In brief: ‘Lioness’ season 2 to launch in October and more

Paramount+ has announced that season 2 of Lioness will launch Oct. 27 with two episodes. Based on a real-life CIA program, Taylor Sheridan‘s espionage thriller follows Laysla De Oliveira as a new Lioness operative to help bring down a terrorist organization from within, according to the streaming service. Genesis Rodriguez and Morgan Freeman have been added to the season 2 cast, joining returning stars Zoe Saldaña, Nicole Kidman and Michael Kelly …

Rebecca Ferguson has been tapped to star alongside Andrew Garfield and Claire Foy in the film adaptation of Enid Blyton‘s The Magic Faraway Tree, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The film follows Polly and Tim Thompson — played respectively by Foy and Garfield — and their three children, who are forced to relocate to the remote English countryside. “There, the children discover a magical tree and its extraordinary and eccentric occupants,” per the film’s synopsis. Ferguson will play Dame Snap, the villainous headmistress in the beloved children’s story …

Jason Biggs, best known for playing Jim in the American Pie movies, is making his directorial debut in the action comedy Getaway, according to Deadline. Biggs also stars in the movie, alongside Meaghan Rath, Arturo Castro, Justin H. Min and Anna Konkle. Getaway stars Biggs as Kevin Stanwell, an actor who is recruiting one of his friends to stage a home invasion in an attempt to save his marriage. When the plan goes awry, the couple find themselves caught up in a murder investigation. The film is currently filming in Ontario, Canada …