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/MOVIESEmily Blunt, Benicio Del Toro, and Josh Brolin
are returning for Sicario 3, with Padraic McKinley (
The Weight) set to direct, and Oscar nominee Steven Knight penning the script. Details surrounding the plot are being kept under wraps, although the first film in 2015 followed FBI agent Kate Macer (Blunt) who joins a covert DoD task force targeting a Mexican cartel. Operating outside legal boundaries with CIA handler Matt Graver (Brolin) and the mysterious fixer Alejandro Gillick (Del Toro), she discovers the mission's true purpose goes far beyond what she was told. It was nominated for three Oscars and followed by the 2018 sequel,
Sicario: Day of the Soldado.
Aldis Hodge and Wunmi Mosaku
are set to star in One Night Out for Amazon MGM Studios’ Orion Pictures, with George Tillman Jr. directing. The film, based on a short story by Nelson Greaves, follows a married couple with marital issues who leave a babysitter at home with their three kids during a rare night out. When they see someone strange in their house on the nanny cam, the night goes horribly awry, and they must race home and work together to save their kids.
Paul Walter Hauser (
Resident Evil)
has inked a deal to star in Garden City, a new crime drama from Magenta Light Studios. Based on a true story, the project is written and directed by
Chappaquiddick's John Curran. The film follows Dan Day (Walter Hauser), a quiet resident of Garden City, Kansas, whose life becomes unexpectedly entangled in a plot targeting the city’s Somali Muslim community. As the threat unfolds, the lives of those at the center of the thwarted attack begin to intersect, revealing a community grappling with fear, prejudice, identity and belonging. What begins as an isolated act ultimately becomes a deeply human story about the people caught on opposite sides of a growing divide and the choices they make when their community is put at risk.
Focus Features has
acquired worldwide rights to Oscar-winning filmmaker Brian Helgeland’s
Outside Man, starring Ice Cube and Oscar winner Tommy Lee Jones. Helgeland wrote and directs the film, which follows former Chicago mob enforcer Ruben Bowman (Ice Cube). After Ruben is released from prison, he is a man intent on changing his life. Disappearing into rural Texas, he finds work under the skilled furniture craftsman and retired Texas Ranger, Gus Wanamaker (Jones). As Ruben and Gus form an unlikely friendship, the bond is jeopardized when both men’s pasts threaten to catch up with them.
Amazon MGM Studios
is developing A Murder to Remember, a feature adaptation of Brynn Kelly‘s Audible Original, from Grey Gardens helmer Michael Sucsy. The project is described as a "razor-sharp romantic thriller" that follows a Jane Austen-obsessed American art expert and a broke-but-charming British lord who awaken after a blackout-drunk night at a crumbling English abbey convinced they witnessed a murder. With no evidence of a crime and no one willing to believe them, the unlikely pair must uncover the truth before the killer silences them for good.
Keith Kjarval and Renny Harlin, the producer and director of the upcoming
The Beast,
are collaborating again on Athina, an action-thriller to shoot in Europe next spring. Written by Kjarval, the film centers around two estranged brothers who descend into Athens’ criminal underworld in search of a missing young woman. In the process, the pair get caught between two powerful families and the violent past that once tore the brothers apart.
TELEVISION/STREAMINGJennifer Beals (
The L Word) and Katheryn Winnick (
Vikings)
are set to lead the new Lifetime Original movie,
Murder in Cold Country, based on a story by bestselling author Tess Gerritsen, creator of the Rizzoli & Isles series, and Dan Rosen. The drama follows Miami-based detective Maya Lewis (Beals), still haunted by a brutal encounter with a serial killer who murdered her husband and held her captive for days. Desperate to rebuild her life, Maya relocates to Alaska, where she is partnered with Detective Joanna Doyle (Winnick), an accomplished officer carrying the weight of her own devastating past. The women recognize each other from group therapy and immediately are distrustful of one another. When their first case involves another therapy-group member who has been targeted by a killer using methods eerily similar to those from Maya’s past, the detectives must set aside their differences to uncover the truth.
NCIS: New Orleans star Scott Bakula
is eying a return to CBS with another procedural drama, which is in early development at the network. The drama is currently being described as "a high-concept detective procedural set in Los Angeles," and will be written and executive produced by
Perception co-creator Michael Sussman, who was a writer-producer on one of Bakula’s signature series,
Star Trek: Enterprise. And in a nod to another classic Bakula show,
Deadline reports that his character will be quite a “leap” from the one he played on
NCIS: New Orleans.
In a highly competitive situation, Apple TV has
landed the rights to develop All the Little Houses, a drama series based on the recently published novel by May Cobb.
All the Little Houses is set in the wealthy enclave of Longview, Texas, where Charleigh Anderson has clawed her way from outcast to undisputed queen bee. But when a seemingly perfect, prairie-kissed family arrives in town — complete with a trad-wife mother, woodworking father, and wholesome daughter — Charleigh finds her carefully constructed world under threat. As two formidable women go head-to-head, their battle for the soul of Longview exposes the secrets, resentments, and desires lurking beneath its picture-perfect surface.
Two of Britain’s top actors
will pair up in the latest BBC Christmas ghost story special,
The Bride’s Chamber. Martin Freeman (
Sherlock) and Jim Broadbent (
Bridget Jones) will star in the Dickensian story, alongside Adrian Scarborough (
The Chelsea Detective), Joe Armstrong (
Happy Valley), India Fowler (
The Agency) and Lewis Shepherd (
Lynley).
The Bride’s Chamber is considered among Charles Dickens’ darkest stories and was originally published in 1858. It tells the story of a spurned and vengeful suitor who manipulates a young woman and marries her to claim her fortune—but his murderous plan creates his own purgatory. As is tradition at the BBC, Mark Gatiss has created the special, which is the ninth and now a staple of British TV festive season specials.
The Icelandic crime thriller series, Elma,
will launch domestically on SÃminn’s streaming service on October 15. Adapted from global bestselling author Eva Björg Ægisdóttir’s book series, the drama is set in the small port town of Akranes in Iceland and follows police detective Elma (Unnur Birna Backman), who returns to her hometown having fled a romantic affair that left her in pieces, and is assigned to the local force. After a woman’s body is found lying at the foot of a lighthouse, terrible secrets resurface from the past, and Elma’s colleague, Saevar (Nikulás Hansen Daðason), could prove to be her only salvation.
Roku has given a green light to Scarlett Holmes, a new Roku Original limited series, with Lucy Hale set to star and executive produce. Said to "put a fresh, romantic spin on the legendary world of Sherlock Holmes," Scarlett Holmes revolves around the titular character played by Hale, a modern descendant of Sherlock Holmes who has inherited his legendary powers of observation, but instead of solving crimes, she takes on mysteries of love, dating, and relationships. Joining Scarlett in each episode is her trusty sidekick, "Jane Watson" (casting TBA). But while Scarlett may be an expert at solving everyone else’s romantic problems, her own love life proves far more difficult to decipher. When she falls for “Ollie Moriarity” (casting TBA) — a charming podcast producer secretly planning an exposé on her methods —she’s faced with the toughest case of all: her own.
Anna Pigeon has been renewed for Season 2 at USA Network. Based on the
New York Times best-selling novels by Nevada Barr, the first season follows Anna Pigeon (Tracy Spiridakos), a former city slicker who became a park ranger after a devastating loss changed the trajectory of her life forever. While Anna tries to outrun her demons, her focus turns to solving crimes that have taken place within national park grounds, no matter who or what gets in her way. Season 1 also stars Paulina Alexis, Ronnie Rowe, Tricia Helfer, Kim Coates, Crystle Lightning, Cooper Levy, Manuel Rodriguez-Saenz, Ryan Northcott, Nikki Rae Hallow, Jordan Sledz, and Melanie Scrofano.
The BBC and BritBox’s Poirot series,
Hercule,
has unveiled more cast including Katherine Parkinson (
Rivals), Omari Douglas (
Black Doves) and Toby Stephens (
Jane Eyre). As with previous cast releases, the trio’s roles are being kept under wraps, but the BBC and BritBox revealed the second book to be adapted for Mammoth Screen’s TV show will be Agatha Christie’s
Peril at End House, following
Lord Edgware Dies. However, the third novel that the show will be partially based on has yet to be revealed. Edward Bluemel plays the lead, with the six-episode drama billed as “an intimate study of Hercule Poirot” while introducing the world’s greatest fictional detective to “future friends, allies and one particular nemesis.”
Prime Video has
ordered a new series about Karen Read (as yet untitled), starring and executive produced by Elizabeth Banks (
Cocaine Bear) and inspired by the podcast,
Karen. Based on actual events, the series tells the story of a Boston police officer who is found dead in the snow during a blizzard. All eyes are on his girlfriend, Karen Read, but when she and her legal team claim she’s not only innocent, but that she’s the victim of a conspiracy protecting the real assailants, the story spreads like wildfire, dividing a community in ways they’ve never seen. As endless suspicion mounts in multiple directions, this genre-bending series explores society’s explosive obsession with true crime.
Apple TV has
acquired the hit Aussie series Dustfall starring Anna Torv (
Fringe,
The Last of Us). Described as a "propulsive, atmospheric tropic noir," the project follows seasoned detective, Antigone "Tig" Pollard (Torv), whose deep sense of justice is challenged by a world where victims are doubted, predators hide in plain sight, and the legal system too often falls short. Tig is called in to investigate a harrowing sexual assault case, which spirals darker after a key suspect turns up dead. Torv leads the cast of the Dianne Taylor-penned series alongside fellow cast members Juliet Stevenson, Peter Fenton, and Bert LaBonté.
Paramount+ has
renewed the Sylvester Stallone-led
Tulsa King for a fifth season ahead of the show’s fourth season premiere on October 16. Production just kicked off in New York, a new location replacing Atlanta due to the storyline that will explore Dwight “The General” Manfredi’s (Stallone) mafia roots. Scarlet Rose Stallone will return as Spencer for Season 5 with a promotion to series regular. There will also be five new regulars joining the fold: Erik Palladino (
I Play Rocky), Glenn Fleshler (
Billions), Anthony Skordi (
The Last Frontier), and Nickola Shreli (
Power Book IV: Force).
Peri Gilpin, known for her celebrated role as Ros in
Frasier,
will guest star in the second season of Acorn TV’s
You’re Killing Me, led and executive produced by Brooke Shields. Gilpin will play Allie’s (Shields) sister, Audra Chandler, a critically acclaimed writer with more awards than William Faulkner. Her pieces have been published in the most prestigious journals in the literary world, which drives Allie up the wall because, despite being a commercial success, she’s never felt she’s measured up to her seemingly perfect sister. But when Audra finds herself embroiled in a murder mystery while visiting Allie, their complicated relationship — and how it evolves — becomes the heart of the story. In addition to Shields, the series also stars Amalia Williamson as Andi and Tom Cavanagh as Jack.
FX
has set Havana Rose Liu to star in a crime drama pilot from
Widow’s Bay Emmy winner Hiro Murai and famed Hong Kong filmmaker Wong Kar Wai that shoots in Bangkok later this month. Developed from an original story by Wong, the pilot revolves around a petty criminal who inherits a share in a mysterious and powerful corporation. She then vaults into a world of unimaginable wealth but also constant danger from a ruthless elite who sees her as the ultimate threat.
PODCASTS/RADIO/AUDIOAward-winning author Bobby Nash returns to
Meet the Thriller Author for a special reunion. Bobby first appeared on the podcast in 2015, and now, more than ten years later, he joins Alan Petersen again to discuss his latest thriller, his creative process, and the persistence required to build a lasting writing career.
Crime Cafe featured Debbi Mack's interview with crime writer and independent publisher, Charles D’Amico, about his Neil Baggio series.
Paul Burke joined the
Spybrary podcast to discuss
Spies on Screen, his definitive exploration of over 900 spy films and television from the earliest days of espionage cinema through James Bond, the Cold War, Slow Horses and today's streaming era.
The
Sisters in Crime podcast welcomed A.M. Loweecey to discuss her writing, including the Giulia Driscoll, P.I., mystery series.
