There are more things in James RodayRodriguez’s future than originally anticipated…
Series creator/executive producer DJ Nash has announced the super-sized episode count for Season 4 of ABC’sA Million Little Things, starring the 45-year-old Mexican American actor, director, screenwriter and for former Psych star.
“We’re doing 20 episodes this year,” Nash tells Deadline.com. “It’s the biggest season we’ve ever had.”
The serialized drama about a tight-knit group of friends produced 17 episodes in Season 1, 19 in Season 2 and 18 in the COVID-19-impacted Season 3.
Nash pointed to the large order as a sign that ABC has confidence in the series’ long-term prospects.
“With us getting a 20-episode order, it doesn’t feel like that ABC wants this to be our last season,” he said.
The 44-year-old Mexican American actor and Psych star, who recently changed his stage name, has teamed up with frequent collaborator Todd Harthan on Good Serial, a darkly twisted, genre mashing comedy project.
It has been set up at 20th Century Fox Television, where The Resident showrunner Harthan is under an overall deal.
Written by Roday Rodriguez and Harthan, Good Serial is centered on a trio of roommates, bonded by tragedy, who become vigilantes serving cold dishes of revenge in the spirit of Dexter and Three’s Company.
As a writing team, Roday Rodriguez and Harthan, previously collaborated on the feature films Gravy(2015), directed by Roday Rodriguez, and Skinwalkers (2006) as well as the Treehouse episode of Hulu’s Into the Dark anthology (also directed by Roday Rodriguez).
Additionally, Roday Rodriguez and Harthan worked together on the long-running USA Network dramedy series Psych, starring and produced by Roday Rodriguez, where the duo wrote multiple horror-themed episodes over the four seasons Hartahan worked on the show as consulting producer and co-executive producer.
“Todd and I have been horror hounds since we were kids. The genre feels more fluid than ever and this was an opportunity to take another unorthodox swing,” Roday Rodriguez said.
Roday Rodriguez stars in the ABC drama A Million Little Thingsfor 20th Century Television sibling ABC Studios and in Peacock’sPsych 2: Lassie Come Home, which he also co-wrote and executive-produced. He also has directed multiple episodes of The Resident.
The 44-year-old Mexican American actor and former Psych star will now go by James Roday Rodriguez.
In an interview with TVLine, he talked about his decision to switch his stage name to his birth surname.
His given middle name is David, which he’s replaced with Roday, given that he’s worked 20-plus years under that moniker.
Rodriguez says the idea began with conversations he had with his father about their family heritage and what his parents and grandparents went through growing up in Texas.
“It’s a deeply personal decision that I am doing for me,” said Rodriguez. “And I just hope it’s something that can be amplified. I hope we are all having these conversations in our lives. I hope we are all reflecting. I hope we’re all learning sh*t that we thought we knew but didn’t know.”
Rodriguez has already changed his name on social media.
After two decades as a working actor, the premiere of Psych 2: Lassie Come Home on Wednesday night will also mark the onscreen debut of James Roday Rodriguez.
Rodriguez also stars in ABC’s A Million Little Things.
NBCUniversal’s Peacock has released the official trailer for the 44-year-old half-Mexican American actor’s original movie Psych 2: Lassie Come Home, ahead of its July 15 launch.
Written, directed and executive produced by Psych creator Steve Franks, Psych 2: Lassie Come Home focuses on Lassiter, who is ambushed on the job and left for dead. In a vintagePsych-style with a Hitchcockian nod, he begins to see impossible happenings around his recovery clinic. Roday’s Shawn and Dulé Hill’s Gus return to Lassie’s side in Santa Barbara and are forced to navigate the personal, the professional and possibly the supernatural.
This is the second Pscyh TV movie, following 2017’s Psych: The Movie.
The original series aired for eight seasons on USA.
Leiomy Maldonado is bringing something legendary to this year’s virtual edition of the ATX Television Festival.
The festival’s first ever virtual version, titled “ATX TV….From The Couch!,” will feature a special panel “Extravaganza” with the cast of HBO Max’s new reality voguing competition, Legemdary, including the 33-year-old Afro-Puerto Rican dancer, instructor, model and ballroom dancer, aka “Wonder Woman of Vogue.”
Maldonado serves as a judge on the new reality competition series, alongside Megan Thee Stallion, Jameela Jamil and Law Roach.
Peacock will present a Psych panel with creators Steve Franks and Chris Henze, as well as cast members James Roday, Dulé Hill, Kirsten Nelson, Maggie Lawson and Corbin Bernsen ahead of the premiere of Peacock’s second Psych movie, Psych 2: Lassie Come Home.
Other panels include a conversation with PopTV’s One Day at a Time including showrunner/executive producer/director/actor Gloria Calderón Kellett as well as cast members Justina Machado, Rita Moreno, and Isabella Gomez.
They’ll join viewers for an informal brunch conversation discussing the June 16 animated special, “The Politics Episode.”
There will also be a table read with the executive producers and cast of Search Partyahead of its debut on HBO Max.
The festival will feature the marquee panel conversation with the cast and creatives of HBO‘s reboot of Perry Mason. Audiences will get a first look at the new gritty drama ahead of its June 21 premiere date.
Hulu will also bring their original series Little Fires Everywhere to the fest with a special panel featuring the shows producers and writers.
FX Networks will present a Justified reunion with the show’sbehind the scenes team and stars Timothy Olyphant and Joelle Carter.
The fest will highlight the ways women support one another in television with a special “Torchlighters” panel, led by Pacesetter principal and executive producer Jessica Rhoades (Dirty John: The Betty Broderick Story, Sharp Objects, Utopia) creator/showrunner/executive producer/director Marti Noxon (Sharp Objects, Dietland, To the Bone), creator/showrunner/executive producer/director Tanya Saracho (Vida), Francesca Orsi (Executive Vice President and Head of Drama at HBO), writer Lindsey Villarreal (Vida) and writer Erika L Johnson (The Village, The Good Lord Bird), with additional panelists to be announced soon.
ATX’s previously announced programming includes panels for Scrubs, Cougar Town, The Bold Type, Nancy Drew, New Amsterdam, P-Valley and more. The ATX Television Festival will stream for free on ATX’s official YouTube channel, with an option for viewers to donate to fundraising efforts for Direct Relief and The Actors Fund in an effort to benefit those affected by COVID-19.
The event will take place June 5-7. Click here for the complete schedule.
The 43-year-old half-Mexican American actor and former Psych star will star in Psych: The Movie 2, which will premiere sometime in spring 2020 or later.
It wasoriginally slated to premiere this year, but the film will debut next year because the movie is moving from the USA Network, home of the original Psych series andPsych: The Movie, to Peacock, NBCUniversal’s upcoming streaming service, which launches in April.
The sequel to the first post-series film, formally known as Psych: The Movie 2, has been given a cheeky new title, Psych 2: Lassie Come Home,named after one of the show’s main characters, Santa Barbara Police Chief Carlton Lassiter, played by Tim Omundson.
Written, directed and executive produced by Psych creator Steve Franks, Psych 2: Lassie Come Home focuses on Lassiter, who is ambushed on the job and left for dead. In a vintage Psych-style Hitchcockian nod, he begins to see impossible happenings around his recovery clinic. Shawn (Roday) and Gus (Dulé Hill) return to Lassie’s side in Santa Barbara and are forced to navigate the personal, the professional and possibly the supernatural. Separated from their new lives in San Francisco, Shawn and Gus find themselves unwelcome in their old stomping grounds as they secretly untangle a twisted case without the benefit of the police, their loved ones or the quality sourdough bakeries of the Bay Area. What they uncover will change the course of their relationships forever.
Also returning for the second movie are original Psych cast members Maggie Lawson, Kirsten Nelson and Corbin Bernsen.
Roday also co-wrote the movie and executive produces, Hill executive produces, Andy Bermanco-wrote, Chris Henzieexecutive produces.
The 40-year-old Mexican American actor and former Psych star has been hired to direct two episodes of Blood Drive, Syfy’s 13-episode straight-to-series, grindhouse cinema-inspired drama.
Set in a near-apocalyptic future, the series revolves around Arthur Bailey (Alan Ritchson), the last good cop in Los Angeles, and Grace (Christina Ochoa), his dangerous femme fatale partner with an agenda of her own. When Grace is forced to partner with Arthur, she’s not thrilled, to say the least. But soon she might learn that this genuinely moral, nice guy is also a determined survivor, with whom she might have more in common than she had ever imagined.
The gruesome thriller is from UCP, and James Roland, who created the series and penned the pilot, will serve as co-executive producer.
The series is in production in South Africa.
Roday is best known for his eight-year run as the hyper-observant consultant detective Shawn Spencer on UCP’s and USA Network’s hit comedy Psych, for which he also wrote and directed several episodes.
He made his theatrical directorial debut with the horror-comedy Gravyand has directed TV series including Fox’s Rosewoodand CBS’ Rush Hour.
The 38-year-old Mexican American actor and former Psych star has been cast as the male lead opposite Melanie Griffith in ABC’s untitled Molyneux comedy pilot (aka The Brainy Bunch), from Imagine Television and 20th Century Fox Television.
As part of the deal, Roday has received a blind script commitment from 20th Century Fox Television to write and/or direct a future pilot.
The single-camera Molyneux project, written/executive produced by Wendy & Lizzie Molyneux and directed by Jamie Travis, is inspired by the book by Kip and Mona Lisa Harding. Through a combination of genetics and dynamic home schooling, Kip (Roday) and Mona Lisa Mitchell find themselves raising extraordinarily intelligent kids. Kip is a former Special Forces Operations sergeant, now a stay-at-home father to his seven brilliant children.
Griffith plays Kip’s mother-in-law who takes them into her Orange County home.
In addition to starring on Psych, Roday wrote and directed multiple episodes of the USA Network dramedy.
ICM Partners has signed the 38-year-old Mexican American actor and former Psych.
Rodriguez is s best known for his eight-season turn playing the lead, fake psychic Shawn Spencer, on the USA crime dramedy created by Steve Franks, also an ICM client.
The show and Roday developed a big following on social media and also were a top draw at Comic-Con. In addition to starring, Roday wrote and directed several episodes of Psych. Following the end of the series earlier this year, he wrote and directed Shoot The Moonfor USA and Psychproducer Universal Cable Prods. through a development fund. The presentation will be delivered to USA for pickup consideration in the next few weeks.
Roday, who was at CAA, co-founded Red Dog Squadron, a Los Angeles theater company, and took over the El Centro theater on Santa Monica Blvd. in Hollywood in order to give actors the opportunity to realize stage passion projects as actors, writers and/or directors.
He also wrote and directed the indie Gravy, starring Lily Cole, Sarah Silverman, Dule Hill and Gabourey Sidibe.
Roday is managed by Gotham/Principal and also repped by law firm Peikoff Mahan.
James Roday has landed a baby, baby baby of a role…
The 38-year-old Mexican American actor stars in actor-writer-director Brian Klugman’s drama Baby, Baby, Baby.
The film follows a writer navigating life and relationships, and it tracks the relationship between two mismatched people who try to move past their baggage to make their love work.
Klugman stars as a writer of short stories living in Los Angeles whose mind wanders into fantasy asides starring famous people reflecting the state of his relationship.
Adrianne Palicki and Michaela Conlin star as the two women in his life, with Conlin playing Klugman’s ex-girlfriend and Palicki as the painter he moves on with.
In addition to Roday, Kulgman, Palicki and Conlin, the film also stars Kelsey Grammer and Kelly McCreary, as well as features a number of celebrity cameos that are being kept under wraps.
Baby, Baby, Baby shot for 22 days on location in LA and will feature music by Rilo Kiley’s Blake Sennett.
