Did You Hear? is a weekly examination of headlines in the entertainment industry and a take on what they could mean for the future of the industry and (often), the little geeky bubble that we occupy!
Lee Jung-Jae Makes Emmy History with Win
As a Squid Game fan who has been obsessed with the series and rooting for it for award wins (and voted for the series aggressively in the SAG Awards earlier this year …), the only stakes for me, personally, in this year’s Emmys was whether or not the Korean series would be celebrated by the American entertainment industry the way it deserved to be.
On Monday he won the Emmy Award for Best Actor in a drama for his performance in Squid Game. This win makes him the first Asian actor to win in the category, the first to win for a non-English speaking role, and the fourth Asian actor in the history of the Emmy Awards to win in a performance category.
All of this ahead of Deadline’s news last week that he would be joining the Star Wars Universe in the upcoming Acolyte series:
Sources tell Deadline that Lee has landed the male lead in the new Disney+ Star Wars series The Acolyte from Lucasfilm. Amandla Steinberg is set for the other lead role, with Deadline also recently breaking the news that Jodie Turner-Smith also is joining cast. Leslye Headland tapped as the series director, writer, exec producer and showrunner. Headland has been very hands-on with Lucasfilm execs including President Kathleen Kennedy in putting together a diverse, A-list ensemble, and with Steinberg, Turner-Smith and now Lee, it looks to be headed in that direction.
And …
Details about Lee’s character are being kept under wraps. Lucasfilm could not be reached for comment on the casting.
The Acolyte Adds The Good Place Alumn
Yesterday Variety announced Lee Jung-Jae would be joined in the Star Wars universe by none other than
Manny Jacinto, who you may remember played Jason in the NBC smash hit dramedy series, The Good Place.
Per Variety:
Jacinto joins previously announced series lead Amandla Stenberg in the series as well as cast members Jodie Turner-Smith and Lee Jung-jae. According to sources, Stenberg, Jacinto, and Lee will be the three main characters in the series.
No further details have been release about Jacinto’s involvement:
Reps for Jacinto and Disney did not immediately respond to Variety’s request for comment.
No release date for The Acolyte has been set.
The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes Makes Significant Casting Announcements
This morning Deadline broke the news of numerous casting announcements for the upcoming Hunger Games prequel movie including:
- Fionnula Flanagan (The Others, Lost), as Grandma’am
- newcomer Isobel Jesper Jones as Mayfair Lipp
- Flora Li Thiemann (The Gryphon), as Livia Carden
- newcomer Honor Gillies as Barb Azure
- newcomer Eike Onyambu as Tam Amber
- Newcomer Konstantin Taffet as Clerk Carmine
- Burn Gorman (Pacific Rim, The Dark Knight Rises), as Commander Hoff
- Scott Folan (Cyrano), as Beanpole
- Carl Spencer (Rocketman),is Smiley
- Michael Greco (EastEnders, Revenge), as Strabo Plinth
- newcomer Daniela Grubert as and Mrs. Plinth
Songsbirds and Snakes is set to debut November 17, 2023 and will be the fifth movie in the Hunger Games franchise.
Dahmer Trailer Debuts
One of two actors to play Quicksilver, Evan Peters, has traded in superheroing for real life villainry on screen in the upcoming series Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story. This series feels like just the latest addition to a string of Dahmer adaptations which perhaps should have us reflecting on our collective fascination with the serial killer, though likely won’t.
DAHMER – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story | Official Trailer (Trailer 1) | Netflix
From the Emmy award winning creator of American Crime Story comes Dahmer – Monster: the Jeffrey Dahmer Story. The series examines the gruesome and horrific true crimes of Jeffrey Dahmer and the systemic failures that enabled one of America’s most notorious serial killers to continue his murderous spree in plain sight for over a decade.
An Instagram post from series production company Ryan Murphy Productions reads:
Over the course of 10 powerful episodes, Dahmer shines a spotlight on the as-yet untold stories of Dahmer’s victims, the people who tried to stop him and the systemic failures that enabled him to continue his murderous spree for over a decade. Which is why we needed two trailers to properly showcase the complex story.”
… and a second trailer is set to debut September 20th, 2022.
Dahmer is one in a string of collaborations between Peters and Murphy beginning with the first season of the FX series American Horror Story.
Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story debuts on Netflix September 21st, 2022 just in time for Spooky Season to grip the world.
