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

John Slattery, Ayden Mayeri, Lorenza Izzo, and Annie Mumolo have joined the cast of Confess, Fletch, starring Jon Hamm. The reboot closely follows the plot of the classic Gregory McDonald mystery novel series that inspired the 1980’s Chevy Chase films. Hamm stars as I.M.Fletcher, the hotshot investigative reporter played by Chase in the 1985 neo-noir comedy of the same name. Mcdonald’s eleven mystery books, the first of which was published in 1974, center on Fletcher as he juggles writing exposés while avoiding headaches caused by his two ex-wives.

Oscar nominee, Anna Kendrick, is reteaming with Lionsgate for the psychological thriller, Alice, Darling, currently in production in Canada. The project sees the feature directorial debut of Mary Nighy and follows Alice (Kendrick) who is behaving strangely and keeping secrets about her mercurial boyfriend (Charlie Carrick) from her two best friends (Wunmi Mosaku and Kaniehtiio Horn). When the three friends take a girl’s trip out of town, all secrets are revealed when a local girl goes missing and Alice’s boyfriend arrives unannounced.

Ian McShane is set to reprise his role as Winston opposite Keanu Reeves in the Chad Stahelski-directed John Wick: Chapter 4. Marko Zaror is also in negotiations to play one of the film's villains, joining the ensemble cast of Donnie Yen, Rina Sawayama, Scott Adkins, Lance Reddick, and Shamier Anderson.

Chris Gray is set to play young Ray in Showtime’s follow-up feature-length movie, Ray Donovan. The film picks up where Season 7 of the popular series left off following its surprise cancellation last year, with Mickey (Jon Voight) in the wind and Ray (Liev Schreiber) determined to find and stop him before he can cause any more carnage. Gray plays the younger version of Schreiber’s Ray Donovan, and like his older self, he is a physically imposing young man who can convey much with only a few words and is decisive and calm in times of crisis.

TELEVISION/STREAMING SERVICE

The recently announced Emmy Award nominees were fairly bereft of crime drama nods but did have a couple for Perry Mason, including Matthew Rhys for Lead Actor and John Lithgow for Best Supporting Actor. Mare of Easttown was also nominated for Best Limited Series; Best Actress, Limited Series (Kate Winslet); Supporting Actress, Limited Series (Julianne Nicholson and Jean Smart); and Best Supporting Actor, Limited Series (Evan Peter). Hugh Grant (The Undoing) was also nominated for Lead Actor, Limited Series, Movie or Anthology. For all the nominees, follow this link.

AMC Networks has greenlighted the Western noir thriller series, Dark Winds, based on the popular Leaphorn & Chee book series by Tony Hillerman. Created and executive produced by Graham Roland (Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan), the series stars Zahn McClarnon (Westworld) and Kiowa Gordon (Roswell, New Mexico) as Navajo Tribal Police Officers Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee, respectively. Dark Winds, which has received a six-episode order, is a psychological thriller that follows the two officers in the 1970s Southwest as their search for clues in a grisly double murder case forces them to challenge their own spiritual beliefs and come to terms with the trauma of their pasts.

The Last Police, an adaptation of Ben Winters’ sci-fi mystery novel The Last Policeman, has received a pilot order at Fox. The hour-long project, which has a slightly different title from the book, will be written, directed, and executive produced by Kyle Killen (Lone Star). The Last Police follows a small-town police detective, who, as an asteroid races toward an apocalyptic collision with Earth, believes she’s been chosen to save humanity, while her cynical partner can’t decide what he’ll enjoy more: her delusional failure, or the end of the world itself. The book was first published in 2012 and won the Edgar Award in the category of best original paperback before being followed up by two subsequent books – Countdown City and World of Trouble.

Law & Order: For the Defense, which had been slated for a fall 2021 launch with a straight-to-series order, has been scrapped by NBC. The legal drama, which was supposed to be part of an all-Law & Order Thursday lineup alongside Law & Order: SVU and Law & Order: Organized Crime, will be replaced on the schedule by veteran The Blacklist, which will relocate from Fridays to the Thursday 8 PM berth for its ninth season. For the Defense, which took an inside look at a criminal defense firm, had progressed to the casting stage, with offers made to name actors over the past two months.

Starz has found its lead director for the upcoming TV spinoff of John Wick, titled The Continental. Albert Hughes will direct the first and third episodes of the drama, which focuses on the origin of the hotel for assassins from the Keanu Reeves-led film franchise. Starz had initially developed the project as an ongoing series, but it was recently reported that it will now be a three-part TV event across three nights.

Amazon’s Tiger King series, which would have starred Nicolas Cage as Joe Exotic (based on the story of Joe Schreibvogel), has been scrapped. The series was one of two scripted takes on the subject, the other set at Peacock starring Kate McKinnon and John Cameron Mitchell, which is still moving forward. In an interview with Variety, Cage expanded on the decision: "I read two excellent scripts... but I think Amazon ultimately felt that it was material that had become past tense because it took so long for it come together. They felt at one point that it was lighting in the bottle, but that point has since faded into the distance and it’s no longer relevant."

Alexa Davalos has been tapped as a lead opposite Julian McMahon on CBS’s FBI: Most Wanted for the show’s upcoming third season. As a new series regular, she will play an FBI agent who joins Jess’s (McMahon’s) team. From Dick Wolf and the rest of the team behind FBI, spinoff FBI: Most Wanted focuses on the Fugitive Task Force, an elite unit that relentlessly pursues and captures the notorious criminals on the Bureau’s Most Wanted list. In addition to McMahon, Davalos joins fellow series regulars Kellan Lutz, Roxy Sternberg, Keisha Castle-Hughes and Miguel Gomez.

Oliver Hudson has been tapped as a male lead opposite Elodie Yung in Fox’s new drama series, The Cleaning Lady. Hudson is joining as a new series regular in a recasting that also involved a role redevelopment. He will play FBI Agent Garrett Miller, a newly created character that will replace FBI Special Agent Gavin Ross.

The Wrap posted a list of the premiere dates for broadcast TV’s new and returning fall shows. They include the NCIS franchise series (minus the Louisiana version but with the added new Hawaii version); the FBI franchise series (with the added FBI: International); S.W.A.T.; Magnum P.I.; The Equalizer; and SEAL Team.

NBC announced its fall lineup, which includes many of the same returning crime dramas such as the "Chicago" and "Law and Order" franchises.

The new season of Britbox's modern cozy mystery series, McDonald & Dodds, premieres on August 3rd. The series follows newly promoted DCI McDonald and veteran sergeant Dodds as they investigate complex mysteries with a web of clues that has everyone guessing who are the real victims and villains. Ahead of the new season, Britbox dropped a trailer, which you can view here.

PODCASTS/VIDEO/RADIO/AUDIO

A new Mysteryrat's Maze Podcast is up featuring the first chapter of Haunting Dreams by Jan Christensen, read by actor Ariel Linn

Speaking of Mysteries chatted with Jeff Abbott about his aptly-named new crime fiction novel, An Ambush of Widows, (ambush is the collective noun for widows), in which two men with no apparent connection to each other are shot and killed in a warehouse in Austin, Texas.

Meet the Thriller Author spoke with former Hollywood finance exec Lorraine Evanoff about her new thriller, Pinot Noir.

Queer Writers of Crime welcomed Meredith Doench, author of the Luce Hansen thriller series.

Chris Racknor, who has a Ph.D. in physics, was the latest guest on My Favorite Detective Stories. Racknor is author of a series with disgraced physicist turned private eye, Shawn Ronin.

It Was a Dark and Stormy Book Club featured a Beach Reads Roundup.

THEATRE

The Gloucester Stage in Worchester, MA, is presenting an outdoor staging of Ken Ludwig’s Baskerville: A Sherlock Holmes Mystery. In the fast-paced comedy, Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson must crack the mystery of "The Hound of the Baskervilles" before a family curse dooms its newest heir. The timeless duo investigate a dizzying web of clues along with three actors who deftly portray more than 40 characters. Performances run through July 25.

The Ivoryton Playhouse in the town of Essex, Connecticut (believed to be the first continuously operating, self-supporting summer theatre in the United States and listed in the National Register of Historic Places), is staging Murder for Two, a spoof by Kellen Blair and Joe Kinosian, through August 1. The show features one piano, one wannabe detective, one murder (until it’s two), two gifted actors and a lucky baker’s dozen of suspects.