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

Oscar winners Jessica Chastain and John Hawkes and country singer Carter Faith are set to lead the Netflix mystery thriller, Heartland, with Shana Feste directing from her own script. The film follows Misty Jones (Chastain), a former country star who comes out of  seclusion to investigate the disappearance of her missing niece (Faith), herself a rising country musician. She must grapple with her own past and Nashville’s seedy underbelly, and her search uncovers a murky side of Nashville where no one, including Misty, is who they seem.


The first trailer for Joe Carnahan‘s action thriller, The Rip, has dropped, a film that marks the first collaboration between Netflix and Matt Damon and Ben Affleck’s Artists Equity. In addition to Damon and Affleck, the film’s powerhouse ensemble includes Steven Yeun, Teyana Taylor, Sasha Calle, Catalina Sandino Moreno, Scott Adkins, and Kyle Chandler. Per the logline: Upon discovering millions in cash in a derelict stash house, trust among a team of Miami cops begins to fray. As outside forces learn about the size of the seizure, everything is called into question — including who they can rely on. According to Carnahan, the term “rip” refers to a seizure of cash or drugs or weapons. The Rip releases globally on Netflix on January 16, 2026


The action film, The Wrecker, has been given an October 31, 2025, U.S. release date, including a limited theatrical component. Directed by veteran action filmmaker Art Camacho, the film follows Tony (Niko Foster), a former Marine trying to rebuild his life as a mechanic—until his brother (Chad Michael Collins) crosses the wrong people and ignites a violent chain of events. With his back against the wall, Tony must draw on his tactical training to protect his family and survive a deadly showdown with a powerful crime syndicate. Tyrese Gibson plays Detective Boswell, Harvey Keitel stars as feared crime boss Dante, Mena Suvari takes on the role of Cheryl, with Danny Trejo portraying Eduardo. Rounding out the cast are Oleg Prudius, Doug Jeffery, and Ego Mikitas.

 
TELEVISION/STREAMING

Bosch author Michael Connelly's past as a crime beat writer at Florida’s Daytona Beach News-Journal and the Fort Lauderdale News and Sun-Sentinel will form the basis for a drama series project in development at the new Paramount Television Studios. Connelly is co-creating the Untitled Florida Task Force series with playwright/TV writer Jim Leonard (Ray Donovan) who will serve as showrunner. Conelly's Bosch novels have spawned a TV series franchise for Prime Video that includes mothership Bosch and offshoots Bosch: Legacy and Ballard. Connelly has executive produced all three as well as Netflix’s series adaptation of his novel, The Lincoln Lawyer.  


Legendary Television is developing a series based on Kate Weston’s real estate novel, How to Make a Killing, which was published earlier this summer. The series follows star real estate agent and mom-fluencer Amanda Harrington and her high-stakes team as they navigate the cutthroat world of luxury property sales. When rising star Bella is found dead at the open house of a coveted $50M mansion, everyone becomes a suspect in this dark comedy. Weston is a former stand-up comedian and author of the YA comedy murder mystery, Murder on A School Night. She also wrote Diary of a Confused Feminist, which was nominated for the Carnegie Medal, the sequel Must Do Better, and her latest adult book was You May Now Kill the Bride.  


The BBC has named the two dramas that will replace its long-running Doctors series, including the Agatha Christie series The Detection Club and The Hairdresser Mysteries. Set in 1930s London, The Detection Club is about a mysterious society of famous crime writers including Christie, Dorothy L. Sayers, and G.K. Chesterton who join forces to solve real-life murders. The Hairdresser Mysteries is created by Jim Cartwright (Road) and follows a high-end hairdresser, Lily Petal (played by Bridget Jones star Sally Phillips), who opts out of the competitive city scene to buy a small village hairdressers at the top of a cobbled street.


Emmy-winning writer and producer Charlie Brooker (Black Mirror) is returning with a new four-part detective series. The untitled series is set between the fictional northern city of Bleakford and the streets of London, following a tormented detective on a relentless mission to catch a ritualistic serial killer before they run out of victims. As Netflix notes, the show is described "as a 'profoundly serious' crime thriller, which is the first clue that he’s up to something wickedly funny." Leading the series is a powerhouse trio of British actors: Paddy Considine (House of the Dragon, MobLand), Georgina Campbell (Barbarian, The Watchers), and Lena Headey (Game of Thrones, The Abandons)


Acorn TV has renewed the detective drama, Signora Volpe, which will return for three, 90-minute episodes. Season three finds former British spy Sylvia Fox, played by Silent Witness star Emilia Fox, mentally and physically recovered from her abduction at the end Season 2 and back to enjoying her life in Italy. But she’s still waiting for answers from her ex-husband, Adam Haines, about his past dealings with her kidnapper. Across the season, Sylvia Fox is investigating the murder of the owner of a local winery, and probing the mystery of a beautiful young man found dead in the bed of a power couple who claim never to have seen him before.  


Season 2 of the critically acclaimed Prime Video drama series, Mr. & Mrs. Smith, has been paused. Yellowjackets star Sophie Thatcher and Anora's Mark Eydelshteyn were cast as the leads for the new season, with no additional cast confirmed. Season 1 of the spy drama, inspired by the beloved film starring Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt, starred Maya Erskine and Donald Glover as they enlisted in a secret spy organization and posed as married couple John and Jane Smith. Season 2 was set to revolve around a new pair of “married” spies played by Thatcher and Eydelshsteyn. Season 2 was slated to begin production this fall in Los Angeles after landing a $22.4 million tax credit from the California Film Commission, moving its production from New York. It’s unclear if the delay would impact the incentive moving forward, since projects have to film within 18 months of receiving the credit.


Prime Video has given an official series green light to Bishop, an original thriller drama starring Joel Kinnaman. Kinnaman also headlines Apple TV+’s sci-fi drama series, For All Mankind, whose upcoming fifth season is awaiting a premiere date. Apple TV+ has not said whether Season 5 of For All Mankind will be its last, and the fate of Kinnaman’s character on the alt-history space race drama is also unknown. In Bishop, homicide detective Bishop Graves (Kinnaman) – brilliant, battle-scarred – will put all of his skills to the test in the hunt for an elusive killer targeting San Francisco’s moneyed class. As this increasingly audacious killer develops a devoted following among the city’s powerless, Bishop becomes convinced these murders connect back to SF’s most powerful man, his own father, Lincoln Graves.


PODCASTS/RADIO/AUDIO

On Crimetime FM, Guy Hale chatted with Paul Burke about The Shakespeare Murders; Stratford theatre; indie publishing; and dodgy 70s cops.


In the latest episode of Murder Junction, hosts Vaseem Khan and Abir Mukherjee discussed the fifth Malabar House novel, City of Destruction, and a true life crime - The Baker Street Robbery - allegedly based on the Sherlock Holmes short story, "The Red-Headed League."


Meet the Thriller Author welcomed Mike Adamick — a writer, performer, and former journalist whose creative work spans journalism, books, and now podcasting with his gripping series, Crime Adjacent.


Frank Zafiro spoke with podcaster and mystery author, Sally Barrilla, on Wrong Place, Write Crime.


Authors on the Air spoke with authors Johana Gustawsson and Thomas Enger about their twisty new release, Son. Seven years after a woman’s nine year old son went missing, the two teens who had been his best childhood friends are violently murdered in a small Norwegian town. Using her expertise in body language and memory, she must separate truth from lies before anyone else dies.