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
Rosa Salazar (Captain America: Brave New World) has signed on for the female lead in Play Dirty, Shane Black’s crime thriller for Amazon MGM Studios, also starring Mark Wahlberg and LaKeith Stanfield. Details as to her role have not yet been disclosed. In Play Dirty, Wahlberg plays professional thief Parker, who after being double-crossed and left for dead, sees his hunt for revenge bring with it a shot at the biggest heist of his career. But even with the help of his partner, actor-slash-con-artist Grofield (Stanfield), he’ll still need to outsmart a South American dictator, the New York mob, and the world’s richest man if he hopes to stay alive. Based on Donald E. Westlake’s Parker crime fiction novels (written under the pseudonym Richard Stark), the film is the first project in a forthcoming Amazon MGM slate based on Westlake’s work, following a pact between the studio and Team Downey in 2022, which will also see titles adapted for TV.
TELEVISION/SMALL SCREEN
The iconic 1960s television series, The Avengers, is getting a remake. StudioCanal, which owns the rights to The Avengers catalog, has been quietly plotting a reboot for some time, and a pilot has been written by Mickey Down and Konrad Kay (the writing team behind hit HBO/BBC series, Industry). Ben Taylor is a co-creator and will also direct the series and executive produce. Launching in 1961, the cult TV series ran for six seasons on ITV and later ABC in the U.S., where it was one of the first British shows to be acquired for primetime by an American network. Patrick Macnee starred as Steed, who fought off diabolical plots against the state with his trademark bowler hat and umbrella. He was aided by a succession of high-fashion assistants played by the likes of Diana Rigg and Honor Blackman, who broke ground for being Steed’s equal, holding their own in brawls and delivering playful quips.
Nathan Lane, Javier Bardem, and Chloë Sevigny have signed on to star in the second season of the Netflix anthology series, Monster, which will tackle the story of convicted murderers Lyle and Erik Menendez and debut on Netflix sometime in 2024. Lane will play investigative journalist Dominick Dunne, whose coverage of the trial was particularly influential, including his celebrated "Nightmare on Elm Drive" article for Vanity Fair. Nicholas Chavez and Cooper Koch will play Lyle and Erik, respectively, with Bardem and Sevigny recently added to portray their parents.
Prime Video‘s previously untitled The Terminal List prequel/Ben Edwards origin series, headlined and executive produced by Taylor Kitsch, has been given a name. The Terminal List star/executive producer Chris Pratt will reprise his character James Reece in The Terminal List: Dark Wolf, with production beginning early this year. Co-created by The Terminal List author Jack Carr and Season 1 creator-showrunner David DiGilio, the prequel is an espionage thriller that takes viewers on Edwards’s journey from Navy SEAL to CIA paramilitary operator, exploring the darker side of warfare and the human cost that comes with it. In addition to James Reece (Pratt), other characters who will be featured in the offshoot opposite Kitsch’s Ben include Raife Hastings, Mohammed Farooq, and Ernest "Boozer" Vickers, played in Season 1 by former Navy SEAL and series producer Jared Shaw.
Guy Ritchie has expanded his 2019 film, The Gentlemen, into a Netflix series, with the streamer dropping the first teaser. The drama is set "in the world" of the film but doesn't have any of the original characters. The White Lotus's Theo James leads the TV show as Eddie Horniman, who inherits his father's enormous country estate — with strings. Eddie soon learns it's connected to a rather sizeable crime empire and all the rivals that go with it, so he's pulled into the game.
Production has officially begun on Netflix's The Lincoln Lawyer Season 3. Stars Manuel Garcia-Rulfo, Becki Newton, Jazz Raycole, Angus Sampson, and Yaya DaCosta will reprise their roles. Neve Campbell, Elliott Gould, Krista Warner, and Fiona Rene are also back with Devon Graye, who appeared briefly in Season 2, bumped up to recurring this season. Season 3 will consist of ten episodes and will be based on the fifth book in The Lincoln Lawyer series by Michael Connelly, The Gods of Guilt. (Seasons 1 and 2 of The Lincoln Lawyer are available to stream now via Netflix.)
The Flight Attendant will not be returning for a third season on Max. The first season, which premiered in November 2020, followed Kaley Cuoco’s alcoholic, globe-trotting flight attendant, Cassie Bowden, who became embroiled in an espionage plot following her affair with a first class passenger, who winds up murdered after their night together. The second season saw Bowden return with a fresh start in Los Angeles, sober and moonlighting as a CIA asset in her spare time. But when an overseas assignment leads her to inadvertently witness a murder, she becomes entangled in another international intrigue. The Flight Attendant, based on Chris Bohjalian’s eponymous novel, also starred Zosia Mamet, Griffin Matthews, Deniz Akdeniz, and Rosie Perez.
PODCASTS/VIDEO/RADIO/AUDIO
On NPR's All Things Considered, Mary Louise Kelly talked to author Alex Michaelides about his new murder mystery, The Fury, in which he tries to "turn the murder mystery genre on its head."
The Red Hot Chili Writers spoke with Australian crime writer, Chris Hammer, and discussed the TV adaptation of his novel, Scrublands; they also talked about deadly funnel-web spiders; and presented secrets for superior gut health in the new year.
Garry Discher chatted with Craig Sisterson on Crime Time FM about his new novel, Day's End; right wing extremism; stories ripped from the news; rural noir; backpackers; and blue biro.
It Was a Dark and Stormy Book Club discussed their top five crime fiction books for 2023.
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