Sci-Fi Storm

One moment links 8 minds in disparate parts of the world, putting 8 strangers in each other’s lives, each other’s secrets, and in terrible danger.

Sense8 launches on Netflix on June 5th.

Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, the writing duo behind all three Captain America films including the upcoming Captain America: Civil War (which started filming today), as well as Thor: The Dark World and all three Chronicles of Narnia films, and also created Marvel’s Agent Carter (man these guys are BUSY!), have been signed to take on what will be the climax of Phase 3 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe – Avengers: Infinity War, Parts 1 and 2.

The CW announced today in their upfronts that they have already picked up DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, the official title of the proposed Arrow/Flash spinoff, for the upcoming 2015-2016 season.

From their release:

When heroes alone are not enough… the world needs legends. Having seen the future, one he will desperately try to prevent from happening, time-traveling rogue Rip Hunter is tasked with assembling a disparate group of both heroes and villains to confront an unstoppable threat – one in which not only is the planet at stake, but all of time itself. Can this ragtag team defeat an immortal threat unlike anything they have ever known?

The cast includes returning actors Victor Garber (Dr. Martin Stein, The Flash), Brandon Routh (Ray Palmer/Atom, Arrow), Caity Lotz (Sara Lance/The Canary, Arrow), Dominic Purcell ( Mick Rory/Heat Wave, The Flash), and Wentworth Miller ( Leonard Snart/Captain Cold, The Flash). Joining them is Arthur Darvill (Doctor Who) as Rip Hunter.

Greg Berlanti, Marc Guggenheim, Andrew Kreisberg and Sarah Schechter are the executive producers.

Marvel announced today that Martin Freeman is joining the cast of Captain America: Civil War.

That’s it. Not a single detail.

Martin Freeman, of course, is known for playing Dr. John Watson on Sherlock (for which he won the 2014 Supporting Actor Emmy) and Bilbo Baggins in The Hobbit.

Captain America: Civil War is expected to be released on May 6th, 2016.

Adding to its growing roster of major productions featuring science fiction’s most acclaimed franchises, Syfy is reuniting with Emmy® Award-winning Amblin Television to develop a scripted series based on Aldous Huxley’s classic novel Brave New World.

Syfy and Amblin previously collaborated on Steven Spielberg Presents: Taken, which won a 2003 Emmy® for Best Miniseries, as well as nominations in six other categories.

Brave New World is set in a world without poverty, war or disease. In this world, humans are given mind-altering drugs, free sex and rampant consumerism are the order of the day, and people no longer reproduce but are genetically engineered in “hatcheries.” Those who won’t conform are forced onto “reservations” – until one of these “savages” challenges the system, threatening the entire social order. First published in 1932, Brave New World was ranked fifth among the 100 best English language novels of the 20th Century by Modern Library.

Said Dave Howe, President, Syfy & Chiller: “Brave New World is one of the most influential genre classics of all time. Its provocative vision of a future gone awry remains as powerful and as timeless as ever. Promising to be a monumental television event, Brave New World is precisely the groundbreaking programming that is becoming the hallmark of Syfy.”

Darryl Frank and Justin Falvey of Amblin Television (The Americans, Falling Skies, Under the Dome) will be executive producers. Les Bohem (Steven Spielberg Presents: Taken) will write the screenplay and also executive produce.

Universal Cable Productions will serve as the studio.

“We’ve been looking for an opportunity to reunite with Les, Bonnie Hammer and Dave Howe, ever since our collaboration on Taken over a decade ago, and Brave New World is just the project we’ve been waiting for, to bring the band back together,” said Darryl Frank and Justin Falvey, Co-Presidents, Amblin Television. “We’re thrilled to be working with Dawn Olmstead, with whom we produced The Whispers for ABC, and under the leadership of Jeff Wachtel and Universal Cable Productions, we know the project is in just the right hands.”

“Brave New World is science fiction at its best – a brilliant, poignant story that continues to fascinate and illuminate,” said Jeff Wachtel, President and Chief Content Officer, NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment. “And there is simply no better team than Amblin to bring this exquisite project to life.”

Brave New World is the latest high profile scripted project to be developed and produced by Syfy; others include the recently-announced series pickup of The Magicians, based on Lev Grossman’s best-selling books; the 10-part series The Expanse, airing December 2015 and starring Thomas Jane; Arthur C. Clarke’s epic mini-series Childhood’s End, also set to premiere this December; Gale Anne Hurd’s 13-episode thriller Hunters; David Goyer’s Superman prequel, Krypton; and Incorporated, a pilot from Matt Damon and Ben Affleck.

Syfy’s sibling network Chiller is going to take another adaptation of Colin Wilson’s novel [asin=0982324618]The Space Vampires[/asin], which will be called Lifeforce (as was the 1985 adaptation starring Steve Railsback and Mathilda May) to TV screens in the form of a TV movie.

Steve B. Harris (Friday the 13th, Amityville: The Awakening) will produce for Diversion3 (www.diversion3.com) along with Mark Altman (Castle, Necessary Roughness) Mark Gottwald (DOA: Dead or Alive) and David E. Williams (Femme Fatales) from a story by Harris, Altman and Steve Kriozere (NCIS, Castle).

We mentioned the project in 2013, where it was planned as a TV/multimedia series, although right now it is listed as just a TV movie, but this could be a backdoor pilot for a future series.

NEW YORK – May 4, 2015 – Continuing its commitment to developing bold, high profile scripted dramas, Syfy today announced it has greenlit The Magicians to series.

Based upon Lev Grossman’s best-selling books, The Magicians stars Jason Ralph (A Most Violent Year, Aquarius) as Quentin Coldwater, a brilliant grad student who enrolls in Brakebills College for Magical Pedagogy, a secret upstate New York university specializing in magic. He and his 20-something friends soon discover that the magical fantasy world they read about as children is all too real – and poses grave danger to humanity. Stella Maeve (Chicago P.D.), Hale Appleman (Teeth), Arjun Gupta (Nurse Jackie) and Summer Bishil (Towelhead, Lucky 7) also star in this one hour drama.

Groundswell Productions’ Michael London and Janice Williams (Milk) will executive produce. John McNamara (Aquarius) and Sera Gamble (Supernatural), writers of the pilot, will serve as executive producers. Mike Cahill (I Origins) directed the pilot. Universal Cable Productions will serve as the studio.

“The Magicians pilot beautifully delivers a world filled with wonder, fantasy and intrigue,” said Dave Howe, President, Syfy. “We can’t wait to delve deeper into the lives of Quentin and his college friends, as they struggle with the enormity of their burgeoning powers – and unleash them upon the world.”

“Ever since ‘[asin=0525427341]The Magicians[/asin]’ was published I’ve wanted to see this story on screen,” said Lev Grossman. “The people, the school, the other worlds, the magic. I’m so thrilled that it’s finally happening, and I’m beyond thrilled that we found the right people to do it. Get ready; you’ve never seen anything like this.”

“Lev is a visionary world-creator. It’s an awesome responsibility to honor the novels’ core audience and also to translate that vision to the screen,” said Jeff Wachtel, President and Chief Content Officer, NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment. “We are lucky to have Sera Gamble, Michael London, John McNamara and Janice Williams as the team bringing this series to life.”

Lev Grossman’s “Magicians” trilogy is an international sensation, published and widely praised in more than twenty countries. The epic conclusion to the series, “[asin=0670015679]The Magician’s Land[/asin],” opened at #1 last summer on the New York Times Hardcover Best Seller’s list, and was widely acclaimed as one of the best books of the year.

The twelve episode season will begin shooting in Vancouver in July.

Grace Lee Whitney, who for a short but memorable time played Yeoman Janice Rand on the original Star Trek, passed away on Friday at home at the age of 85, confirmed by her son. She was the oldest surviving original cast member.

Whitney started as a singer, appearing with Billie Holiday and Buddy Rich, but then turned to acting and appeared in guest roles in a number of TV shows including Gunsmoke, The Rifleman and 77 Sunset Strip, but then landed a role as what was supposed to be a regular “love interest” character for Captain James T. Kirk on Star Trek when it went into production.

Her and her infamous blond beehive wig (“I swear they had to nail that thing to my head!”) would only last 8 episodes, however. Numerous reasons for her departure were rumored, including her alcoholism, but according to her the primary reason was that they didn’t want to tie Kirk down and leave him free to mingle with others. Gene Roddenberry claimed it was to cut the budget. But in her [asin=1884956033]1998 autobiography[/asin], she also said she was sexually assaulted by a Desilu (the production company) executive, and was cut from the show a few days later.

Her career after that, along with her addictions, would spiral out of control, but she credited the Star Trek fans who never forgot her for helping her beat her additions and became an advocate for beating substance abuse. She would return to Star Trek and her character with small parts in Star Trek: The Motion Picture as the transporter chief, Star Trek III: The Search For Spock and Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home working in Starfleet Command, and Star Trek IV: The Undiscovered Country and an episode of Star Trek: Voyager as the communications officer on the U.S.S. Excelsior, which they believed might spin off into a series.

Ad astra per aspera, Grace…

About 11 months later, the marriage between director Josh Trank and the Star Wars universe is over.

“After a year of having the incredible honor of developing with the wonderful and talented people at Lucasfilm, I’m making a personal decision to move forward on a different path,” Trank said via a press release on StarWars.com. “I’ve put a tremendous amount of thought into this, and I know deep down in my heart that I want to pursue some original creative opportunities. That said, the Star Wars universe has always been one of my biggest influences, and I couldn’t be more excited to witness its future alongside my millions of fellow Star Wars fans. I want to thank my friends Kathleen Kennedy, Kiri Hart, Simon Kinberg, and everyone at Lucasfilm and Disney for the amazing opportunity to have been a part of this. May the Force be with you all.”

Although this sounds like the typical “amicable” split, Rebel spies tell is otherwise. Trank was the director for the upcoming Fantastic Four reboot for Fox, which was produced by Simon Kinberg, who is also working at various levels in the upcoming Star Wars films and reportedly as a producer on Trank’s film, and was less than thrilled with Trank on the Fantastic Four film (which some circles believe was made just to stop the rights reverting back to Marvel). In addition, Trank was a no-show at Star Wars Celebration, having what he tweeted was the “worst flu of my life,” but rumors were that he was already on the way out and Disney asked him not to come.

So it remains to be seen who will take the center seat for this movie which is still in development, but if the current environment towards production dates holds, it should not delay the expected 2018 release date.