Why ‘The White Lotus’ Is Competing as a Limited Series at the Emmys, Despite Jennifer Coolidge’s Season 2 Return

EXCLUSIVE: Disney+ continues to expand the cast for its upcoming limited series The Santa Clause (working title), adding Tim Allen’s daughter Elizabeth Allen-Dick as a series regular, playing her dad’s on-screen daughter. She will appear opposite Allen, Elizabeth Mitchell and Kal Penn. Also joining The Santa Clause as series regulars are Austin Kane, Rupali Redd and Devin Bright.

EXCLUSIVE: Two-time Emmy nominee and SAG Award winner Matt Walsh has boarded the Apple Original limited series Manhunt about the Lincoln assassination and aftermath.

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.

The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline 1-800-273-TALK (8255) is a free, 24/7 confidential service that can provide people in suicidal crisis or emotional distress, or those around them, with support, information and local resources.

EXCLUSIVE: Ralph Adriel Johnson (Law & Order: SVU) and Brian Miskell (Sharper) are set for heavily recurring roles opposite Jesse Eisenberg in FX’s Fleishman Is in Trouble, a limited-series adaptation of Taffy Brodesser-Akner’s bestselling debut novel, which will stream on Hulu. Lizzy Caplan, Claire Danes, Adam Brody and Joy Suprano also star.

EXCLUSIVE: Elle Johnson (Bosch) has been tapped to write, executive produce and serve as showrunner on A Soldier’s Story, a limited series adaptation of the award-winning A Soldier’s Play, which has been in development at Sony Pictures Television with the play’s Tony winner David Alan Grier attached to star and executive produce.

EXCLUSIVE: While most Covid restrictions have been lifted around the country, we get daily reminders that the pandemic has not gone away, with Kenneth Branagh, Hillary Clinton and Jen Psaki among the big names who have announced infections in the past few days.

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentSND is teaming up with Easy Riders Films to develop a premium limited series loosely based on “The Family,” Suzanne Privat’s best-selling investigative book on a French cult which has existed for more than 200 years.“The Family” is penned by rising French screenwriter Clémence Madeleine-Perdrillat, whose recent credits include “Nona and Her Daughters,” as well as the Amazon Original show “Mixte.” She led the writing team for season 2 of “In Treatment.”Set in Paris’s underworld, the thriller series will shed right on the rites and customs of this enigmatic religious sect from diverse perspectives, focusing on the experiences of those inside and outside the community. The book, whose French title is “La Famille, itinéraires d’un secret,” was published by Les Avrils editions in 2021.

Mckenna Grace (The Handmaid’s Tale)  is set to star alongside Anna Paquin, Jake Lacy, Colin Hanks and Lio Tipton in A Friend of the Family, Peacock’s limited drama series about the Jan Broberg kidnapping case.

EXCLUSIVE: Michael Gaston (For Life) has signed on for a recurring role in FX’s limited series Fleishman Is in Trouble. He’s set to star alongside previously announced cast members including Jesse Eisenberg, Lizzy Caplan, Claire Danes, Adam Brody and Joy Suprano.

EXCLUSIVE: In a bidding war that included a number of streamers and networks, FX has closed a deal for development of the six-episode limited series based on Blitz Bazawule’s upcoming debut novel The Scent of Burnt Flowers. Bazawule will write, direct and produce under his newly minted entity Inward Gaze, with Emmy winner Yahya Abdul-Mateen II attached to star. Abdul-Mateen will also executive produce under his production shingle House Eleven10 alongside Macro Television Studios.

EXCLUSIVE: C.J. Cooke’s supernatural family novel The Lighthouse Witches is set to be adapted into a television series after Studiocanal and The Picture Company landed the rights to the book.

Juliette Lewis has been tapped for a key role opposite Kumail Nanjiani and Murray Bartlett in the Hulu limited series Immigrant (working title), from Pam & Tommy creator Robert Siegel.

BET has set a new four-part original limited series, Carl Weber’s The Black Hamptons, from The New York Times best-selling author of the same name and the executive producers of the popular BET+ original drama, The Family Business.

In what comes as no surprise given the running $301M global grossing success of The Batman, HBO Max has given a straight-to-series order to the pic’s spinoff series The Penguin which will see Colin Farrell reprising his villainous role from the pic as one of Gotham’s legendary kingpins.

EXCLUSIVE: Yeardley Smith’s Paperclip Ltd is looking to turn Tom Wood’s forensic science bestseller Ruxton: The First Modern Murder into an unscripted podcast and a limited scripted series.

CNBC anchor Andrew Ross Sorkin will host and produce a limited series for NBC News Now, the latest figure from NBCU’s broadcast and cable networks to provide content for the streaming service.

HBO has confirmed Jennifer Coolidge will return for The White Lotus season two.Following reports in October last year, the network confirmed the actor’s return on Monday via Twitter (February 28) as production on the second season started in Sicily, Italy.Coolidge, who plays the troubled Tanya McQuoid, is the only actor from the show’s first season confirmed to return.She is joined by previously announced new cast members Michael Imperioli, Aubrey Plaza, Haley Lu Richardson, F. Murray Abraham, Adam DiMarco, Tom Hollander, Theo James, Meghann Fahy, Will Sharpe and Leo Woodall.A post shared by The White Lotus (@thewhitelotus)Filming on the second season is taking place at the San Domenico Palace in Taormina, along with other locations in and around Sicily.The White Lotus is a dark comedy drama which, in the first season, follows a group of visitors on holiday at a Hawaiian resort.

EXCLUSIVE: Jason Winer (The Big Leap) has been tapped to direct Disney+’s upcoming The Santa Clause limited series starring Tim Allen. The Modern Family alum will also executive produce through his Small Dog Production Co. the series, which comes from Last Man Standing creator Jack Burditt.