Gugu Mbatha-Raw has been cast in the upcoming “Loki” series at Disney Plus, Variety has confirmed with sources. Mbatha-Raw is the latest addition to the cast, joining series lead Tom Hiddleston, Sophia Di Martino, and the recently announced Owen Wilson. As with most things Marvel, the exact details of her character are being kept under wraps.
Television
Stephanie Allain has inked a first-look deal with Warner Horizon Scripted Television, fresh off her recent gig producing the Oscars. The multi-year agreement marks Allain’s first TV studio deal. Under the pact, Allain will develop new scripted programming for cable and broadcast networks, as well as streaming services, via the various divisions of the Warner
Ross Butler isn’t done playing a high schooler, at least not yet. Despite turning 30 later this year, Butler tells Variety that he’s going to work the letterman jackets he’s known to wear on-screen — on one season of “Riverdale” and, now, in Netflix’s “To All the Boys: P.S. I Still Love You” — for
Salto, the streaming service jointly created by French public broadcaster France Télévisions and commercial networks TF1 and M6, will trial the new platform with a June 3 test launch. The roll-out has been delayed for nearly a year for several reasons, including anti-trust and rights issues. While Netflix is highly popular in France with almost
Particularly when considering the series from which it was spun off, “Better Call Saul” seems like a drama unusually in love with deliberateness. The events of “Breaking Bad,” on which the character of Saul Goodman (Bob Odenkirk) first appeared, happened gradually but then all at once, as its protagonist’s slide into villainy accelerated beyond what
Netflix began its year with “The Circle,” an unscripted competition-reality series that was more interesting in theory — as an examination of the ways in which persona plays out online — than in practice. It’s following that up with “Love Is Blind,” a dating show that reverses the equation. From an utterly banal premise about
February 11, 2020 10:46AM PT UTA has promoted Michael Sinclair to the position of general counsel. Up until now, Sinclair had served as the agency’s associate general counsel. In his new role, Sinclair will manage a growing legal team and oversee all legal, regulatory and compliance strategies for the company. “This is an extremely well-deserved
Laura Chinn has signed an overall deal with Lionsgate Television. The deal extends Chinn’s relationship with the studio, which produces her comedy series “Florida Girls.” Chinn created the series, which airs on Pop, in addition to starring and executive producing. The first season debuted in July with Pop picking it up for a second season
Odette Annable has signed on for a lead role in ABC’s drama pilot “Thirtysomething(else).” The project is a continuation of the classic drama “Thirtysomething.” It will follow an ensemble of new faces playing the grown-up, 30-something children of the original cast reprised by Ken Olin (Michael Steadman), Mel Harris (Hope Murdoch), Timothy Busfield (Elliot Weston)
BBC Studios has signed with broadcaster JTBC to remake the popular legal drama “The Split” for Korean audiences. The deal marks the first format sale for a series that has already done brisk business on the international distribution landscape, selling to 119 territories worldwide. News of the deal arrives at a particularly auspicious moment for
“The Bachelor” leapt to a season high viewership on Monday night and comfortably won the TV ratings race. The ABC dating show, which last night saw Peter Weber whittle his potential partners down to four, scored a 1.8 rating among adults 18-49 and 6.4 million viewers, its highest tally so far in season 24, beating
February 11, 2020 8:24AM PT A former longtime CNBC anchor announced plans Tuesday to run against incumbent New York Democrat Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez for a Congressional seat representing parts of the Bronx and Queens. Michelle Caruso-Cabrera appeared on NBCUniversal’s CNBC for more than two decades, first as an anchor who once hosted “Power Lunch” and rose
In a recently released industry study, U.K.-based research firm K7 Media has named “The Masked Singer” as its ‘Format of the Year’ for 2019. Entitled ‘Tracking the Giants: The Top 100 Travelling Formats,’ the annual study explores the global marketplace for unscripted formats, offering an overview of sales, trends and other forces driving the market.
February 11, 2020 7:00AM PT Netflix and Spin Master Corp. are teaming for a new CG animated preschool series titled “Mighty Express.” The show hails from “PAW Patrol” creator Keith Chapman and Spin Master Entertainment, which also produces “PAW Patrol.” The new show takes place in a world where kids run the stations and work
Chinese streaming platform, and Alibaba subsidiary, Youku will exponentially increase its catalog of British scripted series thanks to a new licensing deal it has signed with BBC Studios. Building on the two companies’ existing licensing partnership, this newly announced content deal offers the Middle Kingdom platform an additional 80 hours of BBC Studios dramas. Partners
February 11, 2020 2:13AM PT Entertainment One has secured international distribution rights for the Canadian series “Family Law,” an upcoming scripted drama that mixes family dysfunction and legal intrigue. Produced by SEVEN24 Films and Lark Productions, the Vancouver-set series follows an attorney in recovery who is forced to practice family law alongside her estranged father,
“BoJack Horseman” star Will Arnett has said it’s “hard to let go” of the freshly concluded Netflix original, while admitting that the cast is still thinking up future iterations of the show. Arnett, who voiced the washed-up Hollywoo star BoJack since the show’s debut in 2014, tells Variety: “It’s bittersweet. I feel satisfied with what
SPOILER ALERT: Do not read if you have not yet watched the seventh episode of Season 24 of “The Bachelor.” This week, Peter Weber’s final six contestants were whittled down to four, who would eventually go on to hometown dates. But first, the pilot was joined by Kelley Flanagan, Madison Prewett, Hannah Ann Sluss, Natasha Parker, Kelsey
February 10, 2020 6:28PM PT There’s a genuinely intriguing story at the heart of “For Life,” ABC’s new legal procedural. But it’s buried under a fair amount of frenetic drama that tends to obscure its most interesting ideas. The show, executive produced by Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson, is based on the true story of Isaac
SPOILER ALERT: Do not read if you have not yet watched the series finale of “Power.” After six murderous seasons, Starz said goodbye to “Power” with five episodes of a “whodunit” murder mystery. “Who shot Ghost?” was the final question the show answered in its series finale. After going through the other suspects, the final
If you’re still wondering how Eminem wound up performing at this year’s Academy Awards, credit Justin Timberlake for the idea — sort of. Timberlake opened the 2017 ceremony with a performance of his hit “Can’t Stop the Feeling,” and since then, the Oscars has embraced including high-energy musical numbers to liven up the telecast. Last
February 10, 2020 3:37PM PT In today’s TV news roundup, Kiernan Shipka and Diane Kruger were cast in Quibi’s upcoming comedy series “Swimming with Sharks” and a “Neopets” animated series has been put into development. CASTING Kiernan Shipka (“Chilling Adventures of Sabrina”) and Diane Kruger (“In the Fade”) will star in Quibi’s upcoming series, “Swimming
When director Jody Margolin Hahn first heard the idea for “The Conners’s” special live episode, in which characters would be watching and reacting to the results of the New Hampshire primary arrive in real-time on TV, her first thought immediately went to that pivotal prop. “The TV is downstage. It normally lives on the fourth
February 10, 2020 1:00PM PT CBS Sports is making a bid to one-up its competitors in the rapidly developing arena for U.S. sports betting. CBS Sports and British bookmaker William Hill struck a partnership that makes William Hill, which has a sizable U.S. presence, the official sports book and provider of wagering data across all
Disney Plus has ordered an hour-long series based on the Tom Hanks Disney comedy film “Turner & Hooch,” Variety has learned. It was originally reported the show was in development in December. Josh Peck will star in the series as Scott Turner, described as an ambitious, buttoned-up U.S. Marshall who inherits a big unruly dog. He
Welcome back to Tune In: our weekly newsletter offering a guide to the best of the week’s TV. Each week, Variety’s TV team combs through the week’s schedule, selecting our picks of what to watch and when/how to watch them. This week, “High Fidelity” with Zoe Kravitz debuts on Hulu, and “Outlander” returns for season 5
The 2020 Oscars ceremony was watched by the smallest audience the awards show has ever received. 23.6 million viewers tuned in on Sunday night to see “Parasite” sweep to a surprise victory. That’s a 20%, 6 million viewer drop-off from last year. The Academy’s second hostless show in a row scored a 5.3 rating among
ABC is renewing one of its highest rated shows the morning after the Oscars. The Disney-owned network has picked up “The Good Doctor” for a fourth season. The news, announced by ABC Entertainment president Karey Burke, comes as “Good Doctor” is 13 episodes into season 3. “’The Good Doctor’ has been a cornerstone on Monday
“CSI” could be coming back to CBS. Variety has confirmed with sources that the broadcaster is eyeing a potential event series revival of the megahit show, which aired on the network from 2000-2015. The project is in the very early development stages and no original cast members are currently attached. The idea would be to
Eric and Oatcake are coming back for more “Sex Education.” Netflix has renewed the critically acclaimed high school dramedy for a third season. The news was announced by the streamer via a video on its U.K. Twitter account. The series centers on teenager Otis Milburn (Asa Butterfield), an inexperienced, socially awkward high-school student who lives