After waiting for months, we finally have some exciting news regarding the main MacGyver cast.
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The Abandons with Lucas Till
The Lucas Till and MacGyver fandoms have been in an excited frenzy since Netflix tweeted about Lucas boarding The Abandons alongside five more cast members. The western series has a 10 episodes order for Season 1 and is filmed in Calgary and Oregon. According to Deadline, Lucas’ character name is Garret Van Ness. Check out the premise in the press release:
The Abandons follows a group of diverse, outlier families pursuing their Manifest Destiny in 1850s Oregon, as a corrupt force of wealth and power, coveting their land, tries to force them out. These abandoned souls, the kind of lost souls living on the fringe of society, unite their tribes to form a family and fight back. In this bloody process, “justice” is stretched beyond the boundaries of the law. The Abandons will explore that fine line between survival and law, the consequences of violence, and the corrosive power of secrets, as this family fights to keep their land.
Deadline, March 1, 2024
The main stars (announced almost a year ago) are Gillian Anderson and Lena Headey. Gillian Anderson will play Constance Van Ness, the matriarch of the wealthy Van Ness family. If the name of the latter actress sounds familiar: Many years ago, Lena Headey was in Original MacGyver Movie Trail to Doomsday.
According to IMDb, filming has already started (presumably in Oregon). Filming was delayed due to the SAG-Aftra strike, and I’ve seen different filming dates (March and June, May to August, May to October).
The Collective with Lucas Till
The Collective continues to make the rounds on streaming services; and the first official trailer by US distributor Quiver Distribution still gains views. It hit half a million views on January 1st and has more than 601’000 hits by now. Interestingly, the comments have been deactivated a few months ago. According to Flixpatrol, the movie still shows up in the Top Ten of Amazon Prime every now and then; especially in African countries.
What are Cast and Crew up to?
Although the SAG strike ended last year, the studios have been rather slow in resuming production and the season orders are much shorter this year. There hasn’t been as much news regarding the MacGyver cast and crew as I had expected.
After more than 6 months, Levy Tran posted on Instagram again; telling us about her first Jiu Jitsu competition.
ICYMI: Tristin Mays set up a Twitch account; streaming her first live-stream on January 1st. In one of her streams, Tristin revealed that she’s writing a TV series and working on projects she can’t talk about yet. She directed and filmed a short mental health video for Instagram; starring boyfriend Marlon.
While her first Twitch streams were done in her Atlanta residence, she moved the equipment to The Enchanted Manor in LA last month. Her Atlanta residence has been listed as available to rent since February 15. We don’t know yet if she’s moved back to LA permanently or if she has planned to staying longer there for a specific reason. Interestingly, her production company Black Sheep Productions has been registered and trademarked in the UK last November. She also set up a website for the company.
Upcoming Projects for the main MacGyver Cast
A few weeks ago, Henry Ian Cusick‘s character made another appearance on Episode 3×02 of NCIS: Hawaii. It’s possible that he will have another guest spot this season.
Several main cast members of the MacGyver Reboot have movies in post-production or projects listed as completed:
- 1 Million Followers with Henry Ian Cusick: Has one distributor listed, but no release date.
- Bang with Tristin Mays
- Fluxx with Henry Ian Cusick: The film was screened yesterday at the Mammoth Film Festival. We know two of the co-stars: Tyrese Gibson (The Collective) and Lucas Till’s friend and ex-roommate Mike Milligan.
- Half Baked: Totally High with Justin Hires: His character is named Curtis.
- Short Film Hopeless Romantic with Tristin Mays
- Jamojaya with Henry Ian Cusick: Has been screened at several festivals, but never got an US reelase date.
- The Comic Shop with Tristin Mays
- For Cory with Levy Tran
Other MacGyver-related News
ICYMI: Last year, Plaion Pictures revealed a mock-up box and a release date for the exclusive BluRay box set of the Original MacGyver series. The limited edition box will be released on March 28. You can find all information here.
Other MacGyver-related news you might have missed:
- David Dastmalchian has been cast in Apple TV series Murderbot (filming will start this month in Toronto). He will also show up in a two-parter of ABC series The Rookie.
- Ben Wang (guest star in MacGyver Reboot Episode 5×04) has been cast as the lead in the new Karate Kid movie. Filming will start next month in Montreal.
- Richard Dean Anderson is scheduled to appear at several conventions this year. The next ones are GalaxyCon Richmond (March 15 to March 17), German Film and Comic Con (Dortmund, May 4 and May 5) and Basingstoke Comic Con (London, May 10 to 12). He will also visit Washington State Summer Con (Puyallup, June 21 to 23).
Dashboard On Fire 