Today in television news, a major shakeup at ABC as Stana Katic is reportedly leaving Castle. The network plans to produce a shortened ninth season without Detective Kate Beckett and Tamala Jones (Lanie Parish) will also not return for season 9. This was supposedly ABC’s decision alone and the network told both Katic and Jones that they were off the show due to budgetary restrictions, according to Deadline.
Naomi Watts has landed a major TV role, as she will star in the new Netflix original series Gypsy, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Watts will be playing Jean Holloway, a therapist who forms dangerous relationships with those in her clients’ lives. Lisa Rubin serves as executive producer and Sam Taylor-Johnson (Fifty Shades of Grey) will direct the first two episodes.
Starz has cast Crispin Glover and Jonathan Tucker in their upcoming adaptation of American Gods, TV Line reports. Glover will be playing Mr. World, leader of the New Gods, while Tucker will play Low-Key Lyesmith. Ian McShane was previously cast as Wednesday and Ricky Whittle was cast as Shadow Moon.
Louis C.K.’s new show Horace and Pete has come to an end. He announced in an email over the weekend that the most recent episode of the series was the last one, information he didn’t previously reveal so that fans could watch the episode without knowing it was the finale. The comedian must now do his best to promote the series, as making the show put him millions of dollars in debt, as he revealed on The Howard Stern Show.
Paul Kaye will return to Game of Thrones in the upcoming season, according to Watchers on the Wall. You may remember Kaye as Thoros of Myr in Season 3, a red priest with the Brotherhood Without Banners who can raise the dead. And there just so happens to be a recently-deceased person we'd all love to see come back.
Dan Harmon, the genius behind shows like Community and Rick and Morty, is working on a new animated series for FX. Harmon will be producing Happy City, which follows a young taxi and his friends, a firetruck and a helicopter. It's being described as Thomas the Tank Engine for adults, and it will use that same visual style of putting animated faces on models. Also working on the show will be Los Angeles comedy group Extremely Decent.
Amazon is coming after Netflix with a new video streaming plan. The company has unbundled Amazon Prime Video and regular Amazon Prime, so consumers who just want the video portion can get it for $8.99 a month, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The full Prime subscription will still include all the same videos, though, so current subscribers need not make any changes.