Daveed Diggs had the honor of breaking the news Snowpiercer has been renewed for a fourth season ahead of its season three premiere. TNT dropped a short video from the Vancouver set of season three, with Diggs confirming the series has picked up a fourth season order and thanking fans for their support.
“If you liked season one and two, I have no reason to assume you won’t love season three and four. It only gets bigger and more Snowpiercer-er,” teased Diggs.
“Snowpiercer has been an incredibly successful series for us that continues to capture the imagination of viewers, grow audience and maintain strong ratings,” stated Sam Linsky and Adrienne O’Riain, co-heads of scripted original programming for TBS, TNT and truTV. “All of our seasons embark on an emotional, unexpected ride and the well-plotted storylines will continue to evolve and remain relevant to audiences. We’re excited to keep the train running into season four.”
In addition to Grammy and Tony Award winner Daveed Diggs (Hamilton), the season three cast includes Oscar winner Jennifer Connelly, Sean Bean, Emmy nominee Alison Wright, Rowan Blanchard, Mickey Sumner, Iddo Goldberg, Katie McGuinness, Mike O’Malley, and Tony Award winner Lena Hall. Annalise Basso, Sam Otto, Roberto Urbina, Sheila Vand, and Steven Ogg also star in season three.
Newcomers for the upcoming third season include Emmy nominee Archie Panjabi and Chelsea Harris.
Graeme Manson, Aubrey Nealon, Marty Adelstein, Becky Clements, Matthew O’Connor, Ben Rosenblatt, and Scott Derrickson executive produce along with the original film’s producers Bong Joon Ho, Miky Lee, Jinnie Choi, Park Chan-wook, Lee Tae-hun and Dooho Choi.
Daveed Diggs and Jennifer Connelly star in ‘Snowpiercer’ (Photo Credit: TNT)
Details on Snowpiercer Season 3, Courtesy of TNT:
At the end of Snowpiercer season two, Layton (Diggs) and Ruth (Wright), who were banished to Big Alice’s compost car, plotted to take back Snowpiercer. With the help of Javier (Urbina) and Alexandra (Blanchard), Layton and Ruth made it back to Snowpiercer and rallied with their supporters. Josie (McGuiness) destroyed the Aquarium car separating Snowpiercer’s head from the remaining 1,023 cars. With Layton in command of a 10-car “pirate train,” he and his team rushed to Breslauer Research Station to find Melanie (Connelly).
Season three picks up with Layton (Diggs) and his inner circle commanding a small pirate train in search of Melanie (Connelly) and a possible warm location to restart civilization, aided by a newfound survivor. Back on Snowpiercer, Mr. Wilford (Bean) is consolidating power, foiled only by secret allies of Layton’s hidden on the train, committed to the cause.
The official trailer for Apple TV+’s See finds Jason Momoa and Dave Bautista squaring off in what promises to be an action-heavy season two. The new trailer arrives a month out from the season two premiere set for August 27, 2021.
In addition to Jason Momoa and Dave Bautista, the cast includes Alfre Woodard, Eden Epstein (Sweetbitter), Tom Mison (Watchmen), Hoon Lee (Warrior), and Olivia Cheng (Warrior). David Hewlett (The Shape of Water) and Tamara Tunie (Flight) also star.
Season two will consist of eight episodes, with new episodes arriving on Fridays. Season one is currently available to binge on Apple TV+. In June, the streaming service announced the epic drama has been renewed for a third season.
Steven Knight, Francis Lawrence, Peter Chernin, Jenno Topping, Jim Rowe and Jonathan Tropper serve as executive producers. Tropper is also the series’ showrunner.
The Plot, Courtesy of Apple TV+:
See is set in a brutal and primitive future, hundreds of years after humankind has lost the ability to see. In season two, Baba Voss (Momoa) is struggling to reunite his family while protecting them as the threat of war looms between the Kingdom of Paya and the Trivantian Republic. Despite his best efforts, his wife and sighted children are pulled to the forefront of the conflict, where they come to the attention of his estranged brother, Edo Voss (Bautista), a powerful and cunning Trivantian General, whose long-simmering hatred for his brother imperils them all even further.
Poster for season 2 of ‘See’ starring Jason Momoa (Photo Credit: Apple TV+)
Jodie Whittaker as The Doctor in ‘Doctor Who’ Season 12 Episode 10 (Photo Credit: James Pardon/BBC Studios/BBC America)
Jodie Whittaker will finish out her run as the Thirteenth Doctor with the upcoming six episode season of Doctor Who and three subsequent specials set for 2022. The thirteenth series of Doctor Who will premiere later this year, with the first special arriving on New Year’s Day 2022. The second special will air next spring followed by a feature-length special (in which the Thirteenth Doctor will regenerate) coming in autumn 2022.
Writer, executive producer, and showrunner Chris Chibnall is also leaving after the thirteenth series.
Production began on the new season in October 2020 with Whittaker and Mandip Gill (“Yaz”) in starring roles. John Bishop joins the cast playing Dan Lewis in series 13 and Jacob Anderson recurs as Vinder.
Chibnall has been the Doctor Who showrunner since 2017. During his tenure he introduced the world to the first female Doctor and cast Gill as Yaz, Tosin Cole as Ryan, Bradley Walsh as Graham, Sacha Dhawan as The Master, and Jo Martin as the Fugitive Doctor.
“Jodie and I made a ‘three series and out’ pact with each other at the start of this once-in-a-lifetime blast. So now our shift is done, and we’re handing back the TARDIS keys,” explained Chibnall.
He continued: “Jodie’s magnificent, iconic Doctor has exceeded all our high expectations. She’s been the gold standard leading actor, shouldering the responsibility of being the first female Doctor with style, strength, warmth, generosity and humour. She captured the public imagination and continues to inspire adoration around the world, as well as from everyone on the production. I can’t imagine working with a more inspiring Doctor – so I’m not going to!
For me, leading this exceptional team has been unrivalled creative fun, and one of the great joys of my career. I’m so proud of the people we’ve worked with and the stories we’ve told. To finish our time on the show with an additional Special, after the pandemic changed and challenged our production plans, is a lovely bonus. It’s great that the climax of the Thirteenth Doctor’s story will be at the heart(s) of the BBC’s centenary celebrations. I wish our successors – whoever the BBC and BBC Studios choose – as much fun as we’ve had. They’re in for a treat!”
Jodie Whittaker was voted the 2nd most popular Doctor in the series’ history in a poll of fans conducted by Radio Times. Only David Tennant ranked higher.
“In 2017 I opened my glorious gift box of size 13 shoes,” said Whittaker. “I could not have guessed the brilliant adventures, worlds and wonders I was to see in them. My heart is so full of love for this show, for the team who make it, for the fans who watch it and for what it has brought to my life. And I cannot thank Chris enough for entrusting me with his incredible stories. We knew that we wanted to ride this wave side by side and pass on the baton together. So here we are, weeks away from wrapping on the best job I have ever had. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to express what this role has given me. I will carry the Doctor and the lessons I’ve learnt forever.
I know change can be scary and none of us know what’s out there. That’s why we keep looking. Travel Hopefully. The Universe will surprise you. Constantly.”
Director of BBC Drama Piers Wenger commented on the upcoming departure of Whittaker and Chibnall, saying, “Over the last four years Chris and Jodie have made Doctor Who history and their time on the show is indelibly marked on our memories. From Rosa Parks to Ascension of the Cybermen, Chris and Jodie have given Doctor Who some of its most life-affirming and tear-jerking moments to date and we are beyond excited to see what they have in store for us in the new series this Autumn. Jodie’s final adventure to mark the BBC’s Centenary in 2022 is set to be a Doctor Who Special to remember. I’d like to thank them both for their incredible work on the show.”
Doctor Who is a BBC Studios production for BBC One and a BBC AMERICA co-production.
Smart move, Netflix. The streaming service has given a much-deserved second season order to Sweet Tooth, the fantasy drama based on the DC comic books by Jeff Lemire. According to Netflix, more than 60 million households watched the first season over its first four weeks in release.
The series focuses on a young human/animal hybrid named Gus who’s a mix of boy and deer. Christian Convery stars as Gus, Nonso Anozie is Jepperd, Adeel Akhtar is Dr. Singh, Will Forte is Richard, and Stefania LaVie Owen is Bear. The season one cast also included Dania Ramirez as Aimee Eden, Aliza Vellani as Rani Singh, and Neil Sandilands as General Abbot. James Brolin is the narrator.
Season one’s eight episodes launched on June, 4, 2021 and ended with Gus and his hybrid friends captured and on the verge of being used as research for a cure. Netflix confirmed season two will also consist of eight episodes, but didn’t offer any clues as to at what’s in store for the hybrids.
“It’s been equally thrilling and heartwarming to experience how people around the world have been falling in love with our deer-boy. We couldn’t be more excited to continue our collaboration with Netflix and keep following Gus and his friends on their extraordinary journey,” stated executive producer, writer, director, and showrunner Jim Mickle.
Susan Downey, Robert Downey Jr., Amanda Burrell, and Linda Moran will return as executive producers for season two. Evan Moore returns as a producer and Oanh Ly (Chilling Adventures of Sabrina) joins the team as a co-executive producer. The series is produced by Team Downey in association with Warner Bros. Television.
The Season 1 Plot:
Ten years ago “The Great Crumble” wreaked havoc on the world and led to the mysterious emergence of hybrids — babies born part human, part animal. Unsure if hybrids are the cause or result of the virus, many humans fear and hunt them. After a decade of living safely in his secluded forest home, a sheltered hybrid deer-boy named Gus (Convery) unexpectedly befriends a wandering loner named Jepperd (Anozie).
Together they set out on an extraordinary adventure across what’s left of America in search of answers— about Gus’ origins, Jepperd’s past, and the true meaning of home. But their story is full of unexpected allies and enemies, and Gus quickly learns the lush, dangerous world outside the forest is more complex than he ever could have imagined.
Lin-Manuel Miranda (In the Heights, Hamilton) has been eager to tell the story of a music-loving kinkajou since 2009. Miranda wrote many of the songs for Netflix and Sony Pictures Animation’s upcoming animated film, Vivo, over a decade ago and then recently reunited with his In the Heights co-writer, Quiara Alegría Hudes, to pull together Vivo’s story.
Miranda provides the voice of Vivo, a brave kinkajou who embarks on a mission to honor a dear friend’s memory and deliver a special song to the woman who inspired it. Vivo’s story begins in Cuba and then travels from there to Florida’s Key West and through the Everglades before ultimately finishing up in Miami. The film’s vibrant visuals reflect the tropical locations, and the music mixes different styles including salsa, boleros, danzón, and reggaeton.
Netflix recently hosted a special virtual press event in support of the animated film set to premiere on the streaming service on August 6, 2021. Among those participating in the Vivo online press event were writer/director Kirk DeMicco (The Croods) and writer Quiara Alegría Hudes.
Writer/director DeMicco became involved in the project back in 2016. “One of the coolest things that I felt right from the get-go was that this truly was a musical about musicians,” explained DeMicco. “And it was about the music of Cuba, of Miami, of Florida, of the Caribbean, and it had a lot of different styles. And we thought that we could bring in the style of both the classic and the new and the styles of each local as we went through this road movie, if you will, as a journey, a mission, as Vivo travels from Havana to Key West.”
“A classic is a book that has never finished saying what it needs to say,” added Hudes. “That’s where the love song comes in. Kirk said we were writing a musical about musicians, but of course, musicians are humans. And at the core of this journey, what initiates this journey is a regret and incomplete love story that Vivo just feels determined to honor and to complete.”
Lin-Manuel Miranda developed two of the main characters: Vivo the kinkajou and his human best friend/mentor Andrés who perform before crowds in La Placita in Old Havana. DeMicco and Quiara came up with a young aspirational female character named Gabi who helps Vivo on his mission.
“I imbued this character of Gabi with a lot of life and creativity, and spunk, and pizzaz, and wildness. I was really excited to write a wild girl. I feel like a lot of the girl characters that I iconically grew up with in fairytales and stuff were dealing with being good girls and dealing with being nice,” explained Hudes. “I wanted Gabi to not be dealing with that. Gabi was just wild and the world was gonna get on board with her or not. And what she was dealing with was some of the ramifications of isolation when you’re a person who really does march to the beat of your own drum. Of course, her friendship with Vivo becomes a counter to that isolation.”
Kirk DeMicco has nothing but praise for Lin-Manuel Miranda and his work bringing Vivo to life. “Lin not only has an encyclopedic memory of hip hop and rap and musical theater, but also animation. He could teach an animation class. The amount of animation knowledge he has is astounding,” said DeMicco. “While we’d be having fun recording scenes, he would also be sometimes recording a scene and then, later on, he would take that scene he had recorded as an actor and work many times on refining the words or refining the rhythms of the scene, and we would cut it and put it into the film. And then decide later on, ‘What if I musicalize this scene?’ And then he’d take that scene out. So, it’s not a lot of actors…I think it’s pretty unique that he was a songwriter, storyteller, and the lead actor in it.”
DeMicco continued: “A lot of times he had to kill his own darlings because he had worked really hard on the acting part, but when creating the song much of that acting would end up on the cutting room floor and he would just take the best of the best. It was like a highlight reel of some of the scenes. The one, in particular, is the middle song, ‘Keep the Beat,’ which happened over last summer during the lockdown. When he wrote it last summer, that scene had existed for two years, and it was a great scene between Gabi and Vivo playing the drums in the first, you know, flames of a friendship, the first sparks of a friendship had started. And he had taken what was a very funny scene and then turned it into this very emotional song, so that it had the ideas that he loved about the scene, but at the same time it gave him some architecture for the musical that he was still writing in his head.”
Summing up the story, Lin-Manuel Miranda describes Vivo as “about music being able to bridge distances. It’s about how music and love are really sort of the same thing.”
In addition to Lin-Manuel Miranda in the title role, the voice cast includes Gloria Estefan as Marta Sandoval, Zoe Saldaña as Rosa, Juan de Marcos as Andrés, Brian Tyree Henry as Dancarino, Michael Rooker as Lutador, Nicole Byer as Valentina, and newcomer Ynairaly Simo as Gabi.
The Plot, Courtesy of Netflix:
Vivo follows a one-of-kind kinkajou (aka a rainforest “honey bear”), who spends his days playing music to the crowds in a lively square with his beloved owner Andrés. Though they may not speak the same language, Vivo and Andrés are the perfect duo through their common love of music. But when tragedy strikes shortly after Andrés receives a letter from the famous Marta Sandoval, inviting her old partner to her farewell concert with the hope of reconnecting, it’s up to Vivo to deliver a message that Andrés never could: A love letter to Marta, written long ago, in the form of a song. Yet in order to get to Marta, who lives a world apart, Vivo will need the help of Gabi – an energetic tween who bounces to the beat of her own offbeat drum to fulfill his owner’s wishes.
Are you a fan of 1999’s The Mummy with Brendan Fraser, Rachel Weisz, and John Hannah? If so, then you’re probably going to enjoy Disney’s Jungle Cruise which basically replaces Fraser with Dwayne Johnson, Weisz with Emily Blunt, and Hannah with Jack Whitehall. Oh, and the action moves from Egypt to the Amazon, and instead of the Book of the Living, it’s a rare tree the intrepid adventurers are after. Also, the mummies are subbed out for undead Conquistadors.
At their core, they’re basically the same movie. I challenge you to prove me wrong.
Johnson stars as riverboat captain Frank Wolff, a guy who barely makes a living off of tourists eager for a guided tour down the Amazon River. Once onboard his beloved boat, La Quila, Frank’s guests are forced to suffer through an increasingly corny series of jokes while simultaneously being worried about the very real possibility their lives are in the hands of a madman. His captive audience is incapable of escaping from his pun-heavy narration as jumping off the boat in the middle of the Amazon and being eaten by piranhas is slightly less appealing than suffering through cheesy jokes.
Frank’s busy attempting to keep a step ahead of Nilo (Paul Giamatti), the owner of every other sightseeing boat working out of the same harbor in Brazil, when Dr. Lily Houghton (Emily Blunt) arrives in need of passage down the Amazon. Lily managed to steal a mysterious arrowhead that’s the key to finding an ancient tree known as Tears of the Moon during a daring robbery at the headquarters of London’s Royal Geographical Society.
Lily’s got grit, determination, and a sidekick brother named MacGregor (Jack Whitehall). What she doesn’t have is the means to find the legendary ancient tree thought to have unparalleled healing powers without a guide who knows his way around the river.
Although they initially bump heads – of course they do because that’s a box that needs to be checked off in this sort of film – the pair manage to find common ground and piece together the clues as to the tree’s whereabouts. With a destination in mind, Frank and Lily set off on a wild and wacky cruise involving headhunters, undead Conquistadors, hundreds of snakes, and a pet jaguar named Proxima who Lily’s brother affectionately dubs “Murder Cat.”
If the story had kept it simple, Jungle Cruise would be a total blast. Instead, there’s a weird mishmash of supporting storylines that aren’t nearly as entertaining as watching Johnson and Blunt exchange insults. (He calls her Pants; she calls him Skippy. The banter’s not highbrow but it is entertaining.)
Jesse Plemons shows up as Prince Joachim, a bizarre German prince inflicted with a Hogan’s Heroes-esque accent. Somehow, Prince Joachim is able to communicate with map-reading bees and supernatural snakes, and he’s just as committed to obtaining the Tears of the Moon as Lily. He’s got money to burn and a submarine worthy of Captain Nemo at his disposal. All he needs is Lily’s arrowhead.
Prince Joachim’s more annoying than dastardly and hardly a worthy adversary for the combined forces of Lily and Frank.
Edgar Ramirez stars as one of those undead Conquistadors mentioned previously. The film’s version of the walking dead are legitimately creepy and we do ultimately find out why they are rotting away yet still walking the earth. The film takes a supernatural turn as secrets are revealed and a twist that feels rammed into the story raises its ugly head.
Look, you’ve got Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt cruising down the Amazon tossing out barbs. It’s not necessary to overload the plot with characters that shift focus from our heroes.
Disney launched a blockbuster box office franchise by adapting their popular theme park ride Pirates of the Caribbean for the screen. There was very little of the ride itself in the films, that is other than the whole “pirates” theme. In bringing Jungle Cruise alive on screen, writers Michael Green, Glenn Ficarra, and John Requa drew inspiration from many of the actual scenes in the theme park ride, including the charging hippos. They also lifted some of the ride’s goofiest puns – including the one about the back side of water – and gave them to Johnson’s riverboat captain Frank to deliver. The fact it’s Johnson wrapping his tongue around the ridiculous puns actually makes them land more frequently than they deserve to.
Johnson’s so completely charming as Frank that much of what shouldn’t work about the film does because he forces it to. Same with his equally talented co-star Emily Blunt. Blunt’s able to squeeze laughs out of bits that wouldn’t have worked at all in lesser hands. She also has the opportunity to show off her action skills in multiple slapstick action sequences that liven up the first half of the film.
Jack Whitehall’s a scene-stealing delight as Lily’s fastidious brother, MacGregor. A reluctant third wheel forced into partaking in this crazy adventure, MacGregor’s pushed out of his comfort zone and arrives at Frank’s boat with nearly a dozen trunks loaded with formal attire, assorted daywear, tennis racquets, and golf clubs. MacGregor’s arc is one of the film’s best, and Whitehall does a terrific job of making him into a multi-layered character rather than just a dude brought along for the ride.
Director Jaume Collet-Serra’s Jungle Cruise is at its best when Johnson and Blunt square off. The chemistry’s there and both embrace the absurd while never winking at the audience. Go in with expectations of nothing more than a fun summer popcorn action-comedy and you’ll be just fine. Just don’t think too hard about the plot and enjoy the ride.
GRADE: B-
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for adventure violence
Release Date: July 30, 2021
Running Time: 2 hours 7 minutes
Sean Penn (Into the Wild) directs and stars alongside his daughter, Dylan, in the dramatic film Flag Day based on true events. The official trailer’s just debuted and introduces Sean Penn playing a notorious counterfeiter in the screen adaptation of Jennifer Vogel’s memoir, Flim-Flam Man: The True Story of My Father’s Counterfeit Life.
“It’s what William Burroughs called, ‘surprised recognition.’ Flag Day should offer audiences the surprise that they themselves have lived, though differently, its parts,” stated Sean Penn.
In addition to Sean and Dylan Penn, the cast includes Josh Brolin, Norbert Leo Butz, Dale Dickey, Eddie Marsan, Bailey Noble, Hopper Jack Penn, and Katheryn Winnick. Jez Butterworth and John-Henry Butterworth adapted Jennifer Vogel’s memoir for the screen.
William Horberg, Jon Kilik, and Fernando Sulichin produced, with Maximilien Arvelaiz, Lawrence Kopeikin, Thorsten Schumacher, Vincent Maraval, Sidney Kimmel, Allen Liu, Peter Touche, Christelle Conan, Vaishali Mistry, and John Wildermuth executive producing. Cat Power, Glen Hansard, and Eddie Vedder composed original songs for the drama.
UA and MGM have set an August 20, 2021 theatrical release. Flag Day‘s rated R for language, some drug use and violent content.
The Plot:
Jennifer Vogel’s father John (Sean Penn) was larger than life. As a child, Jennifer (Dylan Penn) marveled at his magnetizing energy and ability to make life feel like a grand adventure. He taught her so much about love and joy, but he also happened to be the most notorious counterfeiter in US history.
Based on a true story and directed by Sean Penn, Flag Day stars Penn and his real-life daughter Dylan Penn in an intimate family portrait about a young woman who struggles to rise above the wreckage of her past while reconciling the inescapable bond between a daughter and her father.
The CW’s Riverdale will finally return with the second half of season five on August 11, 2021 at 8pm ET/PT. Season five episode 11, “Strange Bedfellows,” was directed by Tessa Blake from a script by Aaron Allen.
The cast of season five includes KJ Apa as Archie Andrews, Lili Reinhart as Betty Cooper, Camila Mendes as Veronica Lodge, and Cole Sprouse as Jughead Jones. Madelaine Petsch is Cheryl Blossom, Marisol Nichols is Hermione Lodge, Mӓdchen Amick is Alice Cooper, Casey Cott is Kevin Keller, Mark Consuelos is Hiram Lodge, Skeet Ulrich is FP Jones, Charles Melton is Reggie Mantle, Drew Ray Tanner is Fangs Fogarty, and Vanessa Morgan plays Toni Topaz.
“Chapter Eighty-Seven: Strange Bedfellows” Plot: RETURN TO RIVERDALE — In the aftermath of the prison break at Hiram’s (Consuelos) jail, Archie (Apa) leads the charge to round up the remaining convicts on the loose. Tabitha (Erinn Westbrook) reaches out for Betty’s (Reinhart) help when she realizes Jughead (Sprouse) is missing. When Penelope (guest star Nathalie Boltt) re-enters the fold, Cheryl (Petsch) becomes suspicious of her true intentions.
Season 5 Description, Courtesy of The CW:
The fourth season of Riverdale began with a funeral and tribute to Archie’s late father, the beloved Fred Andrews (Luke Perry). Throughout the season, Archie (KJ Apa) tried to live up to his father’s memory by mentoring youths at his Community Center with the help of his pals Reggie and Munroe Moore. But the shadow of that tragedy loomed over Archie—and only darkened when Fred’s brother Frank arrived, bringing unforeseen complications with him, much to the chagrin of Archie’s mother (Molly Ringwald).
Meanwhile, after Betty saved her mom and sister from the Farm cult, she joined her brother Charles’s Junior F.B.I. Training Program. Veronica found herself locked in a season-long battle with her father Hiram and half-sister Hermosa over her burgeoning maple rum business. And, at the urging on FP, Jughead enrolled in a new school, Stonewall Prep, only to be caught up in a mystery that involved his grandfather, the secret author of a series of teen detective novels called “The Baxter Brothers.” His classmates turned out to be killers—and it was up to Betty and Jughead (pretending to be dead) to solve the murder of…Jughead Jones!
At Thistlehouse, Cheryl was trapped in a gothic nightmare, fighting her demons, literal and metaphoric, with the loving support of her girlfriend Toni. She finally put her brother Jason to rest while maintaining her control over the Vixens as resident HBIC against Principal Honey (Kerr Smith). Kevin got dragged into an illicit tickle scheme, but still found time to put on a Variety Show with hit songs from Hedwig and the Angry Inch.
And throughout the season, disturbing unmarked videotapes kept appearing on our characters’ doorsteps, ensuring that there would be one more mystery to solve.
Season five of Riverdale will begin with our characters’ final days as students at Riverdale High. From an epic Senior Prom to a bittersweet Graduation, there are a lot of emotional moments and goodbyes yet to come — with some couples breaking up, as everyone goes their separate ways to college — or elsewhere. Then, we will redock with our gang as young adults, all returning to Riverdale to escape their troubled pasts. And life — and romance — will only be more complicated now that they’re in their twenties…
Burden of Truth returns to The CW’s primetime with an episode that finds Joanna handling a controversial case. Directed by Doug Marshall from a script by Brad Simpson, season four episode one will air on July 30, 2021 at 8pm ET/PT.
The cast is led by Kristin Kreuk as Joanna Chang and includes Peter Mooney as Billy Crawford, Star Slade as Luna Spence, Meegwun Fairbrother as Officer Owen Beckbie, and Anwen O’Driscoll as Taylor Matheson. Brynn Godenir is Stevie Nichols, Paul Essiembre is Nevin Page, and Skye Pelletier is Kip Bellegarde.
“River City” Plot: SEASON PREMIERE – The Oro North mining project has divided opinion in Millwood, but Joanna Chang (Kreuk) has firmly chosen a side. She’s taken on the case of Helen Graham (guest star Pamela Matthews), a local farm owner whose land is standing firmly in the way of the mine’s opening. With the tide of opinion turning against them, Joanna arranges for an improved offer, but – after many sleepless nights with her new baby – Joanna makes a crucial error that changes the case, leading to shocking consequences.
Billy Crawford (Mooney) is torn between his support for Helen’s case and for Millwood’s future, but after a tumultuous start to their lives as parents, he is mostly concerned with Joanna.
The Season 4 Plot, Courtesy of The CW:
Burden of Truth is a serialized investigative drama about life-altering legal cases, the helpless plaintiffs searching for answers, and the boots-on-the-ground lawyers fighting incredible odds to deliver justice.
In season four, when a mining company reopens a dormant mine outside Millwood, Joanna Chang and Billy Crawford, lawyers and new parents, step in to protect a local woman’s home from certain destruction. When the mine swiftly retaliates, Joanna is forced to confront a long-buried secret from her past and scramble to protect the future of her career and her family. As both sides prepare for war with the fate of Millwood at stake, Joanna and Billy must juggle their life with a newborn with waging a legal battle against a corporate titan. When they come across evidence the mine isn’t what it claims to be, Joanna seizes an opportunity to launch an unexpected legal battle that will bring the company to its knees.
As Joanna and Billy fight the legal battle against the mine, Police Chief Owen Beckbie struggles to contain the increased criminal activity that always follows the resource industry. With the help of new Millwood police recruit, Officer Taylor Matheson, Beckbie uncovers a growing criminal underworld running through Millwood…and all roads lead right back to the mining camp.
Noomi Rapace prays in a small graveyard as the trailer for A24’s Lamb begins. The action moves to a farm where there’s something unusual about a newborn lamb, something so unique that a couple begin to raise the lamb in place of the child they lost.
Lamb had its premiere at the Cannes Film Festival were it won the festival’s Prize of Originality. The Icelandic horror drama currently sits at 83% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes, with critics calling it odd and disturbing. Variety’s Jessica Kiang labels it “creepy-funny-weird-sad.”
In addition to Noomi Rapace, Lamb‘s cast includes Hilmir Snær Guðnason, Björn Hlynur Haraldsson, and Ingvar E. Sigurðsson.
Valdimar Jóhannsson makes his feature film directorial debut with the twisted Nordic folktale. Jóhannsson also co-wrote the screenplay with Sjón.
A24 has set an October 8, 2021 theatrical release date.
The Plot:
A childless couple in rural Iceland make an alarming discovery one day in their sheep barn. They soon face the consequences of defying the will of nature, in this dark and atmospheric folktale.
Noomi Rapace stars in ‘Lamb’ (Photo Courtesy of A24)
