Rogue One prequel show gets showrunner: The Rogue One prequel series featuring Diego Luna’s Cassian Andor that will be on Disney+ has gotten a showrunner in Stephen Schiff. Schiff is fresh off five years on The Americans and hopefully he can bring even half the dramatic heft and intrigue of that brilliant show to this one.
DC Developing Blue Beetle and Zatanna movies: DC continues to put movies in development at a reckless pace and this week they announced they are developing solo movies for Blue Beetle and Zatanna. Blue Beetle will focus on the newest Blue Beetle, Jaime Reyes with screenwriter Gareth Dunnet-Alocer writing the script while Zatanna may be a spin-off from the apparently still happening Justice League Dark film, where Zatanna will co-star alongside Constantine, Swamp Thing, Deadman and Etrigan the Demon.
Kingsman sequel does a bunch of casting: One of the upcoming entries in the Kingsman series is going to be a prequel set during World War I and has added Charles Dance, Daniel Bruhl, Rhys Ifans and Matthew Goode to the cast. Ralph Fiennes and Harris Dickinson are co-starring as sort of World War I equivalents to Harry and Eggsy.
Preacher renewed for Season 4: AMC’s adaptation of Garth Ennis’ beloved comic masterpiece is getting a fourth season, as AMC renewed the show this week. The main trio of Dominic Cooper, Ruth Negga and Joseph Gilgun will be back and the story will most likely be focused mostly on Jesse and Tulip trying to rescue Cassidy from the clutches of the fanatical Grail.
Nick Nolte joins The Mandalorian: Next year’s The Mandalorian Disney+ show has added another great cast member with Nick Nolte signing on for an unknown role. Pedro Pascal is starring as the titular character, a new Mandalorian gunslinger working the Outer Rim as a bounty hunter and Jon Favreau is overseeing the series.
Angel Has Fallen coming next summer: Gerard Butler’s Mike Banning will be back next summer to make the “…Has Fallen” series in to a trilogy with Angel Has Fallen. Hitting August 23rd, 2019, Angel Has Fallen finds Mike Banning on the run after being framed for trying to kill the President while terrorists are plotting an attack on an Air Force One. Morgan Freeman’s character is now the President and Jada Pinkett-Smith, Lance Reddick, Nick Nolte, Danny Huston, Piper Perabo and Tim Blake Nelson are co-starring with Ric Roman Waugh, the director of Snitch, directing.
Hobbs and Shaw adds Eiza Gonzalez: The Baby Driver and From Dusk Till Dawn co-star is joining Statham and The Rock in Hobbs and Shaw but her role is unknown. Idris Elba is taking on the titular duo and Vanessa Kirby is playing another member of the Shaw family, Hattie Shaw and Deadpool 2’s David Leitch is directing with the movie coming on August 2nd 2019.
Daredevil canceled by Netflix: Netflix seems to be clearing house of The Defenders as the battle with Disney heats up, canceling Daredevil this week. Daredevil’s third season was a month or two ago and it joins Luke Cage and Iron Fist in cancellation with only The Punisher and Jessica Jones left, but those shows both have seasons that still need to air, with an in development third season for Jessica and a shot and waiting to be released second season of Punisher. Based on statements by Marvel, it seems likely that one or all these shows may get a second chance on Disney+ at some point.
Blade Runner anime coming to Adult Swim/Crunchyroll: Despite the lackluster box office performance of Blade Runner 2049, the Blade Runner universe will continue with a new anime series hitting Adult Swim and Crunchyroll called Blade Runner: Black Lotus. Legendary anime director Shinichiro Watanabe will be an executive producer and you can expect this show to be very similiar in look and tone to the “Blackout” Blade Runner 2049 short, which Watanabe directed. The show will be set in 2032 and feature some familiar Blade Runner characters and will consist of 13 half-hour episodes.
Console Wars getting turned into a mini-series: The excellent book by Blake Harris, detailing the war between Sega and Nintendo for video game dominance in the 90s, was originally set to be adapted by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg into a documentary and scripted adaptation but now it seems the plan has shifted and it will now be a mini-series directed by Kong: Skull Island’s Jordan Vogt-Roberts. There’s no network or release date yet.
BBC’s Dracula cast: The new Dracula series coming from Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss has cast it’s titular Prince of Darkness with Danish actor Claes Bang. Bang was recently seen in The Girl in the Spider’s Web and The Square. The show will be set in 1897 and finds Dracula making his way to Victorian London.
Live-action Cowboy Bebop series coming to Netflix: One of the most beloved anime series of all time, Netflix is turning Cowboy Bebop into a live-action series for their streaming service. Original showrunner, the aforementioned Shinichiro Watanabe, is on board to consult on the series with the first episode being written by Thor: Ragnorak’s Chris Yost and the show has a 10 episode first season.
RIP Stephen Hillenburg: The creator of Spongebob Squarepants, Stephen Hillenburg, passed away this week at the too young age of 57 after battling ALS since a diagnosis last year. Hillenburg joined Nick in the 90’s as an animator and director on Rocko’s Modern Life and then created the juggernaut that is Spongebob.
New Candyman movie gets release date and director: The new entry in the Candyman franchise from producer Jordan Peele has a confirmed release date and director. Hitting on June 12th, 2020, Nia DaCosta, director of the indie crime drama Little Woods, will direct the new Candyman, which will be a “spiritual sequel” the the original film, returning to Chicago and the now gentrified Cabrini-Green projects. Peele is co-writing the script as well but no word on if Tony Todd will return as the titular supernatural killer.
Netflix developing multiple Roald Dahl series: As mentioned above, Netflix is going all out to battle the monster that will be Disney+ and among the many, many projects in development it was revealed this week they will be turning multiple Roald Dahl books into animated TV shows. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Matilda, The BFG, The Twits and more will be “reimagined” and extended into these new series with the blessing of Felicity Dahl, Roald’s widow. The first of these shows probably won’t arrive until late 2019 but more like 2020.
Tom Hanks in talks to play Geppetto in live action Pinocchio: The live action remake train continues to roll on at Disney with Pinocchio in development as one of the upcoming adaptations and Tom Hanks is seemingly in talks to play Pinocchio’s father, Geppetto. Paul King, director the Paddington films, will be directing Pinocchio but it doesn’t have a release date yet, although it’s expected to go into production sometime next year.
