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

Josh Duhamel (Shotgun Wedding) and Lukas Gage (Road House) have signed on to star in Full Throttle Mindset, a darkly comedic crime thriller from director Patrick Brice (Creep) and XYZ Films. Based on an article in the St. Louis Riverfront Times by journalist Doyle Murphy, the film tells the wild true story of young burnout, Blake Laubinger (Gage), who’s taken under the wing of a Midwestern tanning salon mogul named Todd Beckman (Duhamel). He soon learns his new mentor’s businesses are a front for a drug empire — one he’s now expected to partake in. Written by Jake Disch, whose scripts The Adults in the Room and Gunfight made the Black List, the film is billed as "a gonzo cautionary tale about deluded American dreams and dark mentors."

Tracy Letts and Moses Ingram have joined the ensemble cast of Kathryn Bigelow's untitled thriller at Netflix, joining the already cast Idris Elba, Rebecca Ferguson, Jared Harris, Greta Lee, and Gabriel Basso. The film’s title and plot remain under wraps, although Deadline reported that it will be set at the White House as a national crisis unfolds. The project marks Bigelow’s first feature since the 2017 thriller, Detroit, an awards contender produced and distributed by Annapurna Pictures.

Netflix has released the first trailer for Rebel Ridge, the upcoming action movie about a resourceful hero who will do everything in his power to eliminate corruption from his town. Aaron Pierre stars as Terry Richmond, a former Marine who is trying to lead a quiet life until his cousin is imprisoned. Richmond attempts to post bail, but the corrupt local chief of police (Don Johnson) wrongfully seizes Richmond's savings. The former soldier soon uncovers a conspiracy and wages a one-man war on injustice. The cast also includes AnnaSophia Robb, playing a court clerk who will quickly become Terry's ally during his quest to get to the truth.

TELEVISION/SMALL SCREEN

Lionsgate is expanding its John Wick universe with John Wick: Under The High Table, an action series executive produced by the billion-dollar film franchise’s star, Keanu Reeves, and director, Chad Stahelski. Written by The Old Man co-creator Robert Levine, the story picks up directly after the end of John Wick: Chapter 4. John Wick has left the world of the High Table in a tenuous position, and a collection of new characters will look to make a name for themselves while some of the franchise stalwart characters remain committed to the old-world order.

NBC and Universal TV are developing Keats (working title), a new crime drama series from Bassett Vance Productions, Angela Bassett and Courtney B. Vance‘s production banner. Keats follows Alex Keats, a fourth-generation police officer who walked away from the badge and her family, and returns to Philadelphia to bury her mother, a decorated officer who supposedly died by suicide. The closer Alex gets to discovering the truth about her mother’s death, the closer she gets to joining her family back on the force … where she belongs.

CBS ordered another pilot targeting the 2025-26 broadcast season, picking up the drama Einstein (working title), from the Monk team of Andy Breckman and Randy Zisk. The drama follows a brilliant but directionless young man, the great-grandson of Albert Einstein, who spends his days as a comfortably tenured professor until his bad-boy antics land him in trouble with the law and he is pressed into service helping a local police detective solve her most puzzling cases.

Peter Sarsgaard says that he won’t be returning as high-strung prosecutor Tommy Molto for the second season of Presumed Innocent on Apple TV+. Sarsgaard’s much-maligned Molto went after Jake Gyllenhaal’s Rusty Sabich in David E. Kelley’s adaptation of the Scott Turow novel. Earlier this month, Apple announced it has ordered a second season of the legal thriller, with Kelley, J.J. Abrams, and Gyllenhaal returning as executive producers and Turow as co-executive producer. There are no details about Season 2 beyond the fact that it "will unfold around a suspenseful, brand new case." Gyllenhaal’s Rusty is not a recurring character in Turow’s books, so it is unclear whether the Road House star would return as an actor.

Apple TV+ released a trailer for its upcoming seven-part psychological thriller, Disclaimer, based on the bestselling novel of the same name by Renée Knight. Cate Blanchett plays Catherine Ravenscroft, a famed documentary journalist who discovers she is a prominent character in a novel that reveals a secret she has tried to keep hidden. As Catherine races to uncover the writer’s true identity, she is forced to confront her past before it destroys her life and her relationships with her husband Robert (Sacha Baron Cohen) and their son Nicholas (Kodi Smit-McPhee). Kevin Kline also stars as Stephen Brigstocke, a retired professor who harbors a grudge against Catherine.

PODCASTS/RADIO

On Crime Time FM, authors Marnie Riches (The Silent Dead) and Chris Carter (The Death Watcher) joined host Victoria Selman to discuss criminal/forensic psychology, criminologists, killer profiles, and reasons to kill (or none).

Meet the Thriller Author chatted with Vannessa Cronin, a senior editor at Amazon Books, to uncover the intricate process behind curating their top picks. Vannessa, with her extensive background in the book industry and a lifelong passion for literature, shared insights about her journey and the exciting trends shaping the mystery and thriller genres today.

On Read or Dead, Katie McLain Horner and Kendra Winchester discussed crime books for Women in Translation Month.

A new Mysteryrat's Maze Podcast episode is up featuring the first chapter of Murderous Means by Lida Sideris, read by actor Casey Ballard.