Stars More than just because: Johansson boards TV adaptation of ‘Just Cause’
More than just because:
Scarlett Johansson (“Black Widow,” 2021) is headed for the small screen.
The former Marvel Cinematic Universe actress has signed on to star in and executive produce (via her These Pictures production company) “Just Cause,” a new thriller destined for Amazon’s Prime Video. The series, which hails from writer Christy Hall (“I Am Not Okay With This”) and Warner Bros. TV, is based on the 1992 novel by author John Katzenbach — the same novel that was adapted for a 1995 film that starred Sean Connery (“The Rock,” 1996) and a young Johansson in only her second film role.
Johansson, who played Connery’s on-screen daughter, was just 10 years old when the film hit theaters. Safe to say she won’t be reprising that role this time around, but it does allow her to revisit a story to which she already has a personal connection, and this will mark her first lead role in a TV series.
In the film, Connery’s character was a law professor who defended a death row inmate. Amazon’s new limited series is going to follow the novel a little more closely, though it will center on a female protagonist instead of a male one.
Played by Johansson, Madison “Madi” Cowart is a struggling reporter for a Florida newspaper. Madi has been assigned to cover the final days of an inmate on death row, and she begins to believe Scarlett Johansson to star in “Just Cause” the prisoner’s claims of innocence.
In the meantime, Johansson has been busy filming another project bound for a different streaming service:Apple TV+’s “Project Artemis,” directed by Greg Berlanti (“Love, Simon,” 2018) and starring Chris Evans (“Knives Out,” 2019). And that’s not all: Johansson is also attached to “Asteroid City,” from filmmaker Wes Anderson (“The French Dispatch,” 2020) and “My Mother’s Wedding” from actress/director Kristin Scott Thomas (“The English Patient,” 1996), though both films are still in production.
Sibling drama: After six seasons of playing Kate Pearson on NBC’s “This Is Us,” actress Chrissy Metz has lined up her next project, and it seems to be another TV drama involving family and siblings.
Metz will next star in and executive produce “Help Me Rhonda,” which has been given a script
(plus penalty) commitment from
NBCUniversal.
For all you readers, the drama is based on the bestselling novel “2 Sisters Detective Agency,” by James Patterson and Candice Fox. It is being adapted for TV by “Life Sentence” and “Significant Mother” creators/writers Erin Cardillo and Richard Keith.
“Help Me Rhonda” centers on Metz’s character, brash public defender Rhonda Bird, as well as Barbra Ann “Baby” Bird, described as “the privileged teenage sister she [Rhonda] never knew she had” (per Deadline). Following their father’s death, the two siblings reluctantly take over his private detective agency, and as they begin to help his clients, the duo slowly uncovers the truth about who their father really was.
Metz, whose performance in “This Is Us” earned her an Emmy and two Golden Globe nominations, and whose memoir “This Is Me” is a New York Times bestseller, will executive produce alongside Cardillo, Keith, Patterson and a number of other names tied to production companies James Patterson Entertainment, PatMa Productions, Tree Line Film and Luber Roklin.
“Help Me Rhonda” is still in the early stages of development, and if it’s handed a series order, there’s still the question of whether it will air on NBC or NBC’s streamer, Peacock.
As for Metz’s “This Is Us” costars, most of them seem to be sticking with TV. Co-star Milo Ventimiglia will star in ABC’s upcoming “The Company You Keep”; Mandy Moore is working on Hulu’s “Twin Flames”; Justin Hartley is attached to the CBS pilot “The Never Game”; and Metz’s onscreen husband, Chris
Sullivan, appeared in the ABC pilot “The Son In Law.”
Recurring regular: Actress Jordan Gonzalez’s character, Ash Romero, featured prominently in Season 1 of HBO Max’s “Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin,” so it may be a bit surprising to some that Gonzalez wasn’t considered a series regular — at least, he wasn’t until now.
Gonzalez has now officially made the leap from recurring to series regular ahead of Season 2, which has been retitled “Pretty Little Liars: Summer School.” This means viewers will see a lot more of Ash, a fan favorite who is the first transmasculine character introduced in the series.
Season 1 was set five years after the original “Pretty Little Liars” series (2010-2017) ended and introduced new characters — or rather a new generation of Little Liars — who are being “tormented by an unknown assailant and made to pay for the secret sin committed by their parents two decades ago… as well as their own” (according to the official logline).
The reboot, which was co-created by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa and Lindsay Calhoon Bring (both known for their work on “Chilling Adventures of Sabrina”), was renewed for a second season in September, and fans are surely thankful for that, considering the first season ended on a cliffhanger. In a statement, Aguirre-Sacasa and Calhoon Bring had this to say about the renewal: “We are beyond excited to continue telling stories with our amazing group of little liars —exploring their friendships, their romances, their secrets and their status as scream queens supreme!”