CASTING TV UPDATES: SYFY'S 'DARK MATTER' SPACE SERIES CASTS ANTHONY LEMKE, MELISSA O'NEIL, JODELLE FERLAND ! TNT'S 'LUMEN' FANTASY SERIES FINDS ITS EMPRESS IN FIONA SHAW, CHRISTINA COLE, JON BRAZIER JOIN CAST

'DARK MATTER' SF TV SHOW

AT SYFY ROUNDS UP ITS CAST

It's a slow beginning of the festive week, people, so I shall entertain you with the latest casting updates on two of the upcoming fantasy TV series which are rounding up its ensembles! SyFy has announced the list of actors which will star in their new science fiction series DARK MATTER! Created by the STARGATE producers the 13 one hour episodes are based on the graphic novel Dark Matter by Mallozzi and Mullie, and will air next summer! Melissa O’Neil (Les Miserables), Marc Bendavid (Bitten), Anthony Lemke (White House Down), Alex Mallari Jr. (Robocop) and Jodelle Ferland (Twilight) with Roger Cross (The Strain) and Zoie Palmer (Lost Girl) will play the crew of a derelict spaceship which is awakened from stasis with no memories of who they are or how they got on board. Facing threats at every turn, they have to work together to survive a voyage charged with vengeance, betrayal and hidden secrets.

'LUMEN' EPIC TV SHOW

CASTS ITS EMPRESS AND PRINCE DAI'S LOST FAMILY

Meanwhile, after adding Neil Jackson to the cast last week, TNT's upcoming new epic fantasy series LUMEN has rounded up its cast with new names: CJ Valleroy will play Charlie Drake, a teenager whose obsession with a series of fantasy books intensifies when he witnesses the author (Wynn Everett) disappear in a blinding flash right in front of him. He tries for years to solve the mystery, ultimately opening up a portal into a surreal world called LUMEN and transporting himself there, along with his family. Fiona Shaw will play Empress D’Laria, the imposing Empress of the magical kingdom of LUMEN, whose teenage grandson Charlie has just found his way into her surreal world after having been raised on Earth. D’Laria and her son, Prince Dai (Neil Jackson), find themselves fighting a brutal war against D’Laria’s daughter, Aelin Rose, who is leading a rebellion. Nadja Bobyleva will play Nora, a servant within the Empress’ palace who is hiding her loyalty to rebel forces. Christina Cole is Jamie, Charlie’s mother and Prince Dai's long lost wife! Jon Brazier plays Thane, a powerful sorcerer and advisor to the Empress, whose dark inclinations make him a dangerous force in the surreal world of Lumen.

DEZZY'S CHRISTMAS CAKE MAGIC

  WHO WANTS SCRUMPTIOUS STRAWBERRY CAKE?

And don't miss my Christmas Cake Magic, I'm baking my scrumptious strawberry cake over at my sweet sister Theresa's MIXED NUTS blog in honour of Christmas and her birthday! I expect your comments there and feel free to follow Theresa, she follows back :)

NEIL JACKSON IS PRINCE OF 'LUMEN' IN TNT'S NEW FANTASY ADVENTURE TV SERIES! ROMANTIC MUSICAL 'THE LAST FIVE YEARS' POSTER AND TRAILER WITH ANNA KENDRICK, JEREMY JORDAN

NEIL JACKSON JOINS

TNT'S 'LUMEN' FANTASY SERIES

In  the news from our favourite fantasy genre, TNT's upcoming fantasy adventure television series LUMEN has cast its prince! 'Deadline' reports that super dashing Brit Neil Jackson (whom we noticed when he played naughty driver in BBC's UPSTAIRS DOWNSTAIRS) has joined the show about the famous author of a best selling series of fantasy books suddenly who disappears, and a family of four finds themselves transported to the mystical alternate world that inspired her work. 

PRINCE DAI OF LUMEN
Neil Jackson will play Prince Dai of LUMEN who’s also the long lost husband and father of the family. Stunned to see his wife and son in LUMEN, Dai explains how he came to be on Earth and why he left them, unwillingly, to go back to Lumen, his home. I've reported recently that Sam Jaeger will play the stepfather, while Wynn Everett will be the author! Young actor Simon Kassianides will play Bevan Gravewood, the Captain of the Emperor’s Royal Guard in Lumen!

'THE LAST FIVE YEARS'

ROMANTIC MUSICAL TRAILER

The first poster and a trailer have been released for THE LAST FIVE YEARS, a musical deconstruction of a love affair and a marriage taking place over a five year period. Jamie Wellerstein (Jeremy Jordan) is a young, talented up and coming novelist who falls in love with Cathy Hiatt (Anna Kendrick I personally cannot stand the screeching frequency of her voice), a struggling actress. Their story is told almost entirely through songs using an intercutting time line device; all of Cathy's songs begin at the end of their marriage and move backwards in time to the beginning of their love affair while Jamie's songs start at the beginning of their affair and move forward to the end of their marriage. Its beautiful pop music score portrays an honest, heartbreaking, often funny, exploration of love and it's consequences on individual identity. It's out next February!

DEZZY'S CHRISTMAS CAKE MAGIC

Mark your calendars for Monday December 22nd because that is the day Dezzy will bake his scrumptious strawberry cake over at my sweet sister Theresa's MIXED NUTS blog in honour of Christmas and her birthday!

SUPERMAN PREQUEL 'KRYPTON' TV SERIES AT SYFY! AUSTIN BUTLER TO LEAD 'SHANNARA' EPIC SERIES! 'THE WALK' TRAILER WITH JOSEPH GORDON LEVITT, BEN KINGSLEY! WYNN EVERETT IN 'LUMEN' FANTASY SHOW

AUSTIN BUTLER WILL

 TOPLINE 'SHANNARA' EPIC SERIES

In TV news today, after Poppy Drayton and Aaron Jakubenko, who will play Elven royalty in MTV's small screen adaptation of famous SHANNARA epic fantasy novels, the latest one to join the cast is Austin Butler from THE CARRIE DIARIES. He will play the lead role of Wil Ohmsford - half human and half elf - who discovers that he is the last of the legendary Shannara family.

KRYPTON SF TV SERIES

Meanwhile, SyFy will make Superman prequel TV series KRYPTON produced by DA VINCI'S DEMONS' David S. Goyer! Years before the Superman legend we know, the House of El was shamed and ostracised. The story of this epic fantasy series will follow The Man of Steel's grandfather as he brings hope and equality to Krypton, turning a planet in disarray into one worthy of giving birth to the greatest Super Hero ever known! 

'LUMEN' FANTASY SERIES

 WYNN EVERETT JOINS THE CAST AS BESTSELLING AUTHOR

One of the fantasy series that we're expecting at the small screens next year, TNT's show LUMEN has added Wynn Everett to the cast. She will play the famous author of a best selling series of fantasy books who suddenly disappears, and a family of four finds themselves transported to the mystical alternate world that inspired her work. The series, which should start shooting next month in New Zealand, already has Sam Jaeger who will play the stepfather of 16-year-old Charlie whose obsession with finding the author thrusts his family into the surreal world of Lumen.

'THE WALK' TRAILER

 JOSEPH GORDON LEVITT TAKES A STEP INTO ABYSS

The first brilliant trailer has been released for Robert Zemeckis directed drama THE WALK which will arrive into cinemas next Autumn starring Joseph Gordon Levitt and Ben Kingsley!  It is the true story of a young dreamer, Philippe Petit, and a band of unlikely recruits who together achieve the impossible: an illegal wire walk in the immense void between the World Trade Centre towers. With little more than nerve and blind ambition, Petit and his ragtag crew overcome  daunting physical obstacles, betrayals, countless close calls and overwhelming odds to beat the system and execute their mad plan. Guided by his real-life mentor, Papa Rudy, the team set out to conceive and execute their mad plan in this sneak peak.

'MAGICIANS' SF SERIES CASTS STELLA MAEVE, HALE APPLEMAN! SAM JAEGER IN 'LUMEN' SF SERIES! MICHAEL GROSS JOINS JANE FONDA, LILY TOMLIN IN 'GRACE & FRANKIE' SITCOM! CHRISTA B.ALLEN IN 'BABY DADDY'

SYFY'S 'THE MAGICIANS' SERIES

STELLA MAEVE AND HALE APPLEMAN TO LEAD THE CAST

I have a bunch of updates for you on upcoming TV projects in next two days! I've recently informed you that SyFy is preparing new fantasy series THE MAGICIANS about young students of magic in New York who discover that the magical fantasy world they read about as children is all too real and poses grave danger to humanity. Now, the cast has been assembled: Stella Maeve will play Julia Quentin, a wealthy and brilliant Ivy Leaguer who seems destined for success, but her future plans are forever altered after she is denied admittance to the mysterious Brakebills College for Magical Pedagogy. Hale Appleman will play Eliot, a student at the Brakebills who will prove a sometimes frustrating ally in Quentin’s fortunes, and may soon factor into a series of perilous adventures. Arjun Gupta will play Penny, Quentin’s roommate at Brakebills. He is bedevilled by voices that hint at pathways to other worlds.

'LUMEN' FANTASY SERIES

SAM JAEGER LEADS THE CAST
Another sf series, over at TNT, will be LUMEN, which has just hired Sam Jaeger in the lead role. The famous author of fantasy books suddenly disappears, and a family of four finds themselves transported to the mystical alternate world that inspired her work. Jaeger will play Michael Hartman, the stepfather of 16-year-old Charlie whose obsession with finding the author thrusts his family into the surreal world of Lumen.
MICHAEL GROSS IN 'GRACE & FRANKIE' NETFLIX SITCOM
Something that is shaping up to become one of the most hilarious of the future sitcoms, GRACE AND FRANKIE has just added famous Michael Gross! This highly delightful Netflix comedy will follow Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin as the title characters, two old rivals whose husbands (Michael Sheen and Sam Waterston) suddenly go gay and decide to get married!  Coming from FRIENDS creator Marta Kauffman, and also starring Barry Bostwick, Brooklyn Decker, Ethan Embry, Geoff Stults, Joe Morton, the sitcom will see Gross playing an enthusiastic gay caterer :)

'BABY DADDY' HIRES

 CHRISTA B. ALLEN  AND SETS CHRISTMAS SPECIAL

Speaking of sitcoms, our absolutely favourite one, ABC Family's BABY DADDY will present us with a Christmas special on December 10th, before the fourth season of the popular comedy starts sometime early next year. While the Christmas episode (see the first picture below) will give us the chance to see the happy family and friends, Ben (Jean Luc Bilodeau), Danny (Derek Theler), Bonnie (Melissa Peterman), Riley (Chelsea Kane) and Tucker (Tahj Mowry) celebrate the holiday with baby Emma,  the upcoming new season will see Christa B. Allen as the new guest star! She will play Robyn, a funny, smart, athletic, corporate attorney who works at the law firm with Riley. When Riley begrudgingly sets Robyn up with best friend Danny, they immediately hit it off. You can check out a short teaser for Christmas episode here!