Good morning: In today's edition of The Industry, we look at:
HBO’s First, ABC’s Rookie, and Sunrise’s Wolves.
Let’s go!
If you enjoy today’s edition, please hit the like button or leave a comment.
THE INDUSTRY TLDR
ABC may greenlight The Rookie: North, a spinoff series with Nathan Fillion producing.
Paramount shareholders approve Shari Redstone’s board picks.
South Park Season 27 delayed to July 23.
Prime’s Mr. & Mrs. Smith relocates S2 production to LA.
Netflix’s Pulse and The Residence canceled after one season.
Bella Ramsey leads UK thriller Maya (Channel 4).
Keanu Reeves hosts a Cadillac F1 docuseries.
Highlander reboot adds Marisa Abela.
Judy Greer joins Peacock’s The Five-Star Weekend.
Renee Zellweger’s directorial debut will premiere at Edinburgh Film Festival.
Sunrise Films (Sew Torn) acquires Against the Wolves.
Angel Studios is making a young George Washington biopic.
Kevin Smith joins The Unexpecteds as EP.
True Brit Entertainment picks up Victorian Psycho starring Maika Monroe.
THE INDUSTRY NEWS
Neil Druckmann, co-creator of The Last of Us series and the visionary behind the original video game, announced he will step away from Season 3 to refocus on his next major project at Naughty Dog: Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet (trailer).
He served as a co-creator of the first two seasons with Craig Mazin (showrunner: Chernobyl).
Last of Us Season 2 (trailer) was particularly powerful in how it disrupted the father-daughter relationship between Ellie (Bella Ramsey) and Joel (Pedro Pascal).
The season starts with a massive rift between the two of them, which I first wrote off as teenage angst on the part of Ramsey. It evolves into a tragic tale of Ellie burying the ugly parts of her experiences to let in the ones she loves.
Season 3 will be from Abby's point of view, and the onus will be entirely on Mazin, whose worldview may be even darker and more cynical than Druckmann’s.
Happy pilot season!
ABC is looking to pick up The Rookie North, a spinoff of the long-running police procedural with creator Alexi Hawley writing and EPing. While it is not likely he’ll star, the oldest rookie in the LAPD, lead actor Nathan Fillion, is also attached to produce the spinoff. The Rookie North is co-produced by Lionsgate TV and 20th Television and will not be greenlit until it casts a lead actor.
Other pilots are under serious consideration:
Scrubs reboot
Series creator Bill Lawrence is tapped as developer and EP
Zach Braff will reprise his role as John “J.D.” Dorian
Prod. co: 20th Television
Do You Want Kids?
From the creator and lead of CW’s Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, Rachel Bloom
A family comedy featuring a couple with a baby and one without
Prod. co: 20th Television
Mittens
A family comedy revolving around a neighborhood cat
Prod. co: 20th Television’s The Littlefield Company
ABC has been switching things up by moving from the typical model of picking up pilots midseason in the spring to operating on a more year-round, or “second cycle” approach.
Paramount’s shareholders approve Shari Redstone (owner: Paramount Global’s Parent company) board member nominations:
Mary Boies (attorney, CBS’s VP of Corporate in the 1980s)
Roanne Sragow Licht (former judge)
Charles Ryan (venture capitalist and former business partner of the Redstones)
Shari originally brought in the support to help settle the Trump 60 Minutes lawsuit (settled yesterday). High hopes the conclusion will push through the Skydance acquisition, leading to Redstone receiving $1.75bn.
Ah god damnit! South Park Season 27 has been delayed to July 23 amid the ongoing streaming rights disputes and the Paramount–Skydance merger. Creators Parker and Stone seem pissed and have criticized the move publicly. Just pushed a bit more than a week, it still hurts, especially because season 27 is looking very good.
Mini Tidbit:
On the heels of CA governor Gavin Newsom signing a law allocating $750M tax credit to productions shooting in CA (doubling the previous yearly amount), Prime’s Mr. & Mrs. Smith (Season 2) will relocate to LA. Check out our breakdown of all 48 projects supported here.
Nuclear submarine thriller Crimson Tide (1995) is the newest high-stakes action feature to get a sequel, 30 years after its predecessor. While Denzel Washington has not officially signed on, a “really good writer-director” is attached.
Cancellations:
Netflix’s Pulse (after 1 season)
Netflix’s The Residence (after 1 season)
Netflix’s No Good Deed (after 1 season…but may return with a new cast).
Trailers:
Does Taron Egerton need to do a hard action run-and-gun film like Lionsgate’s She Rides Shotgun? No. But he excels at letting scenes move through him, not giving too much as the bullets and glass fall behind him, but reserving his manic-eyed passion for talking to his young daughter, whom he swears to protect (trailer).
Bleecker Street’s Relay starring Riz Ahmed is excellent. We’ve conducted a full interview with director David Mackenzie (Hell or High Water), which we’ll share closer to the release date. For now, enjoy the heart-pounding trailer. Releases in August.
It’s happening again! Apple TV+’s Invasion (Season 3) teaser. Premiere: August 22nd.
THE ACTOR SPOTLIGHT
Keanu Reeves has a need for speed. His fascination with racing motorcycles started in 1985 when he was shooting Babes in Toyland (1985, clip) in Munich.
Fast forward through The Matrix series and John Wick series, and now he’s hosting and EPing a docu-series on the Cadillac Formula 1 team.
Reeves makes a great host, just watch him interview the hell out of the subjects in Brawn: The Impossible Formula 1 (trailer). He brings the laid-back intensity and passion for the human dynamics inside the sport.
The new docu series hails from North One (subsidiary: All3Media).
Bella Ramsey’s new identity. Ramsey, who is sensational as Ellie in HBO’s The Last of Us, stars in a new TV series, Maya, on Channel 4.
Synopsis:
A mother and daughter (Ramsey) leave their lives in London and are forced into a witness protection program with new identities in a small rural Scottish town. With two hitmen intent on tracking them down.
In The Last of Us Season 2, Ramsey also had to integrate into a new town, and her primal refusal to follow traditions put her at risk. This quality should make for a great watch in Maya. Shooting in Scotland later this year from showrunner Daisy Haggard (FX’s Breeders).
Tidbit:
BAFTA winner Marisa Abela (Back to Black) has joined Henry Cavill and Russell Crowe in Amazon MGM’s Highlander remake, directed by Chad Stahelski (John Wick 4). Abela will play an immortal swordplay teacher and MacLeod's (Cavill) former love. Filming begins in September across Scotland, England, and Hong Kong.
Judy Greer (Ant-Man) joins Peacock’s drama series adaptation The Five-Star Weekend led by her 13 Going On 30 (2004) co-star Jennifer Garner. Based on Elin Hilderbrand’s 2023 novel, the series will follow a famed food influencer (Garner) who suffers a devastating loss.
Amy Sedaris has joined Jon Favreau’s upcoming Disney+ series Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, a hybrid animated/live-action show. Sedaris plays Ryder Allen’s character’s mother. Favreau and Sedaris are friends, and she appears in his projects; most recently, she had a recurring role in The Mandalorian. She is one of the funniest people in show business, and this should be a good fit.
Fox’s new drama series Memory of a Killer brings on New Amsterdam creator David Schulner. He will serve as an EP and co-showrunner. Patrick Dempsey (Grey’s Anatomy) and Michael Imperioli (The Sopranos) are set to star in the double life drama.
Indie female friendship drama Pretty Babies finds its friend group:
Ashley Benson (Spring Breakers)
Emily Alyn Lind (We Were Liars)
Madeleine Petsch (Riverdale)
Sadie Stanley (Cruel Summer)
Pretty Babies follows two girls who run away to Hollywood, and production begins in the summer.
Charlotte Kirk who played the badass killing machine titular character in Duchess has taken her career into her hands and optioned a novel, Don’t Forget Me Tomorrow, which she is set to star in. The role is definitely more dimensional.
The anticipated fifth season of Netflix’s Emily In Paris casts Bryan Greenberg (Suits LA) as a fellow American expat and French actress Michèle Laroque (Better Days), both joining in recurring roles. Currently filming in Paris.
FESTIVALS
Karlovy Vary Film Festival brings us Broken Voices, a look at a puberty-fueled choir group in Prague who fight, not just to get an exclusive spot on the company’s NY trip, but also to catch their teacher’s gaze. The sexual tension is icky but hard to look away (trailer).
Cannes Critics Week selection, Kika has sold to 7 territories, including Spain. The Director is Alexe Poukine, and the producer is Benoit Roland (Utopia’s Omen).
Synopsis:
While pregnant with her second child, Kika faces the sudden death of her partner. Totally heartbroken and broke, she sets her priorities straight: stay strong and make money fast.
Totem Films closed the deals.
Lionsgate’s Day Drinker (starring Johnny Depp + Penélope Cruz) has sold to Italian distributor RAI Cinema (prod co: Sicilian Letters, The Return, and Vermiglio).
Edinburgh Film Festival will premiere Renee Zellweger’s directorial debut: a short animated film, They. Synopsis: A hero's plot for peace that backfires with drastic consequences. The festival runs August 14-20 in Scotland.
INDIE FILMMAKER SPOTLIGHT
We’re really digging all the work from Sunrise Films, which recently distributed the BONKERS Sew Torn (trailer). Next up, they’ve acquired Against the Wolves for the US.
Synopsis:
Danny, an ex-soldier homeless in Dublin, meets Will, a teen fleeing a drug gang. Their encounter forces them to confront their pasts while navigating the harsh realities they face.
Sunrise Films seems to enjoy taking on exotic thrillers. Against the Wolves stars Aidan Gillen (Game of Thrones). Releasing July 11, 2025.
Angel Studios is making Young Washington, which follows the life of a young George Washington. Directed by Angel Studios regular Jon Erwin, who directed Jesus Revolution (2023), which made $53M worldwide. Erwin also produced The Best Christmas Pageant Ever (2025) and The Unbreakable Boy (2025). What’s so interesting about the announcement video is the use of AI in concept art. Release date: July 4th, 2026.
Tidbit:
Time Studios and Stevie Wonder’s Eyes ‘n’ Sound are producing a documentary on the decades-long campaign to make Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday a federal holiday. Directed by Traci Curry, it focuses on the collective efforts for the campaign but also Wonder’s own personal fight.
Kevin Smith has joined The Unexpecteds as EP. The action-comedy, starring Matt Walsh (Veep), follows friends seeking revenge on a scammer influencer. Written and directed by Alejandro Montoya Marin, it won Best Comedy at the Smodcastle Film Festival. It is doing a digital-only release with MVD Entertainment Group, and it drops October 14th.
Monster Pictures has launched Monster Pictures Studios, a full-service genre film studio formed in partnership with Head Gear Films and White Hot Productions. Their goal is to focus on films with a budget of $4-$7M, trying to crawl back to the fabled mid-budget film that has been lost to $100-million-dollar behemoths of late. Its first project will be Seven Snipers, starring Radha Mitchell and Tim Roth.
Little Fishy Films (prod. co: Lionsgate’s Wish You Were Here) is optioning Rochelle Weinstein’s 2023 novel What You Do To Me for a feature adaptation. What You Do To Me is a musical story about a love song and a triumph of the heart over the greatest of odds.
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
True Brit Entertainment has acquired UK-Ireland rights to Zachary Wigon’s horror thriller Victorian Psycho, starring Maika Monroe and Jason Isaacs. Adapted by Virginia Feito from her novel, the story follows a mysterious governess in a gothic Victorian manor. Filming begins August 18 in the UK and Ireland.
Warner Bros. International Television Production’s Italy unit has appointed a new senior management team. Joining from Banijay, Max Giammarrusti will be head of production, and Pierangelo Marano will be head of entertainment. Nicolás de las Peñas will oversee finances for the Italian label.
CEO Gaspard de Chavagnac of Asacha Media Group (prod. co: The Return) is stepping down following Fremantle’s acquisition late last year. He co-founded the European studio back in 2020 and is remaining on as a shareholder.
ON THIS DAY
1944. Double Indemnity is released in Baltimore, Maryland.
Written by Gabriel Miller, Spencer Carter, and Madelyn Menapace.
Editor: Gabriel Miller.
Follow us on: Facebook | Instagram
Want to advertise with us? Email: clarke.scott@theindustry.co