Kiara Barnes to star in "Fantasy Island" reboot

A 'Bold' move: Soap fans will recognize her as troubled model Zoe Buckingham, but "The Bold and the Beautiful" star Kiara Barnes will soon be departing the role and the CBS sudser.

The actor-singer recently starred in Lifetime's "The Wrong Wedding Planner" (2021) and is now finishing up her final year on the daytime drama. Happily, she's already landed her next TV gig, having been cast as a series regular in Fox's "Fantasy Island" reboot.

Fox's take on the series, which ran from 1977 to 1984 and famously starred Ricardo Montalbán and Hervé Villechaize, will stick with the semi-anthological format favored by the original, but new characters will push the story forward.

The mysterious, magical island is now run by Elena Roarke, a descendant of Montalbán's character. Barnes will star as Ruby Okoro, one of the three permanent residents of Fantasy Island, a place where guests come and go (and are reborn) in every episode.

Described by Deadline as "a young woman with an old soul," Ruby (Barnes) arrives on the island with a terminal illness but is given a new lease on life.

John Gabriel Rodriguez ("Allegiant," 2016) has also been cast in the "heavily" recurring role of Javier, another character who lives and works on the island.

Handsome and charismatic, Javier is the island's pilot, mechanic and "jack of all trades" (per Deadline). He has found refuge on the magical island, but just as each guest will come to realize, paradise often comes at a price.

Look for "Fantasy Island" to land in Fox's summer schedule.

Skarsgård, the CEO: It feels like forever since we've been treated to a new episode of HBO's "Succession," especially after Kendall's (Jeremy Strong, "The Gentlemen," 2019) unexpected power move in the final minutes of the Season 2 finale. But here's some good news: production on a pandemic-delayed Season 3 is finally underway. What's more, we can expect some new characters to be introduced as either allies or foes (or both) of the Roy family.

"Big Little Lies" star Alexander Skarsgård has been tapped for a recurring guest star role in Season 3. He'll star as Lukas Matsson, a successful and confrontational (it is "Succession," after all) tech founder and CEO.

This guest role effectively brings Skarsgård back to the HBO fold. The Swedish-born actor previously won an Emmy for his villainous turn as Nicole Kidman's abusive husband in "Big Little Lies," and he's also known for his roles in the cabler's vampire series, "True Blood," as well as Warner Bros. Pictures' "The Legend of Tarzan" (2016). His guest role in "Succession" is by no means his only project for 2021: his recent projects include AMC's "The Little Drummer Girl," Netflix's "Hold the Dark" and the Norse epic "The Northman," which reunites him with Kidman.

Sanaa Lathan ("Love & Basketball," 2000), three-time Tony nominee Linda Emond ("Cabaret") and K-pop star Jihae ("Mortal Engines," 2018) have also been tapped for recurring roles. Lathan will star as a high-profile lawyer, Emond will play a White House staffer and Jihae will appear as a public relations consultant. 

No premiere date has been announced yet, but expect Season 3 to focus on Logan's (Brian Cox) attempts to salvage his media empire while his family wage their own war for power.

When ‘CSI' met ‘Law & Order': The "Law & Order" universe just got a little bigger. 

NBC has handed a straight-to-series order to the latest "Law & Order" spinoff from creator Dick Wolf. Described as an inside look at a criminal defence firm, "Law & Order: For the Defense" promises to put lawyers and the criminal justice system under a microscope through its weekly storylines.

The latest show in the Law & Order franchise, "Law & Order: Organized Crime" has proven to be a ratings winner thanks in large part to its star, "SVU" alumnus Chris Meloni. As for "For the Defense," the cast is still coming together, but an interesting partnership already exists behind the scenes, with Wolf partnering up with Carol Mendelsohn to bring this project to life.

If you don't recognize the name, you certainly know Mendelsohn's work: the TV writer joined "CSI" back when it was a pilot and served as its executive producer and showrunner until 2014. She is also the co-creator of "CSI: Miami," "CSI: New York" and "CSI: Cyber." 

"This new show is exciting for me personally," Wolf said about "For the Defense." "We spent the last 30 years on shows that played offence. Now it will be great to play defense, and being able to do it with Carol is an honor and an opportunity for both of us to do television that hasn't been done before."

Lisa Katz, president of scripted programming at NBCUniversal Television and Streaming echoed Wolf's statement, saying, "We can't wait to bring audiences the latest chapter of 'Law & Order,' which will explore a different angle of the criminal justice system" She continued, "We're excited about Dick Wolf's perpetually thought-provoking approach as well as his collaboration with Carol Mendelsohn, who we have been eager to do a series with for a long time."