Previously, we reported that Gillian Anderson and Lena Headey are set to lead Netflix's The Abandons. On Friday, the streamer announced that Nick Robinson, Diana Silvers, Lucas Till, Lamar Johnson, Aisling Franciosi, and Natalia del Riego have also joined the film's cast. 

The action drama series is set against the backdrop of the 1850s Oregon. The Abandons is about the story of a group of diverse families pursuing their Manifest Destiny. It is a time period in the 19th century US when settlers were aiming at expanding North America.

The show is created and executive produced by showrunner Kurt Sutter. Netflix has given The Abandons a ten-episode order. 

While Lena will play the role of Fiona Nolan, a matriarch who adopts four orphans after being unable to have children of her own, Gillian will play Constance Van Ness. Robinson and Silvers will play Elias and Dahlia Teller, respectively. Till and Garrett will feature as Garret and Trisha Van Ness, while Johnson and del Riego will essay Albert Mason and Lilla Belle, respectively. 

Nick Robinson, Diana Silvers, Lucas Till, Lamar Johnson, Aisling Franciosi, and Natalia del Riego join Lena Headey and Gillian Anderson in Kurt Sutter's The Abandons.

The series follows a group of outlier families as they pursue life, land, and power in 1850s Oregon. pic.twitter.com/WIHGPN8jb9

— Netflix (@netflix) March 1, 2024

The Last of Us Season 2 has added four new cast members.

Danny Ramirez (The Falcon and the Winter Soldier), Ariela Barer (Runaways), Tati Gabrielle (Chilling Adventures of Sabrina), and Spencer Lord (Family Law) have all joined the series. The actors portray the characters of Manny, Mel, Nora, and Owen, respectively are part of the upcoming season.

According to Variety, Ramirez will play Manny, described as “a loyal soldier whose sunny outlook belies the pain of old wounds and a fear that he will fail his friends when they need him most.” Barer will play Mel, said to be “a young doctor whose commitment to saving lives is challenged by the realities of war and tribalism.”

Gabrielle has been cast as Nora, “a military medic struggling to come to terms with the sins of her past.” And Lord will appear as Owen, “a gentle soul trapped in a warrior’s body, condemned to fight an enemy he refuses to hate.”

The Last of Us is based on the popular video game of the same name. It has Craig Mazin as Executive Producer and co-showrunner alongside Neil Druckmann. 

The first season of The Last of Us follows the adventures of Joel (Pedro Pascal) and Ellie (Bella Ramsey) as they travel across The United States to find the mysterious fireflies, a gang of revolutionaries attempting to overthrow the American military in the wake of a zombie apocalypse.

Season 2, which began filming in February, will take place five years after Joel and Ellie’s dangerous journey across the post-pandemic United States, where the pair has settled down in Jackson, Wyoming.

Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey will return in Season 2 as Joel and Ellie. Apart from them, the upcoming season also stars Kaitlyn Dever, Isabela Merced, Young Mazino and Catherine O'Hara. 

Fatal Attraction star Joshua Jackson has signed up for the next Karate Kid film from Sony Pictures Entertainment. The film sees Ralph Macchio and Jackie Chan reprising their roles, as well as includes American Born Chinese fame Ben Wang. Details about Jackson's character are still unknown, but the actor is reportedly playing a main role in the martial arts film. One of the creators of series such as I’m Not Okay With This, Jonathan Entwistle is directing the film from a screenplay by Peter Rabbit fame Rob Lieber. On the other hand, Karen Rosenfelt is the producer of the feature-length film, which will release in theatres on December 13 this year.

Jackson is among the prominent TV actors who flesh out characters with grey shades or earnestness. His best-known titles include Fatal Attraction on Paramount+ as well as Dr. Death on Peacock, which earned him a Critics Choice Award in 2022. He also featured in the HBO series Little Fires Everywhere, alongside Kerry Washington and Reese Witherspoon, and in the Emmy-winner The Affair on Showtime.

The actor's popular film projects include The Skulls, Cruel Intentions, and The Mighty Ducks. In a film acting role, he was last seen as Detective Ruther in 2015's Sky.

Wendell Pierce is cast in James Gunn's film Superman. He will play the role of the Daily Planet newspaper's chief editor, Perry White. The character made his first appearance in the 1940 radio serial Superman. He is the boss of Daily Planet reporters Lois Lane and Clark Kent. There have been multiple interpretations of the character, including those of a cigarette-chomping cynic and a sage-esque father figure. Actors such as Jackie Cooper, Frank Langella, and Laurence Fishburne played Perry White in the earlier Superman films.

Gunn’s Superman has David Corenswet as the titular character, Rachel Brosnahan as Lois Lane, Skyler Gisondo as Jimmy Olsen, Nicholas Hoult as Lex Luthor, Sara Sampaio as Eve Teschmacher, Terence Rosemore as Otis, Edi Gathegi as Mister Terrific, Anthony Carrigan as Metamorpho, Nathan Fillion as Guy Gardner, María Gabriela de Faría as The Engineer, and Isabela Merced as Hawkgirl.

Pierce is best known for his roles in the HBO show The Wire, the Amazon Prime Video series Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan, and the Starz series Power Book III: Raising Kanan.

Priyanka Chopra Jonas is cast in a lead role in The Bluff, a joint venture of Amazon MGM Studios and the studio AGBO. Frank E Flowers co-wrote the film with Joe Ballarini, and he will also direct it. Flowers is fresh from the success of his scripted musical drama Bob Marley: One Love, which already crossed 100 million at the worldwide box office.

According to a Deadline report, The Bluff revolves around Priyanka's ex-pirate character who looks to keep her family safe when her mysterious sins catch up with her. The makers plan to get the film on floors in Australia this spring. They also plan on releasing it in over 240 nations and territories through Amazon Prime Video.

The Bluff follows up on Priyanka's earlier collaboration for the streaming platform Citadel, whose production companies also included AGBO and Amazon MGM Studios. The actor will next feature in the Prime Video film Heads of State, alongside Idris Elba and John Cena.

Nora Fatehi is set to feature in a song in Kunal Khemu’s debut directorial Madgaon Express, according to sources. She will dance to a rendition of the popular Marathi song, ‘Bring It On‘ in the film which is originally composed by Ajay-Atul. The film stars Divyenndu, Pratik Gandhi and Avinash Tiwary in the lead role.

According to the source, “Nora Fatehi will have a dance number in Madgaon Express. As Nora has delivered some sizzling dance numbers in the past, she will again set the stage ablaze with her dance moves in the song. It will be a rendition of the famous Marathi song 'Bring It On' composed by Ajay-Atul.”

Madgaon Express follows the journey of three childhood friends who embark on a trip to Goa that goes completely off-track. The makers have revealed that the trailer of the film will be released on March 5. It is backed by Ritesh Sidhwani and Farhan Akhtar under the banner of Excel Entertainment and is all set to hit theatres on March 22.

Daniel Scheinert and Daniel Kwan, who directed the 2023 Best Picture Oscar winner Everything Everywhere All at Once, will next helm an event film for Universal Pictures. The production house added the film to its calendar of upcoming releases. The director duo entered a five-year deal with the production house in August 2022 after Everything Everywhere All At Once became the first indie film to earn over $100 million in international ticket sales during the pandemic period. At the time, Universal Pictures' chairperson Donna Langley heaped praise on Daniels. Calling them directors who “evolved their craft with a distinct vision and singular voice that is unmistakable,” Langley stated, "Their films are remarkably theatrical and with only two original projects under their belts, they’ve merely scratched the surface of what they are capable of as filmmakers."

According to Universal Pictures' upcoming release calendar, the Daniels film will hit theatres on June 12, 2026. The cast and crew details and other information about the Danies' project are still under wraps.

Emily Blunt's representatives and the makers of The Smashing Machine are negotiating a deal to bring the actress into the project. If the deal goes through, she would feature in the film as Dawn Staples, the spouse of mixed martial artist Mark Kerr. The Smashing Machine revolves around the couple as Staples struggles to have a marital life with Kerr as chaos and contradictions enter his life.

The Smashing Machine is based on Kerr's life as he struggles to deal with addiction, victory, friendship, and love in 2000. Kerr won the UFC Heavyweight Championship, the International Vale Tudo Championship, the PRIDE Fighting Championship, the NCAA National Wrestling Championship, the National Freestyle Championship, and the ADCC World Submission Championship. The 2003 HBO documentary The Smashing Machine also chronicled his MMA career as he fought in the UFC, Vale Tudo, and PRIDE championships.

Benny Safdie is the writer and director of the film. Safdie's banner Out for the Count is also producing the film, alongside Dany Garcia and Johnson's Seven Bucks Productions, David Koplan, and Eli Bush.

Safdie and Johnson have been collaborating on the film project ever since Garcia and Johnson's banner got the rights a few years ago. On the other hand, Johnson and Blunt last collaborated on Jungle Cruise.

Disney unveiled the first look poster of Tron: Ares, also known as Tron 3, on Friday. The film stars Jared Leto, Evan Peters, Greta Lee and Jodie Turner-Smith in lead roles. The film is the third in the Tron franchise, which began with the 1982 film Tron, and the 2010 sequel Tron: Legacy. 

Tron: Ares also stars Hasan Minhaj, Arturo Castro, Gillian Anderson, Sarah Desjardins and Cameron Monaghan. Maleficent: Mistress of Evil director Joachim Ronning is the film's director, which has a script penned by Jesse Wigutow. 

The threequel is all set to follow Ares, a highly sophisticated Program that is sent into the real world from the digital world, on a dangerous mission. The phenomenon marks humankind's first encounter with A.I. beings.

A seminal science fiction, Tron featured Jeff Bridges as a computer engineer who gets transported into the world that he created and has to team up with Tron played by Bruce Boxleitner. The second film, Tron: Legacy, starred Garrett Hedlund and Olivia Wilde, along with Jeff.

Actor and comedian Richard Lewis, best known for the popular sitcom Curb Your Enthusiasm, died on Tuesday following a heart attack. He was 76.

In a statement to Deadline, Lewis' publicist Jeff Abraham said the actor passed away on Tuesday night at his house in Los Angeles. Richard revealed he had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2023.

"His wife, Joyce Lapinsky, thanks everyone for all the love, friendship and support and asks for privacy at this time," Abraham said.

Richard is renowned for his acerbic and dark sense of humour, and rose to fame in the 1970s and '80s. Transitioning seamlessly, he ventured into acting, gracing films like Robin Hood: Men in Tights and making memorable appearances as himself on HBO's Curb Your Enthusiasm. 

He soon developed a singular stage persona nearly as dark as the all-black clothes he favoured. His stand-up performances could best be described as straddling comedy and therapy. Lewis’ website prominently features a quote from comedy great Mel Brooks: “Richard Lewis may just be the Franz Kafka of modern-day comedy.”

Actor Jamie Lee Curtis, who played the romantic co-lead opposite Mr Lewis in Anything But Love, paid tribute to him on Instagram, writing: "He also is the reason I am sober. He helped me. I am forever grateful to him for that act of grace alone. He found love with Joyce and that, of course, besides his sobriety, is what mattered most to him. I'm weeping as I write this. Strange way of saying thank you to a sweet and funny man. Rest in laughter, Richard."

Although he largely retired from performing following his Parkinson’s diagnosis, he returned to Curb periodically, most recently during the show’s current (and final) season.