Small Screen: ‘Power Book II: Ghost’ Sets A December Return Date, Plus New Casting Announcements
Wonder girl - Dc Comics
Broadcast: CBS is developing, with a pilot commitment, a multicamera doo-wop college comedy from creators Diallo Riddle and Bashir Salahuddin as part of their production deal with Warner Bros. Television. Written and executively produced by the duo and drawing loosely on their own lives meeting as undergraduate students at Harvard, the currently untitled comedy centers on a group of Black Ivy League students from blue collar families. Struggling to find where they belong in their new environment, the students focus on their commonalities with each other and their backgrounds, prompting them to form a doo-wop group as a way of creating a slice of home for themselves. This marks the first project from Riddle and Salahuddin under their overall deal with Warner Bros. Television since it was announced in September. The duo is best known for their work writing the Slow Jam the News with Barack Obama and The History of Hip-Hop with Justin Timberlake sketches for Late Night with Jimmy Fallon on NBC, as well as their original series for Comedy Central and HBO Max, South Side, and AMC and IFC’s Sherman’s Showcase.
Claws star Niecy Nash has been cast in ABC’s upcoming civil rights anthology series Women of the Movement. Nash will be portraying Alma, the grandmother of Emmett Till, as Season 1 of the limited series will focus on the journey for justice undertaken by Till’s mother, Mamie Till-Mobley, who will be played by Adrienne Warren. Created and executively produced by showrunner Marissa Jo Cerar, the first season is inspired by Devery S. Anderson’s book Emmett Till: The Murder That Shocked the World and Propelled the Civil Rights Movement.
The CW is upping its offerings of superhero series, announcing the development of a Latina-starred adaptation of Wonder Girl and a backdoor pilot for a potential Black Lightning spinoff. Produced by Greg Berlanti and currently in the script development stage, Wonder Girl will follow the story of the Joëlle Jones-created character Yara Flor, who discovers her powers as Wonder Girl and chooses to use them to fight evil. A Berlanti Productions-Warner Bros. Television co-production, the upcoming series will be executively produced by Berlanti alongside showrunner and writer Dailyn Rodriguez, Sarah Schechter and David Madden. News of the upcoming series came shortly after the announcement that the broadcaster would be exploring the possibility of a Black Lightning spinoff by way of a backdoor pilot. Slated to air on February 8, the upcoming pilot will focus focus on Painkiller, the villainous alter ego of Khalil Payne, played by Jordan Calloway, as he comes to terms with his destructive past. In addition to the upcoming spinoff, Black Lightning also made news recently after it was announced that Chantal Thuy, who has played Grace Choi since the series’ first season, has been promoted to series regular ahead of the show’s upcoming fourth season.
ABC will be developing a reboot of Waiting to Exhale, the popular 1995 film starred by Angela Bassett, Whitney Houston, Lela Rochon and Loretta Devine, after giving a script commitment plus penalty for the upcoming series adaptation. Where the original focused on the friendships of its four starring women, the Anthony Hemingway-directed reboot will follow the friendships between the original group’s daughters. Based on the 1992 novel of the same name by Terry McMillan, Waiting to Exhale will be written by Attica and Tembi Locke and features an executive producing slate that includes the Lockes, Hemingway, Lee Daniels and Marc Velez via Lee Daniels Entertainment and 3 Arts, with McMillan serving as a consulting producer.
Cable: Starz has announced that Power Book II: Ghost will make its midseason return on December 6, releasing an accompanying trailer for the final five episodes of the show’s first season. The premium cable channel will air a marathon of the first half of the series’ inaugural season starting at 2:45 PM ET/PT ahead of its 8 PM ET/PT midseason premier, with new episodes airing on Starz for American and Canadian viewers and day-on-date streaming releases on the Starz app for international viewers in Europe, Latin America and Japan. A spinoff of Starz’ hit series Power, the Starz-Lionsgate co-production stars Michael Rainey Jr., Naturi Naughton, Shane Johnson, Gianni Paolo, Quincy Tyler Bernstine, Daniel Bellomy and Paige Hurd.
Casting executive Ayo Davis has been named as the Executive Vice President of Creative Development and Strategy for Disney Branded Television, the first for this newly created position. Having been with Disney for the past 18 years, Davis will now oversee scripted and unscripted series, movies and specials, in addition to managing several groups within the recently launched Disney Branded Television department, including in Original Development, Current Programming, Original Movies, Unscripted Content, Casting and Talent Relations, Integrated Content Strategy and the Educational Resource Group. In this new role, Davis’ oversight will include programming for Disney+, ABC, Freeform, Disney Channel and Disney XD among other Disney television properties. Gary Marsh, Disney Branded Television’s Chief Creative Officer and President, lauded the executive’s “sophistication and taste,” which he said “[elevates] every project she touches.” He went on to call “her impact on the television landscape…beyond measure.” Davis boasts an impressive casting resume, casting future stars in Lupita Nyong’o, Gina Rodriguez and Pedro Pascal, in addition to being part of the casting teams for such hit series as The Good Doctor, American Crime, How to Get Away with Murder and Black-ish.
Blair Underwood has been cast in a guest role for the upcoming Bryan Cranston-starred limited series Your Honor. The series follows Judge Michael Desiato, played by Cranston, as he navigates a major conflict between his family and his profession after his son is involved in a hit-and-run accident. Underwood will star as investigative reporter Roland Carter, who was once a colleague of Desiato’s now-deceased wife, Robin. Starring alongside Cranston and Underwood are Michael Stuhlbarg, Sofia Black-D’Elia, Hunter Doohan, Carmen Ejogo, Isiah Whitlock Jr. and Hope Davis. A co-production between CBS Studios and King Size Productions and based on the Israeli series Kvodo, the series is executively produced by Robert and Michelle King, Liz Glotzer and showrunner Peter Moffat. Your Honor premiers on Showtime on December 6.
Hasan Minhaj - Dominik Bindl
Streaming: Patriot Act and The Daily Show star Hasan Minhaj has been cast in his first major role in a scripted series, joining the second season of the hit Apple TV+ series The Morning Show in a recurring role. As Eric, Minhaj will play an up-and-coming morning news star, joining Greta Lee and Ruairi O’Connor as Season 2 additions to a cast that already features Jennifer Aniston, Reese Witherspoon, Steve Carell, Billy Crudup, Mark Duplass, Nestor Carbonell, Bel Powley, Karen Pittman and Desean Terry. Developed by showrunner Kerry Ehrin, The Morning Show features an executive producing slate that includes Ehrin, director Mimi Leder, Media Res’ Michael Ellenburg, Echo Film’s Aniston and Kristin Hahn and Hello Sunshine’s Witherspoon and Lauren Neustadter.
Amazon Prime has announced six new casting additions for its upcoming comedy special Yearly Departed. Tiffany Haddish, Sarah Silverman, Natasha Rothwell, Ziwe, Natasha Leggero and Patti Harrison join Rachel Brosnahan in the all-women comedy special that celebrates 2020’s seemingly slow-approaching end. Co-produced by Amazon Studios and Done + Dusted, the special is set to be executively produced by Brosnahan, Paige Simpson, David Jammy, Katy Mullan, Samantha Ressler, Nathalie Love and head writer Bess Kalb, with direction from Linda Mendoza. Yearly Departed will become available for Amazon Prime audiences in over 240 countries and territories on December 30.
HBO Asia is set to premier its first original romcom production with the upcoming Taiwanese series Adventure of the Ring, an eight-episode limited series based on Lai I-Wei’s novel Ring of the Day. Starring Chris Wang and Allison Lin as a couple whose marriage proposal is derailed when their engagement ring is misplaced on a train, the series explores the relationships of other couples as the ring travels from owner to owner. Denny Huang, Hangee Liou, Sun Ke-Fang, Lung Shao-Hua, Wang Chuan, Helena Hsu, Liang Cheng-Chun, Wang You-Chian, Erek Lin, Vicky Huang, Bamboo Chen, Janet Hsieh and Huang Shang-Ho join Wang and Lin in the cast of the upcoming series. Directed by Nelson Yeh and Kitamura Tayohaur and produced by KBRO Media’s Good Image Co. in conjunction with the Taiwan Ministry of Culture and the Taipei Film Commission, the first two episodes of Adventure of the Ring will be available throughout Asia on HBO and HBO Go on December 13, with a new episode airing every Sunday.
Woke, the Lamorne Morris-starred Hulu series loosely based on the experiences of cartoonist Keith Knight, has been renewed for a second season. A joint production between Sony Pictures Television and ABC Signature, the series is also starred by T. Murph, Blake Anderson, Sasheer Zamata and Rose McIver. While an official return date for the series has yet to be announced, it has been confirmed that, like the first season, Season 2 will consist of eight episodes. Co-created by Knight alongside Marshall Todd, the series is executively produced by Knight, Todd, Jay Dyer, Maurice “Mo” Marable, Aeysha Carr, Richie Schwartz, John Will, Will Gluck and Eric Christian Olsen. Season 1 of Woke was released on Hulu this past September.
