Iñaki Godoy as Monkey D Luffy, Mackenyu as Rorona Zoro, Emily Rudd as Nami, Jacob Romero Gibson as Usopp, Taz Skylar as Sanji, Morgan Davies as Koby, Ilia Isorelýs Paulino as Alvida, Aidan Scott as Helmeppo, Jeff Ward as Buggy, McKinley Belcher III as Arlong, and Vincent Regan as Garp.Based on the iconic Japanese manga of the same name, “One Piece” centers on Monkey D. Luffy (Godoy), a young man who embarks on a journey to become king of the pirates and find the celebrated “One Piece” treasure.

Joe Otterson TV ReporterThe “Teen Wolf” revival movie at Paramount Plus has added five actors to the cast, including multiple returning stars of the original series.The new cast members are: Ian Bohen returning as Peter Hale; Vince Mattis as Eli Hale, fifteen year-old son of Derek Hale; Nobi Nakanishi as Deputy Ishida; Khylin Rhambo returning as Mason Hewitt; and Amy Lin Workman as Hikari Zhang. Nakanishi had also previously appeared on the original “Teen Wolf” in a different role, playing Young Katashi in two episodes of Season 3.The quintet joins previously announced stars Tyler Posey, Holland Roden, Shelley Hennig, Crystal Reed, Orny Adams, Linden Ashby, JR Bourne, Colton Haynes, Ryan Kelley, Melissa Ponzio, and Dylan Sprayberry in the film revival of the beloved MTV drama series. In the film, a terrifying evil emerges in Beacon Hills.

Joe Otterson TV ReporterA live-action version of “The Loud House” has been picked up to series at Paramount Plus.The announcement was made as part of Nickelodeon’s upfronts presentation on Thursday. Production will begin on the new series in June with the premiere set for later this year.

Joe Otterson TV Reporter“East New York,” the drama pilot currently in the works at CBS, has added four new cast members.Ruben Santiago Hudson (“Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,” Broadway’s “Lackawanna Blues”), Richard Kind (“Argo,” “A Serious Man”), Lavel Schley (“Barriers,” “Tell My Family I Love Them”), and Olivia Luccardi (“The Thing About Pam,” “The Deuce”) have all joined the pilot alongside previously announced series lead Amanda Warren.In the pilot, Regina Haywood (Warren) is the newly promoted deputy inspector of East New York, an impoverished, working-class will neighborhood at the eastern edge of Brooklyn. She leads a diverse group of officers and detectives, some of whom are reluctant to deploy her creative methods of serving and protecting during the midst of social upheaval and the early seeds of gentrification.

Joe Otterson TV ReporterAdina Porter and Clark Backo have been cast opposite LaKeith Stanfield in the upcoming Apple drama series “The Changeling,” Variety has learned.The series is based on the book of the same name by Victor LaValle. It is descirbed as a horror story, a parenthood fable, and a perilous odyssey through a New York City you didn’t know existed.Stanfield stars as Apollo. Porter will play Lillian, his mother.

Joe Otterson TV ReporterABC has ordered a new pilot for the drama about the National Parks Investigative Services Branch, Variety has learned.The broadcaster commissioned a pilot for the project last year as well with a different creative team, though it ultimately did not go forward. The original team included Kevin Costner as co-writer and executive producer, but Costner is no longer attached to the project in any capacity.Instead, Rashad Raisani is writing and executive producing the pilot, which is described as a propulsive, soapy procedural set in the stunning world of National Parks.

Joe Otterson TV ReporterLaysla De Oliveira will star alongside Zoe Saldaña in the upcoming Paramount Plus series “Lioness” from Taylor Sheridan, Variety has learned exclusively.The series is based on a real-life CIA program and follows Cruz Manuelos (De Oliveira), described as a rough-around-the-edges but passionate young Marine, who is recruited to join the CIA’s Lioness Engagement Team to help bring down a terrorist organization from within. Saldaña will play Joe, the station chief of the Lioness program tasked with training, managing and leading her female undercover operatives. The series is set to go into production in June.De Oliveira currently stars in the Netflix series “Locke & Key,” with the third season of that series set to debut later in 2022.

Paramount+‘s “Star Trek: Strange New Worlds.”Wesley was in for quite a surprise on Tuesday when he found himself sitting next to Captain Kirk himself, William Shatner, on a plane.The “Tell Me A Story” actor tweeted out a snap of the two men smiling from behind their masks on the aircraft.“I am deeply humbled and still a little startled to have been given the honor of playing the inimitable James T Kirk,” Wesley wrote. “Ever since I was a kid, I have been awed by the imaginative world Gene Roddenberry created,” he noted.

Paul Wesley is opening up about his recent casting as Captain James T. Kirk on Paramount+’s Star Trek: Strange New Worlds.

Paul Wesley is about to step into some Shatner-sized shoes.

Paul Wesley is joining the cast of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds.

Joe Otterson TV ReporterAmazon has picked up the series adaptation of Harlan Coben’s “Shelter,” Variety has learned.The show was ordered to pilot at Amazon in 2021. Based on the first novel in Coben’s Mickey Bolitar trilogy, the YA thriller series stars Jaden Michael as Bolitar as he navigates his new life with a mom in rehab, a dead father, an annoying aunt, and a new school in New Jersey with a camel as its mascot. When a creepy old lady who may or may not be a ghost tells Mickey that his father isn’t dead, Mickey is sure he’s losing his mind on top of everything.

Joe Otterson TV ReporterAmazon has ordered two seasons of an animated comedy from Ramy Youssef, Variety has learned exclusively. The series is part of new first-look deal Youssef and his Cairo Cowboy production banner have signed with the streamer.Youssef leads Cairo Cowboy with Andy Campagna, the former senior vice president of television for Sam Esmail’s Esmail Corp.“Ramy has only scratched the surface of his incredible creative gifts,” said Vernon Sanders, head of global television for Amazon.

Joe Otterson TV Reporter“Power Book IV: Force” has been renewed for Season 2 at Starz.The third spinoff of the original “Power” to debut on Starz, the series saw Joseph Sikora return as Tommy Egan, who leaves New York and finds himself caught up in the Chicago drug game. The series also stars Isaac Keys, Lili Simmons, Gabrielle Ryan, Shane Harper, Kris D.

Joe Otterson TV ReporterRenée Zellweger has lined up another TV role with NBCUniversal. Variety has learned exclusively that the actress is set to star in the drama “Avenger Field” that is in development at Peacock.The one-hour drama series, which hails from MGM Television, tells the story of those that established a clandestine all female US Airforce program called the WASPs (Women Airforce Service Pilots) to battle Hitler from home. Inspired by the true story of WASP leader Jackie Cohran (Zellweger) and the diverse group of women who fought the system, skeptics and even sabotage to bring everyone home safely.Felicia D.