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:

AWARDS

The 46th annual Saturn Awards were presented October 26. The Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films, which skipped 2020, extended the Saturn Awards eligibility period to allow works released from July 15, 2019-November 15, 2020. There were actually several crime dramas included, most notably Knives Out, which won for Best Thriller Film Release, Best Supporting Actress in a Film (Ana De Armas), Best Film Editing (Bob Ducsay), and Best 4K Film Release. Best Fantasy Film Release was won by Once Upon a Time In Hollywood (more of an alternate timeline than pure fantasy); Best Action/Thriller Television Series was Better Call Saul; and Best Film Presentation on Streaming Media went to Enola Holmes (Netflix).

THE BIG SCREEN/MOVIES

Ryan Phillippe, Kate Bosworth, and Ving Rhames are set to star in the thriller, The Locksmith. The project follows Miller, an expert locksmith fresh out of prison after a job gone bad. Back home, he tries to work his way back into the life of his daughter and his ex-girlfriend, Beth, who is now a police detective. Determined to make a clean start, he is forced to use the only skills he has as a gifted locksmith, but things soon get complicated after an unexpected kidnapping. The current target release date is September, 2022.

Lionsgate bought Simon Kinberg's spec script (i.e. a non-commissioned and unsolicited screenplay), titled Wayland, which Jessica Chastain will produce with Michael Showalter set as director. Wayland is described as "an ensemble drama thriller that has shades of A Simple Plan and Knives Out." There's no word as to whether Chastain herself will star in the project, although plans are still in the preliminary stages. This is only the second spec Kinberg wrote in the last 20 years since he broke on the scene with his first such attempt, Mr. & Mrs. Smith, although he's since gone on to write several commissioned blockbusters such as Sherlock Holmes and installments in the X-Men series.

Roberto Urbina, McCaul Lombardi, Julieth Restrepo, Kendal Rae, Luis Chávez, Julio César Cedillo, Manuel Uriza, and Chris Mulkey star in Deadland, an indie thriller from director Lance Larson, with filming in Oklahoma and Texas. The story centers on border agent Angel Waters (Urbina), who is called to investigate a man who walks the harsh plains of the South Texas desert—but what should be a routine apprehension quickly turns into his worst nightmare.

TELEVISION/STREAMING SERVICES

Former Burn Notice star, Jeffrey Donovan, has been tapped as a lead in NBC’s upcoming Law & Order revival, playing a new character, an NYPD detective, on Season 21 of Dick Wolf’s venerable crime drama. The new season is expected to also feature several alums from the original series, with Sam Waterston and Anthony Anderson believed to be in talks to return. The new installment of Law & Order, from Wolf and writer-showrunner Rick Eid, will continue the classic bifurcated format and will once again examine “the police who investigate crime and the district attorneys who prosecute the offenders.”

Denzil Meyrick's DCI Daley series will be adapted for television, and will star Game of Thrones actor, Rory McCann, in the lead role. Rights to the books have been secured to adapt and produce the series by Ocean Independent, the production arm of talent agency Emptage Hallett, together with Fudge Park, award-winning producer of The Inbetweeners. The series will be written and directed by leading Scottish playwright and screenwriter, Anthony Neilson. 

Bodyguard star, Nina Toussaint-White, is to lead a Channel 5 thriller playing Jodie in Witness No.3, a single mother who runs a hairdressing salon. One day at work, Jodie momentarily glances out of the window and in a split second her life descends into freefall. What she notices seems innocuous—two men walking on the opposite side of the road—but she’s actually witnessed a killer and his victim moments before a murder. Joining the ensemble cast are Sion Daniel Young, Clare Dunne, Ruaridh Mollica, and Sue Johnston.

Jenna Dewan has been promoted to a series regular for the current fourth season of ABC's cop drama, The Rookie. Dewan plays firefighter Bailey Nune, "fun and unpredictable with a subversive sense of humor," who was asked out by Nolan (Nathan Fillion) after a meet-cute in the Season 3 finale. Dewan has appeared in four of the first six episodes thus far.

The Amazon drama series, Hannah, will end its run with its upcoming third season. The action thriller, which comes from showrunner David Farr, is based on the 2011 feature film directed by Joe Wright and follows the journey of Hanna (played by Esmé Creed-Miles), an extraordinary young woman who was created by the sinister organization Utrax and trained to be an assassin. Hanna is now secretly trying to destroy Utrax from the inside to free herself from its grasp, all with the help of her previous nemesis, former CIA agent Marissa Wiegler (Mireille Enos). Together, they have coerced high-ranking Utrax agent John Carmichael (Dermot Mulroney) into aiding their mission. But her fellow young assassins, Sandy (Áine Rose Daly) and Jules (Gianna Kiehl), and new foes are starting to suspect Hanna’s plot.

PODCASTS/VIDEO/RADIO/AUDIO

Read or Dead discussed mystery and suspense works by Native American authors in honor of National Native American Heritage Month.

Alison Gaylin stopped by Speaking of Mysteries to discuss her latest psychological suspense thriller, The Collective, which was recently optioned by Yellow Bird UK for development into a TV series.

The latest guest on Wrong Place, Write Crime was author Adam Bregman, talking about his new novel, Angelino Heights, a gritty thriller set in Los Angeles.

My Favorite Detective Stories welcomed Caroline Mitchell, an Irish author and former police detective. Her crime thriller, Truth And Lies, is a New York Times best seller and has been optioned for TV by Awesome Media. The book is the first installment in the DI Amy Winter series.

It Was a Dark and Stormy Book Club chatted with Robbie Bach about her latest novel, The Wilkes Insurrection, a contemporary thriller of "anarchic obsession and heroic ambition."

Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine's podcast featured Marilyn Todd's historical mystery short story, "Long Slow Dance Through the Passage of Time," as read by actor Mandie Davis.

On Crime Time FM, Joanne Harris chatted with host, Paul Burke, about her novel, A Narrow Door, and about being a schoolteacher, misogyny, and more.

THEATRE

Oscar nominee and two-time Emmy winner, Greg Kinnear, will make his Broadway debut as Atticus Finch in Aaron Sorkin's stage adaptation of Harper Lee's novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, beginning January 5 at the Shubert Theatre. He succeeds Tony nominee and Emmy winner, Jeff Daniels, whose final performance is January 2. Directed by Bartlett Sher, the play resumed performances October 5—after being shuttered by the pandemic—with the return of two of its original stars: Daniels as Finch and Celia Keenan-Bolger in her Tony-winning performance as Scout Finch. To Kill a Mockingbird will also launch its national tour March 27, 2022, at Shea's Performing Arts Center in Buffalo, N.Y., starring Richard Thomas, while on the other side of the Atlantic, performances will begin in London at the Gielgud Theatre March 10, 2022, starring Rafe Spall.

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