‘Élite’ Sets April Return for Season 5; HBO Announces ‘The Invisible Pilot’ Premiere (TV News Roundup)

Season 5 of the popular Spanish teen drama “Élite” will debut April 8, Netflix announced Monday.

Set in the private, elite secondary school Las Encinas, “Élite” follows an ensemble cast of students that constantly find themselves involved with various murder and police investigations. When they’re not running into trouble with the law, the mixed group of working class and wealthy teenagers navigate intense relationship dramas and the heavy workload of their demanding institution.

Season 5 of “Élite” follows the students as they recover from the Season 4 finale, which saw Guzmán (Miguel Bernardeau) murder a man named Armando (Andrés Velencoso) and go on the run after his friends help cover it up. Season 4 cast members Itzan Escamilla, Omar Ayuso, Claudia Salas, Georgina Amorós, Carla Díaz, Martina Cariddi, Manu Ríos, Pol Granch and Diego Martín return for the new season, joined by new cast members Valentina Zenere, André Lamoglia and Adam Nourou.

“Élite” is created by Carlos Montero and Darío Madrona, who executive produce with Diego Betancor and Iñaki Juaristi. The series is produced by Spanish production company Zeta Studios. In addition to announcing the premiere date, Netflix has also unveiled first look photos at the upcoming season. View below.

Also in today’s TV News Roundup:

DATES

“The Invisible Pilot” is set to debut on HBO and HBO Max April 4. The three-part documentary dives into the mysterious death of Gary Betzner — an Arkansas father and pilot who jumped off a bridge in 1977, despite having a seemingly happy home and successful career. Investigations into Betzner’s story uncover drug smuggling, gun running, covert war connections with the U.S. government and more. “The Invisible Pilot” is directed by Phil Lott and Ari Mark. Executive producers for the HBO Original include Adam McKay, Todd Schulman, Ari Mark, Phil Lott, Craig Hodges, Jon Bryant Crawford, Nancy Abraham and Lisa Heller. Ben Selkow serves as co-executive producer. Additional producers include Martine Phelan-Roberts, David Tillman, co-producer Madison Passarelli and senior producer Tina Nguyen. The HBO Documentary Films project comes from Ample Entertainment and Hyperobject Industries.

CASTING

Gbenga Akinnagbe (“The Deuce”), Kyle Vincent Terry (“Headhunter”) and Caroline Chikezie (“The Passage”) will join Season 3 of “Power Book II: Ghost” as recurring cast members, Starz announced on Monday. “Power Book II: Ghost” is the first spin off of the “Power” franchise, following Tariq St. Patrick (Michael Rainey Jr.) and his quest to protect his family amid intense business negotiations, drug operations and more. The “Power” universe is executive produced by “Power” creator and showrunner Courtney A. Kemp through her production company End of Episode, Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson through G-Unit Film and Television, and Mark Canton through Atmosphere Entertainment MM. Executive producers for Season 3 of “Power Book II: Ghost” include Kemp, Jackson, Canton, Chris Selak and Brett Mahoney, who will also serve as showrunner. Geary McLeod will serve as supervising producer and directs Season 3’s premiere episode. Lionsgate Television produces the drama series for Starz.

Fox Weather has hired meteorologist Bryan Norcross, who will serve as hurricane specialist and contributor for Fox New Media’s free ad-supported streaming television (FAST) weather service, starting March 14. Norcross most recently served as a hurricane specialist at ABC affiliate WPLG-TV in Miami. Throughout his career, which spans over five decades, Norcross has also spent time at CNN, CBS and The Weather Channel, where he became executive director of weather content and presentation before leaving in 2018. Norcross also received the Neil Frank Award from the National Hurricane Conference in 2019. “I’m thrilled to join old friends and new colleagues at Fox Weather as we build a dynamic new weather service,” stated Norcross. “As always, my focus will be on keeping people safe by providing the best hurricane-forecast information possible.”

AWARDS

Prominent late night comedian and writer Dick Cavett will receive the Writers Guild of America East’s 2022 Evelyn F. Burkey Award. Seth Meyers will present the Burkey Award to Cavett on Sunday — during the 2022 Writers Guild Awards joint virtual ceremony hosted by Ashley Nicole Black. Cavett, who has been a Guild member since 1961, most notably hosted “The Dick Cavett Show” starting in 1968. Landmark episodes included Groucho Marx’s one-man show, a post-Woodstock Festival special and Judy Collins on being a defense witness at the Chicago Seven trial, which was famously censored. Cavett’s career of late night series and other primetime television endeavors featured writers like Alfred Hitchcock, John Cassavetes, Mel Brooks, Stephen King, Alice Walker, Steve Martin, Spike Lee, Nora Ephron and more. “I am very grateful to receive this distinguished award from my union and want to thank all the people, throughout my career, who have helped me create television that we aimed to make socially relevant, conversationally enlightening, and eye-opening fun,” stated Cavett.

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

NBCU Launch has partnered with Telemundo with the mission of increasing the number of Latina and Hispanic female directors in scripted television – noting that, according to a recent DGA Episodic TV Director Inclusion Report, only 2.4% of scripted series episodes had Latina directors in the 2019-2020 season. The partnership serves as an extension of Telemundo’s Mujeres Imparables (Unstoppable Women) initiative. As part of the partnership’s efforts, NBCU Launch is introducing a Telemundo track in its Female Forward initiative. Starting with the upcoming 2022-2023 class, two Female Forward applicants who select the Telemundo track will shadow at least two episodes of a Telemundo scripted series — leading to at least one in-season directing credit on the same series. Submissions for Female Forward, which focuses on female directors, and the NBCU Launch TV Directors Program, which aims to reach ethnically diverse male and nonbinary directors, opened Monday. Submissions will close April 3. Learn more and apply on NBCU Launch’s website.

SeriesFest and Shonda Rhimes’ Shondaland have also launched efforts to create new opportunities for rising female directors with the “Women Directing Mentorship.” Jennifer Morris has been chosen as the recipient for this year’s third annual award, which includes an on-set opportunity for one of Shondaland’s productions, a $5,000 stipend, and a trip to SeriesFest Season 8 (May 5 to 11, 2022). The 2020 mentorship honoree, Tamika Miller, recently made her directorial debut on Shondaland’s ABC series “Station 19” (her episode airs this Thursday). Submissions for a new fourth cycle is now open at http://www.seriesfest.com, with all entry fees for individuals waived courtesy of SeriesFest’s Inclusion Initiative in partnership with Royal Bank of Canada. “This program has introduced us to so many amazingly talented women who have such unique voices and incredible vision,” said SeriesFest co-founders Randi Kleiner and Kaily Smith Westbrook in a joint statement.

PROGRAMMING

Marlee Matlin (“CODA”) will make her directorial debut with an episode for Fox’s “Accused” — a new series based on BBC’s crime anthology, set to dive into an array of crimes told from the defendants’ point of view. The episode that Matlin is directing features a deaf woman who, after becoming a surrogate, commits a crime for advocacy and protection. Hailing from Sony Pictures Television and Fox Entertainment, “Accused” is executive-produced by Howard Gordon, Alex Gansa, David Shore, Glenn Geller, Erin Gunn, Frank Siracusa, John Weber and All3Media America’s Jacob Cohen-Holmes — as well as Jimmy McGovern, Sita Williams, Roxy Spencer and Louise Pedersen for All3Media International. The original series, created by Jimmy McGovern, debuted in 2010 on BBC One. “I could not be more excited for the opportunity to direct, and to work on a project with such esteemed, talented, and skilled producers, writers, cast and crew,” said Matlin in a statement. “I’ve never shied away from challenges and having the opportunity to be one of the first female, Deaf directors in television is one I am looking forward to.”

Comedy Central announced that “The Daily Show with Trevor Noah” will return to its 733 11th Avenue studio and welcome live, in-house audiences once more starting April 11. The April return follows a planned hiatus beginning March 18, which will lead up to Noah hosting the Grammy Awards on April 3. The homecoming will continue to provide audiences with classic news satire and thought-provoking commentary on race, politics and more (as seen in “The Daily Social Distancing Show” throughout the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic). The late-night franchise features Noah as host with correspondents Ronny Chieng, Michael Kosta, Desi Lydic, Dulcé Sloan and Roy Wood Jr. – along with contributors Lewis Black and Jordan Klepper. “The Daily Show” airs weeknights at 11 p.m. ET on Comedy Central and is available the following morning on Paramount Plus. In-person tickets can be purchased on “The Daily Show” website.

LATE NIGHT

Lin-Manuel Miranda, Brian Cox and Sebastián Yatra will guest on “Jimmy Kimmel Live” this Monday, while Marisa Tomei and Mae Muller will appear on “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.” “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” will feature Sandra Bullock and Billy Strings, while “Late Night With Seth Meyers” will feature Holly Hunter, Patti Harrison and Catherine Cohen.