Sci-Fi Storm

The Doctor is going to appear in Star Wars! Well, not exactly, but DWXI himself, Matt Smith, is reportedly joining the cast of Star Wars for the final epic installment. We have absolutely no information on his role other than it is “key”, and hopefully not in prosthetic makeup, total costume, or CGI…

It’s finally happening…Isaac Asimov’s seminal novel trilogy Foundation will become a series, now that Apple has given a 10-episode straight-to-series order from Skydance.

The history of Foundation being adapted spans many years and many studios, most trying to squeeze the novels into a feature film, with may writers and producers attached including Dante Harper and Roland Emmerich at Sony, and Jeff Vintar.

A couple cast additions…Katy O’Brian, who recurred on this past season of The Walking Dead as a member of the Saviors who was captured and held at Hilltop, will join the upcoming fifth season of Z Nation as new regular character Georgia “George” St. Clair, a leader in NewMerica who 8 years prior as a college freshman led a group of students and teachers to safety in NewMerica. O’Brian also appeared in episodes of How To Get Away With Murder and Halt And Catch Fire.

Deadline reports that Selma Blair (Anger Management) will join the upcoming Netflix sci-fi series Another Life, starring Battlestar Galactica and Longmire star Katee Sackhoff.

Blair will recur in the role of Harper Glass, a media influencer “who uses journalism, social media and keen intelligence in an attempt to break one of the biggest stories in human history.” The show follows astronaut Niko Breckinridge (Sackhoff) on a mission to find extraterrestrial life.

The Amazon series based on the 1999 hit sci-fi comedy Galaxy Quest is on hold according to writer Paul Scheer, but he is confident it will proceed.

According to an interview with The Wrap, Scheer says the show is “in a little bit of a hold pattern,” due at least in part to the June firing of former Paramount TV president Amy Powell for racially insensitive comments.With any regime change, there is also uncertainty over projects greenlit under the previous management, but it seems at least in this case there is a good chance that things will still proceed once management shakes out.

Star Trek: Discovery has its Spock. Ethan Peck, the grandson of late actor Gregory Peck, will be the third actor to play the character, behind Leonard Nimoy and Zachary Quinto. “We searched for months for an actor who would, like them, bring his own interpretation to the role,” said executive producer Alex Kurtzman. “An actor who would, like them, effortlessly embody Spock’s greatest qualities, beyond obvious logic: empathy, intuition, compassion, confusion, and yearning. Ethan Peck walked into the room inhabiting all of these qualities, aware of his daunting responsibility to Leonard, Zack, and the fans, and ready to confront the challenge in the service of protecting and expanding on Spock’s legacy. In that spirit, we’re thrilled to welcome him to the family.”

Spock’s appearance was announced at San Diego Comic-Con last month. We know that the U.S.S. Discovery answers a distress call from a pre-Kirk NCC-1701 U.S.S. Enterprise commanded by Captain Christopher Pike, who will be played by Inhumans‘ Anson Mount.

Peck is best known for the movies In Time and The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, as well as the series 10 Things I Hate About You.

Some casting news this week…

Damon Lindelof’s Watchmen pilot for HBO added three more to the ranks this week, in the form of Dylan Schombing (Girlfriends’ Guide to Divorce), Lily Rose Smith (The Vampire Diaries) and young newcomer Adelynn Spoon. They join an extensive list which includes Regina King, Jeremy Irons, Don Johnson, Frances Fisher and Louis Gossett Jr. Producers are tight-lipped about any characters though.

The eighth installment of FX’s horror anthology American Horror Story, subtitled “Apocalypse”, sees a bunch of familiar faces returning. Alums Gabourey Sidibe, Taissa Farmiga, Lily Rabe, Frances Conroy, Sarah Paulson, Kathy Bates, Evan Peters, Adina Porter, Emma Roberts, Cheyenne Jackson, Billy Eichner, Leslie Grossman, Billie Lourd, and Stevie Nicks will all join Jessica Lange, which director Ryan Murphy is billing as a crossover between the “Coven” and “Murder House” seasons. Joan Collins is also joining the cast this season.

And it appears that the DC TV Arrowverse will see a Gotham addition. Orange Is the New Black‘s Ruby Rose has signed on for the role of Batwoman for the next four-series Arrowverse crossover event this December, and is also expected to film a full-length pilot for a potential Batwoman TV series, which already looks like it will have a good chance of going to series.

Wow…Patrick Stewart just announced at Star Trek: Las Vegas that he will star in a new Star Trek series featuring Captain Jean-Luc Picard himself! The show will follow Picard in the “next chapter” of his life – presumably after he was captain of the U.S.S. Enterprise. Alex Kurtzman, who is currently heading production of Star Trek: Discovery, will also manage this show.

Not much detail was given, so more news as soon as we know.