Jeffrey Wright (re)joins The Last Of Us, some Avengers team up, and more casting news

It’s only right (no pun intended) for Jeffrey Wright to join The Last Of Us in its second season: Wright originated the role of his video-game counterpart Isaac in The Last Us Part II. Isaac is “the quietly powerful leader of a large militia group who sought liberty but instead has become mired in an endless war against a surprisingly resourceful enemy,” per . Wright will reprise the role alongside series stars Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey as well as fellow second-season newcomers Kaitlyn Dever, Isabela Merced, Young Mazino, Ariela Barer, Tati Gabrielle, Spencer Lord, and Danny Ramirez, and Catherine O’Hara. [Mary Kate Carr]

It’s Nicola Coughlan’s world and we are happy to be living in it. The Derry Girls actor, who also stars in Big Mood and Bridgerton on TV, has set her sights on the big screen again after Barbie. , Coughlan will lead a thriller called Love And War, which is of Luise Monaghan. The film centers on Sarah O’Meara, who travels to Syria to rescue her kid, and together, they have to outrun her abusive ex. [Saloni Gajjar]

Noomi Rapace is best known for sci-fi and action thrillers like The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo and more recently, Apple TV+’s Constellation. Well, her next film is a refreshing change; she’s set to portray Mother Teresa in a new film from director Strugar Mitevska. Mother takes place during seven crucial days of her life as she decides to depart Calcutta and launch her own order, . [Saloni Gajjar]

In 2024, Hollywood has decided Glen Powell must reign supreme, so every few weeks he launches a new project—a J.J. Abrams movie, Edgar Wright’s Running Man remake, a sports drama on Hulu, to name a few. The latest is a rehashing of Warren Beatty’s Heaven Can Wait from Stephan Gaghan. According to , he’ll play an athlete who dies before his time and returns in the body of someone new. In the meantime, can Powell share his time management skills with us, please? [Saoni Gajjar]

Paramount+’s Star Trek: Starfleet Academy has found its lead star: Holly Hunter. The actor, who recently starred in HBO’s Succession on the small screen, will serve as the Academy’s new captain and chancellor. She’ll preside over the new class and faculty as they learn to navigate a 32nd-century galaxy, . The series begins filming in the summer and is envisioned to be part of a massive Star Trek franchise expansion planned on the streamer. [Saloni Gajjar]

Hulk and Thor together again? Well, yes, sort of. Mark Ruffalo and Chris Hemsworth are teaming up not for a Marvel movie but for an intriguing crime thriller, per . The film is based on Don Winslow’s short story, Crime 101, in which ongoing jewel heists are blamed on a Colombian cartel. However, one sharp detective believes a lone robber is behind the burglaries and thus begins a game of cat and mouse. Bart Layton will write and direct the movie. [Saloni Gajjar]

It’s a hell of a time to be Ayo Edebiri, who won an Emmy for The Bear, kicked ass in Bottoms, and has several fun projects lined up. And now she’s joining Luca Guadagnino’s next film—a pretty coveted gig. She’ll star in the thriller After The Hunt alongside Julia Roberts and Andrew Garfield, per . The movie centers on a college professor who finds herself at a crossroads when her pupil makes a horrible accusation against one of her colleagues. Will it be steamy and jaw-dropping? Based on Guadagnino’s repertoire, the answer is probably a straight-up yes. [Saloni Gajjar]

Director Jesse V. Johnson is adapting the crime thriller Thieves Highway with Aaron Eckhart and Chucky’s Devon Sawa set to star. According to a press release, it follows an Oklahoma detective who is in over his head while dealing with the, er, scary world of modern cattle rustling. It sounds like Yellowstone and Breaking Bad coming together for a 2-hour escapade. [Saloni Gajjar]

Christian Slater will star as Dexter’s dad (originally played by James Remar) in the Dexter prequel Original Sin, according to . The spin-off has also found its Dexter and Deb in Patrick Gibson (Shadow & Bone) and Molly Brown (Senior Year). Dexter: Original Sin will be showrun by Clyde Philips, a former showrunner on the original series. You can read more about it . [Mary Kate Carr]

Still riding off the success of The Idea Of You, Michael Showalter has rounded up an impressive ensemble cast for his Christmas comedy Oh. What. Fun. According to , Jason Schwartzman, Eva Longoria, Joan Chen, Devery Jacobs, Havana Rose Liu and Maude Apatow have all joined the cast with a bonus cameo appearance from recent Oscar nominee Danielle Brooks. This is in addition to the already star-studded cast of Felicity Jones, Chloë Grace Moretz, Denis Leary, Dominic Sessa, and leading lady Michelle Pfeiffer. There’s no release date yet, but with these bonafides it’s shaping up to be one of the most anticipated holiday films in recent memory. [Mary Kate Carr]

Avan Jogia (Choose Love) and Dove Cameron (Schmigadoon) are set to star in the new thriller series Obsession from Amazon MGM Studios and Atomic Monster, according to . Jogia and Cameron both came up on the tweenybopper scene; Jogia started on Nickelodeon’s Victorious and Cameron launched on the Disney Channel with Liv & Maddie. Based on Catherine Ryan Howard’s 2021 international bestseller 56 Days, “The story follows Oliver (Jogia) and Ciara (Cameron), who, after meeting randomly in a supermarket, fall for each other fast, and dangerously hard. 56 days later, homicide investigators arrive at Oliver’s apartment to find an unidentified body—brutally murdered and intentionally decomposed. Did he kill her? Did she kill him? Intercutting between an intense single day in the present investigation and the twisted trajectory of the young lovers’ affair in the past, the series is both a crime story and an erotic, psychological thriller.” [Mary Kate Carr]

, the story of the assassination of President James Garfield, has added a few more distinguished gentlemen to its cast. West Wing alum Bradley Whitford and Joker’s Shea Whigham have boarded as series regulars, while Stephen McKinley Henderson (Civil War), Paula Malcomson (Parish), and Tuppence Middleton (Downton Abbey) also join in recurring roles, per . The series is executive produced by Game Of Thrones’ David Benioff and D.B. Weiss and stars Michael Shannon as Garfield and Matthew Macfadyen as his admirer-turned-murderer Charles Guiteau. Betty Gilpin and Nick Offerman also star. [Mary Kate Carr]