SAMUEL L. JACKSON TAKES ON THE FURY: Samuel L. Jackson is in talks to reprise the role of Nick Fury in a new Marvel series in development at Disney+, according to Variety. Jackson is attached to star with Kyle Bradstreet attached to write and executive produce. Jackson has portrayed Fury in Iron Man and multiple other MCU films, including Avengers: Endgame and Captain Marvel.
AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS RESTARTS: The David Tennant-toplined production of the Jules Verne classic is restarting shoots in Romania and South Africa, Variety reports. “We are over the moon to be re-commencing filming on Around the World in 80 Days,” said Crawford Collins, who is executive producing. “This project is such a challenging and ambitious series to put together, so it has required a huge amount of support on all fronts to pull it off. We couldn’t have achieved it without our wonderful production team, our stellar cast, our super supportive broadcasters and financiers, the inventiveness of our directors, and the ingenuity of our wonderful writing team led by Ashley Pharoah,” said Collins.
FAMILY GUY CASTS NEW CLEVELAND: YouTuber Arif Zahir will take over the role of Cleveland Brown for Fox‘s Family Guy in its 19th season. This comes amid a call for non-white actors to voice characters of color on animated series. Mike Henry said in June that he was stepping down from the role. “Firstly, I'm eternally grateful to have received this once in a lifetime opportunity,” said Zahir. “When I heard that Mike Henry was stepping down from the role of Cleveland Brown — my favorite cartoon character of all time — I was shocked and saddened, assuming we'd never see him again. When I learned I would get to take over the role? Overabundant gratitude. To Mike, you created something truly special and I promise I will do my absolute best to honor your legacy. To Rich Appel, Alec Sulkin and Seth MacFarlane, thank you for this incredible gift. And to the millions of fans who love this show, I promise not to let you down.”
THE SIMPSONS DIVERSIFIES: Following up on its pledge to bring in non-white actors to voice characters of color, The Simpsons is bringing in Alex Désert to voice Carl Carlson, Homer’s (Dan Castellaneta) nuclear plant co-worker, in Sunday's season premiere on Fox. Hank Azaria previously played the part.