It's the start of a new week and that means it's time for a brand-new roundup of crime drama news:
THE BIG SCREEN/MOVIES
Universal Pictures is developing a new romantic thriller called Love and Theft, based on the 2020 novel by Stan Parish. The novel follows Alex Cassidy, a thief who has just pulled off a wild $22 million jewel heist in Las Vegas, and while hiding in New Jersey, falls in love with a party planning business owner named Diane. Alex is ready to leave his life of crime behind to start a new life with Diane, but when both of their grown children are kidnapped by a cartel, Alex is forced into one last job to win their freedom.
Paramount Pictures and Skydance have made the decision to move Mission: Impossible 7 and Mission: Impossible 8 to 2023 and 2024, respectively. "After thoughtful consideration, Paramount Pictures and Skydance have decided to postpone the release dates for Mission: Impossible 7 & 8 in response to delays due to the ongoing pandemic," the companies said. "The new release dates will be July 14, 2023, and June 28, 2024, respectively. We look forward to providing moviegoers with an unparalleled theatrical experience."
The feature film adaptation of the 2017 Taylor Adams novel, No Exit, is now set to premiere directly on Hulu. The 20th Century Studios release will skip theaters altogether and will debut on the streaming service as a Hulu Original on Feb. 25 and also be released internationally on Disney+ and Star+ on the same day. The mystery-thriller stars Havana Rose Liu as Darby, a young woman on her way to a family emergency who gets stranded by a blizzard and finds shelter at a highway rest stop with a group of strangers. But when Darby comes across an abducted girl in a van in the parking lot, she must figure out which of these strangers is the kidnapper – before it’s too late. Damien Power directed the film from a screenplay by Ant-Man and the Wasp screenwriters, Andrea Barrer & Gabriel Ferrari.
TELEVISION/STREAMING SERVICES
Fox has passed on The Last Police, a pilot that was based on Ben Winters’s sci-fi mystery novel, The Last Policeman. Written, directed, and exec produced by Kyle Killen (Lone Star), the story follows a small-town police detective (Blu Hunt), who, as an asteroid races toward an apocalyptic collision with Earth, believes she’s been chosen to save humanity, while her cynical partner (Reno Wilson) can’t decide what he’ll enjoy more: her delusional failure, or the end of the world itself. Maximiliano Hernandez, Dawnn Lewis, Derek Phillips, Courtney Dietz, and Troy Kotsur were cast as series regulars.
CBS is ending Bull after six seasons. The series, which starred NCIS alum Michael Weatherly as trial science expert Dr. Jason Bull, has been among the network’s best performers airing on Thursday nights. Its current season has averaged 7.4 million viewers and is ranked second among its 10 p.m. time slot against Thursday Night Football. The cast also includes Geneva Carr, Yara Martinez, Jaime Lee Kirchner, Christopher Jackson, and MacKenzie Meehan.
Joshua Jackson will co-lead the Fatal Attraction TV series currently in the works at Paramount+ opposite Lizzy Caplan. Jackson will star as Dan Gallagher, the object of his lover’s (Caplan) obsession after a brief affair. Described as a deep-dive reimagining of the classic psychosexual thriller and '80s culturally iconic film, the new series "will explore themes of marriage and infidelity through the lens of modern attitudes toward strong women, personality disorders and coercive control." As in the movie, Caplan’s Alex becomes obsessed with her lover after a brief affair. Jackson’s role was played by Michael Douglas in the original film, while Caplan’s role was memorably played by Glenn Close.
Elizabeth Mitchell (Lost) is set to recur on the CBS freshman drama series, FBI: International, in a key role. The series follows the elite operatives of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s International Fly Team, led by Scott Forrester (Luke Kleintank). Headquartered in Budapest, "they travel the world with the mission of tracking and neutralizing threats against American citizens wherever they may be, relying on intelligence, quick thinking and pure brawn as they put their lives on the line to protect the U.S. and its people." Mitchell, who will first appear in a February episode, will play Angela Cassidy, Scott Forrester’s long lost mother who worked for the U.S. government before selling information to the Russians. The series, which has received a full-season order, also stars Heida Reed, Carter Redwood, Vinessa Vidotto, and Christiane Paul.
Toks Olagundoye, Hari Nef, and Ian Duff have been cast as series regulars in the ABC drama reboot pilot, L.A. Law. They join original cast members Blair Underwood and Corbin Bernsen, who are reprising their roles as Jonathan Rollins and Arnie Becker, respectively, in the revival of the iconic Steven Bochco legal drama. Olagundoye, Nef, and Duff all play new characters. In the pilot, written by Marc Guggenheim and Ubah Mohamed and to be directed by Anthony Hemingway, the venerable law firm of McKenzie Brackman — now named Becker Rollins — reinvents itself as a litigation firm specializing in only the most high-profile, boundary-pushing and incendiary cases. Olagundoye will play Assistant District Attorney Erika Jackson. "In keeping with the Assistant District Attorney role played in the original series by Susan Day, Cecil Hoffman, and the late John Spencer, Olagundoye’s Erika Jackson is a force to be reckoned with in the courtroom, but is confronted by the role she plays in a carceral system as a deft attorney and as a woman of color."
Netflix released a first look photo of Sofia Vergara as real-life drug queenpin, Griselda Blanco, from the upcoming limited series, Griselda. The streamer also revealed ten newly added cast members including Vanessa Ferlito and Juliana Aidén Martinez. The six-episode series chronicles the life of Colombian-born Blanco, who created one of the most profitable cartels in history. A devoted mother, Blanco’s lethal blend of charm and unsuspecting savagery helped her expertly navigate between family and business leading her to become widely known as the "Black Widow."
The first teaser for NBC’s revived of Law & Order is out, with Sam Waterston’s District Attorney Jack McCoy prominently featured. Along with Waterston, the teaser also offers views of new cast members Oldelya Halevi as ADA Samantha Maroun, Jeffrey Donovan as Det. Frank Cosgrove, and Hugh Dancy as senior prosecutorial assistant Nathan Price. The new installment of Law & Order, from Dick Wolf and writer-showrunner Rick Eid, will continue the classic bifurcated format and will once again examine "The police who investigate crime and the district attorneys who prosecute the offenders."
Peacock’s Joe Exotic limited series with John Cameron Mitchell and Kate McKinnon has been given a new title (Joe vs. Carole), a premiere date (Thursday, March 3), and a teaser, which you can check out here. The show is based on the Wondery true-crime podcast, Joe Exotic, about a zookeeper, a fierce rivalry, and a murder-for-hire scheme.
PODCASTS/VIDEO/RADIO/AUDIO
Some of the latest authors on NBC Radio's House of Mystery included former journalist and magazine editor, Judy Penz Sheluk, discussing her latest, The Marketville Mysteries; attorney-turned-author Ron Katz chatting about The Mystery of the Fatal Firing, which features Barb and Bernie Silver, a/k/a the Sleuthing Silvers, a Baby Boomer detective couple who specialize in cases where age is an edge; and Glen Erik Hamilton, whose debut novel, Past Crimes, won the Anthony, Macavity, and Strand Magazine Critics award for Best First Novel, discussing his novel, Island of Thieves.
Speaking of Mysteries spoke with P.J. Tracy about her new novel, Desolation Canyon, featuring LAPD Detective Margaret Nolan.
A new Mysteryrat's Maze Podcast episode is up featuring an excerpt from The Whispered Word by Ellery Adams, read by actor Ariel Linn.
Meet the Thriller Author chatted with Nick Petrie, author of seven novels in the Peter Ash series. His debut, The Drifter, won both the ITW Thriller award and the Barry Award for Best First Novel, and was a finalist for the Edgar and the Hammett Awards.
Wrong Place, Write Crime welcomed Rhonda Armbrust to talk about her Remote Viewer series and her upcoming military thriller.
The latest guest on My Favorite Detective Stories was Judy Murray, whose debut novel, Murder in the Master, introduces Helen Morrisey, "a sharp-tongued, gutsy, and mature woman long on loyalty and short on romance."
On the Writers Detective Bureau, police detective Adam Richardson talked about how to link home invasion robberies across multiple jurisdictions; investigating environmental crimes; and the realities of computer forensic investigations.
On CrimeTime FM, Adam Lebor chatted with Paul Burke about Dohany Street; Balthazar Kovacs; Hungary; and how the world works.
The Red Hot Chili Writers spoke with crime writers Craig Robertson and Amy McCulloch; and discussed cleaning up after dead bodies and climbing into mountain "death zones."
It Was a Dark and Stormy Book Club discussed "What We Are Reading January 2022."
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