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

Guy Ritchie’s next project is a big-budget, untitled action movie (that he wrote in addition to taking on directing duties), which will star Henry Cavill (Man Of Steel), Oscar nominee Jake Gyllenhaal (Spider-Man: Far From Home) and Eiza González (Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw). Plot details and title are mostly unknown at this time, but it will allegedly revolve around two extraction specialists who must plan an escape path for a high-level female negotiator. The new project is due to begin filming in Spain this summer.

New Regency is adapting Pulitzer Prize winner Cormac McCarthy’s Blood Meridian as a feature film, with John Hillcoat set to direct. McCarthy and his son, John Francis McCarthy, will serve as executive producers. Published in 1985, the novel is an epic tale of the violence and depravity that attended America’s westward expansion. Based on historical events that took place on the Texas-Mexico border in the 1850s, it traces the fortunes of the Kid, a 14-year-old Tennessean who stumbles into a nightmarish world where Indians are being murdered and the market for their scalps is thriving.

Sylvester Stallone is set to return for a sequel to the 1993 action thriller, Cliffhanger, which Ric Roman Waugh (Angel Has Fallen) will direct from a script by Mark Bianculli (Hunters). Although the plot is unknown, Stallone will reprise his character of Ranger Gabriel "Gabe" Walker from the original film, where he looked to help rescue a band of stranded hikers, only to discover they were actually a gang of violent criminals looking to recover their missing $100M following a plane crash.

Christina Hendricks (Mad Men) has signed on to lead the psychological thriller, Reckoner, written and directed by Nissar Modi (Z for Zachariah) in his feature directorial debut. The project is based on a short story by American author Rachel Ingalls about an affluent woman whose carefully constructed life is disrupted by a young man connected to a tightly-held secret from her past.

Liev Schreiber (Ray Donovan) is in negotiations for the lead role in the action-thriller, The Guns Of Christmas Past, which will be directed by Xavier Gens (Gangs Of London). In the genre mash-up, described as "A Christmas Carol meets John Wick," Ebb is a former hitman for the mob, brought out from hiding when his former best friend and partner is killed. Ebb penetrates the compound of his enemy to exact revenge but the ghosts of past, present, and future all arrive to thwart his plans.

TELEVISION/STREAMING

Ahead of the Season 2 premiere this fall, Bosch: Legacy, the spinoff of the longrunning Amazon crime series based on Michael Connelly's novels, has been renewed for a third season on Amazon Freevee. Bosch: Legacy follows Harry Bosch (Titus Welliver), a retired homicide detective turned private investigator, as he embarks on the next chapter of his career; attorney Honey "Money" Chandler (Mimi Rogers), who struggles to maintain her faith in the justice system after surviving an attempted murder; and Maddie Bosch (Madison Lintz), as she discovers the possibilities and challenges of being a rookie patrol cop on the streets of Los Angeles.

Paramount+ is producing a new series titled The Castaways, which follows sisters Lori (Sheridan Smith) and Erin (Celine Buckens) on the holiday of a lifetime in Fiji. After a huge fight, Erin never boards the island-hopping flight to their tropical resort – and the plane, with Lori on board, never arrives at its destination. Months later, no wreckage has been found, no survivors discovered. Suddenly, Lori’s credit card is used in a corner shop in a remote village in Fiji. On the CCTV, Erin recognizes the plane’s pilot, back from the dead. She immediately sets out from the UK to find him and discover the mystery of her sister’s fate. As dark secrets are revealed both in the past and present day, each shocking twist and turn slowly reveals the truth about what happened to Lori and her fellow passengers – a truth that someone on the island will kill to keep secret.

Robert Patrick (The Night Agent) is playing a major role opposite lead Alan Ritchson in the upcoming second season of Prime Video’s Reacher, based on the books by Lee Child. He took over the series regular role of Shane Langston from Rory Cochrane, who was originally cast in September before exiting at the end of last year due to scheduling conflicts as the production schedule changed. Cochrane had not filmed any scenes, so the recasting did not require re-shoots. Langston is a streetwise former NYPD detective with a questionable track record who is now head of security for a private defense contractor.

Paramount+ also ordered the six-part documentary series, Mafia Spies, adapted from the book, Mafia Spies: The Inside Story of the CIA, Gangsters, JFK, and Castro by Thomas Maier. Based on never-before-released JFK files, the series tells the shocking connections between the CIA, the mob, and Sinatra’s Rat Pack from Vegas to Miami to Havana. It explores America’s most remarkable espionage plots ever—with CIA agents, mob hitmen, "kompromat" sex, presidential indiscretion, and James Bond-like killing devices together in a top-secret mystery full of surprise twists and deadly intrigue.

PODCASTS/VIDEO/RADIO/AUDIO

A new Mysteryrat's Maze Podcast is up featuring the fun mystery short story, "The Rabbi's Wife Stayed Home," written by Debra Goldstein and read by actor Donna Beavers.

The Who’s Here in the Hamptons podcast chatted with Carrie Doyle, author of multiple novels and screenplays that span many genres, ranging from cozy mysteries to chick lit to comedies to young adult.

The Spybrary Spy Book Podcast welcomed Andy Onyx, the author of the cold war espionage novel, Like Dolphins.

On Crime Time FM, Ashley Kalagian Blunt chatted with Paul Burke about her latest novel, Dark Mode; the Armenian Genocide; screaming plants; the dark web; stalking; and living in Australia.

The latest episode of It Was a Dark and Stormy Book Club featured Cynthia Surrisi, a successful middle school novel author, talking about her latest book, The Bones of Birka: Unraveling the Mystery of A Female Viking Warrior.

Read or Dead hosts, Katie McLain Horner and Kendra Winchester, talked about books perfect for reading on road trips.

On the Writer's Detective Bureau, Detective Adam Richardson discussed what happens when a federal inmate escapes from prison; a body in Hawaiian waters; who handles the investigation if a murder victim is found in a visiting world leader’s hotel room.

The Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine podcast included a reading of "Rise" by Ashley-Ruth M. Bernier:  Alana's grandmother Mavis was a fantastic cook whose johnnycakes may have been the best in the Virgin Islands. But did an old family housekeeper steal Grandma Mavis's recipe?