News Shotgun 11/20/21

It’s all the movie and TV news you need to know from the past week, it’s the News Shotgun

• Sabine Wren cast for Ashoka series: A main cast member of Star Wars Rebels will make her live-action debut in the upcoming Ashoka Disney+ limited series with Natasha Liu Bordizzo cast as Mandalorian Sabine Wren.  Sabine was a crew member of the Ghost as well as a former member of House Viszla aka Death Watch, the same fanatical group that raised Din Djarin and she was also one of the characters who had the Darksaber.  At the end of Rebels, she joined Ashoka to try and track down Grand Admiral Thrawn and Ezra Bridger, who disappeared into an unknown region of the universe.  Rosario Dawson will return to the live-action series to play Ashoka, who she played in Season 2 of The Mandalorian.
• Delroy Lindo joins Blade: The great Delroy Lindo will join Mahershala Ali in the upcoming MCU reboot of Blade.  Lindo’s part is unknown at the current time.  The movie is being directed by Bassam Tariq and production is set to begin in the late summer of next year.
• Christoph Waltz starring in Amazon dark comedy The Consultant: Christoph Waltz is heading to Amazon for a new dark comedy series called The Consultant.  The series, ” explores the sinister relationship between boss and employee, asking how far we will go to get ahead and to survive”.  Servant producer Tony Basgallop and Wandavision producer Matt Shakman are behind the series.
• Earthworm Jim series in development: A new animated series based on the 90s video game character Earthworm Jim is in development from the current rights holder, Interplay.  Interplay is looking to turn many of their IP into TV shows or movies.  Jim had a cartoon series in the 90s with Simpsons actor Dan Castellaneta voicing Jim.
• Martin Scorsese directing a Jerry Garcia biopic: Martin Scorsese is getting into the musical biopic genre with a movie following the life of Grateful Dead frontman Jerry Garcia, with Scorsese regular Jonah Hill playing the iconic musician.  It’s not clear if the movie will cover all of Garcia’s life or focus on a specific period of his career.
• Under Siege reboot in the works at HBO Max: Arguably Steven Seagal’s best movie, Under Siege is getting rebooted as an HBO Max original movie with The Night Comes for Us and VHS 94 director Timo Tjahjanto behind the camera with Extraction screenwriter Umair Aleem writing the script.  It’s not clear if this reboot will have the same premise as the original, where a Navy battleship is hijacked and Navy SEAL Casey Ryback has to stop the hijackers Die Hard style.  There’s also no word on casting for a new Casey Ryback or equivalent character or if this new reboot will feature the duo of villains that the original had, who were played by Tommy Lee Jones and Gary Busey.
• Randall Park starring in Netflix Blockbuster comedy: Possibly based on the success of their documentary on the last Blockbuster, Randall Park is starring in a comedy series about said Blockbuster Video and what it takes to run the last remnant of a once-ubiquitous brand.  Vanessa Ramos will executive produce the series after producing Brooklyn Nine-Nine and Superstore.  Netflix has ordered 10 episodes of the series for a first season.
• Dolph Lundgren making a documentary about himself: If any action star deserves a documentary about their life, it’s Dolph Lundgren and the man himself will executive produce a documentary exploring his life and career.  Dolph has a master’s degree in chemical engineering, worked as a bodyguard for Grace Jones, which led to a small part in A View to a Kill and then Rocky IV and there are even more interesting facets to explore.  Andrew Holmes is writing and directing the documentary.
• David Harbour starring in Christmas action movie Violent Night: David Harbour is starring in a holiday-themed action movie from John Wick’s David Leitch, with Dead Snow director Tommy Wirkola directing.  There are not any specific plot details but it’s being described as a dark, violent thriller set around the holidays.
• Levar Burton hosting a Trivial Pursuit game show: After his stint hosting Jeopardy, Levar Burton is getting his own trivia game show with an adaptation of Trivial Pursuit.  It’s not clear how the show will work or where it will air.
• Mel Gibson is in talks to direct Lethal Weapon 5: With the passing of Richard Donner earlier this year, Mel Gibson is stepping behind the camera as well as in front of it for the fifth entry in the Lethal Weapon film series.  The movie will be an HBO Max exclusive and Donner expressed his desire that if he were to pass, he wanted Gibson to direct the film he was working on the script for.  Gibson will also reprise his role as Martin Riggs but it’s unclear if Danny Glover will return as Roger Murtaugh.  The movie will be the final movie in the franchise.
• Pumpkinhead remake in the works: Paramount is developing a remake of Stan Winston’s cult 80s horror movie Pumpkinhead.  Paramount Players, a label under the main Paramount umbrella, is behind the remake and was also behind movies like Paranormal Activity: Next of Kin and the upcoming Orphan: First Kill.  The original Pumpkinhead starred Lance Henriksen as a father whose son is killed in a horrific accident involving a group of teens.  Seeking revenge, Henriksen goes to a witch who casts a spell to summon the monstrous Pumpkinhead, who sets out to kill everyone involved in the incident.  Given a branch of Paramount is producing this movie, it seems like a good bet that this could end up being a Paramount+ exclusive.
• Boston Strangler movie casts Carrie Coon, Alessandro Nivola & Chris Cooper: 20th Century Films is producing a movie based around the Boston Strangler case, and Carrie Coon, Alessandro Nivola, and Chris Cooper joined the cast.  The movie is being produced by Ridley Scott and written and directed by Matt Ruskin.  The movie stars Keira Knightly as reporter Loretta McLaughlin, who was the first journalist to realize the killings of the Boston Strangler were connected and broke the story about the infamous killer.