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

The John Wick franchise is growing with three new movies in addition to director Len Wiseman’s Ballerina starring Ana de Armas (set to arrive on the big screen in summer). The biggest surprise is John Wick: Chapter 5, since (spoiler alert!) Keanu Reeves’s John Wick seemingly died at the end of John Wick: Chapter 4, with the final scene featuring Ian McShane's Winston Scott and Laurence Fishburne’s Bowery King standing over the character’s grave. The second project is the spinoff, Caine, starring fan favorite Donnie Yen, with a plot set after the events of Wick 4 and the titular protagonist earning his freedom from the sinister assassin organization known as the High Table. The third movie is an untitled animated prequel movie that will tell the story of the legendary Impossible Task that Keanu Reeves’ character completed so that he could leave the assassin life behind and live a life of peace with his wife.

TELEVISION/STREAMING

Brooke Shields is set to star in and executive produce Allie & Andi, a six-episode murder mystery series from Robin Bernheim (Star Trek: Voyager) at AMC Networks' Acorn TV. The project reunites Shields and Bernheim who first worked together on Netflix’s Mother of the Bride. Set in a quaint New England colonial town, Allie & Andi follows a best-selling novelist (Shields) who forms an unlikely alliance with an aspiring writer to find the killer of a close friend. The series, a co-production between AMC Studios and Dynamic Television, will go into production this fall and air in 2026, exclusively on Acorn TV.

Two months after launch, CBS has renewed Watson, for a second season. Watson, inspired by the characters from Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes mysteries, takes place six months after the death of the titular character’s friend and partner Holmes at the hands of archenemy Moriarty. It follows the detective as he turns his attention from solving crimes to solving medical mysteries. Morris Chestnut stars as Dr. John Watson, who resumes his medical career as the head of a clinic dedicated to treating rare disorders.

Grantchester returns to MASTERPIECE Mystery! on PBS with a new season on Sunday, June 15 at 9/8c, and PBS shared first look photos from the series. As DI Geordie Keating (Robson Green) and Reverend Alphy Kottaram (Rishi Nair) continue to work together as a crime-solving duo in scenic Grantchester, they must also support each other through changing times and family struggles. This season, Alphy feels like he's found a home but is forced to confront secrets he's kept close to his chest. Will he be able to let anyone fully in, or must he confront truths about himself first?

Jonathan Tucker (Echoes) has joined the cast of Netflix’s I Will Find You. In a pivotal role in the limited series, based on Harlan Coben’s bestselling 2023 novel of the same name, the actor will play Police Sergeant Adam Mackenzie. The character is the closest friend of lead Sam Worthington’s David Burroughs, an innocent man behind bars for life for the murder of his son. When David finds out his child may actually be alive, he decides to bust out of prison. Tucker’s Mackenzie is right there to help his pal in any way he can, for better or worse.

Sophina Brown (Kindred), Jeff Pierre (Walker) and Cedric Joe (Space Jam: A New Legacy) round out the series regular cast of Nemesis, a crime drama created by Courtney A. Kemp and Tani Marole, described as an action heist series in the vein of Power. It's set in Los Angeles, where the new series will film. They join the previously announced cast of Matthew Law, Y’Ian Noel, Cleopatra Coleman, Tre Hale, Domenick Lombardozzi, Jonnie Park, Ariana Guerra, Gabrielle Dennis, and Michael Potts. Nemesis is the story of two men on either side of the law, the tale of what happens when an unstoppable force, expert criminal Coltrane Wilder (Noel), meets an immovable object in the brilliant police detective, Isaiah Stiles (Law).

ABC's hit police drama Will Trent has been renewed for a fourth season, which will consist of 18 episodes. Ramón Rodríguez, will return as the titular GBI detective with a complicated personal life and an adorable sidekick, his dog Betty. Based on Karin Slaughter’s bestselling "Will Trent" series, Special Agent Will Trent of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation was abandoned at birth and endured a harsh coming-of-age in Atlanta’s overwhelmed foster care system. Now, he uses his unique point of view in the pursuit of justice and has the highest clearance rate in the GBI.

Nathan Fillion will get another turn in The Rookie, which has been renewed for Season 8. The show, which is expected to have 18 episodes, follows John Nolan (Fillion), once the oldest rookie in the LAPD, who has used his life experience, determination and sense of humor to keep up with rookies 20 years his junior. Now recovering from a gunshot wound and feeling the effects of his age, John and the team welcome two new rookies and continue the hunt for two dangerous escaped prisoners who have very personal vendettas.

A first look was released with Bosch alum Titus Welliver in an upcoming episode (April 20) of The Equalizer, where his character, which will lead a potential spinoff, will be introduced. Welliver and Juani Feliz have been tapped as the two leads of the spinoff, which has not yet received a series order. Welliver will play Hudson Reed, a former top CIA operative with a dark secret who is connected to Robyn McCall (Queen Latifah) by an old mentor. Feliz plays Samantha Reed who has been trained by her father to be a weapons expert, skilled martial artist, and true chameleon all while hiding a mysterious past. A re-imagining of the classic series, The Equalizer stars Queen Latifah as Robyn McCall, an enigmatic woman with a mysterious background who uses her extensive skills as a former CIA operative to help those with nowhere else to turn.

PODCASTS/RADIO

Murder Junction welcomed broadcaster Jeremy Vine to discuss his crime debut, Murder on Line One; relive an intriguing anecdote about Nelson Mandela; and briefly look at Ted Bundy, serial killer.

Authors on the Air chatted with Samantha Shannon, author of The Bone Season series, The Priory of the Orange Tree, and A Day of Fallen Night.

Spybrary host Shane Whaley was joined by Valerie Plame—former CIA covert operative, bestselling author, and an iconic voice in the world of intelligence and espionage—to share her Spybrary Dead Drop 5: the five spy books she’d rely on during a covert operation behind the Iron Curtain.

On Crime Time FM, Paul Burke reviewed new crime fiction for April 2025.

On Read or Dead, Katie McLain Horner and Kendra Winchester discussed books from their never-ending backlist or crime fiction TBRs.

The latest episode of the Mysteryrats Maze podcast featured the mystery short story, "Pleasant Drive," written by Chelle Martin and read by actor Sean Hopper. "Pleasant Drive" appeared in the Small Crimes anthology edited by Michael Bracken.