ABC Renews Ramón Rodríguez’s Drama Series “Will Trent” for Second Season

Ramón Rodríguez’s latest project will (trent) see another season…

ABC has renewed its drama series Will Trent, starring the 43-year-old Puerto Rican actor, for a second season.

Ramón RodríguezThis marks the first ABC freshman show to get a renewal decision this season and comes ahead of the show’s Season 1 finale on May 2.

The early pickup doesn’t come as a surprise.

Will Trent has been leading the ABC freshman pack and was considered a shoo-in for renewal.

The series, from 20th Television, is ABC’s No. 1 new drama this season in total viewers (9.9 million) and adults 18-49 (1.65 rating) after 35 days of viewing across linear and digital platforms. It’s the strongest series in the Tuesday 10 pm hour in total viewers — a longtime weak spot for ABC — since Big Sky during the 2020-2021 season.

The series is improving its time slot over comparable weeks last season by 143% in total viewers and by 25% among adults 18-49 this season. It also gains a massive 6.8 million total viewers over its initial Live+Same Day average after 35 days of multi-platform viewing, according to Nielsen and the network.

Based on Karin Slaughter’s bestselling Will Trent series, the series stars Rodríguez as Special Agent Will Trent of the Georgia Bureau of Investigations (GBI), who was abandoned at birth and endured a harsh coming-of-age in Atlanta’s overwhelmed foster care system. But now, determined to use his unique point of view to make sure no one is abandoned like he was, Will Trent has the highest clearance rate in the GBI.

“We’re so thankful to our ABC and Hulu fans for joining us on this wild ride and watching Will Trent, said Rodríguez. “When we set out to bring the series to television screens, we wanted to do justice to the gritty, thrilling world that Karin Slaughter created with her bestselling book series. Liz Heldens, Dan Thomsen and the creative team have developed complex and nuanced characters that people are relating to on a human level — and it hasn’t hurt having our little star, Betty, on the call sheet. We’re so excited for the opportunity to dive deeper into these stories with season two.”

Will Trent also stars Erika Christensen as Angie Polaski, Iantha Richardson as Faith Mitchell, Jake McLaughlin as Michael Ormewood and Sonja Sohn as Amanda Wagner.

The series is produced by 20th Television, a part of Disney Television Studios.

Aubrey Plaza to Star in Legendary’s Live-Action & Animated Film “Animal Friends”

 Aubrey Plaza is makin’ time for her (animal) friends

The 38-year-old half-Puerto Rican actress has joined the all-star cast of Legendary’s forthcoming film Animal Friends.

Aubrey PlazaCombining live-action and animated characters, the project hails from writing duo Kevin Burrows and Matt Mider.

In addition to Plaza, the film will also star Ryan ReynoldsJason Momoa and Vince Vaughn.

Plot details for the project, described as an R-rated road trip adventure, are being kept under wraps. Emmy-winning director Peter Atencio is at the helm.

The idea for the film came from a general meeting between Burrows & Mider and Patrick Gooing, an executive at Reynolds’ production company, Maximum Effort. Producing alongside Legendary are Maximum Effort and Namit Malhotra’s Prime Focus Studios. Visual effects and animation will be provided by leading visual entertainment services company, DNEG.

Plaza is coming off one of the strongest years of her career, having generated major heat with her starring turn alongside Will Sharpe, Meghann Fahy and Theo James in the second season of Mike White’s HBO smash The White Lotus, for which she was recognized with a Golden Globe nomination. The SAG Award winner also recently notched Independent Spirit and Gotham Award nominations for her lead turn in John Patton Ford’s acclaimed indie crime thriller, Emily the Criminal, which she produced under her Evil Hag Productions banner.

She recently wrapped production on Francis Ford Coppola’s sci-fi epic Megalopolis and is currently shooting a role in Disney+’s Marvel series Agatha: Coven of Chaos.

Charlie Sheen to Reunite with Chuck Lorre on Max’s Comedy Series “How To Be a Bookie”

Charlie Sheen has bookie-ed his next project…

The 57-year-old part-Spanish actor and former Two and a Half Men star will reunite with Chuck Lorre on the Max comedy series How To Be a Bookie, according to Deadline.com.

Charlie SheenSheen is set for a recurring role in the single-camera comedy headlined by Sebastian Maniscalco, which hails from Two and a Half Men studio Warner Bros. Television where Lorre is based.

Reps for Max and WBTV declined comment.

The project is part of a television comeback for Sheen, who is also attached to star in the dramedy project Ramble On from Doug Ellin.

Sheen and Lorre’s eight-year collaboration on one of the most successful comedy series of the past two decades, CBS’ Two and a Half Men, starring Sheen and co-created and executive produced by Lorre, came to an abrupt end in the spring of 2011 when Sheen’s public meltdown and verbal attacks on Lorre led to his firing, triggering a $100 million lawsuit against Lorre and WBTV, which was eventually settled.

Since then, Sheen had taken responsibility for his actions and had expressed regret over his Two and a Half Men exit and an intent to make amends with the top comedy showrunner. That has now happened, resulting in the duo’s collaboration on How To Be a Bookie.

In How To Be a Bookie, co-written by Lorre and Nick Bakay, a veteran bookie (Maniscalco) struggles to survive the impending legalization of sports gambling, increasingly unstable clients, family, co-workers, and a lifestyle that bounces him around every corner of Los Angeles high and low.

Omar J. Dorsey, Jorge Garcia, Andrea Anders, Vanessa Ferlito and Maxim Swinton also star.

Lorre, who is directing the first episode, executive produces through his Chuck Lorre Productions and its overall deal with WBTV alongside Bakay, Maniscalco, Judi Marmel and Andy Tennant, who is directing multiple episodes.

The series is currently in production.

Sheen earned four Emmy nominations for his starring role on Two and a Half Men. Following the end of the multi-camera series, he headlined another sitcom, Anger Management, which aired 100 episodes on FX, and guest starred on ABC’s The Goldbergs.

Jaklyn Bejarano to Star in Santa Rita Film Co.’s U.S./Mexico Border Drama “La Gloria”

It’s a Gloria-ous new role for Jaklyn Bejarano.

The Mexican actress has joined the cast of Santa Rita Film Co.’s La Gloria, a drama exploring the humanity and political abstractions surrounding the U.S.-Mexico border.

Jaklyn Bejarano Bejarano came aboard following a nationwide casting search in Mexico.

Bejarano will star opposite David Morse and Bill Heck in the film.

Set in South Texas, the film – whish is being shot in the region, follows the story of Carson Tidwell (Morse), an embittered and isolated rancher who mistakenly shoots a young, pregnant migrant girl named Irena (Bejarano) who is crossing his property. Confronted with his actions and threatened with a criminal investigation, Carson must decide whether to help Irena recuperate on his ranch or face criminal charges led by his son (Heck), an agent for the U.S. Border Patrol.

Christopher Young’s script is based on the personal experiences of Joseph Todd Walker, who is directing, in his feature debut.

The film is being produced and financed under the Santa Rita Film Co. banner led by producers Houston Hill and Ty Roberts. Sharri Hefner and George Sledge are also producing, with Greg McCabe, Allen Gilmer and Matt Harvey executive-producing for Santa Rita.

“My childhood was spent on my grandparent’s ranch along the U.S.-Mexico border,” Walker told Deadline, of the personal history informing the film. “We are filming on location at their ranch at the very place that inspired this story.”

“We are proud to support this film and shed light on a story that is so relevant to today’s headlines and the continued challenges faced across the U.S./Mexico border,” remarked Hill, with his Santa Rita Film Co. partner Roberts adding that “it was important for us to film on location in Texas to keep the authenticity of the story.”

This will be Bejarano’s first major film project.

Anthony Ramos In Talks to Star in Series “Twisters,” a New Chapter to 1996 Box Office Hit

Anthony Ramos is getting twisted

The 31-year-old Puerto Rican actor and singer is in talks to join Twisters, a new chapter to the 1996 box office hit, for Amblin Entertainment and Universal PicturesDaisy Edgar-Jones and Glen Powell are also on board.

Anthony RamosLee Isaac Chung is on board to direct from a script by Mark L. Smith. The film will be co-financed by Warner Bros. 

Starring Helen Hunt and Bill Paxton, Twister was a massive hit in 1996, scoring more than $494 million at the worldwide box office thanks in no small part to its groundbreaking special effects.

The original film was helmed by Jan De Bont and executive produced by Steven Spielberg, with a screenplay by author Michael Crichton.

EVP Production Sara Scott and creative executive Jacqueline Garell will oversee Twisters for Universal Pictures, and Ashley Jay Sandberg will oversee for Kennedy/Marshall.

Following breakout roles in the Broadway smash Hamilton and Oscar-winning A Star Is Bornthe Grammy-winning and Emmy-nominated Ramos has begun filling a slate with upcoming franchises. Next up, he leads Paramount’s Transformers: Rise of the Beasts.

He will also star in the upcoming Marvel series Iron Heart for Disney+, as well as the feature films Distant for Amblin and Dumb Money for Sony.

Ramos inaugurated the dual roles of John Laurens and Philip Hamilton in the Tony-winning Broadway musical Hamilton and earned a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor for his performance as Usnavi in John M. Chu’s In the Heights.

Scott Mescudi to Star Opposite Idris Elba in Paramount+ & SEGA’s Series “Knuckles” 

Scott Mescudi is hedge-ing his bets…

The 39-year-old half-Mexican American rapper, singer and actor, also known by his stage name Kid Cudi, has joined the cast of the Paramount+ and SEGA series Knuckleswith Idris Elba set to reprise role of titular character.

Scott “Kid Cudi” MescudiMescudi is among a roster of new cast additions that includes Edi Patterson, Julian Barratt and Ellie Taylor.

Adam Pally, who appeared in the most recent Sonic the Hedgehog sequel will reprise his role of Walt Whipple with Rory McCann guest starring. In addition, Tika Sumpter will guest star, reprising her role as Maddie.

The series is currently in production and will follow Knuckles on a hilarious and action-packed journey of self-discovery as he agrees to train Wade as his protégé and teach him the ways of the Echidna warrior.

The series takes place between the films Sonic the Hedgehog 2 and Sonic the Hedgehog 3, marking the next installment of the hit franchise, which is slated for December 20, 2024.

All of the key creative team from the previous films are returning for the series, including Jeff Fowler, the films’ director, who is directing the pilot episode, as well as Neal H. Moritz, Toby Ascher, John Whittington and Toru Nakahara, who serve as executive producers on the series. Elba also serves as executive producer.

Additional directors for the series include Ged Wright, Brandon Trost, Jorma Taccone and Carol Banker.

Whittington, who penned Sonic the Hedgehog 2, wrote the pilot and is the head writer for the series. The other series writers include Brian Schacter and James Madejski.

Sonic the Hedgehog 2 earned over $190 million in domestic box office, and over $214 million internationally for a combined total gross of over $405.4 million. On Paramount+, the sequel marks the top-performing Kids & Family film on the service and is also one of the service’s most re-watched films.

Irene Aldana to Fight Raquel Pennington in Rematch at UFC Fight Night in May

Irene Aldana is readying for a rematch…

The 35-year-old Mexican professional mixed martial artist will meet Raquel Pennington in a rematch on May 20 in the main event of a UFC Fight Night card in Las Vegas, with the next UFC women’s bantamweight No. 1 contender likely to be decided with that fight.

Irene AldanaAldana and Pennington fought in July 2019, with Pennington winning a split decision.

ESPN has Pennington ranked No. 3 and Aldana ranked No. 6 in the world at women’s bantamweight.

The champion in that weight class, Amanda Nunes, will defend her title in a trilogy fight with Julianna Peña at UFC 289 on June 10 in Vancouver.

The Pennington vs. Aldana winner will likely fight the victor in that bout.

Pennington (15-8) has won five straight. The Colorado native has not lost since a 2020 bout with former champ Holly Holm. Pennington, 34, has the most bouts in UFC women’s bantamweight history (16).

Aldana (14-6) has won two in a row and four of her past five. The Mexican-born fighter is coming off a knockout of Macy Chiasson at UFC 279 in September.

Aldana has won seven of her past nine fights overall.

Peso Pluma & Eslabon Armado Make Billboard Hot 100 Chart History with “Ella Baila Sola”

Peso Pluma and Eslabon Armado are making Billboard Hot 100 history…

The 23-year-old Mexican singer and the American Regional Mexican group have each logged their first Top 10 on the Hot 100 with “Ella Baila Sola” on the chart dated April 22, 2023.

Peso Pluma & Eslabon ArmadoEslabon Armado and Peso Pluma’s “Ella Baila Sola” soars 17-10, led by 24.4 million streams, up 30%, as it wins the Hot 100’s top Streaming Gainer trophy, and jumps 6-3 on Streaming Songs.

Quartet Eslabon Armado, from California, and Peso Pluma, from Mexico, each reach the Hot 100’s top for the first time – as “Ella Baila Sola” makes history as the first regional Mexican song ever to hit the Hot 100’s top 10.

The genre has surged this decade, due in part to exposure on TikTok and other social media, with Gera MX and Christian Nodal’s “Botella Tras Botella” having become the first regional Mexican Hot 100 hit in May 2021, peaking at No. 60.

After “Ella Baila Sola,” Peso Pluma also has the second-highest-charting regional Mexican Hot 100 hit: “La Bebe,” with Yng Lvcas, rises to a new No. 17 best on the latest, April 22-dated chart.

The next-highest-peaking such hits: Yahritza y Su Esencia’s “Soy El Unico” (No. 20, April 2022 – it debuted at that rank, the highest entrance for a regional Mexican song) and Fuerza Regida and Grupo Frontera’s “Bebe Dame” (No. 25, this January).

Among Latin genres, regional Mexican’s arrival in the Hot 100’s top 10 follows that of Latin pop, which, after English-language hits by Gloria Estefan in the 1980s (plus Los Lobos’ “La Bamba,” in Spanish) surged in the late ‘90s and beyond thanks to songs (in varying degrees of English and Spanish) by Enrique Iglesias, Jennifer Lopez and Ricky Martin, among other stars.

At the same time, Marc Anthony helped tropical break through on the chart. In more recent years, Daddy Yankee and Luis Fonsi’s pop-centered, mostly-Spanish-language “Despacito,” featuring Justin Bieber, spent a then-record-tying 16 weeks at No. 1 in 2017, while, this decade, Bad Bunny, with Spanish-language songs, has carried the torch for Latin rhythm in the top 10.

As for Latin music overall, Eslabon Armado and Peso Pluma earn the Hot 100’s third Spanish-language top 10 this year, following two Latin pop hits: Bizarrap and Shakira’s “Bzrp Music Sessions, Vol. 53” (No. 9, January) and Karol G and Shakira’s “TQG” (No. 7, March).

“Ella Baila Sola” was released on Prajin Parlay/DEL Records, both of which likewise appear in the Hot 100’s top 10 for the first time.

The collaboration concurrently achieves a second week at No. 1 on the multi-metric Hot Latin Songs chart, where it became the first leader for both Eslabon Armado and Peso Pluma.

“We didn’t expect for the song to make so much noise!” Pedro Tovar, lead singer for the former act, and the song’s sole author, told Billboard upon its coronation. “I really liked the song when I first wrote it, but I didn’t really expect it to be such a big hit. I previewed it on my stories on Instagram and, two days after, it went viral on TikTok, and that’s when I knew that the song was going to do big numbers.”

“Normally I don’t expect to chart with songs,” Peso Pluma marveled. “We just enjoyed the process of doing it.”

The Hot 100 blends all-genre U.S. streaming (official audio and official video), radio airplay and sales data.

Grupo Frontera Teams Up with Bad Bunny on New Single “un x100to”

Grupo Frontera has found it’s one percent…

The Regional Mexican group has joined voices with Bad Bunny to release the single “un x100to” on Monday, April 17, marking the first collaboration between the two acts, and a new twist for el Conejo Malo.

Grupo Frontera, Bad BunnyProduced and composed by Latin hitmakers Edgar Barrera and MAG, the romantic cumbianorteño narrates the story of a person who misses their ex and makes an important phone call with one percent of battery left on their phone.

The Spanish-language ballad’s lyrics translate to: “I have only 1% left, and I’ll use it to say I’m so sorry/ If they’ve seen me in the disco with someone else, it’s just wasting my time/ Baby, I can’t lie to you; That story that they saw me all happy, that’s not true/ Nothing makes me laugh anymore, only when I see the photos and videos I see of you.”

The official music video shows the group and Bad Bunny performing the song in front of an isolated ranch in a desert.

Born Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, Bad Bunny first teased the track on his TikTok account on Sunday, April 16, where he’s seen singing part of the nostalgic lyrics and flaunting his cumbia-dancing skills.

Although he’s a longtime fan of Regional Mexican music, his new track with Grupo Frontera is only his second regional Mexican collab.

Prior to this, he worked with Natanael Cano for a remix of “Soy el Diablo,” a corrido.

Over the weekend, after he headlined Coachella, he also posted a video singing along to Cano’s “AMG” in collaboration with Peso Pluma and Gabito Ballesteros.

Carlos Santana to Perform at Eric Clapton’s Crossroads Guitar Festival

Carlos Santana has reached a crossroads

The 75-year-old Mexican legendary guitarist and his band, Santana, will perform at Eric Clapton’s 2023 Crossroads Guitar festival.

Carlos SantanaThis year’s event will take place over two nights (September 23-24) at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, where Clapton will again gather some of the best guitar players in the world for headlining sets and impromptu collabs.

Though not everyone on the roster will repeat over the weekend, Clapton will perform both nights, joined by Gary Clark Jr., Sheryl Crow, Santana, Jakob Dylan, Albert Lee, Los Lobos, Stephen Stills, Taj Mahal, ZZ Top, the John Mayer Trio, Robert Randolph, H.E.R., Marcus King and many more.

Tickets for the festival will go on sale on Friday, April 21, at 10:00 am

local time via Ticketmaster; there are no two-day passes, only single-day tickets.

Also slated to perform at the event are: Joe Bonamassa, Doyal Bramhall II, James Bullard, Jerry Douglas, Andy Fairweather Low, Samantha Fish, Sonny Landreth, Pedro Martins, John McLaughlin, Del McCoury Band, Roger McGuinn, Keb’ Mo’, Ariel Posen, Eric Gales, Vince Gill, Buddy Guy, Ben Haggard, Sierra Hull, Christone “Kingfish” Ingram, The Bros. Landreth, Robbie Robertson, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Gustavo Santaolalla, Daniel Santiago, Molly Tuttle, Jimmie Vaughan, Breadley Walker and The War on Drugs.

Longtime co-sponsor Guitar Center will again host the Guitar Center Festival Village at the adjacent Xbox Plaza and Chick Hearn Court at L.A. Live, where some of the world’s best guitar and gear manufacturers will host interactive exhibits where fans can try out new products and instruments.

In addition to some multi-million-dollar historical guitars on display at the Legends Collection area, there will also be an unveiling of the 25th anniversary Crossroads Guitar Collection, a rare series of limited-edition guitars based on some of Clapton’s vintage gear; a significant portion of profits from the sale of the guitars will go to aid Clapton’s Crossroads Centre at Antigua treatment and education facility.