Zach Gilford, who plays Matt Saracen on Friday Night Lights, has signed on to star in two new big-screen roles:

1. Opposite Emmy Rossum in the indie drama Dare.
2. A movie adaptation of the 1983 Sierra Club novel The River Why.

Dare is being directed by Adam Salky, who also directed the 2005 short film on which the feature is being based.

Zach Gilford plays one of three bad boy high school seniors who break their own rules and take the biggest risks of their lives.

He joins a cast including Ashley Springer (Teeth), Ana Gasteyer (Saturday Night Live), and Sandra Bernhard. Shooting is already underway.

Friday Night Lights' Zach Gilford: Coming to the big screen.

For River, Zach Gilford is set to play Gus Overton in the story of a young fisherman who leaves his big-city home and goes on a journey of self-discovery along the Oregon river.

Matt Leutwyler (Unearthed) is directing from a script by Thomas A. Cohen and John Jay Osborn Jr. Shooting is scheduled to start later this summer.

Not to worry, Zach will be back on Friday Night Lights, which is set to begin Season 3 in October on DirecTV and early next year on NBC.

In case you missed it, Friday Night Lights is returning for a third season this fall - albeit under very unique circumstances.

The acclaimed, but low-rated series will now debut episodes on DirecTV, before rebroadcasting them later in the season on NBC.

In addition, Season 3 will be comprised of a shorter 13 episodes, all of which will air exclusively on DirecTV beginning in the fall.

With DirecTV shouldering some of the production costs, NBC then will begin airing the same slate of Friday Night Lights episodes in mid-season.

Season 1 of Friday Night Lights had a full 22 episodes, while Season 2 was originally slated for 22 until the writers' strike cut it to 15.

The second season of Friday Night Lights ended before most of its key storylines could. We can't wait for it to return.

Friday Night Lights star Taylor Kitsch (Tim Riggins), will play Gambit (Remy LeBeau) in the new movie, X-Men Origins: Wolverine.

Taylor Kitsch signed a three-picture deal and will be joining the X-Men stars Hugh Jackman (Wolverine), Liev Schreiber (Sabretooth), Danny Huston (William Stryker), Lynn Collins (Silver Fox) and Ryan Reynolds (Deadpool).

We're psyched - X-Men Origins: Wolverine is set to open May 1, 2009.

Friday Night Lights Insider has written its episode guide to "Seeing Other People," the terrific episode from November 30. Follow the link for the full rundown!

With guilt eating away at him all season, Landry Clarke (Jesse Plemons) appears to have reached his breaking point in Friday's new episode of Friday Night Lights, "Seeing Other People." Here is NBC's official preview for it...

If you thought the murder plot was dead when Landry's car went up in flames two episodes ago (see "How Did I Get Here"), think again. It looks like poor Landry simply can't take it anymore. We're interested to see what happens.

As always, you can discuss the episode - there's plenty more going on this week besides Landry's revelation - and everything else related to Friday Night Lights in the official Insider forum. Click to share your thoughts!

Friday Night Lights has a new recruit in Aaron Garza, a former Texas high school football star and current minor league baseball player scheduled to appear on the critically acclaimed NBC drama next month, BuddyTV reports.

Garza is making good on his promise to venture into acting in the event a career in baseball fails to pan out. The Traverse City Beach Bums player will make his Friday Night Lights debut on December 7 in the role of the defensive captain for the Dillon Panthers' latest opponents on the gridiron.

Aaron Garza signed with the Traverse City Beach Bums in the middle of last summer, after completing his senior season at Texas State University. Garza hit .341 with 15 doubles and 5 home runs as a senior at Texas State.

Before he wowed audiences with his batting skills, Garza lived his own version of the Friday Night Lights lifestyle as an All-District and All-Central wide receiver for Westlake High School in Austin, Texas, where the series is filmed.

He has also appeared in several national TV commercials for Wal-Mart, Captain Crunch, Radio Shack and Budweiser, among others. He has also modeled for Saks Fifth Avenue and Texas Monthly Magazine of late.

NBC has just launched an auction on its website with a bunch of different props from its hit shows. Friday Night Lights is one of the shows featured.

A portion of the proceeds from the auction will benefit the United Way. The NBC auction runs through December 3, at which point a new batch of props are going live! Here are the items relating to Friday Night Lights up for bids...

• Dillon Panthers Cheerleading Uniform
• Official Tim Riggins Panthers Jersey
• Football Autographed by Friday Night Lights Cast
• Autographed Lyla Garrity Cheerleader Megaphone
• Jason Street's Panthers Football Helmet

To bid on any of these awesome Friday Night Lights items and see some of the other stuff up for auction from other hit NBC shows, just click here!

The ratings are in for the most recent episode of Friday Night Lights, November 16's "Pantherama!" Take a look at the ratings from the 9-9:30 p.m. interval ...

CBS - Moonlight
Viewers: 8.19 million (#2), A18-49: 2.7/ 8 (#1)
NBC - Friday Night Lights
Viewers: 6.45 million (#3), A18-49: 2.2/ 6 (#2)
ABC - Women's Murder Club
Viewers: 8.82 million (#1), A18-49: 1.7/ 5 (#3)
CW - Friday Night Smackdown!
Viewers: 4.74 million (#4), A18-49: 1.4/ 4 (#5)
Fox - Don't Forget the Lyrics
Viewers: 4.38 million (#5), A18-49: 1.6/ 5 (#4)

Now let's look at the 9:30-10 p.m. interval ...

CBS - Moonlight
Viewers: 8.22 million (#2), A18-49: 2.7/ 8 (#1)
NBC - Friday Night Lights
Viewers: 5.47 million (#4), A18-49: 2.0/ 6 (#2-T)
ABC - Women's Murder Club
Viewers: 9.06 million (#1), A18-49: 1.9/ 6 (#4)
CW - Friday Night Smackdown!
Viewers: 4.93 million (#5), A18-49: 1.5/ 4 (#5)
Fox - Don't Forget the Lyrics
Viewers: 5.51 million (#4), A18-49: 2.0/ 6 (#2-T)

It appears Friday Night Lights averaged 5.96 million viewers for last Friday's episode. Interestingly, however, the show ranked second and tied for second in the key 18-49 demographic, the most heavily targeted by advertisers.

Here's hoping for even better news this week.

"Pantherama!" may have been the best episode of Friday Night Lights' Season 2 so far. Here's the beginning part below. Follow the link to our video section and watch the rest in its entirety! It's certainly worth an encore.

As always, you can discuss "Pantherama!" and all things Friday Night Lights in the Insider's forum! We welcome comments and viewpoints from all fans.

The official cast of Warner Brothers' live-action Justice League of America movie is expected to be unveiled next week, but new reports claim several actors have already been cast in the George Miller-directed project.

Previously reported contenders Adam Brody (The O.C.), Common (American Gangster), Teresa Palmer (Wolf Creek) and Scott Porter (Friday Night Lights) have won roles in the film, several sources report.

Adam Brody is said to be playing Wally West, a.k.a. The Flash, opposite Common as John Stewart, the Green Lantern.

Palmer is not going to play Wonder Woman but rather one of the film's villains, Talia Al Ghul.

AICN claims Scott Porter might be playing Superman, but IESB counters with "our sources tell us he was up for the role of The Flash and obviously Adam Brody won out, we've heard nothing about him being cast as Superman."