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

NBCUniversal has acquired all rights, excluding publishing, to Robert Ludlum’s “Jason Bourne” and “Treadstone” book series, in perpetuity. The deal paves the way for new installments for Matt Damon’s Jason Bourne, a CIA assassin suffering from amnesia. A source with knowledge of the deal indicated it was a highly competitive bidding situation that drew seven offers from both streamers and studios before a massive nine-figure proposal was brought back to Universal. With this new agreement, longtime Universal collaborator and producer Frank Marshall will continue to shepherd forthcoming installments of the film series, as he has from the beginning of the “Bourne” franchise, along with Captivate’s Jeffrey Weiner and Ben Smith. Captivate has managed the rights for the Ludlum estate since 2001.

Searchlight Pictures has won a heated bidding battle for Incidents, a psychological thriller from William Gillies, according to Deadline. The film is about a woman who escapes from an attempted abduction with no clear motive, vowing thereafter to find her kidnapper and discover why she’s been targeted. No word yet on other creative attachments, but sources said there were eleven offers on the material. Gillies is best known for his debut feature, Hallow Road, another psychological thriller that premiered to strong reviews at the South by Southwest Conference 2025.

Millennium Media has chosen Noah Centineo to star in John Rambo, the prequel to the Rambo movie series. Sisu director Jalmari Helander is set to direct from a screenplay by writing duo Rory Haines and Sohrab Noshirvani. The film’s plot is under wraps, but it will be the origin story of a young John Rambo during the Vietnam War. One of the most iconic action heroes in U.S. cinema, the character was created by David Morell in his novel First Blood. The original 1982 film saw Sylvester Stallone play the veteran Green Beret, who is forced by a cruel sheriff and his deputies to flee into the mountains and wage an escalating one-man war against his pursuers.

TELEVISION/STREAMING

Barry Eisler’s John Rain books are being adapted for Apple TV+ after the streamer and Tom Winchester’s Pure Fiction label scored the rights to the New York Times bestsellers. An earlier attempt to bring John Rain to TV, with Keanu Reeves toplining, faltered. But with a streamer in place this time around and an option that covers eighteen novels and four short stories, Apple TV+ is hoping it has a new franchise on its hands. Eisler’s bestselling thrillers follow ex-CIA operative John Rain, a half-Japanese, half-American assassin, who specializes in making his kills look like natural causes. Aside from Rain, other key figures in the books include Delilah, a conflicted Mossad seductress who is both Rain’s lover and his deadliest adversary, and Dox, a wisecracking Texan sniper. Nine of the novels focus on Rain directly, while the wider "Killer Collective" universe includes a spinoff series of stories led by characters including sex-crimes detective Livia Lone, closeted black-ops soldier Daniel Larison, and deaf contractor Marvin Manus. These interconnected worlds collide when characters unite to take down a rogue unit that is targeting government whistleblowers.

Hulu has ordered Count My Lies, a limited series starring Lindsay Lohan and Shailene Woodley, from former This Is Us executive producers/co-showrunners Isaac Aptaker and Elizabeth Berger. The project, based on the recently published novel by Sophie Stava, follows compulsive liar Sloane Caraway (Woodley) as she fibs her way into a nanny position for the gorgeous and charismatic Violet (Lohan) and Jay Lockhart. It seems she’s finally landed her dream job, but little does Sloane know, she’s just entered a household brimming with secrets that are about to explode — with potentially catastrophic consequences for all.

Michelle Keegan (Fool Me Once) and Douglas Booth (Worried About the Boy) are set to star in the ITV cop drama, The Blame, based on the debut novel of the same name by Charlotte Langley. Keegan will play DI Emma Crane and Booth a character named DI Tom Radley in the six-part series, which centers of the discovery of the body of a teenage figure skater, sending shockwaves through the town of Wakestead. Also in the cast are Nathan Mensah, Nigel Boyle, Joe Armstrong, Matilda Freeman, Gavin Spokes, Josh Bolt, Ian Hart, and Ceallach Spellman.

Paramount+ has set Sunday, October 26 for the Season 4 premiere of Mayor of Kingstown, starring Jeremy Renner and Edie Falco. In season four, Mike’s control over Kingstown is threatened as new players compete to fill the power vacuum left in the Russians’ wake, compelling him to confront the resulting gang war and stop them from swallowing the town. Meanwhile, with those he loves in more danger than ever before, Mike must contend with a headstrong new Warden to protect his own while grappling with demons from his past. In addition to Renner and Falco, the series also stars Lennie James, Laura Benanti, Hugh Dillon, Taylor Handley, Tobi Bamtefa, Derek Webster, Hamish Allan-Headley, and Nishi Munshi.

Boyd Holbrook (Narcos) has been cast in the new Netflix series, Extraction, starring opposite Omar Sy. The show is set in the world of the action thriller movie franchise of the same name, to be helmed by showrunner, writer, and executive producer, Glen Mazzara. In the eight-episode action-packed thriller, a mercenary (Sy) embarks on a dangerous mission to rescue hostages in Libya. Trapped between warring factions and ruthless killers, he must navigate life-or-death choices while confronting deep emotional wounds. Holbrook will play Extraction team leader David Ibarra in a series regular role.

A trailer was released for the all-new season of The Marlow Murder Club, returning August 24th at 9/8c on MASTERPIECE Mystery! on PBS, promising more murders, more suspects, and more friendship. The series stars Samantha Bond, who is joined by Jo Martin, Cara Horgan, and Natalie Dew.


PODCASTS/RADIO/AUDIO

Karin Slaughter stopped by NPR's All Things Considered to talk about her 25th book, We are All Guilty Here,  a small town murder mystery with twists and turns until the end.

The latest episode of the Murder Junction featured a chat with crime writer Heidi Amsinck about her Copenhagen-set crime novel, Out of the Dark, and life in the UK for a Danish-born journalist.

The latest Wrong Place, Write Crime with host Frank Zafiro featured a slew of interviews from the floor at the conference for the Public Safety Writers Association, including some award winners.

Authors on the Air chatted with Katie Bishop, the author of The Girls of Summer, about how true crime and TikTok sparked her new thriller, High Season.

Pick Your Poison podcast host Dr. Jen Prosser discussed which antidote is getting more attention on social media than the poison it treats; what happens if the doctor panics while giving it; and why people are drinking fish tank antifungal cleaner.