THE CROWN GETS EXTENSION: The Crown’s empire will live on. In January, The Crown’s creator Peter Morgan said the Netflix hit would end after five seasons, but now, the show is being extended to a sixth season. “As we started to discuss the storylines for series five, it soon became clear that in order to do justice to the richness and complexity of the story we should go back to the original plan and do six seasons. To be clear, season six will not bring us any closer to present day — it will simply enable us to cover the same period in greater detail,” he said. Season four bows this year with Olivia Colman as Queen Elizabeth and Gillian Anderson as Margaret Thatcher.
NBCUNIVERSAL TALKS CREATIVITY SUMMIT: NBCUniversal has set plans for a creativity summit, which will take place online July 16th for media buyers and media. It will culminate in a sneak peek at the 30 Rock upfront show NBC will broadcast that night. Fred Armisen, D-Nice, Tina Fey, Dan Fogelman and Ego Nwodim will appear. “The last year has accelerated transformation across every aspect of society, and challenged our industry to rethink everything: from the stories we tell, to the platform we offer, to the upfront show we produce, to how we work together,” said Josh Feldman, EVP, Head of Marketing & Advertising Creative at NBCUniversal. “We believe that creativity is a vehicle for transformation, and this summit will be a unique opportunity to join forces across the creative community and reimagine our content, technology, partnerships, and our entire world for the better.”
MARTHA KNOWS BEST TO FEATURE SNOOP: Martha Stewart will add her home panache to HGTV with Martha Knows Best, which drops July 31. She will tackle outdoor projects at her home in Bedford, and will be joined by a slew of guests virtually, including Jay Leno, Snoop Dogg, Richard Gere, Lupita Nyong’o, Antoni Porowski, Zac Posen, Daniel Boulud, Sunny Hostin and Hailey Baldwin Bieber, all of whom will seek advice.
BATWOMAN TAPS JAVICIA LESLIE: Javicia Leslie will take on the lead role in The CW’s Batwoman after Ruby Rose‘s unexpected departure. She’ll play a character named Ryan Wilder, and will become the first Black star to play Batwoman in a live-action TV or film production. “I am extremely proud to be the first Black actress to play the iconic role of Batwoman on television, and as a bisexual woman, I am honored to join this groundbreaking show which has been such a trailblazer for the LGBTQ+ community,” said Leslie.