TVLine Items: De Niro Replaces Gandolfini in HBO Series, Charisma Woos Blue Bloods and More!
HBO has opted to move forward with its limited series Criminal Justice, with Robert De Niro replacing the late James Gandolfini in the lead role.
Loosely based on the 2008 BBC series by the same name, the project follows an American-born Pakistani cab driver (Riz Ahmed) who, after a night of partying, wakes to find a girl stabbed to death in his bed.
De Niro portrays Jack Stone, a low-rent jailhouse lawyer who appoints himself the accused’s attorney.
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Gandolfini will receive a posthumous executive producer credit on Justice.
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• As she revealed on Twitter, Charisma Carpenter is shooting a guest-starring role for a November episode of CBS’ Blue Bloods. TVLine has learned that the Buffyverse alum/Surviving Evil host is playing Marianne Romano, a blowsy, flashy and overly needy beauty who beckons long-ago fling Danny for help when her fiancée decks her in a fit of ‘roid rage. Alas, Marianne’s attempt to tweak Danny’s heartstrings backfires when it results in a police investigation of [spoiler]! Blue Bloods opens its new season this Friday at 10/9c.
• Garret Dillahunt’s real-life wife Michelle Hurd (The Glades, 90210) will guest-star in an installment of Raising Hope, TVLine has learned exclusively. She’ll play a sketchy FBI agent in the Fox comedy’s upcoming Hitchcock-themed episode. Hope returns Friday, Nov. 8 at 9/8c.
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• Nathan Lane has been tapped to co-star opposite Brendan Gleeson in HBO’s The Money, a new drama pilot from David Milch (NYPD Blue, Luck), Deadline reports. The project centers on the wealth and corruption surrounding a mega-mogul (Gleeson). Lane joins as a reporter whose job is hanging by a thread.
• Oz vet Terry Kinney has joined ABC’s upcoming limited series Black Box, which follows a neuroscientist struggling with mental illness. Per The Hollywood Reporter, Kinney will play the hospital’s medical director and the leading lady’s onetime mentor.
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