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
Production is due to begin in June on the crime-thriller, Tommy Karate, starring Pete Davidson. The project is based on the non-fiction true crime book, The Butcher: Anatomy Of A Mafia Psychopath by Philip Carlo will chart the pursuit and capture of one of America’s most ruthless mobsters and serial killers by notorious DEA Agent Jim Hunt (who also helped take down El Chapo) played by Paul Walter Hauser. Camila Mendes (Masters of the Universe) and Simon Rex (Red Rocket) also star with Justin Chon (Pachinco) directing. Pitera was an American mobster in the Bonanno crime family of New York City, suspected by law enforcement of as many as 60 murders. He was known for his use of karate and other martial arts when fighting, a skill he learned at a young age and which earned him the nicknames Tommy Karate, and The Karate Guy. He is currently serving a life sentence at USP Big Sandy in Inez, Kentucky, after going down in 1992 for murder and heading up a massive drug operation.
Frankie Shaw (SMILF) will star opposite Jeff Ward (Danny and the Deep Blue Sea) in Strangers, a romantic crime thriller he’s directing from a script by Dan Schimpf. Currently in production, the film follows two lonely strangers who, after a chance encounter at a bar, fall in love while hatching a plan to rob the bank she’s being laid off from. Further details are under wraps, but the project has been described as "Before Sunrise descending into Good Time." Others set for key roles include Eric Lange (Escape at Dannemora) and Katie Finneran (The Gilded Age).
Universal Pictures has locked in a release date for their Murder, She Wrote movie starring Jamie Lee Curtis. The film will go wide ahead of Christmas on Wednesday, December 22, 2027. Universal’s adaptation of the Emmy-winning Murder, She Wrote has Jason Moore attached to direct, with Dumb Money‘s Lauren Schuker Blum and Rebecca Angelo writing the script. An iconic crime drama series produced by Universal Television, which ran on CBS for 12 seasons from 1984-1996, Murder, She Wrote starred Angela Lansbury as Jessica Fletcher, a retired schoolteacher-turned-successful mystery writer, who proves to have an uncanny knack for solving real-life murders. The show was primarily set in the seaside town of Cabot Cove, Maine, though Jessica would often travel to other locales as cases unfolded.
TELEVISION/STREAMING
Hulu is developing Opposing Counsel, based on Sheldon Siegel’s critically acclaimed book series, from Lauren Fields (The Flash), Morgan Faust (The Company You Keep, DC’s Legends of Tomorrow) and Rideback. Written by Fields and Faust, Opposing Counsel is described as a character-driven legal drama set in modern-day San Francisco. The show centers on newly elected District Attorney Rosie Fernandez and her ex-priest-turned-defense-attorney husband Mike Daley as they navigate their marriage living on opposite sides of the law. Mike, Rosie, and their teams of richly drawn colleagues regularly face off in court as they each fight for what they believe is right in an unpredictable legal climate. In season one, the couple is forced to face off in court when their best friend is accused of a brutal double homicide. What begins as a high profile murder trial becomes a collision course between marriage and justice, pushing them to their professional and personal limits.
Saturday Night Live veteran Colin Jost has teamed up with writer-producer Alex Barnow (The Goldbergs, Power: Origins) for a crime drama, which has landed at Peacock for development. The untitled project will be written by Barnow, based on Season 1 of the Audacy podcast Wolves Among Us. By day, Larry Lavin (Jost) was a respected Ivy League dentist and family man – by night, the East Coast’s most elusive cocaine kingpin. This series is inspired by the shocking and absurd true story of the suburban dentist who built a drug empire behind the façade of the American dream.
The MGM+ series Bosch: Start of Watch has added six to its cast including Raphael Sbarge (Task), Seamus Dever (Castle), Kenneth Miller (Presumed Innocent), Marco Rodriguez (Nightcrawler), Rafi Gavron (A Star Is Born) and Ryan McPartlin (Chuck). Based on Michael Connelly’s bestselling Bosch books, the prequel series is set in 1991 Los Angeles and follows 26-year-old Harry Bosch (Cameron Monaghan) during his earliest days as a rookie cop. The series will explore a city on the edge, teeming with racial tension, gang violence, and a fractured LAPD. Amid routine calls and growing unrest, Bosch finds himself drawn into a high-profile heist and a web of criminal corruption that will test his loyalty to the badge and shape his future as the detective who lives by the code, “Everybody counts or nobody counts.”
Sheridan Smith is teaming with two Australian stars on an ITV-Stan mystery thriller from the producer behind Mr Bates vs the Post Office. Smith will star in Two Birds opposite Stephen Peacocke (The Newsreader) and Judy Davis (Nitram). Two Birds centers on British Police Constable Izzie Cornwell (Smith), who arrives in the small fictional town of Dugdale having been recently widowed and intent on a fresh start in Australia. Izzie is assigned to investigate a murder alongside her new boss Matt (Peacocke). When the victim is revealed to be part of a notorious local crime family, led by the formidable Mrs Baxter (Davis), the stakes intensify. The show is written by Helen FitzGerald (The Cry) and directed by BAFTA nominee James Griffiths (The Ballad of Wallis Island).
Lee Byunghun (Squid Game) and Han Jimin (Heavenly Ever After) are set to star in The Koreans, a reimagining of FX’s The Americans, at Disney+. Production has begun on the series, which will stream exclusively on Disney+ internationally and Hulu in the U.S. Set during the wave of democratization and cultural modernization that swept across South Korea in the early 1990s, The Koreans will follow a middle-class family hiding a treasonous secret: While seemingly ordinary citizens in the eyes of their friends, neighbors, and even their children, both parents actually are elite North Korean spies working to bring down the South from within. Highlighting the stark difference between these two formerly united countries, the series will follow the spies as they wrestle with conflicting feelings of patriotism, loyalty, identity, and love, while a ruthless South Korean counterintelligence agent draws ever closer to discovering their identities. Byunghun and Jimin will play the undercover spies.
A new BBC TV crime drama starring Robson Green (Grantchester) is to be set and produced in north-east England. The Northumbria Mysteries will star Green as jack-of-all trades, Joe Ruby, unraveling a series of crimes in Northumberland. In the series, Joe Ruby, an ex-convict and gambler with links to the criminal world, teams up with Oxford-educated DI Rose O'Connell (casting to be announced) to solve mysteries. The 10-part series was announced in November and will be filmed at The Northern Studios in Hartlepool and on location in the town and Sunderland.
The BBC has also commissioned Old Town Murders, a brand-new, twisty crime series written, created and executive produced by Matthew Barry (Men Up). Mark Lewis Jones (The Crown) and Steffan Rhodri (Steeltown Murders) lead the cast as DI Glyn Walsh and DS Sion Dearden, old friends and partners who should be on their last legs following their personal hardships, but find new purpose and hope as they work together to solve perplexing murders in the idyllic seaside town of Tenby. Joining DI Glyn Walsh and DS Sion Dearden on their investigations will be DC Neil Miller played by James Bamford (Masters of the Air), Bethan Mary-James (Death Valley) as DC Remy Jones and Catherine Ayers (Missing You) playing Chief Superintendent Melanie Morris. Julie Graham (This City is Ours) also joins the cast as forensic biologist Pamela Thomas.
Phoebe Dynevor is set to star in the UK Amazon original drama Dirty, an eight-episode series that will appear on Prime Video. Matt Charman created the show and will serve as showrunner, writer, and executive producer alongside Foz Allan. The show is set in Manchester, England and follows a mother and daughter (Dynevor) who also serve on the police force and see each other as their biggest obstacle on the job. Charman is currently on a search for the actor to play Dynevor’s mom.
Brian Cox (Succession, Nuremberg) has joined Season 2 of Dexter: Resurrection taking on the series regular role of The New York Ripper, a serial killer who terrorized the City years ago. Though no longer active as a killer, he’s found a new way to perpetuate his infamy by continuing to taunt the survivors of his long-ago murder spree. It was revealed in the Season 1 finale that Dexter Morgan (Michael C. Hall) had discovered the identity of the New York Ripper when he found a folder belonging to last season’s baddy, Leon Prater (Peter Dinklage), emblazoned with the name "Don Frampt, New York Ripper."
Jamie Bell and Charlie Heaton are set to lead a new era of Peaky Blinders. Bell (All of Us Strangers) will step into the role of Duke Shelby, the eldest son of Tommy Shelby, played by Cillian Murphy. The character was previously portrayed by Conrad Khan in the final season of the original series and by Barry Keoghan in the recent Netflix film, Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man. Heaton (Stranger Things) is confirmed to join the cast, but his role is still being kept under wraps. The forthcoming series, written and created by original Peaky Blinders originator Steven Knight, takes the story into the 1950s, a decade after the events of Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man.
HBO Max's cop drama pilot, American Blue, has added to the cast of major roles. American Blue follows native son Brian "Milk" Milkovich (Milo Ventimiglia), who returns to his hometown of Joliet, IL, to rescue a beleaguered police force while seeking redemption of his own. The series hails from Jeremy Carver (Supernatural), with David Ayer directing the pilot. The new hires include Kelly Jenrette (The Handmaid’s Tale) who will play Meg Jackson, a seasoned Watch Commander fighting for respect for herself and her officers; Carlito Olivero (East Los High) playing Mike Ortiz, a hard-charging, hard-headed TAC officer; Onye Eme-Akwari (The Good Doctor) playing Darryl Andrews, a Haitian-born patrol officer; Jess Gabor (Shameless) playing Suze Dombrowski, a rookie patrol officer; and Eddie Kaye Thomas (The Beauty) playing Sergeant Paul “PJ” Booker, JPD’s desk sergeant and Watch Commander Meg Jackson’s loyal second in command.
Noel Fisher (Shameless, Castle Rock) and Devin Sampson-Craig (Rez Ball) have joined the recurring cast of AMC's Dark Winds for Season 5, which is currently in production in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Fisher will portray the recurring role of Michael Jorie, a dangerous killer with a warped sense of righteousness and piety to his beliefs that fuel his involvement in a southwestern gang with a long history of violence. Sampson-Craig is set to play the recurring role of Daniel Ironwater, Jr., a skilled ranch-hand whose time in Vietnam has left him conflicted and heading down the wrong path. Based on the Leaphorn & Chee book series by Tony Hillerman, Dark Winds is set in 1971 on a remote outpost of the Navajo Nation near Monument Valley and follows Lt. Joe Leaphorn (McClarnon) of the Tribal Police as a series of seemingly unrelated crimes besiege him. He is joined on this journey by his new deputy, Jim Chee (Gordon).
Daryl McCormack (Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery) has landed a key role alongside Dakota Fanning and Stellan Skarsgård in Apple TV’s untitled thriller series from Emmy-winning creator Alex Cary (A Spy Among Friends, Homeland). In the new series from Sony Pictures Television, Fanning plays an undercover Treasury agent in a multi-billion dollar international conglomerate, with world-changing political and criminal tentacles, who becomes conflicted between her mission and a belief that her principal target, the heir apparent to all that corrupt power, is at his core a good man and worthy of her love. McCormack will play Kar, the reluctant heir to the international conglomerate, with Skarsgård playing its head, Brandt, as previously announced.
Taylor Bloom is the latest to be cast in the NBC drama pilot Protection, from creator and executive producer Josh Safran (Quantico). In Protection, written by Safran, when a U.S. Marshal falls in the line of duty, a seemingly cut-and-dry case turns into a deadly conspiracy as a family of law enforcement agents becomes the target of a mysterious assassin. Bridging personal differences and crossing professional boundaries, the Thornhill family must use the expertise from a lifetime of protecting civilians and politicians to protect one another and bring the killer to justice — even if it means betraying their sworn code. Bloom will play Russ Thornhill, a former Marine now working at the Department of Justice. He joins previously announced Peter Krause as Mike Thornhill; Hope Davis as Joan, a federally appointed U.S. Marshal; Tommy O’Brien as Secret Service agent Micah Thornhill; and Kat Cunning as Clare Thornhill, an agent on her way to being a profiler.
John Kim (Cruel Intentions, The Librarians) has joined Hunter Page-Lochard and Kate Stewart in the Australian TV drama, Fortitude Valley. Per the synopsis, the suspense thriller is "set in the sunshine and shadow of Queensland’s capital, exploring family secrets, the corrupting force of power and the complicated truths behind the lies we tell." Kim will play Gavin Chang, a Detective Senior Constable seconded to an operation to solve two cold-case murders. The series will launch on ABC TV (Australia TV) and ABC iView in 2027.
Apple TV’s Cape Fear unveiled a teaser for the highly anticipated new psychological horror thriller starring Javier Bardem, Amy Adams, and Patrick Wilson. The limited series adaptation from creator and executive producer Nick Antosca and Academy Award winning executive producers Martin Scorsese and Steven Spielberg premieres globally on Apple TV Friday, June 5. Inspired by the 1991 remake directed by Scorsese and produced by Spielberg, a storm is coming for happily married attorneys Anna (Adams) and Tom Bowden (Wilson) when Max Cady (Bardem), the notorious killer they are responsible for putting behind bars, is let out of prison — and he wants vengeance.
The airdate and a preview have been revealed for June 14th at 9/8c, for Grantchester's final season on PBS MASTERPIECE Mystery!. Grantchester is based on The Grantchester Mysteries, collections of short stories written by James Runcie. First broadcast in 2014, the series originally featured Anglican vicar Sidney Chambers (James Norton); subsequent series have featured vicar William Davenport (Tom Brittney) and vicar Alphy Kottaram (Rishi Nair). Each of them develops a sideline in sleuthing with the help of Detective Inspector Geordie Keating, played by Robson Green.
The U.S.-based networks and streaming services are beginning to firm up their 2026-2027 seasons with renewals and cancellations. NBC has renewed Chicago Med, Chicago Fire, and Chicago P.D., while CBS has renewed CIA, the FBI spinoff series starring Tom Ellis and Nick Gehlfuss as teammates on a clandestine CIA/FBI task force. Paramount+ also announced they were renewing Criminal Minds: Evolution for Season 20. One of the few crime dramas to be cancelled is Watson, a medical mystery drama set in the Sherlock Holmes universe and starring Morris Chestnut. You can read more about the cancellations, renewals, and shows still on the bubble here, here, and here.
PODCASTS/RADIO/AUDIO
The Get to Know podcast, hosted by DP Lyle and Kathleen Antrim, welcomed Craig Johnson, bestselling author of the Longmire mysteries, the basis for the hit Netflix original series Longmire.
Debbi Mack's latest guest on the Crime Cafe podcast was Liz Lazarus, the author of several legal thrillers, including her latest, Dawn Before Darkness.
On the latest episode of the Spybrary podcast, guest host Matthew Hurst sat down with author Michael Dylan to explore his debut spy thriller, The New Spy.
On Crime Time FM, Antonia Senior chatted with with host Paul Burke about her new history of the Cambridge Five, Stalin's Apostles; Albania; radio games; spy rings; and more.
THEATRE
Richard Gere’s legal thriller hit Primal Fear, which saw Edward Norton win an Oscar nomination in his screen debut, is getting a first stage adaptation. Bill Kenwright Ltd, the company of the late UK theatre stalwart, has licensed the rights and is now eyeing a 2027 launch in London’s West End and ideally a run on Broadway after that. Talks are underway with a writer and director. Based on the novel by William Diehl, Primal Fear charts the story of a Chicago defense attorney who believes that his altar boy client is not guilty of murdering a Catholic bishop.
