Sci-Fi Storm

After clearing his name, Luke Cage has become a celebrity on the streets of Harlem with a reputation as bulletproof as his skin. But being so visible has only increased his need to protect the community and find the limits of who he can and can’t save. With the rise of a formidable new foe, Luke is forced to confront the fine line that separates a hero from a villain.

Deadline reports that BBC Studios is working with Narrativia, the production company founded by late author Terry Pratchett and run by his daughter, to create a series based on Pratchett’s Discworld novels. Simon Allen (The Musketeers) is attached to write.

Six episodes have currently been commissioned, but no broadcasters have been named. BBC Studios is the production arm of the public broadcaster BBC, but two years ago was spun off as a for-profit venture and are now permitted to sell shows to other broadcasters. The aim is to make it an international co-production.

Plot details have not been given, but the working title of “The Watch” may indicate that it may have a similar focus to a previous plan led by Terry Jones (Monty Python) and Gavin Scott (The Mists Of Avalon) to create a procedural drama focusing on the City Watch police force of Discworld’s principal city of Ankh-Morpork.

Brakebills students rejoice! SYFY has renewed The Magicians, currently in its third season, for a fourth season of 13 episodes! The series is one of the network’s top shows over the past several seasons.

Season 3 of SYFY’s The Expanse will premiere Wednesday, April 11 at 9/8c. Picking up immediately following the emotional and suspenseful second season finale, the 13-episode third season finds Earth, Mars and The Belt at war, with each competing entity vying for control. Now, more than ever, the mission to unlock the secret of the protomolecule reaches an all-time high and every decision made could jeopardize the survival of the solar system.

The Expanse unfolds across a colonized galaxy 200 years in the future, when two strangers become unwittingly swept up in a vast conspiracy. Based on the New York Times bestselling book series collectively known as “The Expanse,” written by Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck (under the pen name James S. A. Corey), the series stars Steven Strait, Shohreh Aghdashloo, Dominique Tipper, Cas Anvar, Wes Chatham and Frankie Adams. This season also introduces Elizabeth Mitchell and David Strathairn as recurring guest stars.

Academy Award®-nominated screenwriting duo Mark Fergus and Hawk Ostby (Children of Men, Iron Man) serve as executive producers alongside showrunner Naren Shankar (Almost Human, Grimm). The Expanse is produced by Alcon Television Group (ATG), a division of Alcon Entertainment.

Feeling a little Under Pressure? Check this sneak peek for Episode 9 of SYFY’s The Magicians…alas, it doesn’t air for two weeks! But catch Felicia Day again tonight at 9/8c!

“We adapt…”

The Robinson family, part of a highly trained mission to establish a new colony in space, is unexpectedly pulled off course forcing them to crash land on a lost planet.

We are seriously looking forward to this new adaptation…all episodes release April 13th!

No surprise either – the upcoming series of Doctor Who with Jodie Whitaker taking over the title role will also see a new stylized title logo and a new opening. See it below!

New Doctor, new season, new logo. #DoctorWho pic.twitter.com/hZT7gBnz3W

— Doctor Who BBCA (@DoctorWho_BBCA) February 20, 2018

Another weekend TidBits to catch up…

Marvel’s Blank Panther is devouring the box office, likely looking at $150 million this weekend, and possibly opening the window to the entire Marvel universe for a shot in the films. A beautifully visual movie superbly acted – expect a review shortly.

In the meantime, Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle has been keeping to the top of the charts, winning most weeks since Star Wars: The Last Jedi died down, and provided a lighthearted movie among the more intense competition. It will cross $900 million world-wide today. See what we thought of the film.

Disney Channel has ordered up a third installment of The Descendants, their teen-centric fantasy musical TV movie series. The Kenny Ortega-produced franchise follows the teen descendants of Disney’s well-known princesses and villains and stars Dove Cameron, Sofia Carson, Cameron Boyce, Booboo Stewart, Mitchell Hope and China Anne McClain. The teaser (see below) has Mal (Cameron), the descendant of Maleficent, indicate that the new villain will be – her dad.

The Umbrella Academy, Netflix’s upcoming series based on the Gerard Way graphic novels about a dysfunctional academy/family of superheroes, named a number of regular and recurring cast this week. Regular cast announced incclude Cameron Britton (Mindhunter) will be Hazel, an infamously ruthless and efficient time-travelling hit-man; Colm Feore (House of Cards, The Chronicles of Riddick) is Sir Reginald Hargreeves, a wealthy entrepreneur and world-renowned scientist and the adopted father of the academy students; and Adam Godley (Breaking Bad), will portray (via voice/motion-capture) Pogo, a genetically-engineered chimpanzee. Ashley Madekwe (Revenge) will appear in a recurring role as Detective Patch, a fast rising, by the book detective of the police department. Previously announced as starring in the show are Tom Hopper, David Castañeda, Emmy Raver-Lampman, Ellen Page, Robert Sheehan and Aidan Gallagher.
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ABC’s reboot of The Greatest American Hero finally has its lead in Hannah Simone, who is just wrapping up her role as Cece on Fox’s New Girl, which ends after seven seasons this Spring.

Simone will play Meera, a tequila and karaoke-loving 30-year-old Indian-American woman who becomes entrusted with a suit that gives her the power to protect the planet, but the planet has not been in more unreliable hands.

Simone was reportedly offered a number of pilots this season, before opting for The Greatest American Hero.

ABC’s Once Upon A Time, the live action mashup of Disney fairy-tale characters cursed to live in the modern world in the small town of Storybrooke, Maine, will end after the current seventh season.

The show was revamped for the sixth season with a smaller cast and shifted from Sunday to lighter-viewed Friday night, but even at the TCAs they were cautiously optimistic about an eighth season, but the network decided not to renew.

For us, the show appeared to lose steam by the fourth season, as storylines appeared to get stretched to fill seasons, making it more binge-worthy than live viewing, but we did enjoy the take on the characters that would be mixed in from time to time. We’re still sad to see the show go.