There's another crazy Star Wars casting rumor, involving Dame Judi Dench! Could Mary Jane be recast for Amazing Spider-Man 3? NBC's added major castmembers to its Rosemary's Baby series and greenlit a Oz-based show. Plus, the executive producers preview Once Upon a Time's return. Spoilers now!
Star Wars
Here's yet another casting rumor: Dame Judi Dench is supposedly in line to play Mon Mothma, a senator who helped found the Rebel Alliance. There's no confirmation, obviously, and nothing that indicates whether this is just some casting talk or anything more. But given that the sequels will be filming in the U.K., there's at least a slight possibility that she might be up for it. [Big Shiny Robot]
Amazing Spider-Man 3
Yes, already. So Shailene Woodley was supposed to play Mary Jane in Amazing Spider-Man 2, but her scenes were cut from the final film. Following that, the prevailing consensus was that Mary Jane would be in Amazing Spider-Man 3. But it seems like, should that be the case, Sony may have to recast Mary Jane, since Woodley thinks production on the Divergent sequels may make her appearing in Amazing Spider-Man 2 impossible. She told MTV:
I don't know anything, but seeing as how they picked up the next two Divergent films, I don't know how I would keep my sanity with two big action films in one year.
She did qualify that with "anything's possible," though. But it does seem like she won't be in it. [Slashfilm]
Avengers: Age of Ultron
Mark Ruffalo's opinion on the next Avengers script seems to line up with Scarlett Johansson's: humor and darkness. He told MTV:
I would say that it's better, it's cooler, it's more awesomer. It's a little bit darker, but also really has Joss Whedon's incredible witty and sly sense of humor.
He also added that he, as Bruce Banner, will get to do some "great stuff." [Coming Soon]
Avatar Sequels
Zoe Saldana confirmed that she's known for a while that she'd be returning for the sequels, since she was told to reserve the time. Saldana told MTV that the scripts aren't done yet, but James Cameron has told her what the stories are. And it sounds like they'll be pretty emotionally intense this time around:
I went down to the studio that they've been setting up for the past three years. It was wonderful. Jim took us and gave us a tour of all the reference pictures, telling us the stories. I haven't been able to read the scripts. They're still working on them. We kind of get choked up. [Cameron] gets emotional telling us about the story. I get emotional hearing about it, so I'm looking forward to it.
[Coming Soon]
Transformers 4: Age of Extinction
Turns out that the fourth Transformers movie filmed a week's worth of footage in Utah last May. They filmed there and left before anyone noticed, and who knows if that was intentional or if it was just some inconsequential desert scenes they needed. [Transformers Live Action Movie Blog]
The LEGO Movie
Here's another TV spot. [via Coming Soon]
Once Upon a Time
There's a bunch of stuff going on when the show returns for the second half of season 3. Executive producers Eddy Kitsis and Adam Horowitz said that the two of the questions viewers should expect to have answered quickly are how and when Hook showed up on Emma's doorstep. They also confirmed that Regina and Robin Hood's relationship is going to come up:
Horowitz: They have a connection that we hinted at and talked about earlier this season. Their stories are going to intersect.
Kitsis: We set something up for a reason. We're really going to explore what that meant and what happens when these two people meet. We're going to see what happens when Regina has a second chance at love.
The two also listed a bunch of new and returning characters we'll be seeing:
Horowitz: We have a whole bunch of fun people popping up, but it's in service of focusing on the core group of characters and the problem that you saw outlined in the winter finale.
Kitsis: We're still going to get to see Tink (Rose McIver) again and Ariel (JoAnna Garcia Swisher) and some of the people we met in the first half of the season as well. Lumiere (Henri Lubatti) is one of our favorite characters. He's really fun and interesting.
Horowitz: It's a slightly different take than what you might expect from the movie. Alas, Jerry Orbach is not with us so we couldn't bring him aboard to do it, but we have a take on the character that we think is fun. It's fun to see him interact with Belle (Emilie de Ravin).
Kitsis: With Rapunzel (Alexandra Metz), it's princes and damsels in towers.
More at the link. [TV Guide]
Kitsis and Horowitz also spoke with TV Line about the second half of season 3, with Kitsis saying that there is a "very good reason" that Neal didn't join Emma and Henry in amnesiac bliss in New York. And, despite it being erased, the show will return to Storybrooke somehow. We may also be seeing an unusual end to the love triangle. In the real world, Emma's not going to be easily charmed by Hook. But she's also lost the good memories of Neal. Says Kitsis:
In Emma's current mind. the last time she saw Neal, that guy f—-ing let her go to jail. She doesn't have the benefit of re-meeting him in New York.
The show's also come up with it's very own backstory for the Wicked Witch, which isn't based on Wicked or anything like that. Even though Rumpelstiltskin seemed to sacrifice himself, there's still more to the Belle/Rumple story, according to Horowitz:
There's plenty of story we have in mind for Belle, that we hope the audience likes. Emilie [de Ravin] is fantastic, doing some of her best work that we've ever seen.
[TV Line]
Jamie Chung's on Believe right now, but she's open to returning to Once Upon a Time as Mulan, saying:
Are you kidding me? I think it would be really disappointing to leave the audience with this giant question mark. I would go back in a heartbeat.
. . . I am committed to [Believe], but I don't think that door is shut. So I am hoping there is something we could do to answer those questions.
Chung also firmly comes down on the side of Mulan loving Aurora and not Phillip:
It's a sense of camaraderie. She had gone on this journey and she's forever been searching for Princess Aurora and finally they find Aurora and she's left out in the cold. And then Phillip disappears and it;s her journey with Aurora finding Philip. So I think she's been able to develop a really deep relationship with both characters and I think ultimately her heart was with Aurora.
[E! Online]
Rosemary's Baby
The latest based-on-a-movie TV show has added two more cast members: Jason Isaacs (Awake) and Patrick J. Adams (Suits). Adams will play the husband to Zoe Saldana's Rosemary, with the young couple moving into an apartment "with a history" in Paris. Isaacs has been cast as coven leader Roman Castevet, played by Sidney Blackmer in the 1968 film. [TV Line]
Supernatural
Following last week's split, Jared Padalecki says that getting the brothers back together will take "something big." He also previewed how they'll be dealing with the fallout:
They're handling it as you expect them to. Sam kind of goes introverted and Dean goes forward. Sam is more the kind of guy that thinks something out and says, 'Well, you know, this is where you messed up [and] this is why I'm upset.'… It's nice dichotomy to catch on camera and, hopefully, Jensen [Ackles] and I get a chance to do a good job with it.
He also said that the wear and tear on Sam following Gadreel's time in his body is more "emotional" than anything else. Finally, mark your calendars: episode 20 will launch the spinoff featuring Chicago hunters and monster cultures. [TV Line]
Emerald City
NBC has given the green light to ten episodes of a modern retelling of Frank L. Baum's Oz books. The show will have a 20-something Dorothy finding herself in the middle of the war for control of Oz. [Coming Soon]
Almost Human
Former MMA fighter Gina Carano (Fast and Furious 6) will be guest-starring in episode nine. Here's a promo showing her in action. [Fighters Only]
Bitten
Greyston Holt, who plays Colton Danvers, said that the show will be exploring Colton and Elena's history:
I bit her for reasons that, you know, you will find out as the season progresses. They were good reasons and I have good intentions.
Executive producer JB Sugar said that one his favorite upcoming scenes is related to that history:
One of my favorite scenes is the scene that actually takes us to the moment where Elena is bitten into the pack and the circumstances that led to it. The performances are just fantastic and that whole episode. And it features some of the best and most effective CGI shots we've built. And you get to really see Clay in his full wolf form. And it's just beautiful.
Sugar also said that they've worked very hard to establish Elena's life in Toronto, so that viewers would understand Elena's dilemma as she's torn between that and the wolf world. [TV Equals]
Teen Wolf
Here's a video interview with Tyler Posey, Dylan O'Brien and Crystal Reed. Watch it to hear how Kira's going to effect a huge part of this season, what's in store for newly-aware-of-the-supernatural Sheriff Stiliniski, and the relationships of Allison and Scott. [Buddy TV]
The Leftovers
Here's a photo from the pilot of The Leftovers. [SpoilerTV]
Additional reporting by Charlie Jane Anders and Emily Stamm
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