Category: tv

According to Deadline, Ready or Not actress Samara Weaving has signed on for one of the nine leading roles in Hulu‘s forthcoming limited series adaptation of Nine Perfect Strangers which will be led by fellow Australian actress Nicole Kidman. Weaving is set to portray the role of Jessica, who is described in the novel as a plastic-surgery obsessed lottery winner.

The 28-year-old Australian actress has been experiencing quite a steady rise in her career as she previously starred in Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri , Ready or Not, and Guns Akimbo . She will next be seen in two high-profile films such as Bill & Ted Face the Music and Snake Eyes .

Based on author Liane Moriarty’s latest novel, Nine Perfect Strangers takes place at a boutique health-and-wellness resort that promises healing and transformation as nine stressed city dwellers try to get on a path to a better way of living. Watching over them is the resort’s director Masha (Kidman), a woman on a mission to reinvigorate their tired minds and bodies, but these nine strangers have no idea what is about to hit them.

Pick up a copy of the book here!

The star-studded cast will be led by Oscar winner Nicole Kidman ( Big Little Lies ) as Masha, Emmy winner Melissa McCarthy ( Can You Ever Forgive Me? , The Kitchen ) as Frances, Luke Evans ( The Alienist ) as Lars, Manny Jacinto ( The Good Place ) as Yao and Melvin Gregg as Ben.

Nine Perfect Strangers is expected to debut on Hulu in 2021. Executive producers also include Papandrea, Steve Hutensky, and Casey Haver for Made Up Stories, Kidman and Per Saari for Blossom Films, Moriarty, Kelley, and Butterworth.

The series is the latest project from Blossom Films, Made Up Stories, and Endeavor Content. Blossom Films executive-producing season one of HBO’s Big Little Lies , which garnered eight Emmy nominations and five wins, including Best Actress for Kidman and Best Miniseries or Television Film. Made Up Stories was founded by Papandrea, the award-winning producer of the HBO series Big Little Lies and feature films Wild , Gone Girl , Warm Bodies , and Milk . Endeavor Content’s recent TV slate includes Damien Chazelle’s musical drama The Eddy , hit series Killing Eve , and Apple’s See, which stars Jason Momoa.

Netflix has officially given a series order to a brand new CG animated series titled Samura Rabbit: The Usagi Chronicles which will be based on Stan Sakai’s popular and long-running Usagi Yojimbo comic books. The comedy-action series will be taking viewers to a world that mixes high-tech images with classic Japanese references. In addition, James Wan has also boarded the project as an executive producer through his Atomic Monster banner.

“It is a pleasure working with Gaumont and Netflix,” Sakai said in a statement (via The Wrap). “I am involved in each step of the production and am enthusiastic with the direction we are going into. It is wonderful to expand the ‘Usagi’ universe by collaborating with so many talented people. I am working with an awesome team and I’m looking forward to finally seeing an ‘Usagi’ series on the screen! I thank my wonderful fans, friends and family for their support and encouragement over the last 35+ years.”

Samura Rabbit: The Usagi Chronicles will tell the story of teenage Rabbit Samurai Yuichi, descendant of the great warrior Miyamoto Usagi, on his epic quest to become a true samurai. But he isn’t alone! He leads a ragtag team of misfit heroes – including a roguish bounty hunter, a cunning ninja, an acrobatic pickpocket, and a faithful pet lizard – as he battles depth-charging moles, metal-tipped winged bats, and monsters from another dimension, all in the pursuit to become the best samurai Usagi!

Recommended Reading: Usagi Yojimbo: The Special Edition

First published 1984, Usaji Yojimbo is centered around a rabbit ronin named Miyamoto Usagi, a character that draws inspiration from the life of legendary Japanese swordsman Miyamoto Musashi. The series has gone through three publishing companies since its released and has also received a number of awards including six Eisner Awards from over 20 nominations. For his work in the comics, Sakai also earned a Harvey Award for Best Cartoonist in 2016.

Samura Rabbit: The Usagi Chronicles will be executive produced by Stan Sakai, who is the creator, writer, and illustrator of the comic book series. Candie and Doug Langdale have also signed on the project as showrunners and executive producers. It is a co-production by Gaumont, Dark Horse Entertainment, and Atomic Monster with will also be executive produced by Nicolas Atlan, Terry Kalagian, Sidonie Dumas, Christophe Riandee, Mike Richardson, Keith Goldberg, Chris Tongue Michael Clear, and Rob Hackett.

“All of us at Gaumont were honored when Stan trusted us to develop his iconic property into an animated series,” President of Gaumont U.S. Nicolas Atlan said in a statement. “This is a first for ‘Usagi Yojimbo.’ We are thrilled to have Netflix on board as our creative partner so we can together, with the combined artistic talent of Stan Sakai, Dark Horse Entertainment and Atomic Monster take this iconic brand to the next level.”

The series has also enlisted 88 Pictures ( Fast & Furious Spy Racers ) as its CGI animation studio. Khang Le has also been set as the art director while Ben Jones will be a supervising producer.

After casting Scream franchise vet Courtney Cox earlier this year, the upcoming horror-comedy pilot Shining Vale at Starz has found its leading male in Academy Award nominee Greg Kinnear ( The Stand ), according to Variety.

Written by Jeff Astrof on a story from Astrof and Sharon Horgan ( Game Night ), the pilot follows a dysfunctional family that moves from the city to a small town into a house in which terrible atrocities have taken place. But no one seems to notice except for Pat, the mom, who’s convinced she’s either depressed or possessed – turns out, the symptoms are exactly the same. Everyone has their demons – but are Pat’s real? Or is this the portrait of a typical family torn apart by mental illness. Done in a funny, scary way.

The 57-year-old actor has signed on as Terry, Pat’s husband, a “ sweet, sensitive guy ” who assumed he was married to the perfect wife until learning of her affair with their handyman, destroying their kitchen island and possibly their marriage. However, to keep his family together, Terry will do whatever it takes, including going to intensive couples therapy and buying an Old Victorian house in the suburbs of Connecticut.

The comedy is being executive produced by Astrof through Other Shoe Productions and Horgan and Clelia Mountford ( This Way Up ) through Merman, as well as Aaron Kaplan ( Life in Pieces ) and Dana Honor ( A Million Little Pieces ) from Kapital Entertainment, with Dearbhla Walsh attached to direct and executive produce the pilot.

Horgan, who is best known for co-creating, starring in and executive producing the acclaimed Amazon comedy Catastrophe , also created the HBO comedy series Divorce starring Sarah Jessica Parker ( Sex and the City ), which ran for three modestly received seasons on the network, and starred in the 2018 black comedy Game Night , which was a critical and commercial success.

We’re still a long way out from the debut of Marvel’s Loki on Disney+, but that hasn’t stopped those involved with the series from teasing aspects about the show. Specifically, showrunner Michael Waldron, who recently stated that Loki will deal with “identity issues,” and followed that statement up by suggesting fans should “expect the unexpected” via a Twitter post you can see below.

“We have a landing page on Disneyplus,” Waldron exclaims. “And an old trailer. But I like the green nebula. It indicates that this is a science fiction (“sci-fi”) show. You know they say about “sci-fi”: Expect the unexpected when it comes to science fiction.”

Loki will feature the return of Golden Globe winner Tom Hiddleston as the fan-favorite mischievous titular villain. Hiddleston last portrayed the God of Mischief in last year’s highest-grossing film of all time Avengers: Endgame , where he successfully had stolen the Tesseract during Iron Man and Ant Man’s failed attempt to retrieve it. Joining Hiddleston are MCU newcomers Sophia Di Martino ( Yesterday , Flowers , Into the Badlands ), Oscar nominee Owen Wilson ( The Royal Tenenbaums ), Richard E. Grant ( Can You Ever Forgive Me? , Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker ), and Gugu Mbatha-Raw ( Black Mirror: San Junipero ) with Di Martino rumored to play Lady Loki.

Kevin Feige previously shared that the Loki series along with Elizabeth Olson and Paul Bettany’s WandaVision will tie into Marvel Studios’ highly-anticipated sequel Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness . However, he didn’t confirm whether or not Hiddleston will also be making an appearance in the Doctor Strange sequel.

RELATED: Bill Burr Reprising Mayfield Character in The Mandalorian Season 2

Rick and Morty veteran Michael Waldron is writing Loki , which also recently recruited Kate Herron as a director. Hiddleston has previously teased that fans will see his character use the Tesseract to cause more trouble. According to rumors, viewers will follow Loki as he travels through time and leaves his mark on various historical events. Plus, the series will reportedly have wide-ranging effects on the larger MCU.

Loki will premiere on Disney+ in spring 2021.

THIS YES THIS THISSSSSSS. pic.twitter.com/n3J0EuJPtX

— Cha #TeamLoki ☀️ (@amestris_star) July 13, 2020

Ahead of Peacock‘s official launch tomorrow, NBC’s newest streaming service has announced the premiere date for the upcoming third season of Glenn Howerton’s comedy series A.P. Bio. After its sudden cancellation last year, the series was immediately revived by the network thanks to the fans’ support and is now scheduled to make its return on Thursday, September 3 with all new eight episodes.

In addition, TVLine reports that Peacock has acquired the U.S. rights to Global and Universal’s Canadian-British drama limited series titled Departure which stars Archie Panjabi and Christopher Plummer. The thriller series will be having its U.S. streaming debut on September 17.

Created by Mike O’Brien ( Saturday Night Live ), A.P. Bio follows disgraced Harvard philosophy scholar Jack Griffin as he is forced to return to his hometown of Toledo, Ohio as an advanced-placement biology teacher, choosing not to teach the class in the slightest and instead focus on how to get revenge on his former rival Miles Griffin (Tom Bennett, David Brent: Life on the Road ), while Principal Ralph Durbin (Patton Oswalt, Happy! ) attempts to rein him in.

The series stars Howerton ( It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia ) in the lead role as the cynical and frustrated Jack along with Lyric Lewis, Mary Sohn, Jean Villepique, Paula Pell, Aparna Brielle, Jacob Houston ( American Vandal ), Allisyn Arm ( Astrid Clover ), Nick Peine ( Office Christmas Party ), Eddie Leavy ( Those Who Can’t ).

The first season of A.P. Bio , which premiered early in 2018, received generally positive reviews from critics, with a lot of the praise going to the cast. Although the second season continued to received positive reviews from critics and even larger reviews from audiences, it had struggled in its broadcast ratings, averaging roughly two million viewers and led NBC to cancel the series. However, due to the strong support from fans including celebrities such as Mark Hamill, the network has chosen to reverse its decision and had moved the series to its upcoming streaming service.