Sci-Fi Storm

Spoiler free…

Way back when (well, just over 11 months ago) when we learned that Ron Howard was taking over as director for the upcoming Star Wars anthology film featuring a young Han Solo, with just a couple weeks left in filming and the ouster of the previous co-directors, we were filled with trepidation. We weren’t sure how we felt about doing the “Young Solo” film in the first place. And a late director change is never a good sign. There would be reshoots, rewrites, etc. Additional actors were being brought in late in the game. All things pointed to a mediocre film at best. The one bright spark? Ron Howard. The man is a genius.

As the film neared release, our hopes began to rise. We were only hearing good things about it. Even from sources we would expect to be more pessimistic. We went last night to see it. And this movie is GOOD.

One of the things we heard before the changes was that it was aiming to be more slapstick, or at least have a lot more humor than any previous Star Wars film. I was afraid we were going to get a “buddy smuggler” film. The end result still had humor, but the amount you’d expect from a film with Han, Chewie, and Lando, along with a few new enjoyable characters thrown in. And it adds some background to characters that you only heard about, or even didn’t have any idea of. But everything made sense in the context of what we already knew about the characters.

Alden Ehrenreich was pretty much unknown to me. At first I didn’t think I could buy him as Han. But as the film went on I started to see it…he does look like a young Han…and at one point even gave this very intense look that really reminded me of Harrison Ford.

This film is really worth seeing for all Star Wars fans. You can even play “spot the reference” when they name various other characters from the canon.

Sadly, the movie is tracking lower than expectations on the holiday weekend, looking at about $114.5 million for the 4-day total. However, increasing good buzz might lead to the film performing well over a longer period similar to what The Greatest Showman did at the beginning of the year.

Now we just need them to announce a sequel such that the final twist at the end can be explained… 🙂

Hooray! Amazon boss Jeff Bezos announced last night at the International Space Development Conference in Los Angeles that Amazon would pick up The Expanse after the show ends its current third season on SYFY, after that network announced it would not pick it up again earlier this month.

The Expanse team was on hand, and Cas Anvar even recorded it…

I'll just let him say it…#TheExpanse#RocinanteIsSafe#BreakingNews

Thank you @JeffBezos pic.twitter.com/wxHN31zgJs

— Cas Anvar (@Casanvar) May 26, 2018

Now that you’ve seen the Season 1 finale of Krypton, check out the first teaser for Season 2!

SYFY today announced a second season pickup of Krypton, the untold Superman story based on DC characters from Warner Horizon Scripted Television. Krypton, which has averaged 1.8 million viewers L3 per week to date, is SYFY’s most-watched debut season among total viewers for an original series since Ascension in 2014, and the most-watched season for any scripted series on the network since Defiance in 2015. With the can’t-miss Season 1 finale airing this Wednesday, May 23 at 10/9c, Krypton’s second season is expected to return in 2019.

Krypton is set two generations before the destruction of Superman’s home planet. The series follows Seg-El (Cameron Cuffe), the legendary Man of Steel’s grandfather, as a young man who is faced with a life and death conflict – save his home planet or let it be destroyed to restore the fate of his future grandson. In Season 1, with Krypton’s leadership in disarray and the House of El ostracized, Seg found himself in a difficult position: redeem his family’s honor and protect the ones he loves, while being challenged by familiar DC characters Brainiac and Earthly time-traveler Adam Strange.

With this pickup, Krypton joins an upcoming SYFY lineup that includes returning originals Happy! starring Christopher Meloni and Patton Oswalt and returning for a second season in 2019; the hit fantasy series The Magicians, which was greenlit for a fourth season for 2019; the acclaimed 12 Monkeys series, set to air its fourth season story conclusion this June; and the Channel Zero horror anthology series, which is set to air its fourth installment this fall. Upcoming new originals include the Fall 2018 space thriller Nightflyers, based on author George R.R. Martin’s novella, and Deadly Class, based on the critically acclaimed Image Comics graphic novel of the same name.

Based on characters created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, Krypton is from Warner Horizon Scripted Television and is executive produced by David S. Goyer (Man of Steel, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice) through his Phantom Four banner, alongside Cameron Welsh, who serves as showrunner.

Viewers can catch up on Krypton at SYFY On Demand, which includes SYFY.com and the SYFY App.

Premium cable network EPIX® announced today a straight-to-series greenlight of the DC origin story Pennyworth, from Warner Horizon Scripted Television, executive producer/writer Bruno Heller (Gotham, The Mentalist, Rome) and executive producer/director Danny Cannon (Gotham, CSI series).

The ten-episode, one-hour drama series is based on DC characters created by Bob Kane with Bill Finger. It follows Bruce Wayne’s legendary butler, Alfred Pennyworth, a former British SAS soldier who forms a security company and goes to work with Thomas Wayne, Bruce’s billionaire father, in 1960’s London. Production will begin later this year, with a series premiere slated for 2019.

Said Michael Wright, President, EPIX, “As genuine fans of these classic DC characters, as well as the incredibly talented Bruno Heller and Danny Cannon, we couldn’t be more excited to make EPIX the home of this series. We can’t wait to work with Bruno and Danny – along with Peter Roth, Susan Rovner, Brett Paul and the team at Warner Horizon – on this fantastic origin story.”

Bruno Heller and Danny Cannon said, “Michael and his colleagues have created the perfect venue for original storytelling, and all of us working on Pennyworth are thrilled to be on the EPIX slate.”

Pennyworth comes on the heels of EPIX’s recent pick up of ABC Signature Studios’ drama series Godfather of Harlem, starring and executive produced by Oscar® winner Forest Whitaker, with Chris Brancato and Paul Eckstein (Narcos) serving as showrunners. Both series are part of a growing slate of EPIX originals, which includes the upcoming season two premiere of the critically-acclaimed dark comedy Get Shorty, from MGM Television, this summer.

Catch the trailers here for the two upcoming new series on SYFY, Deadly Class and Nightflyers!

With all the cancellation news recently, here’s a bright spot – Netflix has renewed Lost In Space for a second season! The show premiered to 3.16 million viewers on its first day, placing it only behind Stranger Things 2 and Bright for the biggest debut in the last year.

Actress Margot Kidder, best known for playing the role of Lois Lane in 1978’s Superman and three sequels opposite Christopher Reeve and perhaps the best remembered version of the character, passed away yesterday at her home in Montana, her manager confirmed. A cause of death was not given.

In addition to her Superman role, she also starred in The Amityville Horror in 1979. Those two roles propelled her to stardom in movies and TV shows. However in the 1990s she was diagnosed with mental health issues, and in 1996 made headlines when she disappeared for four days during a manic episode. She later got control of it and advocated for better mental health options. She most recently appeared in 2017’s The Neighborhood and had been making convention appearances.

It’s time for the networks to clean house, and aside from the overnight announcement of SYFY canceling The Expanse, Fox made their announcements, giving the axe to both The Exorcist and Lucifer. And the cast and crew of Lucifer are not happy, taking to social media…

Woke up this morning to the news – SYFY has elected not to pick up The Expanse for a fourth season – but that doesn’t mean it is dead just yet.

We are hearing that the decision may have been due to the deal the network had for the series, only allowing first run linear rights in the U.S., as opposed to complete streaming rights as well. This makes live viewers more important, and Season 3 thus far is running around 1 million total viewers, of which 40% of that is in the 18-49 demographic, and sits it below SYFY’s other show.

However, producers Alcon Entertainment are hopeful the show will go on. “We respect Syfy’s decision to end this partnership but given the commercial and critical success of the show,” said Alcon’s Andrew Kosove and Broderick Johnson in a statement. “We fully plan to pursue other opportunities for this terrific and original IP.” While this is traditionally a huge longshot for any show, my gut feeling is that they might have a better chance than most.

This chops yet another space-based show from the lineup. Killjoys I believe is the sole show with Nighflyers coming up.