Media Murder for Monday

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

The recent Fast & Furious action-thriller spinoff, Hobbs & Shaw, was met with solid reviews and box office success, making it a given there would be a sequel. Now, the project's co-star, Dwayne Johnson, has now provided confirmation via Instagram that the sequel has indeed been given the green light by Universal. Hobbs & Shaw followed Luke Hobbs and Deckard Shaw after the events of 2017’s The Fate of the Furious. In the film, the two are forced to team up to take down Idris Elba’s Brixton, a cyber-genetically enhanced terrorist. Along the way, the heroes also join forces with Deckard’s MI6 Agent-sister Hattie, played by Vanessa Kirby.

When Austin's annual South by Southwest festival (SXSW) was canceled early last month in response to the coronavirus pandemic, it was one of many blows to the movie industry. But now Amazon Prime is partnering with SXSW to make the event happen. In lieu of the festival taking over Austin, Texas from March 13 to 22 as planned, it will now take place via Amazon Prime for ten days sometime in late April. The online festival will be a "one-time event" that will be free to all audiences, as opposed to being exclusively for Amazon Prime members.

If you're going through James Bond withdrawal after the postponement of the latest superspy's adventure from April to the fall, Cinema Blend has "12 Behind-The-Scenes Facts You Might Not Know About The James Bond Movies" to provide a little "fix."

TELEVISION/STREAMING SERVICES

Spectrum Originals is developing Tinseltown, a period drama series based on William J Mann’s 2014 bestselling book, Tinseltown: Murder, Morphine, And Madness At The Dawn of Hollywood. Tinseltown is set against the seamy, glamorous backdrop of the silent film era. It explores the lives of four pioneer women filmmakers whose careers were threatened by the brutal patriarchy of Hollywood’s nascent studio system as well as the scandalous murder of William Desmond Taylor, the popular president of the Motion Picture Directors Association.

Nicole Kidman is set to star in and produce a series adaptation of Janelle Brown’s upcoming novel, Pretty Things, which is in development at Amazon Studios. Reed Morano (Handmaid’s Tale, The Power) will serve as director and executive producer. Pretty Things follows two brilliant, damaged women who "try to survive the greatest game of deceit and destruction they will ever play" when one of them, a reluctant grifter, befriends the other, a wealthy influencer, on the shores of Lake Tahoe.

Hulu has boarded the drama, The Sister, an adaptation of Neil Cross's thriller novel, Burial. The project is headlined by The Years & Years star, Russell Tovey, with a cast that also includes Bertie Carvel (Doctor Foster), Amrita Acharia (Game of Thrones), Nina Toussaint-White (GameFace) and Paul Bazely (Benidorm) in the four-part series. Tovey plays well-meaning but directionless Nathan, a man trying to escape a terrible secret he’s long prayed would stay buried. Almost a decade into his new and devoted married life, Nathan is rocked to the core when Bob, (Carvel), an unwelcome face from the past, turns up on his doorstep with shocking news, triggering a series of catastrophic decisions.

A beloved TV character is coming back:  NBC gave a 13-episode series order to a new crime drama series starring Christopher Meloni, reprising his Law & Order: SVU role as Elliot Stabler. The SVU spinoff drama will revolve around the NYPD organized crime unit led by Stabler. Like Law & Order: SVU, headlined by Mariska Hargitay as Olivia Benson, the new drama is set in New York, allowing for potential seamless crossovers with SVU and for Benson-Stabler reunions.

Chicago Fire, Chicago P.D., Chicago Med, and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit are cutting their seasons short as a result of the coronavirus outbreak (via Deadline, which has an updated listing of all the NBC shows affected and their last new episode date for this season).

Although many shows on the CW were forced to shut down production due to the coronavirus, there were still some CW shows that have new episodes to air. Last week, the network announced when those new episodes would be returning, including Nancy Drew (April 8) and the season 2 premiere of In the Dark on April 16.

Fox has canceled the freshman police drama, Deputy, starring Stephen Dorff. The series, which debuted in January as a midseason replacement, centered on Dorff’s Deputy Bill Hollister, a career lawman who becomes acting sheriff of Los Angeles County when the previous sheriff suddenly drops dead. Will Beall, former LAPD detective and showrunner on Fox’s short-lived Training Day adaptation, served as creator and executive producer on the drama

NBC has set Thursday, April 30 at 10 pm for the premiere of the 13-episode fifth and final season of the thriller drama series, Blindspot. The show, starring Sullivan Stapleton and Jaimie Alexander, will move to its normal 9 pm time slot the following week on May 7.

Killing Eve star Jodie Comer’s breakthrough drama, Thirteen, is being adapted in Japan by Tokai Television Broadcasting. The drama centers on a young woman who escapes the clutches of her kidnapper after thirteen years being held captive. It follows her story as she tries piecing back together the version of family life that existed before her ordeal.

The CW has set season premiere dates for its summer series including the dramas Burden of Truth (May 21) and Bulletproof (June 17). Burden of Truth stars Joanna Chang (Kristin Kreuk) and Billy Crawford (Peter Mooney), partners in law and life whose romantic relationship seems as tenuous as their financially strained firm. Bulletproof follows two undercover cops, Bishop (Noel Clarke) and Pike (Ashley Walters) as they chase down hardened criminals in London’s East End.

CBS All Access released a trailer for season 4 of The Good Fight, in which Reddick, Boseman & Lockhart are trying to get to the bottom of the mysterious "Memo 618," which, as Diane (Christine Baranski) explains, "seems to allow rich and powerful people not to comply with judicial rulings."

Need some streamable diversions? TV Guide offered up a list of "The Best British Murder Mystery Shows to Stream Right Now."

If you're wondering about the status of your favorite shows, TV Guide also has an updated list of TV show premiere dates delayed, affected, or rescheduled due to the coronavirus.

PODCASTS/VIDEO/RADIO

The Scottish podcast network, The Big Light, is launching The Tartan Noir Show, a brand new crime fiction podcast celebrating the gritty world of "Tartan Noir," the internationally-acclaimed and increasingly popular Scottish crime writing genre. Presented by crime writer and broadcaster, Theresa Talbot, the first guest is "Queen of Crime" Val McDermid, as she discusses the very essence of the tartan noir genre, including her own favorite crime author, William McIlvanney, whose seminal novel, Laidlaw, is often cited as the book that started the whole genre.

Meet the Thriller author was joined by Dean Koontz to discuss his latest book, Devoted, his legendary career, and the surreal experience of going viral for supposedly "predicting" the Coronavirus pandemic.

Two Crime Writers and a Microphone welcomed internationally bestselling author Adrian McKinty to talk about escaping New York City, the nutritious value of squirrels vs chipmunks, a 10lb bag of rice, and if he has swapped one nightmare for another.

Writer Types spoke with author Scott Phillips (That Left Turn at Albuquerque), James Queally (Line of Sight), and highlighted indie bookstores and publishers still open for business during the lockdown.

The Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine podcast featured "Father of the Corpse" by Department of First Stories author Cecilia Fulton.

A new episode of Mysteryrat's Maze Podcast is up featuring the mystery short story "Two Hundred Miles" by Margaret Lucke, as read by actor Teya Juarez.

It Was a Dark and Stormy Book Club featured a review of The Shaker Mystery Series by Elenor Kuhn and The Other Gloria by L.A. Villafane, as well as a Q&A with Lorie Lewis Ham about the mystery podcast Mystery Rat Maze.

John Hoda (Mugshots: My Favorite Detective Stories) and host Frank Zafiro (Wrong Place, Write Crime) simulcast an "interview each other" episode of their respective podcasts to discuss their professional and writing journeys, including how the job influences the writing career and the ever-changing publishing market.

Writer's Detective Bureau host, veteran Police Detective Adam Richardson, answered reader questions about " MasksForDocs, Inmate Release After Acquittal, and CSI the TV Show."

Listening to the Dead host Lynda La Plante tackled the topic of "Forensic Pathology."

Crime Time: A Crime Fiction Podcast discussed Shalini Boland's psychological thriller, The Marriage Betrayal.