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

Warner Bros. International Television Production Germany has acquired the exclusive international rights to bestselling Icelandic author Ragnar Jónasson’s “Dark Iceland” series of crime novels and will co-produce with Herbert L. Kloiber’s Night Train Media. The “Dark Iceland” series comprises six novels — Snowblind, Blackout, Rupture, Whiteout, Nightblind and Winterkill — published between 2010 and 2020. Set in a remote Icelandic fishing village, they follow protagonist Ari Thór Arason, a rookie detective on his first posting, troubled by a complex past he's unable to leave behind.

Apple is closing worldwide rights on Argylle, the next film to be directed by Matthew Vaughn, in the hope it will launch a franchise. Argylle comes with a killer cast led by Henry Cavill, Sam Rockwell, Bryce Dallas Howard, Bryan Cranston, Catherine O’Hara, John Cena, and Samuel L. Jackson. Making her screen-starring debut will be Grammy winner Dua Lipa, who will also provide music for the title track and score. The film, based on the soon-to-be-launched spy novel of the same name from author Ellie Conway, follows the world’s greatest spy as he is caught up in a globe-trotting adventure.

Kelly Gale and Mike Colter have signed on to star in The Plane alongside Gerard Butler. Lionsgate’s action thriller centers on Ray Torrance (Butler), an airline pilot who heroically lands a storm-damaged aircraft in hostile territory, only to be threatened by militant pirates planning on taking the plane and its passengers hostage. As the world’s authorities and media search for the disappeared aircraft, Torrance must rise to the occasion and keep his passengers safe long enough for help to arrive. Colter will play Louis Gaspare, a cool-headed, ex-military man being extradited to Canada on charges of homicide when the plane crash lands. However, there was no word on what role newcomer Gale (in her first acting role) will play in the film.

Brendan Fraser has joined the cast of Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon, a crime drama based on the bestselling book by David Grann. Set in 1920s Oklahoma, the story examines the serial murders of members of the oil-wealthy Osage Nation—a string of brutal crimes that came to be known as the Reign of Terror. Fraser joins Oscar winners Robert De Niro and Leonardo DiCaprio, Emmy nominated Jesse Plemons, and more in the cast.

A trailer was released for Copshop, which stars Gerard Butler as one of many assassins targeting Teddy Muretto (Frank Grillo), a man so desperate for protection he’ll willingly get arrested to be brought to safety. In a desperate bid for survival, Teddy teams up with officer Valerie Young (Alexis Louder), but assassin Bob Viddick (Butler) is determined not to let anything stand in his way of bringing Teddy down.

TELEVISION/STREAMING SERVICE

IMDb TV has picked up the first season of Australian drama series, Troppo, based on Candice Fox’s bestselling novel, Crimson Lake. Starring and executive produced by Thomas Jane (The Expanse; The Vanished), Troppo tells the story of Ted Conkaffey (Jane), an ex-cop falsely accused of committing a disturbing crime, who has escaped to hide away in the tropics of Far North Queensland. As he tries to avoid discovery, he’s drawn into investigating a wild murder and a missing person, alongside a complicated woman with dark secrets of her own.

Ellen Burstyn is joining NBC’s Law & Order: Organized Crime during its second season when she’ll reprise the role of Bernadette Stabler, mother of Elliot Stabler (Chris Meloni). She returns to the franchise as a guest star nearly 13 years after she won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series for her contribution to the episode of Law & Order: SVU titled “Swing.” In Law & Order: Organized Crime, created by Dick Wolf, Meloni’s Elliot Stabler returns to the NYPD to battle organized crime after a devastating personal loss. However, the city and police department have changed dramatically in the decade he’s been away and he must adapt to a criminal justice system in the midst of its own moment of reckoning.

In other Law & Order: Organized Crime news, Emmy winner, Ron Cephas Jones, and British actor, Vinnie Jones, are set for key recurring roles in season 2. Cephas Jones will play Congressman Leon Kilbride, a born politician who fosters connections and always plays his cards right. Vinnie Jones will portray Albi Briscu, an Eastern European gangster who is the last remaining member of the organization from the old country.

A&E is reviving two fan-favorite true crime series, Cold Case Files and American Justice, which will return to the cable network on Friday, Aug. 20. Original host and producer, Bill Kurtis, returns for Cold Case while Dennis Haysbert takes over narration for the "reimagined" version of Justice. Cold Case Files, which revisits unsolved cases through interviews with family members and investigators, first debuted on A&E in 1999 with Kurtis as host. (The network teamed with Blumhouse Television for a 10-episode revival in 2017, with Danny Glover providing narration.) American Justice aired on A&E between 1992 and 2005, examining cases like the Jeffrey Dahmer serial killings, the Wells Fargo Heist, and the murder of Selena.

PODCASTS/VIDEO/RADIO/AUDIO

Debbi Mack interviewed crime fiction writer, Thomas O'Callaghan, for the Crime Cafe podcast to talk about his series of thrillers featuring New York City detective, Lt. John Driscoll.

Writer Types host, Eric Beenter, spoke with authors Bracken MacLeod (Closing Costs); Shari Lapena (Not A Happy Family); and Chris Offut (The Killing Hills).

Speaking of Mysteries welcomed Taylor Moore to talk about his debut thriller, Down Range, in which undercover DEA Agent Garrett Kohl tries to protect a young Afghani boy who survived a massacre.

On the latest Crime Writers of Color podcast, Tracy Clark was interviewed by Robert Justice about her Cass Raines Chicago Mysteries.

Queer Writers of Crime featured a chat with Marko Realmonte, who works in the film and television industry as a writer, publicist, photographer, and script reader. His first queer novel, Murder at White Oak, was published in 2019, and since then he's published two additional novels in his Jake Weston Mystery series.

The latest guest on Meet the Thriller Author was Gregg Olsen, a New York Times, USA Today, and Wall Street Journal bestselling author of nonfiction books and novels.

On the Criminal Mischief podcast, host DP Lyle talked about the critical opening scene of a novel.

As part of EQMM’s 80th anniversary celebration, the magazine is offering a podcast featuring some of the characters from the Ellery Queen novels and stories written by Frederic Danny and Manfred B. Lee (EQMM’s founders). Dale C. Andrews, a longtime, devoted Ellery Queen fan who's written several Ellery Queen pastiches for EQMM, reads from the most recent of them, “Four Words."

The Red Hot Chili Writers talked to crime writing superstars Mark Billingham and Steve Cavanagh; discussed the return of the Theakston Old Peculiar Crime Writing Festival; and pondered the meaning of altruism and simple acts of kindness (including swimming with sharks).

The Cozy Ink Podcast featured an interview with author Jay Forman discussing her Lee Smith cozy mystery series.