Luna Blaise Closes Deal to Return for Fourth & Final Season of Netflix-Saved Series “Manifest”

Posted on September 9, 2021 by Tom Castaneda

Luna Blaise is manifesting her destiny…

The 19-year-old Mexican American actress/singer has closed a deal to return for a new season of Netflix and Warner Bros. Television’s Manifest.

Blaise is among the key cast members who’ve secured their contracts for the upcoming supersized, 20-episode fourth and final season of the missing plane drama.

In addition to Blaise, eries regulars Parveen Kaur and Holly Taylor have closed deals to return for the new season, joining Josh Dallas, Melissa Roxburgh and J.R. Ramirez who had completed their negotiations on the eve of the 8/28 announcement of Manifest‘s resurrection by Netflix two and a half months after the show’s cancellation by NBC.

Additionally, Ty Doran who guest-starred as an older version of Cal Stone in one of the big twists during the Season 3 finale, is joining the cast as a series regular for Season 4.

Doran will be taking over playing the character from Jack Messina who portrayed younger Cal Stone for the first three seasons of the show. He’s leaving the series alongside Athena Karkanis who played Cal and Olive’s (Blaise) mom and died in the Season 3 finale just as Cal aged.

The last remaining Season 3 series regular, Matt Long, is also a series regular on the NBC drama pilot Getaway with one-year that could allow him to also do Manifest subject to synching up dates but that is still very much up in the air.)

According to sources, the new deals for the cast, whose original contracts expired in June, include sizable pay increases. The Manifest actors all participated in the #SaveManifest campaign which helped keep the show at the top of the Netflix streaming rankings — and ultimately bring it back from the dead.

In Manifest, created by Jeff Rake, when Montego Air Flight 828 landed safely after a turbulent but routine flight, the crew and passengers were relieved. Yet in the span of those few hours, the world had aged five years — and their friends, families and colleagues, after mourning their loss, had given up hope and moved on. Now, faced with the impossible, they’re all given a second chance. But as their new realities become clear, a deeper mystery unfolds and some of the returned passengers soon realize they may be meant for something greater than they ever thought possible.

Netflix Renews J.R. Ramirez’s Missing Plane Drama “Manifest” for Super-Sized Fourth & Final Season

Posted on August 28, 2021 by Tom Castaneda

It’s a case of Manifest destiny for J.R. Ramirez.

After weeks of negotiations, Netflix has finalized a deal for a super-sized fourth and final season of the missing plane drama Manifest, starring the 40-year-old Cuban actor.

Manifest will be available exclusively on Netflix worldwide.

In a nod to Manifest’s fans, whose passionate support helped resurrect the show following its cancellation by NBC, the announcement of the Season 4 pickup was made on so-called “828 Day” (8/28) — when the series about the mystery of Flight 828 is celebrated annually — at 8:28 AM PT.

The final season of Manifest, created by Jeff Rake, will be made up of 20 episodes. As is customary for series on Netflix, the 20-episode season will be split into multiple parts.

In anticipation of closing the agreement with Netflix, Manifest lead studio Warner Bros. Television earlier this month started negotiations with the cast to return, in addition to reaching out to writers who’d worked on the show and new ones about joining executive producer/showrunner Rake for Season 4.

Stars Josh Dallas and Melissa Roxburgh have closed deals for the final season.Ramirez also is believed to be set, while Parveen Kaur remains in negotiations, along with some or all of the remaining series regulars: Luna Blaise, Matt Long and Jack Messina.

The Manifest actors all participated in the #SaveManifest campaign, which helped keep the show at the top of the Netflix streaming rankings — and ultimately bring it back from the dead.

The pact with Warner Bros. Television also includes the existing three seasons of Manifest, which are currently available on Netflix in the U.S. and will debut on the platform in markets around the world in the coming months.

“Since its premiere on Netflix in June, Manifest has proven very popular with our members,” said Bela Bajaria, Netflix Head of Global TV. “Jeff Rake and his team have crafted a beguiling mystery that has viewers around the world on the edge of their seats and believing again in second chances, and we’re thrilled that they will bring fans some closure with this final super-sized season.”

The pickup by Netflix will give fans answers after the cancellation by NBC made for a premature ending, leaving unanswered questions and unresolved Season 3 finale cliffhangers for the series, which had been originally conceived by Rake for a six-season run. That plan will now be condensed to bring the story of the passengers of Flight 828 to a proper conclusion in four seasons. The super-sized 20-episode pickup would help toward that goal as represents Manifest‘s largest season order. (The series’ first season consisted of 16 episodes, Season 2 and 3 featured 13 episodes each.)

“What started years ago as a flight of fancy deep in my imagination has evolved into the jet engine journey of a lifetime,” Rake said. “Never in my wildest dreams could I have envisioned the worldwide outpouring of love and support for this story, its characters, and the team who work so hard to bring it all to life. That we will be able to reward the fans with the ending they deserve moves me to no end. On behalf of the cast, the crew, the writers, directors, and producers, thank you to Netflix, to Warner Bros., and of course to the fans. You did this.”

In Manifest, when Montego Air Flight 828 landed safely after a turbulent but routine flight, the crew and passengers were relieved. Yet in the span of those few hours, the world had aged five years — and their friends, families and colleagues, after mourning their loss, had given up hope and moved on. Now, faced with the impossible, they’re all given a second chance. But as their new realities become clear, a deeper mystery unfolds and some of the returned passengers soon realize they may be meant for something greater than they ever thought possible.

Couldn't let a day as significant as today go uncelebrated.

Manifest will officially return for a super-sized fourth and final season, only on Netflix! pic.twitter.com/HGns7vCvhX

— Netflix (@netflix) August 28, 2021

Florencia Lozano to Appear in Netflix’s Drama Series “Breathe”

Posted on July 26, 2021 by Tom Castaneda

Florencia Lozano is breathe-ing easy…

The 51-year-old Latina actress, best known for portraying Téa Delgado on ABC’s daytime series One Life to Live, has landed a recurring role in Breathe, Netflix’s one-hour drama series from Blindspot creator Martin Gero and writer-executive producer Brendan Gall, and Warner Bros. Television.

Lozano will recur alongside 40-year-old Colombian actor Juan Pablo Espinosa on the series, which stars Melissa Barrera.

In Breathe, written by Gero and Gall, when a small plane crashes in the middle of the Canadian wilderness, a lone woman (Barrera) must battle the elements and odds to survive. Barrera’s Liv is a razor-sharp Manhattan attorney who finds herself profoundly out of her comfort zone when her plane crashes and she must battle for survival.

Lozano and Espinosa will play Liv’s mother and father, respectively.

Lozano co-wrote and stars in Life After You, which was awarded Best Feature and Best Actress at the Nice International Film Festival. She will next be seen in the feature Here After. Her previous television credits include the starring role of Claudia Messina on Netflix’s Narcos, as well as Madam Secretary, The Blacklist, Blue Bloods, Law & Order: SVU, among others.

Espinosa most recently starred in Focus Features’ comedy Half Brothers. His other recent credits include Apple TV’s Acapulco, Cocaine Godmother opposite Catherine Zeta Jones, and a recurring role as Luis Carlos Galán on Netflix’s Narcos. In Latin America, he’s known for his work on El Secretario, A Corazon Abierto and La Fan with NBC/Telemundo, among others.

Victoria Cartagena to Portray Renee Montoya on the CW’s “Batwoman”

Posted on July 21, 2021 by Tom Castaneda

It’s a case of déjà vu for Victoria Cartagena.

The 36-year-old Latina actress has joined the upcoming third season of Batwoman as a new series regular, portraying DC hero Renee Montoya on the CW drama.

Cartagena’s character, Montoya, is a former GCPD officer who left the force when she could no longer stomach the corruption inside the department. She now runs the “freaks division,” which hasn’t seen a lot of action… until now. Righteous and pragmatic, and LGBTQ+, she’s a woman with a very personal (and mysterious) mission to help clean the streets of Gotham in the right way, by whatever means necessary.

Cartagena previously played Renee Montoya on Fox’s Gotham, though the universes are not connected.

In the June 27 Season 2 finale, Ryan Wilder (Javicia Leslie) has fully taken up the mantle of Batwoman with Kate Kane leaving Gotham in a search for her long-missing cousin Bruce Wayne (aka Batman). It also was revealed that Ryan’s biological mother, who was believed to have died in childbirth, is actually alive.

In addition to Leslie, Rachel Skarsten, Meagan Tandy, Nicole Kang and Camrus Johnson also star; original cast member Dougray Scott recently left the series.

Batwoman is produced by Berlanti Productions in association with Warner Bros Television.

Cartagena’s other recent credits include a series regular role on Fox’s Almost Family, and recurring on M. Night Shyamalan’s Apple TV+ series Servant. She also recurred on the first season of NBC’s Manifest.

I guess #Reneemontoya and I have some unfinished business❤️ So very excited to join this new group of talented artists, writers & crew who are doing their thing over here! They have welcomed me wholeheartedly! Grateful, humbled, hype AF… #batwoman #fullcircle https://t.co/eeNCmptT7v

— Victoria Cartagena (@VickiCartagena) July 20, 2021

Rey Gallegos Joins Cast of Rosario Dawson’s Limited DC Comic-Based Series “DMZ”

Posted on July 12, 2021 by Tom Castaneda

Rey Gallegos is in the Zone… the demilitarized zone.

The Mexican actor will star in HBO Max’s DMZ, a limited series based on the DC comic series from Ava DuVernay, Roberto Patino and Warner Bros. Television.

Gallegos joins a cast that includes Rutina Wesley, Mamie Gummer, Nora Dunn and Henry G. Sanders.

Also joining stars Rosario Dawson and Benjamin Bratt are Venus Ariel, Jade Wu, Agam Darshi and Juani Feliz.

Joining the creative team are filmmaker Ernest Dickerson and Emmy winner Carly Wray.

Dickerson will direct and executive produce three episodes of the four-part series. DuVernay directed the first episode and executive produces the series.

DMZ is set in the near future, when America is embroiled in a bitter civil war, leaving Manhattan a demilitarized zone (DMZ), destroyed and isolated from the rest of the world. It chronicles the harrowing journey of fearless and fierce medic Alma Ortega (Dawson) to find the son she lost in the evacuation of New York City at the onset of the conflict. Throwing gasoline on the flames of that conflict is Parco Delgado (Bratt), the popular, and deadly, leader of one of the most powerful gangs in the DMZ. He wants to rule this new world and will stop at nothing to secure that outcome.

The drama will examine the stark political and cultural divide in American society, where Alma must contend with the gangs, militias, demagogues and warlords that control this lawless no man’s land. In doing so, she becomes the unlikely source of what everyone there has lost…hope.

Ariel will play the series regular role of Nico, a foul-mouthed scavenger with a hankering for mischief.

Gallegos will play Cesar, a ruthless and devoted consigliere who’ll stop at nothing to secure his gang’s authority in the DMZ.

Feliz will play Carmen, the fearless and fiery partner to the biggest bad in the DMZ, and a critical source of power and community in her native Spanish Harlem.

They join previously announced cast members Hoon Lee, Jordan Preston Carter and Freddy Miyares.

DMZ is produced by DuVernay’s Array Filmworks in association with Warner Bros. Television.

Gallegos previous credits include Gang Related, American Sniper and Spider-Man 3.

Dascha Polanco to Star in the NBC pilot “Dangerous Moms,” Based on Spanish Series “Señoras del (h)AMPA”

Posted on June 14, 2021 by Tom Castaneda

It’s a dangerous time for Dascha Polanco…

The 38-year-old Dominican actress has been cast as a co-lead opposite Shanola Hampton in the NBC pilot Dangerous Moms, from Warner Bros. Television and Universal Television.

Written by Janine Sherman Barrois and based on the Spanish series Señoras del (h)AMPA, Dangerous Moms is an off-center dark dramedy about four diverse mothers — two of them played by Hampton and Polanco — who accidentally kill the queen bee of their school’s PTA during the demonstration of a new high-end food processor.

The story becomes a female anthem about friendship and family as it tells the story of one completely unprepared group of women who must juggle their everyday lives while their worlds are turned upside down.

Polanco will play Pia, the impeccable nemesis of Monique (Hampton). Pia is the No. 1 salesperson for the state-of-the-art TurboThunder3000 food processor and a popular mommy blogger. She also is the landlord of a few apartment buildings in the community, which she hopes to gentrify.

Barrois executive produces with Rachel Kaplan, Intrigue Entertainment’s Tariq Jalil and Lucas Carter as well as Arantxa Écija from Mediaset España Comunicación and Santi Botello from Producciones Mandarina SL, who produced the original series.

Polanco, currently co-starring in Warner Bros.’ In the Heights, is best known for her work on Orange Is the New Black, for which she shared in three comedy ensemble SAG Awards.

She’s set to star in the upcoming MGM superhero thriller film Samaritan, opposite Sylvester Stallone, and will make her leading film role debut in Adrian Martinez’s indie dark comedy iGilbert.

Melissa Barrera to Star in the Netflix Survival Drama Series “Breathe”

Posted on June 1, 2021 by Tom Castaneda

Will Melissa Barrera make it through the wilderness?

The 30-year-old Mexican actress and singer has been cast as the lead in Breathe, Netflix’s one-hour drama series from Blindspot creator Martin Gero and writer-executive producer Brendan Gall, and Warner Bros. Television.

Barrera, who rose to acclaim in Starz’s Latinx series Vida, will portray a lone woman who must battle the elements and odds to survive after her plane crashes in the middle of the Canadian wilderness.

Barrera’s Eve is a razor-sharp Manhattan attorney who finds herself profoundly out of her comfort zone when her plane crashes and she must battle for survival.

Gero executive produces via his Quinn’s House production company, along with Gall. Warner Bros. Television is the studio.

Barrera most recently starred as co-lead Lyn in Tanya Saracho’s Vida, which aired for three seasons on Starz.

She next stars in In the Heights, the feature adaptation of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Tony-winning musical, and also will be seen in a key role in the upcoming Scream 5.

She recently wrapped Sony Pictures Classics’ Carmen, the modern-day reimagining of the classic opera.

HBO Max Releases First Trailer for Zion Moreno’s “Gossip Girl” Reboot, Premiering in July

Posted on May 30, 2021 by Tom Castaneda

Zion Moreno is bringing the X’s and O’s this July…

HBO Max has dropped the first teaser trailer and poster art for the Gossip Girl reboot, starring the 28-year-old Mexican American actress/model, and set a premiere date of July 8 for the show.

The teaser promises to deliver Gossip Girl’s usual sultry shenanigans but all now set in the smartphone era, where beautiful influencers carefully police their image on social media. Not that our narrator cares much for how her contemporaries project, as she makes clear in the trailer message, which she ends with her famous signature.

“Thinking you’re in control of your image, your actions, the narrative. But you forgot one thing: I can see you. And before I’m through, I’ll make sure you see me too. XOXO,” says our New York gossip queen.

In addition to Moreno, who portrays Luna, the series also stars Jordan Alexander, Eli Brown, Thomas Doherty, Tavi Gevinson, Emily Alyn Lind, Evan Mock, Whitney Peak and Savannah Lee Smith. The poster is each emblazoned with either an X or an O.

Gossip Girl is produced by Fake Empire and Alloy Entertainment in association with Warner Bros. Television and CBS Studios. The series is written, executive produced and was developed by Joshua Safran of Random Acts.

Karena Evans directs two episodes, and original costume designer Eric Daman rejoins the series.

Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage created and ran the original series. They also serve as EPs on the reboot.

Camila Moreno to Star in Ava DuVernay’s Superhero DC Drama Pilot “Naomi”

Posted on April 3, 2021 by Tom Castaneda

Camila Moreno has landed a super role…

The Latina actress and Hollywood newcomer has been cast in Ava DuVernay’s superhero DC drama Naomi.

Moreno joins a cast that includes Kaci Walfall as Naomi, Alexander Wraith, Cranston Johnson, Barry Watson, Mouzam Makkar, Mary-Charles Jones, Aidan Gemme, Daniel Puig and Will Meyers.

Based on the eponymous comic book series that debuted in 2019, co-written by Brian Michael Bendis and David F. Walker and illustrated by breakout artist Jamal Campbell, the show follows a teen girl’s journey from her small northwestern town to the heights of the multiverse. When a supernatural event shakes her hometown to the core, Naomi sets out to uncover its origins, and what she discovers will challenge everything we believe about our heroes.

Amanda Marsalis will direct and co-executive produce the pilot, from DuVernay’s Array Filmworks and Warner Bros. Television.

Naomi, the network’s latest DC adaptation, comes from DuVernay and Arrow writer and co-executive producer Jill Blankenship.

HBO Max Gives 10-Episode Order to Isabella Gomez’s “Head of the Class” Reboot

Posted on March 31, 2021 by Tom Castaneda

Isabella Gomez is officially heading back to the classroom…

HBO Max has handed the reboot of Head of the Class, starring the 23-year-old Colombian-American actress and One Day at a Time star, a 10-episode order.

The series hails from Bill Lawrence, fresh off the back of two Golden Globes nominations for Ted Lasso, and American Vandal writers Amy Pocha and Seth Cohen.

This comes after the project was handed a pilot order and five additional scripts in May 2020.

Based on the 1980s ABC comedy created by Rich Eustis & Michael Elias, the half-hour multi-camera series stars Gomez as teacher Alicia Adams, who wants her group of overachieving high school students to focus less on grades and more on experiencing life.

Jorge Diaz, Jolie Hoang-Rappaport, Gavin Lewis, Dior Goodjohn, Brandon Severs, Adrian Matthew Escalona and Katie Beth Hall also star with Christa Miller guest starring.

The series is produced by Doozer Productions in association with Warner Bros. Television.

Production is set to begin later this summer in L.A.

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