Michael J. Fox to guest on Shrinking / Buffy taps Ryan Kiera Armstrong as new slayer / Kelli Giddish will rejoin Law & Order: SVU full-time
PLUS: Sports dominated this year's upfronts, sidelining scripted TV.
Michael J. Fox sets acting return on Shrinking in a reunion with Bill Lawrence
The five-time Emmy winner will guest-star on Lawrence's Apple TV+ dramedy in a role yet to be revealed. "Details around the role are being kept under wraps but it may be connected to the character arc of Ford’s therapist Paul Rhoades," says Deadline's Nellie Andreeva. "It was revealed at the end of Season 1 that Paul has Parkinson’s, a disease Fox has been battling for three and a half decades." From 1996 to 2000, Fox starred in Spin City, the ABC sitcom Lawrence co-created with Family Ties creator Gary David Goldberg. Fox left Spin City after four seasons after his Parkinson's disease became serious. Shrinking marks Fox's return to acting after reprising his The Good Wife Louis Canning role on two episodes of spinoff The Good Fight in 2020. Shrinking also marks Fox's return to Apple TV+ after he was the subject of the 2023 Emmy-winning Apple documentary Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie.
Hulu’s Buffy the Vampire Slayer reboot taps Ryan Kiera Armstrong as its new slayer
The veteran of Star Wars: Skeleton Crew, American Horror Story: Double Feature and Anne with an E will star opposite Buffy vet Sarah Michelle Gellar as the new slayer in the untitled Buffyverse project from Oscar winner Chloé Zhao and former Poker Face showrunners Nora and Lilla Zuckerman. Armstrong's character is described in casting materials as an introverted high-school student. "There is some symbolism in Armstrong’s casting as Geller’s spiritual successor — the actresses’ names, Ryan Kiera Armstrong and Sarah Michelle Gellar, share the same cadence," says Deadline's Nellie Andreeva. "But it was Armstrong’s acting chops that won her the role, Gellar said." As Gellar, an executive producer on the series, explains: “From the moment I saw Ryan’s audition, I knew there was only one girl that I wanted by my side. To have that kind of emotional intelligence, and talent, at such a young age is truly a gift. The bonus is that her smile lights up even the darkest room.”
Kelli Giddish will rejoin Law & Order: SVU as a series regular
Detective Amanda Rollins will be back full-time in Season 27 after Giddish left as a series regular midway through Season 24, appearing in guest-starring roles in Seasons 25 and 26.
James Van Der Beek joins Legally Blonde prequel series Elle
Van Der Beek will recur on the Amazon series as Dean Wilson, described as “the city’s new Mayoral candidate and current school district superintendent.”
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds returns for Season 3 in July
The Anson Mount-led Paramount+ Star Trek series will be back after a two-year wait on July 17 with a two-episode premiere, followed by a weekly release.
Sports dominated this year's upfronts, sidelining scripted TV
"In the glory days of the TV upfronts, the broadcast networks would build up to a big reveal: The schedule release," says The Hollywood Reporter's Alex Weprin. "The fall schedule would be revealed, and media buyers could get a glimpse of what show would get that prized Friends or CSI lead-in. In 2025, the upfronts still build up to a schedule release, but it isn’t a fall lineup: It’s an NFL game. The only connective tissue between this year’s upfronts, from NBCUniversal and Fox to Disney, YouTube and Netflix was sports, and the NFL in particular, with every company using their presentation to reveal an upcoming matchup that advertisers will want to buy into. Netflix and YouTube each had NFL commissioner Roger Goodell make the reveals himself (though only Netflix made him wear a Santa Claus-esque coat). NBCUniversal used its event to tout the return of the NBA on NBC, bringing out John Tesh for a live orchestral performance of ‘Roundball Rock,’ and stunning the crowd with the news that Michael Jordan would join the broadcast team, or as Tonight Show host Jimmy Fallon quipped: 'Good morning. I’m glad to be at the NBA upfront, I mean, the NBC upfront.'"
Taylor Sheridan’s Landman to be honored with the ATX TV Festival's inaugural "Texas Made" award
The award presented with the nonprofit organization Media for Texas “celebrates individuals and productions with Texas ties who are creating professional opportunities for the creative community within the state, and bolstering Texas as a creative and cultural center through their work.”
Tyler Henry is recovering from surgery to deal with a brain tumor
The Hollywood Medium and Live from the Other Side star wrote in an Instagram post that he was diagnosed with a colloid tumor in the center of his brain, adding that the brain surgery was a success.
Kelsey Grammer fought back tears on The View as he described his grief over the brutal murder of his sister
Grammer got choked up while promoting his new book Karen: A Brother Remembers, which focuses on his younger sister Karen Grammer's brutal rape and murder at age 19 in 1975 and his own grieving process.
Baltimore Ravens parody Severance in their NFL schedule release video
The Ravens released a nearly seven-minute video with nods to Severance that includes goats, watermelon busts and face balloons. ALSO: Indianapolis Colts say they removed their Minecraft-themed schedule-release video due to Tyreek Hill joke and Microsoft licensing.
Tyla to host Nickelodeon's Kids' Choice Awards
Ariana Grande, Lady Gaga and Kendrick Lamar lead the nominees with four mentions apiece for the June 21 ceremony.
"Tough guy" character actor Joe Don Baker dies at 89
The actor best known for the 1973 movie Walking Tall and for playing a villain and an ally in three James Bond films died May 7. Baker also starred in two TV series: NBC's 1979-1980 one-season police drama series Eischied, in which he played tough, brilliant, southern-bred New York City Police Department Chief of Detectives Earl Eischied and the 1985 BBC miniseries Edge of Darkness. Baker also had guest roles on Gunsmoke, In the Heat of the Night and The Cleaner.
HBO teases Mark Ruffalo in Task
Ruffalo, Tom Pelphrey, Martha Plimpton and Mireille Enos in Mare of Easttown creator Brad Ingelsby's new drama series, in which Ruffalo plays an FBI agent who heads a task force to put an end to a string of violent robberies led by an unsuspecting family man (Pelphrey),” according to the official logline. Task premieres in September.