MOVIES
Jennifer Garner is in talks to star in the Pierre Morel-directed action thriller Peppermint, which has been likened to "John Wick with a female protagonist." When her husband and daughter are gunned down in a drive-by, the heroine wakes up from a coma and spends years learning to become a lethal killing machine. On the 10th anniversary of her family’s death, she targets everyone she holds responsible, the gang that committed the act, the lawyers that got them off, and the corrupt cops that enabled the murderous incidents.
The Gotham Group has just optioned Janelle Brown’s recently published suspense thriller Watch Me Disappear. The novel follows a woman who vanishes on a hike in Berkeley, CA and is presumed dead. However, the questions over her disappearance brings up an unsettling thought for her husband: how well can you ever really know another person?
Oscar-winning actress Nicole Kidman is in talks to star in director Karyn Kusama’s L.A. crime thriller Destroyer. Plot details remain vague, but it’s known that Phil Hay and Matt Manfredi wrote the script and are producing with Kusama, with whom they previously worked on The Invitation and Aeon Flux.
Bestselling author Don Winslow has optioned screen rights to the non-fiction book The Last Good Heist: The Inside Story Of The Biggest Single Payday In The Criminal History Of The Northeast. Winslow plans to write the screenplay, and Shane Salerno will produce through The Story Factory. The Last Good Heist tells the story of how eight armed robbers took down a fur storage company in Providence in 1975 - only their loot happened to include cash, gold, silver, stamps, coins and jewelry that belonged to the local mafia. Winslow’s script will focus on the robbery, the police investigation, and the brutal fallout of a score that rocked the mob to its crooked core.
TELEVISION/STREAMING SERVICES
Fox chairman Dana Walden revealed that network and producing studio 20th Century Fox TV have started preliminary discussions with 24 executive producers Howard Gordon and Brian Grazer and co-creator Joel Surnow about the next iteration of the series. Plans are to include more anthology storytelling, using the same kind of ticking clock format and apply it to other venues and themes.
In one of its first major buys for next season, CBS has put in development Trident, a submarine drama from writer David Wilcox and Alex Kurtzman (Star Trek: Discovery). Written by Wilcox, Trident centers on a mysterious death aboard an American nuclear submarine that tests the mettle of the crew, the White House, the Pentagon and the CIA and causes a crisis that threatens to expose a conspiracy that could trigger World War III.
WGN America has acquired three more international drama series in the crime/thriller genre. They include the 2015 Swedish-American thriller 100 Code, from Oscar winner Bobby Moresco (Crash) and starring Dominic Monaghan (Lost) and the late Michael Nyqvist (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo); the 2016 Canadian police series Shoot the Messenger starring Elyse Levesque (Orphan Black), Lyriq Bent (She’s Gotta Have It), Lucas Bryant (Haven), and Alex Kingston (Doctor Who); and the 2017 Canadian drama Pure, starring Ryan Robbins (Warcraft), Alex Paxton-Beesley (The Strain), A.J. Buckley (CSI: NY) and Rosie Perez (Search Party). All three ran for one season on their original networks.
CBS Reality is delving deeper into the true crime genre. The broadcaster’s fall lineup includes two new original crime series, Click for Murder and Written in Blood, as well as the second season of Murderers and their Mothers. Click For Murder explores murder cases where social media or the internet played an integral role in the crime, while Written in Blood features thriller writer Simon Toyne, who meets other top UK crime writers to discuss how their works of fiction have been inspired by true crime.
FX's birth-of-crack-cocaine crime drama Snowfall has been renewed for Season 2. Set in Los Angeles in 1983, the series follows several people on both sides and at different levels of the drug industry, including entrepreneurial street-level dealer Franklin Saint (Damson Idris); Gustavo "El Oso" Zapata (Sergio Peris-Mencheta), a Mexican wrestler who gets in too deep while running errands for a crime family; Teddy McDonald (Carter Hudson), a CIA operative who starts an ill-advised, unsanctioned operation to use drug money to fund the Nicaraguan Contras and Lucia Villanueva (Breaking Bad's Emily Rios), a crime lord's daughter with grand ambitions of her own.
Fans of the 2012 film Dredd got good news earlier this year with the announcement that the character would be coming to television. Now, the star of the recent film version, Karl Urban, has revealed that he'll probably be back as Judge Dredd in the new series. Joseph Dredd is a law enforcement officer in the dystopian future city of Mega-City One in North America, who is a "street judge", empowered to summarily arrest, convict, sentence, and execute criminals.
APB star Tamberla Perry has booked a recurring role on the fourth season of Amazon drama series Bosch, playing Gabriella Lincoln, a career Internal Affairs detective. The series is based on Michael Connelly’s bestselling Harry Bosch novels and stars Titus Welliver in the title role.
David Barrera (NYPD Blue) has signed on for a recurring role opposite Hugh Laurie in the second season of Hulu’s drama series Chance. The psychological thriller based on Kem Nunn’s novel focuses on Dr. Eldon Chance (Laurie), a San Francisco-based forensic neuropsychiatrist who reluctantly gets sucked into a violent and dangerous world of mistaken identity, police corruption and mental illness. Barrera will play Sid Velerio, a weary police detective in charge of an investigation into a body dump on the headlands.
James Carpinello, who guest-starred in the Season 4 finale of NBC’s The Blacklist, will return this upcoming fifth season in a recurring story arc. Carpinello plays Henry Prescott, the handsome, charming, and cool "fixer" who calmly solves problems for powerful and elite clients.
Annabeth Gish's post on Instagram confirmed her FBI character, Monica Reyes, will return in Season 11 of The X-Files. Annabeth Gish isn't the only supporting actor who has signed on for the upcoming season, as Mitch Pileggi has joined up as well, reprising his role as FBI Assistant Director Walter Skinner.
TNT has slotted Halloween, October 31 for the Season 6 premiere of its hit crime drama series Major Crimes, and also released a first-look promo. Season 6 will see Cmdr. Sharon Raydor (Mary McDonnell) growing accustomed to her new boss, Assistant Chief Leo Mason (Leonard Roberts) and preparing to face the inexplicable but increasingly undeniable return of Phillip Stroh (guest star Billy Burke), the defense attorney and serial rapist turned serial killer.
PODCASTS/VIDEO/RADIO
Noir on the Radio host Greg Barth welcomed author Eric Van Lustbader, who has published more than twenty five best-selling novels, including The Ninja, in which he introduced Nicholas Linnear.
Debbi Mack interviewed thriller author Lawrence Kelter on the Crime Cafe podcast about his writing, which has included the Stephanie Chalice and Vincent Gambini thriller series.
The Story Blender chatted with author Douglas Preston about exploring lost civilizations in South America, being the first to enter a tomb in the Valley of the Kings in Egypt, and researching one of the cruelest serial killers in the world.
Second Sunday Crime host Libby Hellman spoke with Marcus Sakey about his new genre-bending thriller, Afterlife.
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