Media Murder for Monday

It's the start of a new week and that means it's time for a new roundup of crime drama news:

THE BIG SCREEN/MOVIES

Fox Searchlight has picked up Consume, based on an original idea by David Gelb who will also direct the project. it's described as a "contained thriller" that follows a group of thought leaders who are invited to an enigmatic billionaire’s Icelandic retreat for what they think is the trip of a lifetime. Little do they know that they are not guests, but the unwitting test subjects of a nefarious experiment.

Ben Affleck is set to star in the next film from director Robert Rodriguez, the "mind-bending" action thriller, Hypnotic. Rodriguez and Max Borenstein wrote the film that will star Affleck as a detective who becomes entangled in a mystery involving his missing daughter and a secret government program while investigating a string of impossible high-end heists.

Mel Gibson and Frank Grillo are leading the cast of Joe Carnahan’s thriller, Leo From Toledo. The film follows a former killer for the Kansas City mob, now hiding in witness protection, who has trouble with his memory. When his past catches up with him and he becomes a hunted man, he has little time to save the one thing he has left – his estranged daughter and granddaughter.

Scott Eastwood is set to star opposite Jason Statham and Holt McCallanay in Cash Truck, the Miramax action thriller directed by Guy Ritchie. It’s a revenge story that shifts across timelines and between various character’s perspectives. At the center is "H" (Statham), a cold and mysterious character who works at a cash truck company responsible for moving hundreds of millions of dollars around Los Angeles each week. McCallany will play Bullet, the head of transportation who hires H despite not fully trusting him, but Eastwood's role has yet to be announced.

Jason Sudeikis and Evangeline Lilly have been cast in Till Death, the action thriller being from Aharon Keshales, who co-directed 2013 breakout Israeli horror project Big Bad Wolves. In the film, convicted felon Jimmy gets early parole after serving twelve years for armed robbery. Upon his release, he vows to give Annie, his childhood love, now dying from cancer, the best last year of her life, but unfortunately it’s not that simple.

TELEVISION/STREAMING SERVICES

Sandra Bullock is reteaming with Netflix after the success of Bird Box and will star in an untitled drama for the streaming service about life after prison. Nora Fingscheidt will direct the film that’s based on a script by director Christopher McQuarrie who adapted the screenplay from the BAFTA-nominated British miniseries, Unforgiven. Bullock stars as Ruth Slater, a woman released from prison after serving a sentence for a violent crime and who re-enters a society that refuses to forgive her past. Facing severe judgment from the place she once called home, her only hope for redemption is finding the estranged younger sister she was forced to leave behind.

ABC has put in development Invisible, a thriller drama written and executive produced by the Burn Notice duo of Watkins and Raisani. Invisible is described as a "sexy, high-octane thriller" about an undercover federal agent going through an identity crisis as she struggles to find balance between her roles as a wife and mother and her calling as a high risk law enforcement officer.

CBS has put in development, Vanishing Point, from writer Breen Frazier (Criminal Minds). Vanishing Point revolves around a cavalier but brilliant behavioral psychologist and his methodical FBI agent ex-wife, who are forced to reteam on a missing-persons case that in fact might be the spark they need to rekindle their relationship and finally locate their own teenage son, who disappeared years before.

Adam Scott has teamed up with director Ben Stiller for the workplace thriller, Severance, which has been handed a series order by Apple. The series takes place at Lumen Industries, a company that’s looking to take work-life balance to a new level. Scott will play the lead role of Mark, an employee with a dark past trying to put himself back together.

NBC has put in development Quantum Spy, based on David Ignatius’s CIA thriller novel. Quantum Spy is centered around Harris Chang, a newly promoted Chinese-American CIA officer. After America’s top-secret quantum research lab is compromised, he’s tasked with finding the traitor and ends up in the middle of a global conspiracy that leads him to uncover dark secrets from his own past.

ITV is developing a "sweeping" adaptation of Lindsey Davis’ Falco Roman private detective novels, a project originally pitched to the BBC. Davis has published 20 Falco novels, starting with The Silver Pigs in 1989. Each tells a self-contained story about Marcus Didius Falco, a fictional Roman private detective who investigates crimes and acts as an often reluctant imperial agent across the Roman Empire in 70 AD and beyond.

US-based streaming service Sundance Now has acquired the rights to Norwegian TV series Wisting, based on the best-selling crime novels by Jørn Lier Horst. Wisting is a police procedural series about a former New York-based FBI agent (Carrie-Anne Moss) working with Norwegian homicide detective William Wisting (Sven Nordin) to catch a serial killer from the United States. The storyline is based on two of Lier Horst’s books, The Caveman and The Hunting Dogs.
 

CBS has put in development Clues, a drama based on an Israeli series, from Madam Secretary Barbara Hall and Madam Secretary executive producer David Grae. When a private investigator goes missing, his socialite wife and his blue-collar protégé are forced together to solve the mystery of his disappearance while also desperately trying to save the business. But each of the women holds a secret that could jeopardize their budding friendship and pursuit of the truth. 

Queen Latifah is set to star in and executive produce an Equalizer reboot currently in development at CBS. Described as a reimagining of the 1985 CBS series starring Edward Woodward, the reboot centers on Queen Latifah as "an enigmatic figure who uses her extensive skills to help those with nowhere else to turn." Castle duo Andrew Marlowe and Terri Miller will serve as writers and showrunners on the reboot.

A new Revenge follow-up series is in the works at ABC. Written by the series creator Mike Kelley and Revenge alum Joe Fazzio, the new project will feature a new Hispanic immigrant character, in addition to at least one of the characters from the original show. The returning character, who has not yet been cast, will guide the new protagonist "as she arrives in Malibu to exact revenge on a Sackler-esque pharmaceutical dynasty, whose insatiable greed led to the murder of her biochemist mother, the destruction of her family, and a global epidemic."

ABC also put in development Ghost, a one-hour drama from writer Justin Britt-Gibson (Counterpart) and Blindspot creator-executive producer Martin Gero. Written and executive produced by Britt-Gibson, Ghost follows Elton Cleaver, a once-celebrated CIA officer who was betrayed and left for dead by a shadowy organization embedded within the Agency. Living under a new identity, Cleaver now uses his skills to protect everyday people from threats beyond the law’s reach.

James Nesbitt has been cast as the lead in new BBC One detective drama, Bloodlands. Dubbed an "Irish noir," Nesbitt will play Northern Irish police detective Tom Brannick who connects a suicide note with an infamous cold case with enormous personal significance. The discovery sparks an explosive hunt for a legendary assassin. 

Merle Dandridge has been set as a series regular opposite Kaley Cuoco in HBO Max’s thriller drama series, The Flight Attendant. The Flight Attendant is a story of a flight attendant (Cuoco) who wakes up in the wrong hotel, in the wrong bed, with a dead man – and no idea what happened. The dark comedic thriller is based on the novel of the same name by New York Times best-selling author Chris Bohjalian. Dandridge will play Kim, a no-nonsense lead FBI agent who ends up revisiting some of her own mistakes while investigating all of Cassie’s. Griffin Matthews (Dear White People) has also been tapped as a series regular to play Shane Evans, Cassie’s flight attendant "work friend" and fellow nightlife compatriot. 

One of the original castmembers on NCIS: New Orleans has exited the popular CBS series after six seasons. Special Agent Christopher Lasalle met an untimely fate when he was fatally shot while trying to avenge his brother Cade’s murder by tracking the drug ring in Alabama he suspected was responsible. Actor Lucas Black, who played Lasalle, shared a heartfelt message on Instagram with fans after the episode aired, thanking them for their love and support.

The cast is growing for Dirty John: The Betty Broderick Story. Rachel Keller, Emily Bergl, Lena Georgas, Tiera Skovbye, and Chris Mason are set to recur opposite Amanda Peet and Christian Slater in the second installment of the anthology series which will air on USA Network. Like the first installment, which aired on Bravo and starred Connie Britton and Eric Bana, the second will be based on a true crime story featuring an epic tale of love gone wrong. In Season 2, it is the story of convicted murderer Betty Broderick (Peet) and her ex-husband (Slater) that spans the 1960s to the ’80s and chronicles the breakdown of their marriage that Oprah deemed one of "America’s messiest divorces" even before it ended in double homicide.

Ahead of its January premiere, NBC has retitled its new midseason drama, Lincoln. Now titled Lincoln Rhyme: Hunt for the Bone Collector, the drama series is inspired by Jeffery Deaver’s bestselling book series, which had been previously adapted into the 1999 movie of the same name starring Denzel Washington and Angelina Jolie. The project follows former NYPD detective and forensic genius Lincoln Rhyme, played by Russell Hornsby, and his new partner, Amelia Sachs (Arielle Kebbel) in a cat-and-mouse game as they join forces to bring down a notorious serial killer

PODCASTS/VIDEO/RADIO

Partners in Crime welcomed Adam Croft, who talks about the process of writing his new political thriller, Absolution; there was also a discussion of whether or not crime writers approve of murder and answer – in great detail – their least favorite question: where do you get your ideas from?

The recent Mysteryrat's Maze podcast episode featured the mystery short story, "Fig Newtons and Heavy Bags by Earl Staggs," read by actor Donna Beavers.

Read or Dead hosts Katie McClean Horner and Rincey Abraham talked about all of the recent mystery award winners and the books they picked up in honor of Nonfiction November.

Crime Cafe host Debbi Mack welcomed guest crime writer Les Abend, an airline pilot turned author of the novel, Paper Wings.

The latest Speaking of Mysteries guest was Frank Heller, whose first thriller, The Secret Empress, reimagines an alternate history where the last Emperor of China’s wife and child did not die in childbirth.

Linwood Barclay stopped by Beyond the Cover to chat about his new thriller, Elevator Pitch, in which a series of disasters paralyzes New York City with fear.

The Meet the Thriller Author podcast featured Brian Andrews and Jeffrey Wilson, the co-author team behind the #1 Bestselling Tier One series and other standalone thrillers.

Dr. D.P. Lyle's Criminal Mischief took on the topic of "Body Disposal."

Det. Adam Richardson, host of the Writers Bureau, answered questions about what constitutes a hate crime, how to use search warrants in a proactive investigation where a crime hasn’t occurred yet, and death investigations in paradise.

Terry Shames was interviewed by Wrong Place, Write Crime host, Frank Zafiro, to discuss her Samuel Craddock series.

Robert McCaw was the guest on It Was a Dark and Stormy Book Club, chatting about his new novel featuring Hilo police Chief Detective Koa Kāne, Off the Grid.