In Brief: 'It' prequel series coming to HBO Max, and more

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HBO Max is developing a prequel to the Stephen King novel It, according to The Ankler. The series, tentatively titled Welcome to Derry, will be set in the 1960s in the time leading up to the events of the 2017 film It: Part One and is said to include the origin story of Pennywise the Clown. Andy Muschietti, who directed It: Part One and 2019’s It: Part Two, is attached to executive-produce the series.

Apple TV+ has tapped Joel Edgerton to star in an adaptation of the Blake Crouch novel Dark Matter, according to Variety. The nine-episode series will follow Edgerton as a physicist, professor, and family man who suddenly finds himself in an alternate universe, where he “embarks on a harrowing journey to get back to his true family and save them from an unimaginable foe — himself.” Edgerton will next be seen in Obi-Wan Kenobi, the Disney+ Star Wars spinoff, debuting on May 25…

HBO Max dropped a teaser trailer on Tuesday for its eight-episode limited series The Staircase, starring Colin Firth and Toni Collette. The docuseries, follows the trial of American novelist Michael Peterson, who was accused of murdering his wife, Kathleen, in 2001. Firth and Collette, who play Michael and Kathleen, respectively, are joined by Patrick Schwarzenegger, Rosemarie DeWitt, Juliette Binoche, Parker Posey, Sophie Turner and Odessa Young. The Staircase debuts May 5 with three episodes, followed by one new episode each week through June 9…

(NOTE LANGUAGE) Variety reports Jane the Virgin alum Gina Rodriguez has landed the lead role in the ABC comedy pilot Not Dead Yet. The project, based on the Alexandra Potter book Confessions of a Forty-Something F*** Up, follows Rodriquez’s Nell Stevens — who is “broke, newly single and feeling old.” Seeking to revive the career she abandoned a decade ago, she lands a job writing obituaries, and “starts getting life advice from an unlikely source,” according to the industry trade…

Rome Flynn, who played the role of Gabriel Maddox on the fifth and sixth seasons of ABC’s How to Get Away with Murder, is joining the network’s Grey’s Anatomy in a recurring role, according to Variety. He’ll play Wendell Ndugu, the brother of Anthony Hill‘s Winston. ABC describes Maddox’s character as “a typical younger sibling with a mischievous sense of humor — he’s hoping to impress Winston with his new sales rep role at a medical technology company.” The logline for Thursday’s episode, which will mark his first appearance on the show, suggests that the physician shortage at Grey Sloan Memorial, prompted by the pandemic, is starting to become a true crisis. Grey’s Anatomy airs Thursdays at 9 p.m. ET on ABC…

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