FX/Hulu Renew “The Bear,” Starring Liza Colón-Zayas, for Third Season

Liza Colón-Zayas is grin and bear-ing it!

FX/Hulu have ordered a third season of their acclaimed restaurant drama series The Bear, starring the 51-year-old Puerto Rican actress and playwright.

Liza Colón-Zayas,The series, which was created by Christopher Storer, stars Jeremy Allen White as Carmy Berzatto.

The first season of The Bear follows Carmy, a young chef from the fine-dining world who comes home to Chicago to run his family sandwich shop after his brother’s suicide. Carmy must balance the realities of small-business ownership, his strong-willed and recalcitrant kitchen staff and his strained familial relationships, all while grappling with the impact of his brother’s death.

Season two follows the gang as they transform their grimy sandwich joint into a next-level spot. As they stripped the restaurant down to its bones, the crew undertook transformational journeys of their own, each forced to confront the past and reckon with who they want to be in the future.

Unsurprisingly, it turned out the only thing harder than running a restaurant was opening a new one, and the team had to juggle the insane bureaucracy of permits and contractors with the beauty and creative agony of menu planning. The transition brought a newfound focus on hospitality as well. As the entire staff was forced to come together in new ways, pushing the boundaries of their abilities and relationships, they also learned what it means to be in service, both to diners and each other.

In addition to Storer and Colon-Zayas, who portrays Tina, the series also stars Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Ayo Edebiri, Abby Elliott and Lionel Boyce.

Matty Matheson was also upped for season 2, while Edwin Lee Gibson, Corey Hendrix, Oliver Platt, Jon Bernthal, José Cervantes, Richard Esteras, Carmen Christopher, Chris Witaske, Joel McHale, Jamie Lee Curtis, Gillian Jacobs, Robert Townsend, Molly Gordon, Alex Moffat, Ricky Staffieri, Mitra Jouhari and Maura Kidwell recur.

Storer executive produces alongside Joanna Calo, Hiro Murai, Josh Senior and Matheson. It is produced by FX Productions.

Season one, which premiered in June 2022, is currently nominated for 13 Emmy Awards, including Outstanding Comedy Series at the awards planned for January. The second season, which aired from June 2023, consisted of ten episodes, up from eight in season one. The episode order for season three has not been revealed.

The Bear, which wowed audiences in its first season only to achieve even greater heights in season two, has become a cultural phenomenon,” said Nick Grad, President, FX Entertainment. “We’re so proud to partner with Christopher Storer, Joanna Calo, Josh Senior, and the rest of the creative team, as well as the brilliant cast led by Jeremy Allen White, Ayo Edebiri and Ebon Moss-Bachrach. What they and the crew have done is truly remarkable, and we and our partners at Hulu join fans in looking forward to the next chapter in the story of The Bear.

Floriana Lima to Star in NBC’s Drama Pilot “Blank Slate”

Floriana Lima is going blank

The 41-year-old part-Spanish American actress has been cast as one of the leads in NBC’s Blank Slate, a drama pilot from Dean Georgaris, John Fox, Davis Entertainment and Universal Television.

Floriana LimaThe series is created by Georgaris and Fox, written by Georgaris and will be directed by Richard Shepard.

Blank Slate draws some parallels to Davis Entertainment’s long-running NBC series The Blacklist.

In Blank Slate, Special Agent Alexander McCoy is a legend in law enforcement, the agent we all hope is out there, the agent we’d all like to be. The only issue is — he doesn’t actually exist. He’s a ghost, a phantom. So what happens when a man claiming to be Alexander McCoy walks through the door with all of his skills and knowledge but with an agenda nobody will see coming?

Lima plays Maya Logan, the seasoned head of a team of Homeland Security agents who’s always a step ahead of everyone else.

Georgaris executive produces via his Georgaris Inc. banner; John Davis and John Fox executive produce for Davis Entertainment. Shepard also executive produces. Universal Television, a division of Universal Studio Group, is the studio.

Lima recently starred in the third season of ABC’s drama A Million Little Things.

She previously was seen in the second season of Netflix and Marvel’s The Punisher, opposite Jon Bernthal.

She joined the CW’s Supergirl in the second season, starring as special crimes investigator Maggie Sawyer, one of the first openly gay characters in mainstream comics.

Saban Films Acquires Rights to Bratt’s Crime Drama “Shot Caller”

Benjamin Bratt will be calling the shots soon…

Saban Films has acquired the rights to director Ric Roman Waugh’s crime drama Shot Caller, starring the 53-year-old half-Peruvian American actor.

Benjamin Bratt

Shot Caller follows a newly released prison gangster who is forced by the leaders of his gang to orchestrate a major crime with a brutal rival gang on the streets of Southern California.

In addition to Bratt, who starred in Fox’s Star this season, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Lake Bell, Jon Bernthal, Emory Cohen and Omari Hardwick also star in the film.

No word yet on when the film will be released.

HBO Releases Trailer for Isaac’s Miniseries “Show Me a Hero”

Oscar Isaac is ready for his Hero’s welcome…

HBO has released the official trailer for its period drama Show Me a Hero, starring the 36-year-old Guatemalan/Cuban American actor.

Oscar Isaac in Show Me a Hero

The story takes place in the 1980s and ’90s and centers on Isaac’s character Nick Wasicsko, a young Yonkers mayor who finds himself at the crossroads of race and politics when he is instructed to build low-income housing units in his largely Caucasian community. He hopes to be on the right side of history, but at what cost?

Show Me a Hero, which draws a lot of parallels to the current civil-rights battle in our country, also stars Catherine Keener, Jim Belushi, Winona Ryder, Alfred Molina and Jon Bernthal.

Set to be shown in six hour-long installments, the series is an adaptation of Lisa Belkin’s 1999 book and is penned by The Wire‘s David Simon and William F. Zorzi and directed by Paul Haggis.

Show Me a Hero premieres at 8:00 pm on August 16 on HBO.

del Toro’s Drug-Runner Drama “Sicario” Set for Limited Release in September

Benicio Del Toro is returning to the big screen this fall…

Lionsgate Films has set a September 18 limited-release date for Sicario, the drug-runner drama starring the 48-year-old Academy Award-winning Puerto Rican actor.

Benicio del Toro

From director Denis Villenueve, the film stars Emily Blunt as an idealistic FBI agent exposed to the brutal world of international drug trafficking by members of a government task force (del Toro and Josh Brolin) who have enlisted her in their plan to take out a Mexican cartel boss.

The film co-stars Jon Bernthal.

Taylor Sheridan wrote Sicario, which will have its wide release one week later, on September 25.

Moreno Joins Cast of the Drug Biopic About Griselda Blanco, “The Godmother”

Catalina Sandino Moreno is heading back into the drug world…

The 33-year-old Colombian actress, who earned an Oscar nomination for her performance in the drug-themed drama Maria Full Of Grace, has joined the cast of the drug biopic The Godmother.

Catalina Sandino Moreno

Starring Catherine Zeta-Jones, the film is the true-tale biopic about Colombian cocaine queenpin Griselda Blanco. The film stirred media interest after it was announced that Zeta-Jones was cast in the lead role.

Moreno earned an Academy Award nod for playing a drug mule in Maria Full Of Grace and recently hit the small screen in Red Band Society. She’ll next appear in a recurring role on TNT’s Falling Skies.

In addition to Moreno, the film will also star Oscar Jaeneda, who recently appeared in the film Cantinflas, as well as Jon Bernthal (Fury) and Mehdi Dehbi (A Most Wanted Man).

The Godmother is set to begin filming next spring. Eva Sørhaug is directing from a screenplay by Frank Baldwin.