Matias Varela to Star in TNT’s New Sci-Fi Drama from Scott Free Productions

Matias Varela is ready for battle…

The 38-year-old Galician actor has been cast as a series regular opposite Travis Fimmel in Scott Free Productions’ straight-to-series sci-fi drama for TNT, which will mark Ridley Scott’s television helming debut.

Matias Varela

The series from writer-showrunner Aaron Guzikowski, Scott Free and Turner’sStudio Trevolves around two androids tasked with raising human children on a mysterious virgin planet. As the burgeoning colony of humans threatens to be torn apart by religious differences, the androids learn that controlling the beliefs of humans is a treacherous and difficult task.

Varela will play Lucius, a loyal soldier, who is trying to make up for the perceived failings of his father, a man whose sense of kindness and mercy were his ultimate undoing. Lucius is so committed to reversing his father’s legacy, that he devotes himself to serving the very man who executed him, a man he believes may be a savior to his people.

Varela was most recently seen starring as real-life DEAinformant Jorge Salcedoin Netflix’s Narcos. He’s currently shooting the Swedish limited series Blindedand recently wrapped Jesper Ganslandt’s next feature film 438 Dagar, in which he stars opposite Gustaf Skarsgård. His other recent film credits include Assassin’s Creed and Point Break. 

Enrique Murciano to Star in TNT’s Drama Pilot “Deadlier Than the Male”

Enrique Murciano has male

The 44-year-old Latino actor has been cast as the lead in Deadlier Than the Male (working title), TNT’s drama pilot produced by Bruna Papandrea’s Made Up Stories and Turner’s Studio T.

Enrique Murciano

Written by Harriet Warner, Deadlier Than The Male follows a trio of characters, each with a mysterious and troubling past: a young woman who once looked into the eyes of a dangerous killer, a former serial predator desperate to find redemption and a grieving mother obsessed with finding her missing daughter. As each of them is pushed to the edge, the truth about their pasts and motives grows ever murkier, blurring the lines between victim and perpetrator.

Murciano is playing Peter Jamison, Emma’s (Lily Rabe) therapist, who has provided his cabin in the Louisiana woods as a safe house as she starts life in witness protection following a three-year prison stint. He tries to give Emma a sense of security and control over her new surroundings, but he appears to be keeping secrets from her — and from his new wife.

Murciano, the star of Netflix’s Bloodline, recently recurred on The Blacklist.

Rodriguez to Direct Warner Bros. Live Action Adaptation of Hanna-Barbera’s “Jonny Quest”

Robert Rodriguez has a new quest

The 46-year-old Mexican American filmmaker is set to direct Warner Bros. Jonny Quest, film adaptation of the Hanna-Barbera boy hero.

Robert Rodriguez

The studio is hoping to create a live-action family adventure franchise.

Rodriguez and Terry Rossio are rewriting a Dan Mazeau draft that made the Black List.

Jonny is the kid who accompanied his scientist father, their bodyguard Race Bannon and Jonny’s pal Hadji on a series of global adventures that always involved some evil conspiracy that forced Jonny to work his way out of danger. Created and designed by Doug WildeyJonny Quest was wildly popular when first introduced. The series ran for a season on ABC primetime in 1964 and lives forever in reruns, an updated animated series, and in comic book and merchandising incarnations.

Warner Bros, which got the Hanna-Barbera catalog in the Turner acquisition, has tried numerous times to get this right. Richard Donner took a shot at it; Peter Segal did too. A version had Zac Efron poised to play the title character and Dwayne Johnson to play Bannon.

Rodriguez previous has success with the kid empowerment theme with his own popular Spy Kids films.