• Never fear, Mr. Big fans: Chris Noth is joining the forthcoming "Sex and the City" miniseries "And Just Like That ...," HBO Max announced Wednesday. Noth, a veteran of "Law & Order" and "The Good Wife," who appears with Queen Latifah on CBS' "The Equalizer," joins the 10-part series alongside Sarah Jessica Parker as Carrie Bradshaw, Cynthia Nixon as Miranda Hobbes and Kristin Davis as Charlotte York. The spinoff has all the old pals -- with the exception of Kim Cattrall, who played Samantha Jones -- navigating the complications of life and friendship in their 50s. "I'm thrilled to be working with Chris again on 'And Just Like That ...,'" executive producer Michael Patrick King said in a statement. "How could we ever do a new chapter of the 'Sex and the City' story without our Mr. Big?" Sara Ramirez, the "Grey's Anatomy" and "Madam Secretary" alumna, is also part of the cast, playing a new character, Che Diaz, a nonbinary stand-up comic who often hosts Parker's Bradshaw on their podcast. In doing so, King took a step toward delivering on a promise to incorporate more women of color into the world of "And Just Like That ....", which is scheduled to begin production in New York City this summer. The production team also said half of the writing staff were people of color, TV Line reported in early May.
• While studying at Howard University, a young Chadwick Boseman helped lead a student protest against plans to merge his beloved College of Fine Arts into the College of Arts and Sciences. While he failed in that goal, 20 years later the acclaimed actor is being posthumously honored as the namesake of Howard's newly reestablished Chadwick A. Boseman College of Fine Arts. Boseman, who graduated in 2000 from the private university in Washington with a bachelor's degree in directing, died in August at 43 of colon cancer. He rose to prominence playing a succession of Black icons in biographical films: Jackie Robinson, James Brown and Thurgood Marshall. The South Carolina native's portrayal of African superhero Black Panther spawned a thousand memes and its cultural effects launched him to broader stardom. At the time of his death, Boseman's character was poised to become an anchor of the Marvel Comics movie machine, with a number of sequels planned. The announcement was made a few weeks after fellow Howard alumna Phylicia Rashad was announced as the fine arts college's new dean. Boseman and Rashad met during his undergrad years, and Boseman publicly cited her as a mentor. Boseman's widow, Simone Ledward-Boseman, called him "a very proud Bison" and said the naming of the school "brings this part of his story full-circle and ensures that his legacy will continue to inspire young storytellers for years to come."
