Sci-Fi Storm

In a bit of a surprise announcement, SpikeTV announced today that they will be taking on the second season of The Shannara Chronicles which will air this Fall.

The first season of the original scripted drama, based on the best-selling fantasy book series by Terry Brooks, debuted on MTV in 2016.

Filmed on location in New Zealand, the new season will consist of 10 one-hour episodes. Details of the premiere date and time for season two will be announced in the coming weeks.

Spike will introduce its viewers to the critically-acclaimed series this summer as it will encore season one beginning on Thursday, June 29 at 11:00pm ET/PT, directly following the Spike original series, The Mist.

The Shannara Chronicles stars Austin Butler (Wil), Ivana Baquero (Eretria), Manu Bennett (Allanon), Aaron Jakubenko (Ander) and Marcus Vanco (Bandon) along with new cast members Vanessa Morgan (Lyria), Malese Jow (Mareth), Gentry White (Garet), Caroline Chikezie (Queen Tamlin), and Desmond Chiam (General Riga).

Season two takes place one year after the events of last season. The Four Lands are in chaos. The re-emergence of magic has the populace terrified, and an organization called The Crimson is hunting down magic users, using fear and intimidation to sow discord among the races. Wil, scarred by the loss of Amberle and his separation from Eretria, has turned his back on his magical destiny to become a healer. But when a mysterious woman named Mareth saves Wil from a Crimson attack, he is forced to rejoin the fight.

The Shannara Chronicles is created by Al Gough and Miles Millar based on the Shannara series of books written by Terry Brooks. The series is executive produced by Gough & Millar, Brooks, Jon Favreau, Jonathan Liebesman, and Dan Farah. The series is produced and distributed worldwide by Sonar Entertainment in association with Millar/Gough Ink and Farah Films.

In less surprising news, Starz has renewed American Gods for a second season after just two episodes. The show, based on the novel of the same name by author Neil Gaiman, follows Shadow Moon (Ricky Whittle, The 100) after he is released from prison and recruited by the mysterious Mr. Wednesday (Ian McShane, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides) into what appears to be a supernatural war between the gods of the Old World, brought to America by the immigrants, and the “new” gods, led by Technical Boy (Bruce Langley, Deadly Waters) and Media (Gillian Anderson, The X-Files – who appears in the form of Lucille Ball/Lucy Ricardo). The show is produced by FremantleMedia North America, with Bryan Fuller and Michael Green serving as executive producers/showrunners and also writing for the show.

Update: NBC has reversed their decision…

Original:

NBC has decided not to renew freshman history-bending show Timeless, despite some hope that it might renew the show when it ordered additional episodes in the Fall.

Co-creator Eric Kripke confirmed the news on Twitter, but gave a little hope that it might get picked up elsewhere: “Its true. NBC canceled #Timeless. We’re surprised & upset. Get you a longer response later. Odds are long, but trying to find another home.” Fellow co-creator Shawn Ryan also said that studio Sony is shopping the show around. Odds are indeed very long for that to happen. It’s not unheard of but a rare occurrence, as another network isn’t likely to take on a show that another network couldn’t get to work, at least without major changes, as with Supergirl‘s move to the CW Network.

Timeless was launched in what was considered a prime slot on Mondays following The Voice, but it didn’t seem to garner the same level of audience predecessors did in that position. Viewership was OK on Live+7 but weak on just live viewers, and even early on Kripke mentioned that it was a “bubble show” and likely would have to fight each year for renewal.

With the 25th anniversary of the beginning of what was then the Sci-Fi Channel coming up in September, Syfy is going through a new reboot – but that doesn’t mean you are losing any of your current favorite programs, as the channel recommits itself to genre programming and fandom at large.

“I can think of no better occasion than Syfy’s 25th anniversary to get back to our roots, double down on premium original programming, and put fans at the center of everything we do,” said Chris McCumber, President, Entertainment Networks for NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment. “As the only television network dedicated to the genre 24/7, we’re building the ultimate universe for this passionate community to call home.”

Syfy unveiled a new logo, typeface and look that it will use across all of its divisions, including an expanded news division, starting June 19th. “This is a wholesale change, top to bottom, of the way we express ourselves,” said Alexandra Shapiro, Executive Vice President, Marketing and Digital, Entertainment Networks for NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment. “Our new branding is designed for the digital age and tailored to the consumption patterns of our audience, allowing us to celebrate and engage with fans on every consumer touchpoint.”

Additionally, Syfy is scaling and expanding its editorial division Syfy Wire to infuse breaking genre news, in-depth analysis and thought-provoking original content across its entire ecosystem. Through Syfy Wire’s website (http://syfywire.com) and on air via future program development, programming integrations and regular interstitials and lower thirds, Syfy Wire will cover the latest and greatest in genre TV, film, books, comics, gaming and technology. Syfy Wire will also take the lead on this year’s reporting from San Diego Comic Con, once again airing for three nights.

Syfy also announced the pickup to series of two pilots, Superman prequel Krypton and the graphic novel adaptation Happy!.
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In a bit of a shocker announcement today, actress Jennifer Morrison has elected not to return to Once Upon A Time for a seventh season, should ABC renew the show.

Morrison’s character of Emma Swan has been central to the show for the entire run, and to lose a central character like that can be difficult for the writers to deal with. But the show was looking at a re-imagining of itself already, with word on the street that four specific characters are targeted – Swan, Hook (Colin O’Donoghue), Regina (Lana Parrilla), and Mr. Gold (Robert Carlyle). With all the original cast contracts up at the end of Season 6 (O’Donoghue still has a year on his), other current cast members were likely to be relegated to guest stars or even less. Parrilla and Carlyle are said to be close to signing, and Andrew J. West (Dead Of Summer) is expected to join as a regular after making his debut on the two-part season finale.

Morrison did agree to a guest appearance in Season 7. She announced her departure on her Instagram account:

As I reached the end of my 6 year contract on ONCE UPON A TIME, I was faced with a significant decision. ABC, Eddy Kitsis, and Adam Horowitz very generously invited me to continue as a series regular. After very careful consideration, I have decided that creatively and personally, it is time for me to move on. Emma Swan is one my favorite characters that I have ever played. My 6 years on ONCE UPON A TIME has changed my life in the most beautiful ways. I am absolutely blown away by the passion and commitment of the Oncer fans. I am so honored to have been a central part of such a special show. I will be forever grateful to Adam, Eddy, and ABC for giving me the gift of playing Emma Swan. As I move on to other creative endeavors, I will continue to attend the fan conventions whenever my professional schedule allows. I always look forward meeting the fans. If ABC Network does in fact order a season 7, I have agreed to appear in one episode, and I will most certainly continue to watch ONCE UPON A TIME. The creativity of the show runners has always inspired me, and I cannot wait to see the ways that they continue to develop and reinvent the show. #Onceuponatime #EmmaSwan #UglyDucklings

A post shared by jenmorrisonlive (@jenmorrisonlive) on May 8, 2017 at 4:48am PDT

The CW Network has hammered the last nail in the coffin for freshman time-bending series Frequency and it’s schedule-mate No Tomorrow. The two shows had a slim chance at getting renewed if the viewership picked up on Netflix reruns during the Spring window, but that failed to materialize and with an apparent strong crop of pilots needing some slots to air and 9 programs already renewed, both shows found themselves unfortunately squeezed out.

From the “never a good sign” department, NBC has abruptly pulled the DC comics-tinged comedy series Powerless from the prime-time schedule, without any word on when the remaining episodes may air. The show, which starred Vanessa Hudgens, Alan Tudyk, Danny Pudi and Christina Kirk, struggled to find an audience from the start, despite the success of comics-based series of late. It centered on the normal human workers at Wayne Enterprises, who dealt with all the destruction caused by the superheroes and coming up with ways to protect the citizens.

Some updates from the weekend…

It appears that the Avatar sequels – all four of them – may finally have release dates that are attainable, if not still far off. With James Cameron increasing the number of sequels from two to four, and choosing to film all simultaneously, it’s been a long and winding road from the release of the original film in 2009. Now all four have set release dates, with the next film being release on December 18th, 2020 – exactly 11 years from the original’s wide release date in the U.S. Avatar 3 will follow the next year on December 17th, 2011, and then a three year break before the last two release on December 20th, 2024 and December 19th, 2025 respectively. Of course, who knows if that schedule will keep…but it at least seems realistic.

Freeform’s fantasy series Shadowhunters, based on Cassandra Clare’s Mortal Instruments series of novels, has been renewed for a third season. The show is currently in a mid-season break with the second half of season two scheduled to return on June 5th. Todd Slavkin and Darren Swimmer, who took over as showrunners for the second season, will remain.

Lastly, Bryan Singer, currently serving as executive producer on FX’s Legion, is partnering with digital media company Blackpills on the new series August One, created by John Cabrera (Gilmore Girls, H+). The series is described as a futuristic thriller in which the Roman Empire never collapsed, but instead grew into a technologically advanced civilization but where the old concepts of slavery, corruption and sin are “normalized” – but now that civilization is on the brink of collapse.

Anyone remember the Star Trek episode “Bread and Circuses”?

This is not confirmed, and the source is The Mirror, but if the bookies have stopped taking bets, something is up…but The Mirror reports that the next Doctor will be actor Kris Marshall, who recently starred in the British series Death In Paradise but recently announced he is leaving the show.

If you’re not familiar with the name, you might be familiar with the face if you’ve ever seen the movie Love Actually…he’s the one that went to America to meet girls.

Yes, this guy.

I’m not sure I can see it but I only really know him from the film, and that certainly isn’t a character I can see as the Doctor, but I’ve been surprised by actors before.

In the trailer posted below, we do see the Doctor start to regenerate – which indicates he will regenerate no later than the end of Series 10 and NOT in the Christmas episode as had been done for Smith and Capaldi, and the Mirror’s source says Marshall had already joined the show.

So take it as you will while we wait with baited breath…

It’s official – with the release of the trailer for Star Wars Rebels at Celebration Orlando, they also announced that the series will conclude with the upcoming 15-episode fourth season. It isn’t surprising, as we can see the storyline starting to approach the events of Rogue One. The real question is, who will make it that far?

One welcome addition will be the voice of Warwick Davis, who as Mark Hamill has said has been in more Star Wars movies than himself, as the character of Rukh. If you’re familiar with the Expanded Universe and Grand Admiral Thrawn, you may recognize the name as Thrawn’s bodyguard and…well, don’t want to spoil it.

See the trailer for Season 4 below.

And while the ending of Rebels may leave a void in the Star Wars animated universe, it will at least be partially filled with the previously mysterious project Star Wars Forces of Destiny. This new initiative will start with a series of animated shorts which will feature the female heroines of Star Wars – Princess Leia, Rey, Jyn Erso, Ahsoka Tano, Sabine Wren, and more – and the original voices will return as well. As a joint project between Lucasfilm, Disney and Hasbro, it will focus and the strong female characters the Star Wars universe has always given us. Hasbro will produce “adventure figures”, 11 inch highly poseable figures featuring the characters from the micro-series.

Star Wars Forces of Destiny will start airing on the Disney YouTube channel this July. See an inside look below.

Sing it with me…”One Season More…”

Syfy today announced a 13 episode third season pickup of the critically acclaimed Universal Cable Productions drama The Magicians. Hailed as “one of the best shows on TV” by Wired, the series continues to buck industry trends, performing stronger in its second season than its first. To date, Season 2 is up year over year across all key demos (P18-49 +15%, P18-34 +23%, P25-54 +9% and +6% among P2+), and has nearly doubled its freshman run in social engagements across platforms. The sophomore season currently airs Wednesdays at 9/8c on Syfy, and the must-see finale will air Wednesday, April 19. Season 3 of The Magicians will premiere in 2018.

Based on Lev Grossman’s bestselling novels, The Magicians centers on Quentin Coldwater (Jason Ralph) and his 20-something friends as they are thrust into the unfamiliar world of the beautifully enchanting yet mysteriously dangerous Fillory – and places beyond – where they must draw upon their novice skills to save the existence of magic.

The Magicians stars Ralph, Stella Maeve, Olivia Taylor Dudley, Hale Appleman, Arjun Gupta, Summer Bishil, Rick Worthy and Jade Tailor. The series is executive produced by John McNamara, Sera Gamble, Chris Fisher and Groundswell Productions’ Michael London and Janice Williams.

Check out what’s happening on tonight’s penultimate episode!