Sci-Fi Storm

Needing some time off after filming the Divergent films Insurgent and Allegiant back to back, director Robert Schwentke has decided to drop out of the final installment, Ascendant.

Ascendant was already slotted for a June 9th, 2017 release date, so Lionsgate will need to scramble to replace him.

Writer Bryan Fuller, who got his start on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and then Star Trek: Voyager, will return to the franchise to manage the untitled upcoming CBS All Access Star Trek series.

Fuller said, “It is without exaggeration a dream come true to be crafting a brand new iteration of Star Trek with fellow franchise alum Alex Kurtzman and boldly going where no Star Trek series has gone before.” Kurtzman is serving as executive producer, with plans to debut the series next January.

Fuller, who created and produced Hannibal and Pushing Daisies, is also currently working on an adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s American Gods for Starz.

Syfy today announced it has renewed hit drama series The Magicians for a second season of 13 episodes, expected to air in 2017. The Magicians is from Universal Cable Productions and is executive produced by John McNamara (Aquarius), Sera Gamble (Supernatural), Henry Alonso Myers (Covert Affairs) and Groundswell Productions’ Michael London and Janice Williams (Milk).

Based on the bestselling novels from Lev Grossman, The Magicians is currently airing its first season on Syfy on Mondays at 9PM ET/PT. The series’ fourth episode premieres tonight.

“Thanks to an extraordinarily gifted creative team of executive producers and our partners at Universal Cable Productions, The Magicians has become a buzzed-about hit, enchanting fans of the novels as well as attracting new and younger audiences to Syfy,” said Dave Howe, President, Syfy & Chiller.

During its first three episodes, The Magicians averaged 1.7 million viewers, 853K Adults 18-49 and 910K Adults 25-54 (based on L3 data). The series is also strong among younger viewers, with Adults 18-34 growing consecutively over each episode, averaging 180% above Syfy’s prime time delivery in that demo.

Digitally, the series’ first episode was sampled more than 6.7 million times during its pre-linear launch (January 8 to January 25) across Syfy.com and select partner sites, as well as On Demand cable, satellite and telco TV platforms. Additionally, an on-air sneak peek of the pilot, airing December 16 at 10PM ET/PT, drew 1.3 million total viewers (based on L+7 data).

Starring Jason Ralph (Quentin Coldwater), Stella Maeve (Julia), Olivia Taylor Dudley (Alice) Hale Appleman (Eliot), Arjun Gupta (Penny) and Summer Bishil (Margo), The Magicians centers on Quentin, a brilliant grad student chosen to attend 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 when they unwittingly invite a malevolent entity from the other side into their world. Also reprising their roles for season two will be series regulars Rick Worthy (Dean Fogg) and Jade Tailor (Kady).

If there was any thought that Star Wars: The Force Awakens would slow down by now, then you need to drink some more blue milk. Yesterday, the film hit $900 million at the domestic box office, after just 50 days of release, increasing it’s #1 position by a very large margin. And today it is expected to cross the $2 billion mark worldwide, closing in on #2 Titanic, which sits at $2.19B, and overall king Avatar at $2.78B.

We’re gonna need more duct tape…we know CBS has been excited about bringing MacGyver back as a rebooted series, and now they’ve given a green light to a series pilot, to be directed Furious 7‘s James Wan and written by Paul Downs Colaizzo, and now has original executive producer Henry Winkler on board, but Lionsgate has also announced yesterday during an analysts call that they are producing a feature film, as part of a discussion on simultaneous TV and film projects.

The movie is being developed by Fast And Furious producer Neal Moritz, who is working with original series creator Lee David Zlotoff. Nothing else is known at this time.

Fox wants to take the X-Men franchise to the small screen, and they’ve found the man to lead them there. Dan Stevens, who played Matthew Crowley on Downton Abbey, will take on the title role in the pilot for Legion, based on The X-Men spinoff comic of the same name.

Stevens will play David Haller, the son of Professor Xavier, who has struggled since he was a teen with mental illness. Diagnosed as schizophrenic, David has been in and out of psychiatric hospitals for years. But after a strange encounter with a fellow patient, he’s confronted with the possibility that the voices he hears and the visions he sees might be real.

Rachel Keller (Fargo) will play Syd, self-sufficient and street-smart who uses her sharp and prickly demeanor to protect her soft core, because even though it makes her a sucker and puts her at risk, she still believes in happily ever after.

Also cast are Aubrey Plaza (Parks and Recreation) as Lenny, David’s friend, who despite a life of drugs and alcohol abuse, knows that any day now her life is gonna turn around, which gives Lenny the likeable energy of the impossible optimist despite her rough demeanor; and Jean Smart (Fargo) as Melanie, a nurturing, demanding therapist with a sharp mind and unconventional methods.

Fargo co-creator Noah Hawley wrote the pilot and will executive produce along with X-Men stewards Lauren Shuler Donner, Bryan Singer and Simon Kinberg, plus Jeph Loeb for Marvel TV, Jim Chory and John Cameron

Syfy announced today it has greenlit to series Incorporated, a futuristic thriller from Matt Damon, Ben Affleck & Jennifer Todd’s Pearl Street Films, CBS Television Studios and Universal Cable Productions. The 13-episode first season of the new drama series is expected to premiere on Syfy in Fall 2016.

Set in a near future where corporations have unlimited power, Incorporated centers around Ben Larson (Sean Teale, Reign), a young executive who conceals his true identity to infiltrate a very dangerous corporate world to save the woman he loves. But he’ll soon learn that he’s not the only one whose secrets may have deadly consequences.

In addition to Teale, the series will star Eddie Ramos (Teen Wolf), Golden Globe nominee Dennis Haysbert (24), and Emmy Award winner Julia Ormond (Mad Men).

Incorporated is created by David & Alex Pastor (Selfless, The Last Days), who wrote and directed the pilot. Ted Humphrey (The Good Wife) will serve as executive producer/showrunner, with Matt Damon, Ben Affleck and Jennifer Todd also executive producing. Pearl Street Films’ Margaret Chernin will serve as co-producer.

“The most powerful science fiction holds up a mirror to our world,” said Dave Howe, President, Syfy & Chiller. “Incorporated is exactly that type of smart, provocative series, delivering a fresh, edge of your seat thriller that challenges notions of the world we live in today. We look forward to working with the stellar teams at Pearl Street Films, CBS Television Studios and Universal Cable Productions to bring it to life for Syfy viewers this year.”

Actress Gwendoline Christie was on the red carpet last night for the SAG Awards, and while talking to People, mentioned that she’d be back in the next Star Wars movie, which is a good thing since otherwise she’d be the most hyped but underused character since Boba Fett’s original trilogy appearances.

“I will be in the next Star Wars movie. I think that’s an exclusive, actually,” she told the interviewer. “I was very overexcited. I made no secret of the fact that I really campaigned for the part for a long time, and then I was delighted when J.J. Abrams wanted to have me in the film and then wanted to cast me in this role that had originally been designed for a man.”

What’s curious is that this wasn’t exactly an exclusive – or new news, really. Back before the movie even came out, the LA Times ran an article about the women if Star Wars, and in it producer Kathleen Kennedy confirmed that Captain Phasma would return for Episode VIII. “She’s an important character, a baddie in the best sense of the word,” Kennedy said.

So, yes, it’s confirmed that Phasma somehow (SPOILERS!!!!!!) escapes the trash compactor (if our heroes did indeed toss her in one), AND escaped Starkiller Base before the whole planet blew up, and will be back. I wonder how shiny her chrome armor will be after that…