WARNER BROS RETURNS TO "MANDRAKE" AND "THE DARK TOWER"? CRAIG HORNER IN "JOEY DAKOTA", VANESSA WILLIAMS IN "666 PARK AVENUE", UPDATES ON "BEAUTY AND THE BEAST", "GILDED LILYS", "THE SELECTION" AND "ELEMENTARY" TV PILOTS!

It seems that Warner Bros. is returning to their plans on film adaptation of two famous books/comics. Firstly, according to"MovieWeb" they again want to adapt MANDRAKE THE MAGICIAN, one

of the famous comics a lot of us grew up with. The comic follows a dashing magician and a hypnotist who fights crime with the help of his friend Lothar, the strongest man on Earth. And it seems that, after a cancellation, they are again turning back to THE DARK TOWER film adaptation, which was deemed too massive with three films and two seasons of a TV show which would cover the complex story of Stephen King's saga about a nomadic gunslinger who travels around strange futuristic world in the search of The Dark Tower. The film is still supposed to be directed by Ron Howard with Javier Bardem in the lead role and with HBO doing the two seasons of TV show which would be aired between the three films to connect the story.

 UPDATES ON 2012 TV PILOTS

You've recently had a chance to read HOLLYWOOD SPY'S SPOTLIGHT ON 2012/2013 TV PILOTS, presenting all the upcoming new shows, but

I have some updates for you: Amazing Craig Horner, whom we started to love after his lead role in legendary LEGEND OF THE SEEKER, will finally come back to TV in CW's JOEY DAKOTA, which will focus on Maya (Amber Stevens), a documentary filmmaker working on a film about deceased rock star Dakota. Travelling back in time to the 1990s, Maya meets and falls in love with the musician, becoming determined to prevent his death when she returns to the present. Meanwhile, a show I mentioned in the spotlight, 666 PARK AVENUE, has just cast Vanessa Williams as the owner of one of the oldest apartment buildings in New York which becomes home to paranormal events. David Annable

(BROTHERS AND SISTERS) plays the lead role as the mean who manages the property according to "Digital Spy". The show has also signed super dashing Robert Buckley (he was brilliant in LIPSTICK JUNGLE and ONE TREE HILL) as one of the tenants of the house. CBS pilot ELEMENTARY in which Jonny Lee Miller and Lucy Liu will play modern day Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson solving crimes in New York has added Aidan Queen as a NY cop who worked with them at Scotland Yard too. On the other hand, the most promising of the new shows,CW's sf saga

THE SELECTION, which will be set 300 years in the future following a young girl (Aimee Teegarden) who enters the competition to become the new intergalactic empress by marrying the prince (Ethan Peck), has added Leonor Varela and Martin Donovan as prince Maxon's parents, Queen Amberly and King Clarkson. Deadline reports that British sf star John Barrowman (TORCHWOOD) has lended the lead role in ABC period pilot GILDED LILYS as the charming son of the central family in the show, which tells the story of the opening of the first ever luxury hotel in New York City. He joins Sarah Bolger from THE TUDORS, Blythe Danner, Matt Long, Madeline Zima...  

And over at CW,

Kristen Kreuk won't be alone in BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, about a beautiful NY detective who develops a relationship with "The Beast", a survivor of a botched military experiment, since the lead male role went to handsome Jay Ryan from TERRA NOVA. As you know, ABC also has their version of BEAUTY AND THE BEAST  but theirs is set in the fantasy realm where a beautiful and tough princess (Ruth Bradley) discovers an unlikely connection with a mysterious beast (Darius Campbell). The cast of that one also has F. Murray Abraham as Emperor Dorian and Karen LeBlanc as the fearless leader of rebels who want to dethrone the emperor.