Suits continues to influence modern television, as legal dramas—directed by Ryan Murphy or otherwise—are clearly this week’s hot ticket. Glenn Close, Halle Berry, and Renée Zellweger have all signed on to take the bar for various productions. Multiple projects also found their ensemble casts this week, including the Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Theo James-led Fuze, Showtime’s Dexter prequel, and The Thursday Murder Club, which just keeps growing.
Well, it turns out Kim Kardashian will be sharing the screen with Emmy and Tony Award-winner Glenn Close and Academy Award-winner Halle Berry. The two legendary actresses have taken the bar for Ryan Murphy’s upcoming legal drama, which has also finally been given a title: All’s Fair. Described by Murphy as “a high-end, glossy and sexy adult procedural,” the show will presumably feature Close and Berry as lawyers working alongside Kardashian’s character in her all-female law firm. Specific details as to their roles have not been revealed as of this writing.
It’s a big week for well-known actresses in legal thrillers. Not letting Glenn Close and Halle Berry have all the fun, Renée Zellweger is also leading and producing her own legal drama, titled Jane Smith. The rather vaguely named series is based on the equally vaguely named novel, 12 Months To Live, by James Patterson and Mike Lupica. The logline for the upcoming Max series reads as follows: “Jane Smith centers on a brilliant, tough, and darkly funny defense attorney in the Hamptons. Up to this point, Jane (Zellweger) has only cared about winning; however, her world is completely turned upside down when, on the eve of the biggest case of her career, she is diagnosed with a terminal brain tumor. While the investigation becomes more dangerous and deeply personal, Jane refuses to let her death sentence stop her from solving this case.”
Production has started in Arkansas for Broken Trail, a new indie Western from director Johnny Remo. The film employs a large ensemble cast, including Rumer Willis (Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood), Gbenga Akinnagbe (Rob Peace), Jeff Fahey (Horizon: An American Saga—Chapter 1), Graham Greene (Echo), Eric Nelsen, James Landry Hebert, Jeremy Sumpter and Connor Esterson. Per Deadline, the film is set in 1875 and “watches as the life of Katherine (Willis) is shattered when her beloved husband falls victim to a murder orchestrated by the nefarious Colonel Davis (Fahey). Alone and overwhelmed, Katherine’s path crosses with John Scobell (Akinnagbe), a Black man with a troubled past as a former Pinkerton Agent. Despite initial reluctance, John is drawn to Katherine’s determination and the injustice of Caleb’s death. Together, they form an unlikely alliance fueled by a shared desire for retribution.”
Martín Rodríguez (Griselda) has been cast in Netflix’s En El Barro, a spinoff of Argentine TV series El Marginal, which is also available on the streamer. El Marginal ran from 2016-2022 and tells the story of an “undercover cop Pastor who infiltrates a prison while investigating a kidnapping, where he runs into a group of inmates led by the Borges brothers.” The spinoff is set in a women’s prison and follows Gladys “La Borges” Guerra (Ana Garibaldi) and Sergio Antín (Gerardo Romano) from the original series.
Forget about Knives Out 3; The Thursday Murder Club is 2024's real casting feat. Chris Columbus’ incredibly star-studded crime comedy added even more star power this week. Richard E. Grant (Withnail & I), Tom Ellis (Lucifer), Geoff Bell (Kingsman: The Secret Service), Paul Freeman (Raiders of the Lost Ark), Sarah Niles (Ted Lasso), and Ingrid Oliver (Doctor Who) have all joined they cast. They’ll star alongside previously announced names like Helen Mirren, Pierce Brosnan, Ben Kingsley, Celia Imrie, David Tennant, Jonathan Pryce, Naomi Ackie, Daniel Mays and Henry Lloyd-Hughes. Per Deadline, the film follows “a group of friends in a retirement home who gather to solve murders for fun, but find themselves caught in a real case. The four members of the club will be played by Mirren (ex-spy Elizabeth), Kingsley (ex-psychiatrist Ibrahim) Brosnan (former union activist Ron) and Imrie (ex-nurse Joyce).”
Sam Worthington (Under The Banner Of Heaven), Gugu Mbatha-Raw (Belle), Elham Ehsas (Homeland) and Honor Swinton-Byrne (The Souvenir) have signed on for Fuze, a new thriller from director David Mackenzie. They join previously announced stars Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Theo James. Per Deadline, the film is a “time-ticking thriller about a long-buried WWII bomb found in central London, sparking a citywide evacuation.”
Jennifer Lawrence is shaping up to be A24’s next darling. Last month, the No Hard Feelings star announced her new project, The Wives, a Real Housewives-inspired murder mystery that she’s starring in and producing in conjunction with the studio and Apple Original Films. Now, she’s back again with an A24 adaptation of Why Don’t You Love Me?, the graphic novel by Paul B. Rainey. No director has been tapped yet, but Robert Funke (On Becoming A God In Central Florida) is on board to write the script. The 2023 book is a comedy that centers on “a couple struggling through their marriage while feeling like something is not quite right in their reality.”
Miracle On 74th Street, a comedy about influencers, has found its own influential ensemble cast. Production has wrapped on the Jill Kargman (Odd Mom Out) film, which stars Justin Bartha (The Hangover), David Krumholtz (Oppenheimer), and Christine Taylor (Search Party). Laura Bell Bundy, Eugene Cordero, Jessica Capshaw, Clara Wong, Jason Biggs, Jenny Mollen, Sol Miranda, Olli Haaskivi, Nathan Lee Graham, and Dan Hedaya have also joined the film in supporting roles.
Kargman clearly has some real influence of her own, because the film has also reportedly tapped Drew Barrymore and Gwyneth Paltrow in cameo roles. The logline reads as follows (warning—it contains the phrase “Ozempic-sharting”): “Miracle on 74th Street follows renowned influencer Dzanielle as she navigates fake friends among the black card-swiping, Ozempic-sharting, workout-addicted Upper East Siders. In her comedic quest for a million followers, she finds her first real new friend and her true self.”
Academy Award-winning CODA actor Troy Kotsur is set to lead the next film from director Johannes Roberts, a horror feature titled Primate. Plot details are still under wraps. Roberts has a good resume in horror: he’s previously directed 47 Meters Down, Strangers: Prey At Night, and Constantin, as well as the upcoming Border Patrol and Flight.
The Auction, which sounds like a murder-y version of The Office (awesome), has hired a pretty stellar cast. Audra McDonald (The Gilded Age), K. Todd Freeman (The Horror of Dolores Roach), Mary-Louise Parker (Weeds), Richard Kind (Only Murders in the Building), and Ben Vereen (All That Jazz) are set to star. The film will be directed by William Atticus Parker, Mary-Louise’s son. He describes the project as “a workplace drama with elements of fantasy and horror,” loosely based on the novel And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie.
Bill Paxton’s son, James Paxton, is taking over in a role his late father was meant to play in the upcoming Western, Last Train To Fortune. According to Entertainment Weekly, Malcolm McDowell—who also stars in the film—has been trying to get this project made for decades. “I’ve always loved that script. It’s such a beautiful script, really,” MacDowell said. “‘Why don’t we get James Paxton to do it?’ He’d be the same age as his dad was, almost. A little bit younger, but even better.’” In the film, Paxton will play an outlaw named Jedediah Dooley, who strikes a deal with McDowell’s character, a teacher, to travel together.
Grey’s Anatomy’s Kevin McKidd is going straight from the hospital to story hour. The actor is set to star in The Primrose Railway Children, a 90-minute special on BBC children’s channel, CBBC. The feature-length film is being adapted from Jacqueline Wilson’s novel of the same name, which is itself an adaptation of E. Nesbit’s classic The Railway Children. Per The Hollywood Reporter, “The story follows Phoebe, her older sister Becks, older brother Perry and their mother who are living a comfortable life in Glasgow when suddenly they are uprooted and moved to the remote highlands of Scotland.”
Westworld’s Angela Sarafyan is finding her humanity. The actor is set to star in Ponchik, a new, semi-autobiographical dramedy from writer-director, Natalie Shirinian. The film follows a first-generation Armenian American living in Little Armenia, Los Angeles with her immigrant parents.
Sam Claflin and Patrick Stewart are set to star in Netflix’s Barbaric, a violent fantasy series currently being circled by Michael Bay to direct. Based on the popular Vault Comics series of the same name, the story is clearly not for the faint of heart. “Owen the Barbarian has been cursed to do good with what remains of his life. His bloodthirsty weapon, Axe, has become his moral compass with a drinking problem. Together they wander the realm, foredoomed to help any who seek assistance. But there is one thing Owen hates more than a life with rules: Witches,” an official synopsis of volume 1 from Vault Comics’ site reads. Claflin will be playing Owen while Stewart, hilariously, has been cast as the drinking, talking ax.
Danny Ramirez (Top Gun: Maverick) is set to star opposite Joaquin Phoenix in Todd Haynes’ newest project, an untitled detective film. While details are mostly being kept under wraps, Deadline reports that the film follows “two men, one played by Phoenix (the other presumably played by Ramirez), who are intense lovers and leave California for Mexico.”
Dexter: Original Sin, Showtime’s 1991-set Dexter prequel, has found nine more actors to play recurring characters in its upcoming first season. The newly announced cast includes Joe Pantoliano (The Sopranos), Brittany Allen (The Boys), Randy Gonzalez (Bloodline), Aaron Jennings (Pure Genius), Raquel Justice (One Day at a Time), Jasper Lewis (V/H/S), Carlo Mendez (The Bay), Isaac Gonzalez Rossi (That’s Amor), and Roberto Sanchez (Palm Royale). They join previously announced cast members Patrick Gibson (young Dexter), Christian Slater, Molly Brown, James Martinez, Christina Milian, Reno Wilson, Alex Shimizu, Patrick Dempsey and Sarah Michelle Geller.