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

Netflix and the Russo Brothers’ AGBO production company are reuniting to make an untitled heist thriller from Emmy-winning Fargo creator, Noah Hawley. Plot details are being kept under wraps on the project, which is based on an original idea by Hawley, but the producers have already signed Bridgerton's breakout, Regé-Jean Page, to star in the lead role.

In a pre-emptive purchase, 20th Century Studios has acquired the rights to an untitled thriller to be written by Shawn Simmons and produced by Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick (Deadpool). The project is described as "an irreverent high-speed thriller" that follows a former teenage getaway driver who gets dragged back into her unsavory past when a previous employer offers her the chance to save the life of her chronically unreliable ex-boyfriend.

The final James Bond outing for Daniel Craig, No Time to Die, was delayed several times due to Covid-related scheduling problems, but the film is finally getting its theatrical release. Apparently, all that pent-up demand is having an effect at the box office, as the film is set for a record $119 million overseas opening in 54 foreign markets ahead of its debut in North America on October 8.

TELEVISION/STREAMING SERVICE

Eleven and a half years after NBC abruptly canceled Law & Order, denying its shot at making TV history, the network is bringing back Dick Wolf’s Emmy-winning series for a new season, its 21st. NBC has greenlit a new installment of Law & Order, from Wolf and writer-showrunner Rick Eid, which will continue the classic bifurcated format and will once again examine "the police who investigate crime and the district attorneys who prosecute the offenders." There is no cast announced yet, but the new season is expected to feature beloved characters from the original series, with Sam Waterston’s Jack McCoy believed to be at the top of the wish list.

Yellow Bird UK has optioned the rights to Alison Gaylin’s forthcoming novel, The Collective, and is planning to develop it into a major TV series. The story centers on Camille Gardener, a grieving and angry mother who is obsessed with the privileged young man she believes to be responsible for her daughter's death. When her rash actions draw the attention of a secret group of women—The Collective—Camille is drawn into a dark web where these mothers share their stories of loss and desire for justice in a world where privilege denies accountability. Fueled by mutual rage, the Collective members devise and act out retribution fantasies via precise, anonymous, and highly coordinated revenge killings. But is it merely a role-playing exercise or terrifying reality?

David Tennant is set to play Alexander Litvinenko, the former Russian Federal Security Services and KGB officer who was poisoned to death, in a drama series for ITV and Nordic Entertainment Group. The four-part series centers around the determined Scotland Yard Officers who worked for ten years to prove who was responsible, in one of the most complex and dangerous investigations in the history of the Metropolitan Police. Margarita Levieva also stars as Marina, Alexander’s fearless, dignified widow who fought tirelessly to persuade the British Government to publicly name her husband’s killers and acknowledge the role of the Russian State in his murder. Mark Bonnar and Neil Maskell round out the leads, playing former Scotland Yard officers, Clive Timmons and Brent Hyatt.

British broadcaster ITV has commissioned DI Ray, a four-part series centered around Rachita Ray, a police officer who takes on a case that forces her to confront a lifelong personal conflict between her British identity and her South Asian heritage. The series will track a murder investigation while exploring the realties of racism in the workplace. It asks difficult questions about what it’s like to be British but feel like an outsider, while taking viewers through the murky underworld of Birmingham. The series is being written by Maya Sondhi, who stars on the hit BBC police drama series, Line of Duty, and has penned episodes of Eastenders and Ackley Bridge.

The Studio Lambert production team has optioned Nicola Williams’s legal thriller, Without Prejudice, which was republished in 2021 as part of Bernardine Evaristo’s Black Britain: Writing Back series. The novel follows the brilliant Lee Mitchell, a 30-year-old barrister from a working-class Caribbean background, as she takes on the biggest case of her career.

Amblin Television has acquired the rights to Kimberly McCreight's thriller novel, Friends Like These. The story follows five friends who gather at a picture perfect country house in the Catskills for a co-ed bachelor weekend. It’s been a decade since graduation, but they have remained devoted to one another, forever bound by the mysterious and tragic death of Alice, their sixth member, during senior year. But the "bachelor weekend" is just a front—they’re actually gathering for a staged intervention for Keith, Alice’s college boyfriend, now a successful art dealer caught in a downward spiral of opioid addiction. But Keith has brought an unexpected guest along for the weekend, a charismatic bad boy named Finch, who senses the fault lines within the group and wastes no time exploiting them to his own benefit.

Masterpiece on PBS has just revealed photos from its new mystery arriving next year, Magpie Murders, an adaptation of the popular novel of the same name by Anthony Horowitz. It stars Lesley Manville as book editor Susan Ryeland, who is given an unfinished manuscript by best-selling mystery writer Alan Conway (Conleth Hill, Game of Thrones) featuring Conway’s longtime main character, detective Atticus Pünd. When she attempts to attain the final chapters from Conway, she finds herself in the middle of a shocking mystery case of her own that will change her life in ways she never expected.

Netflix’s Enola Holmes sequel, based on The Enola Holmes Mysteries by author Nancy Springer, is bringing back fan favorite, Helena Bonham Carter, to reprise her role as Enola’s mother and mentor, Eudoria Holmes. She'll join Millie Bobby Brown and Henry Cavill, who were previously reported to be returning for the sequel to lead the cast. The films tell the story of Enola (Brown), the rebellious teen sister of Sherlock Holmes (Cavill), who is a gifted super-sleuth in her own right and often outsmarts her famous siblings.

Ginger Gonzaga will join Steve Howey as the leads for the CBS drama pilot, True Lies, based on James Cameron’s 1994 action comedy film starring Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jamie Lee Curtis. The series hails from Burn Notice creator Matt Nix, McG, and Cameron. Written by Nix and to be directed by Anthony Hemingway, the pilot’s plot is true to its movie roots: Shocked to discover that her bland and unremarkable computer consultant husband (Howey) is a skilled international spy, an unfulfilled suburban housewife (Gonzaga) is propelled into a life of danger and adventure when she’s recruited to work alongside him to save the world as they try to revitalize their passionless marriage.

Tyrone Marshall Brown is set as a series regular opposite Sydney Chandler in Showtime's drama pilot, Coercion. Written and to be directed by Susannah Grant (Unbelievable; Erin Brockovich), Coercion is inspired by the life of Rebecca Bender (Chandler) and depicts Bender’s escape from six years in the world of sex trafficking in Las Vegas; her struggles to return to a "normal" life; and her emergence as a confident, funny and impassioned advocate for justice. Brown will play Dawson, a young special agent with the FBI who is tasked with doing something about the prostitution problem in Vegas.

PODCASTS/VIDEO/RADIO/AUDIO

Meet the Thriller Author welcomed Miranda Beverly-Whittemore, bestselling author of five novels including her latest, the psychological thriller, Fierce Little Thing.

Debbi Mack interviewed crime writer, Rea Frey, on the Crime Cafe podcast. Frey is the author domestic thrillers and also CEO and Founder of Writeway, a company that helps authors get published.

A new Mysteryrat's Maze Podcast is up featuring an excerpt from the first chapter of Department of Death by Lev Raphael, as read by actor Kelly Ventura.

Sheila Lowe stopped by Wrong Place, Write Crime to chat about her Claudia Rose series and more.

In the latest Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine podcast, John F. Dobbyn, author of the Devlin and Knight legal thrillers, read "A Little Help From My Friend," a compelling tale from the magazine's March/April 2020 issue.

The latest episode of The Red Hot Chli Writers featured an interview with author and journalist, Tim Marshall; a discussion of how geography influences modern politics; and a look at some of the best ever literary novels set in Scotland, as well as a round-up from the recent Bloody Scotland festival.

The latest Cozy Ink Podcast examined "Cozy Mysteries with Crafts."

THEATRE

Now that Daniel Craig has bid farewell to James Bond, he's joining a production of Shakespeare's Macbeth on Broadway, starring alongside Ruth Negga as Lady Macbeth, in an all-new, 15-week production to be directed by Tony Award winner, Sam Gold. Macbeth will begin performances on Tuesday, March 29, 2022, at Broadway’s Lyceum Theatre, with an official opening on Thursday, April 28, 2022. Additional casting will be announced at a later date.