MARIAH CAREY TO GUEST STAR IN 'EMPIRE' + NEW SEASON 3 POSTER & PHOTOS! FIRST 'ARRIVAL' SF MOVIE TEASER WITH AMY ADAMS AND JEREMY RENNER

'EMPIRE' SEASON 3

 MARIAH CAREY IS KITTY

She was announced for season 2 but Mariah Carey will now guest star in the third season of America's most watched series EMPIRE next month! She will not play herself, but a fictional pop star Kitty (I kid you not) who comes to record an explosive duet with Jamal Lyon (Jussie Smollett), helping him solve his creative crisis and reach a musical breakthrough. I hear she will be wearing a leotard in her scenes :) Taye Diggs will also guest star.

THEIR REIGN, THEIR RULES

The drama returns in Season Three, as the battle continues for the Soul of EMPIRE. Each member of the Lyon family must cope with the events that were set in motion in the Season Two finale. Lucious (Terrence Howard) pursues his music legacy with his streaming service, while also clashing with his half brother, Tariq (Morocco Omari), who is leading a federal task force investigating him. Cookie (Taraji P. Henson) aims to start over, in pursuit of her own happiness – a series of flashbacks reveal how Loretha Holloway became Cookie Lyon and how Cookie met Lucious. Meanwhile, the Lyon brothers – Andre, Jamal and Hakeem – all are determined to overcome the events of last season and move on, but the choices they face will become a battle for the soul of the Lyon family.

'ARRIVAL' SF TRAILER

WITH AMY ADAMS

Meanwhile, Paramount has just released the first trailer for science fiction movie ARRIVAL which is out this November  revolving around a linguist named Louise Banks (Amy Adams), who is brought in by the government to decipher an extraterrestrial language when alien ships arrive on Earth. Jeremy Renner stars as a theoretical physicist who is trying to determine whether they come in peace or are a threat.

'MAN WHO KNEW INFINITY' TRAILER WITH DEV PATEL, JEREMY IRONS, STEPHEN FRY! FINN JONES TO LEAD 'IRON FIST' MARVEL TV SERIES! JUSSIE SMOLLETT, DEMIAN BICHIR JOIN MICHAEL FASSBENDER IN 'ALIEN: COVENANT'

FINN JONES TO LEAD

'IRON FIST' MARVEL TV SERIES

Probably the main television news of the day is that young star Finn Jones, whom you mostly remember by that delight- fully gay role of his in GAME OF THRONES as Ser Loras the Knight of Flowers, will take the lead role in Netflix series adaptation of Marvel's IRON FIST! The expert of ancient martial arts, who, as 'EW' reports, at age of 9 travels with his family from New York to a lost mystical city called K’un-L’un. After some tragic twists of fate, he is adopted by the city’s ruler and taught advanced martial arts and the mystical power of the Iron Fist that gives him enhanced healing, telepathy, along with super strength and reflexes. As an adult, Rand returns to his native New York and begins a career as a superhero. DEXTER's Scott Buck will be the show runner. After Daredevil, Jessica Jones and Luke Cage, it will be fourth Marvel series at Netflix.

'ALIEN: COVENANT' CASTS

JUSSIE SMOLLETT AND OTHERS

In movie news, the cast is being rounded up for Ridley Scott's science fiction prequel sequel ALIEN: COVENANT, the second movie in his ALIEN prequel trilogy started two years ago by PROMETHEUS! The first batch of young actors to join Michael Fassbender, who reprises his original role of android David, includes EMPIRE's superstar Jussie Smollett along with Amy Seimetz, Carmen Ejogo (Selma) and Callie Hernandez! The movie which will take place ten years after the previous one will also have  Katherine Waterston, Danny McBride and Demián Bichir in the cast together with Australian star Alex England whom you are watching this weekend in GODS OF EGYPT! Billy Crudup is also in talks.

THE STORY
To open in cinemas October next year, ALIEN: COVENANT will follow the crew of the colony ship Covenant, travelling to a remote planet on the far side of the galaxy. They discover what they think is an uncharted paradise, but it actually turns out to be a dark, dangerous world. And the sole inhabitant is the "synthetic" David (Michael Fassbender), survivor of the doomed Prometheus expedition.

'MAN WHO KNEW INFINITY' 

WITH DEV PATEL, JEREMY IRONS

Your trailer for today is an inspiring one for ensemble drama movie THE MAN WHO KNEW INFINITY starring Dev Patel, Jeremy Irons, Stephen Fry and Toby Jones! Growing up poor in Madras, India, Srinivasa Ramanujan Iyengar earns admittance to Cambridge University during WWI, where he becomes a pioneer in mathematical theories with the guidance of his professor, G.H. Hardy.

PREMIUM SPOTLIGHT ON WGN'S HISTORICAL SERIES 'UNDERGROUND' WITH CHRISTOPHER MELONI, ALDIS HODGE, JUSSIE SMOLLETT, MARC BLUCAS, JAMES LAFERTY! TRAILER & POSTERS

'UNDERGROUND' EPIC SERIES 

POSTERS AND FIRST TRAILER

One of the new historical television series we are expecting to watch this year UNDERGROUND has just received its first trailer and also some new character posters. Depicting a tumultuous period in American history it will star airing at WGN America on Wednesday March 9th!

A ROAD TO FREEDOM

Set in a desperate and dangerous time, WGN America’s UNDERGROUND tells the story of revolutionaries of the Underground Railroad who use their ingenuity, power and perseverance to attempt the greatest escape in history despite the dire consequences that awaited them on the other side. The provocative and compelling series focuses on a group of courageous men and women who band together for the fight of their lives — for their families, their future and their freedom.  In the main focus is a group of plantation slaves planning a daring 600-mile escape from a Georgia plantation. Along the way, they are aided by a secret abolitionist couple running a station on the UNDERGROUND Railroad as they attempt to evade the people charged with bringing them back, dead or alive.

CHRISTOPHER MELONI AND JUSSIE SMOLLETT IN THE CAST

 Produced by Akiva Goldsman, and set to premiere sometime early next year, UNDERGROUND stars  Aldis Hodge, Jurnee Smollett Bell, Christopher Meloni (as August, a secretive mercenary who walks a tightrope between survival and morality), Alano Miller (as a charismatic slave on the plantation who is despised and feared by the other slaves), Jessica de Gouw and Amirah Vann (as head house slave, who is an expert in navigating the upstairs/downstairs life on the plantation ) whose characters are trying to reach freedom in different ways! The series also stars EMPIRE superstar Jussie Smollett (as wild-eyed runaway who doesn’t trust anyone, not even those stationed along the way who would try to help him), ONE TREE HILL star and director James Laferty (as a U.S. marshal who is intent on enforcing the Fugitive Slave Act.), Marc Blucas (as abolitionist lawyer who will break the laws he’s sworn to uphold in order to serve a greater good.), Adina Porter (as a strong wife and mother who first gives voice to the song in which the runners will find clues to help guide them to freedom), Chris Backus, Johnny Ray Gill, Chris Chalk, Reed Diamond (as affable owner of a very large and successful Georgia plantation and a loving family man), Theodus Crane, Renwick Scott. John Legend will oversee the music in the series after winning an Oscar last year for his song in SELMA movie.

FIRST CHARACTER POSTERS RELEASED FOR WGN'S HISTORICAL SERIES 'UNDERGROUND' WITH CHRISTOPHER MELONI, ALDIS HODGE, JUSSIE SMOLLETT, MARC BLUCAS, JESSICA DE GOUW

'UNDERGROUND' EPIC SERIES 

FIRST CAST POSTERS ARE OUT

Straight from New York Comic Con we're bringing you the first cast images or character posters released by WGN for their upcoming new epic pre American Civil War TV series UNDERGROUND featuring the faces of  Aldis Hodge, Jurnee Smollett Bell, Christopher Meloni (as August, a secretive mercenary who walks a tightrope between survival and morality), Alano Miller (as a charismatic slave on the plantation who is despised and feared by the other slaves), Jessica de Gouw and Amirah Vann (as head house slave, who is an expert in navigating the upstairs/downstairs life on the plantation ) whose characters are trying to reach freedom in different ways!

ESCAPE TO FREEDOM
Underground centres on a group of slaves planning a daring 600-mile escape from a Georgia plantation. Along the way, they are aided by a secret abolitionist couple running a station on the UNDERGROUND Railroad as they attempt to evade the people charged with bringing them back, dead or alive. The story is told through a group of plantation slaves who band together to fight for their future and their individual freedom!

JOHN LEGEND DOING THE MUSIC

Produced by Akiva Goldsman, and set to premiere sometime early next year, UNDERGROUND also stars EMPIRE superstar Jussie Smollett (as wild-eyed runaway who doesn’t trust anyone, not even those stationed along the way who would try to help him), ONE TREE HILL star and director James Laferty (as a U.S. marshal who is intent on enforcing the Fugitive Slave Act.), Marc Blucas (as abolitionist lawyer who will break the laws he’s sworn to uphold in order to serve a greater good.), Adina Porter (as a strong wife and mother who first gives voice to the song in which the runners will find clues to help guide them to freedom), Chris Backus, Johnny Ray Gill, Chris Chalk, Reed Diamond (as affable owner of a very large and successful Georgia plantation and a loving family man), Theodus Crane, Renwick Scott. John Legend will oversee the music in the series after winning an Oscar this year for his song in SELMA movie.

'SLEEPING WITH OTHER PEOPLE' TRAILER WITH JASON SUDEIKIS, ADAM BRODY! TARAJI P. HENSON LEADS 'BEST OF ENEMIES'! JUSSIE SMOLLETT TO GUEST STAR IN 'UNDERGROUND' EPIC TV SERIES

  TARAJI P. HENSON TO LEAD

'THE BEST OF ENEMIES'

The absolute TV star of 2015, Taraji P. Henson (that body from the photo has an 18 year old son, by the way) is joining EMPIRE's creator Danny Strong in THE BEST OF ENEMIES which he is producing. As 'Deadline' reports Taraji will play Ann Atwater, the ferocious civil rights activist in Durham, North Carolina who had a decade long battle with sworn enemy C.P. Ellis, from Durham’s Ku Klux Klan. Their feud came to an abrupt and unlikely end in 1971. After a court ordered school desegregation decree threw the Southern city into turmoil, Atwater and Ellis reluctantly agreed to co-chair an intensive, two week community meeting to try to reach a compromise. The extraordinary events that followed changed Durham, and the lives of Atwater and Ellis forever.

  'UNDERGROUND' EPIC SERIES

JUSSIE SMOLLET TO GUEST STAR
Meanwhile, charismatic Jussie Smollett, who plays Taraji's ultra talented son in EMPIRE, will also guest star in two episodes of new epic series UNDERGROUND WGN America’s pre-Civil War series follows a group of slaves who plan a daring escape from a Georgia plantation to cross 600 miles to freedom. They are aided along the way by a secret abolitionist couple running a station on the UNDERGROUND Railroad, as they evade those tasked with bringing them back — dead or alive. Jussie Smollett will beJosey, a wild-eyed runaway who doesn’t trust anyone, not even those stationed along the way who would try to help him. The regular cast includes Christopher Meloni, Marc Blucas, Jessica De Gouw...

  'SLEEPING WITH OTHER PEOPLE' 

TRAILER WITH JASON SUDEIKIS, ADAM BRODY  & ALISON BRIE

The first trailer has been released for romantic comedy with Jason Sudeikis and Allison Brie SLEEPING WITH OTHER PEOPLE where they are college buddies who meet 12 years later at a sex addicts meeting. Because of their monogamy-challenged ways, neither can maintain a relationship, so they make a pact to keep their new relationship platonic. Like that’s gonna last. Adam Brody and Amanda Peet also star!