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
After a bidding war with multiple potential buyers, New Republic Pictures has won the rights to John Glenn’s spec script, Cut & Run, which has Jake Gyllenhaal attached to star and produce through his Nine Stories Productions banner. Cut & Run centers on a group of thieves using high powered speedboats to rob superyachts, but complications ensue when the thieves end up stealing the wrong thing from the wrong group of people.
In the first major casting for the next installment of the Fast and Furious franchise, Jason Momoa has joined the cast for the tenth film in that series. Vin Diesel is set to return as the headliner, with Tyrese Gibson, Ludacris, Michelle Rodriguez, and Sung Kang also expected to return and Justin Lin on board to direct. Plot details are unknown at this time, but the film is currently set to debut on May 19, 2023. The most recent pic, F9, bowed this past summer, grossing more than $720 million at the global box-office, making it one of the biggest films of the year.
Daniel Craig’s Knives Out 2 update should make fans of the first movie very happy. In an interview with Variety, Craig reported, "We did the second one this summer, in Greece, and then we filmed studio work in Serbia. It’s in the can. Rian [Johnson] is editing now, and it’ll be out, I think, in the fall of this year."
TELEVISION/STREAMING SERVICES
HBO may have found their next murder mystery limited series obsession, landing the rights to Australian comedian/author Benjamin Stevenson’s new novel, Everyone In My Family Has Killed Someone. The plot follows teacher, Ernie Cunningham, who witnessed his brother, Michael, kill someone three years ago and immediately turned him in to the police. Shunned by his well-known criminal family for this betrayal, they have now invited him to a reunion at a snowbound mountain retreat. But when the dead body of an unidentified man is found frozen on the slopes, Ernie decides to investigate the truth behind his death—and the suspicious involvement of his murderous family.
Blumhouse Television has snapped up the rights to Stephen King’s novel, Later, which they will transform into a limited series starring Lucy Liu. Raelle Tucker (True Blood), the series creator, wrote the pilot. Later is about a kid named Jamie who can communicate with the dead, but for whatever reason, the dead people he talks to can’t lie to him—and for many reasons, the adults in his life take advantage of his ability. Jamie’s literary agent mother, Tia, has her son talk to her recently deceased star client in order to get enough info on his unfinished book to finish it herself, while Tia’s cop girlfriend also has need of Jamie’s skills. The book was called "something of a genre hybrid: part detective tale, part thriller, with a horror story filling in the seams."
BBC Four has acquired the Faroe Island-set drama, Trom, for broadcast in the UK. The six-part series is based on Jógvan Isaksen's crime novels and follows journalist Hannis Martinsson (Ulrich Thomsen), who unexpectedly receives a message from Sonja, his estranged daughter, claiming that her life is in danger. Hannis reluctantly returns home to the Faroes to investigate, and discovers Sonja’s body in the bloody waters of a whale hunt. His search for answers soon brings him into conflict with the local police, and he uncovers a web of secrets within the close-knit community.
Peacock has cancelled Dan Brown’s The Lost Symbol after one season. Season 1 served as a complete adaptation of Brown’s novel, and thus the show was technically out of source material, but that generally isn’t a death sentence for adapted series if the ratings are high. The series follows the early adventures of young Harvard symbologist, Robert Langdon, who must solve a series of deadly puzzles to save his kidnapped mentor and thwart a chilling global conspiracy.
Hulu is adapting Alexis Schaitkin’s novel, Saint X, giving an eight-part series order to the project from writer Leila Gerstein and director Dee Rees. The psychological drama, which is told via multiple timelines and perspectives, explores and upends the girl-gone-missing genre. It follows a young woman’s mysterious death during an idyllic Caribbean vacation that creates a traumatic ripple effect, eventually pulling her surviving sister into a dangerous pursuit of the truth.
Dylan McDermott, who's been recurring on NBC’s Law & Order: Organized Crime, has been tapped as the lead of another Dick Wolf series, CBS’s FBI: Most Wanted. McDermott will succeed Julian McMahon, who is exiting FBI: Most Wanted after almost three seasons. There are no details about his role yet but he will play a new character. On Law & Order: Organized Crime, McDermott originally signed on as a one-year series regular to play Stabler’s (Chris Meloni) Season 1 nemesis. His character, Richard Wheatley, was so well received that NBC and Wolf approached The Practice alum about coming back, leading to a blockbuster deal for him to return as a recurring character in Season 2.
Peaky Blinders star, Joe Cole, will be appearing in ITV's new drama, The Ipcress File, as Harry Palmer, and ITV has just released a teaser. Lucy Boynton, Ashley Thomas, and Tom Hollander will also be appearing in the thriller, which is due to premiere in March, though no specific date has been confirmed yet. The show is set against the backdrop of Cold War Europe, with Palmer and the others heading to Berlin to retrieve a missing person.
Juliana Canfield, who plays Kendall’s loyal assistant, Jess, on Succession, has been tapped as the female lead opposite Jeff Wilbusch in The Missing. The eight-episode series is from David E. Kelley and based on Israeli crime writer Dror A. Mishani’s international bestselling novel, The Missing File. The Missing tells the story of Detective Avraham (Wilbusch), whose belief in mankind is his superpower when it comes to uncovering the truth. Guided by a deep sense of spirituality and religious principles, Avraham is left to question his own humanity when a seemingly routine investigation turns upside down. Canfield will play Janine Harris, a newly minted detective with the NYPD. Looking for a mentor, she begs to be partnered with Avraham, who prefers to work alone, and gets her wish.
The Netflix thriller based on Karin Slaughter’s novel, Pieces of Her, has received its premiere date of March 4. According to Netflix’s logline for the drama, "In a sleepy Georgia town a random act of violence sets off an unexpected chain of events for 30-year-old Andy Oliver and her mother Laura. Desperate for answers, Andy embarks on a dangerous journey across America, drawing her towards the dark, hidden heart of her family." The series stars Toni Collette and Bella Heathcote, with Jacob Scipio, Aaron Jeffery, David Wenham, Calum Worthy, Nicholas Burton, and Terry O’Quinn rounding out the cast.
PODCASTS/VIDEO/RADIO/AUDIO
On The Six Degrees of Poe podcast, there was a discussion about Poe's inspiration for "The Raven," related to Charles Dickens. The hosts also announced a new feature to their program coming in February called POE Unplugged, an online monthly gathering of those who love Poe where Jeanie and Carmen will choose a work/works by Poe for you to read before the night of the event, send you a Zoom link to gather, and you will discuss your thoughts, themes, and questions about the work together.
CrimeTime FM spoke with literary legend, Dean Koontz about his new novel, Quicksilver, humor, character, writing organically, keeping it fresh, and the value of reading books.
It Was a Dark and Stormy Book Club profiled the mysterious Green Mount Cemetery, a historic rural cemetery in Baltimore, Maryland, and the last resting place of many powerful and notorious individuals.
Queer Writers of Crime featured an "Interview After the Interview" episode where host, Brad Shreve, ran through a series of quick questions from eight previous guests. Plus, Brad profiled Cupid Shot Me, an anthology of short stories by eleven authors who all have been guests on this show.
On Read or Dead, Katie and Nusrah talked about books featuring women who kill and the nuance that comes with it.
My Favorite Detective Stories welcomed David Hodges, a former superintendent with Thames Valley Police and author of fourteen crime novels plus an autobiography on his life in the police service.
On Wrong Place, Write Crime, David Temple discussed his books, podcast, and film projects.
