Milo Ventimiglia involved in upcoming hockey drama "Hometown Saints"

Home advantage: While NBC drama "This Is Us" is slowly winding to a close, Pearson patriarch Milo Ventimiglia is gearing up to expand his partnership with NBC.

The actor's production company DiVide Pictures has long had an overall deal with 20th Television, the Disney-backed studio behind "This Is Us," and according to The Hollywood Reporter, DiVide Pictures recently sold NBC the script to a new hockey drama titled "Hometown Saints."

The series centers on a retired hockey player named Billy Riedell, who is feeling lost and disillusioned now that his playing career has come to an end. After moving back to his hometown in Minnesota, Billy reluctantly laces up his skates once again -- this time to coach a high school girls team.

Grainne Godfree ("DC's Legends of Tomorrow") is teaming up with Derek Elliott ("Klein") to write the script, and the two serve as executive producers alongside Ventimiglia, whose involvement seems to be limited to an off-screen role (for now).

While "Hometown Saints" is more of a concept than a reality at this stage, another Minnesota-based hockey series has named its new team captain following a solid rookie season.

Josh Duhamel ("Jupiter's Legacy") is set to replace Emilio Estevez ("The Breakfast Club," 1985) as the lead in Season 2 of Disney 's "The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers."

Estevez, who played coach Gordon Bombay in the films and in this TV sequel series, exited "Game Changers" in November due to "a good old-fashioned contract dispute" and "a myriad of creative differences," noting, "any other narrative is false."

Duhamel will portray former NHL player-turned-coach Gavin Cole, who runs the intense summer hockey institute that serves as the setting for Season 2. Per Disney, Cole is reportedly "as inspirational, charming and hardcore as he is big on the hockey metaphor that applies to life."

But before he hits the ice, Duhamel will appear in NBC's "The Thing About Pam," premiering March 8.

'Treasure' seeker: In other Disney news, the streamer has announced that Oscar- and Tony-winning actress Catherine Zeta-Jones ("Chicago," 2002) is joining its new "National Treasure" TV series.

The new addition to the franchise is trying a different tack from the film series by featuring a young heroine instead of Nicolas Cage's ("Con Air," 1997) historian/code-breaker/Declaration of Independence "thief," Ben Gates. Instead, Lisette Alexis ("Total Eclipse") stars as Jess, a woman in search of answers about her family, who embarks on the adventure of a lifetime to uncover past truths and save a lost Pan-American treasure. But first she'll have to contend with Zeta-Jones' character.

Zeta-Jones will play Billie, a black market antiquities expert and treasure hunter who lives by her own code. Having gone from penniless orphan to billionaire businesswoman, Billie is used to getting what she wants -- and she wants that treasure, although her motivation isn't purely financial.

The actress joins a cast that also includes Lyndon Smith ("Parenthood") in the role of FBI agent Ross; Zuri Reed ("Flatbush Misdemeanors") and Jordan Rodrigues ("Light as a Feather") as Jess's best friends, Tasha and Ethan; Antonio Cipriano ("Jagged Little Pill") as goofball Oren; and Jake Austin Walker ("12 Mighty Oprhans," 2021) in the role of struggling musician Liam, who also comes from a long line of treasure hunters.

"National Treasure" is the latest TV role for Zeta-Jones, who also has a recurring role as Morticia Addams in Tim Burton's upcoming Netflix series, "Wednesday."

'Iron Legend': "Iron Chef," the Japanese cooking competition that spawned a new TV genre in America in the 1990s, is coming back.

Netflix has officially given the franchise the reboot treatment, with a target premiere for some time in late 2022. The streamer is also touting "Iron Chef: Quest for an Iron Legend" as a "supersized" version of the original format, which launched shows such as "Top Chef" and "Hell's Kitchen."

Here's how Netflix describes the series: "The legendary 'Iron Chef' series is reborn with a supersized approach to the groundbreaking culinary competition that started it all. It's been called the toughest culinary challenge a chef will ever experience. This is where world-class cuisine meets high-octane sports. Five new trailblazing Iron Chefs will welcome brave Challenger Chefs to the reimagined Kitchen Stadium, where they'll face off and be pushed to the limits of endurance and creativity as they cook up extraordinary culinary creations. The competition's most successful Challenger will return to battle in a grand finale for the chance to be named the first ever 'Iron Legend.'"

Eight new episodes of "Iron Legend" have been confirmed, and given its new home on Netflix, the reboot likely won't include any Food Network stars or "Iron Chef America" alumni -- not even Michael Symon, who confirmed he wasn't involved in this one, despite being a near-constant fixture on other "Iron Chef" specials and spinoffs.

There will be at least one familiar face behind the camera, however: producer-director Eytan Keller of Keller Productions, who previously served as executive producer of "Iron Chef America."