Fandom Friday 4/10/15

TV News

• Nina Dobrev announces her departure from hit series The Vampire Diaries after this season.
• The cast of TVD spent a weekend together on a lake "in honor" of stars Nina Dobrev and Michael Trevino.  Could this mean that both of them are leaving at the end of season 6?
• Kathy Bates returns for American Horror Story: Hotel
• BBC is rebooting Teletubbies with Jim Broadbent (Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Moulin Rouge) as a talking trumpet.  Let the acid trip begin!
• NBC passed on it and now Lip Sync Battle is a huge hit on Spike TV!
• USA Network sets its summer premiere dates
• Comedian and Last Comic Standing judge Russell Peters claims that Trevor Noah, the new host of The Daily Show, stole his material
  
• New details surface concerning Brian Williams' NBC Nightly News scandal
• The characters of the Chicago Fire spinoff Chicago Med were introduced in this week's episode/back door pilot
• Merlin's Bradley James joins iZombie
• Jimmy Jean-Louis will reprise his role as The Haitian on Heroes Reborn.  Masi Oka will also be returning from the original cast.
• Marvel and ABC are planning an Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. spinoff
• The first trailer of True Detective Season 2 starring Vince Vaughn, Colin Farrell, and Rachel McAdams premieres
• Emma Roberts stars in the newest teaser for Ryan Murphy's Scream Queens
  

Movie News

• ALNM favorite Anna Kendrick will team up with Adam Devine (Pitch Perfect) and Zac Efron (the High School Musical franchise) for the new comedy Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates
  
• A remake of 1999's She's All That (which starred the late Paul Walker and 90's favorites Freddie Prinze, Jr., Matthew Lillard, and Rachael Leigh Cook) is in the works
  
• Karen Gillan is back as Nebula in Guardians of the Galaxy 2
• Olivia Wilde and Garrett Hedlund are returning for Tron 3
  
• Fast and Furious 8 may be happening, but is it really a good idea?
  
• Disney is moving forward with a live-action film (loosely) based on Pinocchio....seriously, Disney, it's time to stop this now.
• Newcomer Ben Hardy will star as Angel in X-Men: Apocalypse
• Ryan Gosling in talks to star in the Benicio del Toro-directed second try at Disney's Haunted Mansion, based on the popular theme park ride.  The first try, starring Eddie Murphy in 2003 was a huge box-office flop following the success of Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl
• The first images of Ant Man villain YellowJacket hit the web
• Lionsgate taps Mockingjay director Francis Lawrence to direct an adaptation of Homer's Odyssey.  This could either be terrible or awesome...but I really hope it's awesome!
• Brad Bird, the director of Disney/Pixar's 2004 hit The Incredibles, is finally sitting down to write the highly-anticipated sequel
• Daniel Radcliffe in talks to play Sam Houser, the founder of Rockstar Games, in a Grand Theft Auto movie
• The Finest Hours, a Coast Guard thriller starring Chris Pine and Casey Affleck, has had its release date pushed back by Disney.  It will now be released October 9, 2016.
• The creators of The Lego Movie are creating The Flash movie
  
• David Ayers, the director of Suicide Squad tweets out a few sneak peeks: a cast photo and the first photo of Jared Leto as The Joker
  

Misc News

• HBO Now is now available!
• Adam Levine is ambushed by a fan onstage at a concert in Anaheim, CA and it's hilarious and awkward.  As always, he handles it like a champ.
• Amber Tamblyn reveals she'll be splitting godmother duties with Alexis Bledel and America Ferrera for Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds' daughter James.  The three women starred with Lively in The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 1&2
• High School Musical star Vanessa Hudgens makes her Broadway debut in Gigi alongside ALNM favorite Corey Cott
• JK Rowling lit up the Empire State Building in New York City to celebrate the launch of the United States chapter of  her children's charity Lumos.  For more information on this great cause, visit their website: http://wearelumos.org/
• Congratulations to Jennie Garth on her engagement to boyfriend Dave Abrams