Sci-Fi Storm

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.”

When we first heard that showrunner Steven Moffat was stepping down from Doctor Who, to be replace by Chris Chibnall, we immediately began to think, would current Doctor Peter Capaldi also leave the show? After all, that’s what happened when Russell T. Davies, who helped resurrect the show, stepped down, with David Tennant likewise retiring from the role, handing Steven Moffat a clean slate to work with.

Well, the Mirror appears to think so to, saying that a BBC source says he will step down after the next series in 2017, and that his current contract only covers 2017. So it seems like it would be a perfectly ideal time for a fresh start.

So the speculation begins, even though we are more than a year away from a regeneration scene. Idris Elba was a favorite last year, and is likely to be top of the speculation ladder this year…but will there be an increase of possible female Doctor candidates?

Just some quick stories…first, Han Solo himself, Harrison Ford, will star in a Wonderful World of Disney special called “Disneyland 60” where he will preview the upcoming Star Wars-themed park areas at both Disneyland and Disney’s Hollywood Studios park in Walt Disney World. Filming of the special starts tomorrow and will air on February 21st on ABC. The special itself will focus on Disneyland’s 60th anniversary, with Derek Hough as host and Elton John, Josh Gad and Witney Carson already announced as guests.

The 100‘s Ricky Whittle will be protagonist Shadow Moon in the upcoming Starz adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s American Gods, about the struggle between the old gods of mythology and the new gods that represent modern society’s influences – money, power, technology, etc. Ex-con Shadow find himself as a bodyguard to the mysterious Mr. Wednesday, “a conman but in reality one of the older gods, on a cross-country mission to gather his forces in preparation to battle the new deities.” Bryan Fuller and Michael Green are writers/showrunners, and David Slade (Hannibal) is directing the pilot and will direct additional episodes. Shooting is expected to start in April.

The Time After Time series remake for ABC we reported on in September has gotten a pilot order from ABC. It’s still early in the process as there does not appear to be any casting contingency in the pilot order, but I understand that studio Warner Bros. TV had one or more “if come” deals with casting directors if the project got picked up.

Doctor Who showrunner Steven Moffat, who feels his “timey-wimey is running out”, will depart the show following the next series (the tenth since the show was revived) – and it won’t air until Spring 2017!

According to the Radio Times, Moffat will hand the TARDIS over to writer and fellow fan Chris Chibnall, who has written for Doctor Who before (“42”, “The Hungry Earth/Cold Blood”, “Dinosaurs on a Spaceship” and “The Power of Three” along with the “Pond Life” webisode), and also served as head writer and co-producer of Torchwood. Most recently he created and co-wrote Broadchruch which featured David Tennant and will go into production this summer for a third series.

Although the next series won’t air until next year, there will still be a Christmas episode.

Explaining the decision to hold Moffat’s last series until next year, BBC1 controller Charlotte Moore said: “I have decided to schedule Steven’s big finale series in Spring 2017 to bring the nation together for what will be a huge event on the channel. 2016 is spoilt with national moments including the Euros and Olympics and I want to hold something big back for 2017 – I promise it will be worth the wait!”

“Feels odd to be talking about leaving when I’m just starting work on the scripts for season 10, but the fact is my timey-wimey is running out,” Moffat said. “While Chris is doing his last run of Broadchurch, I’ll be finishing up on the best job in the universe and keeping the TARDIS warm for him. It took a lot of gin and tonic to talk him into this, but I am beyond delighted that one of the true stars of British Television drama will be taking the Time Lord even further into the future. At the start of season 11, Chris Chibnall will become the new showrunner of Doctor Who. And I will be thrown in a skip.”

Chibnall said of his upcoming position, “Doctor Who is the ultimate BBC programme: bold, unique, vastly entertaining, and adored all around the world. So it’s a privilege and a joy to be the next curator of this funny, scary and emotional family drama. I’ve loved Doctor Who since I was four years old, and I’m relishing the thought of working with the exceptional team at BBC Wales to create new characters, creatures and worlds for the Doctor to explore. Steven’s achieved the impossible by continually expanding Doctor Who’s creative ambition, while growing its global popularity. He’s been a dazzling and daring showrunner, and hearing his plans and stories for 2017, it’s clear he’ll be going out with a bang. Just to make my life difficult.”

Netflix has ordered futuristic drama series Altered Carbon, based on the 2002 [asin=B000FBFMZ2]Richard Morgan novel[/asin], from Laeta Kalogridis and Skydance Television.

The book (and two sequels) are set 500 years in the future, after mankind has managed to colonize some extra-solar planets, as well as conquering death by learning how to digitize human personalities (their “soul”) and can download them into new bodies, called “sleeves”. Not everyone can afford a new sleeve, however. The rich can also afford to keep backups of their mind in storage and update them periodically, in case something happens to them before they can be downloaded.

The story follows Takeshi Kovacs, a former Envoy, an elite form of soldier for the U.N., trained to deal with the problems of interstellar warfare. Since FTL travel is only possible via data transmission, an Envoy is specially trained in more mental techniques than physical, since they could be transmitted into a new sleeve on another planet.

In Altered Carbon, on Kovacs home world called Harlan’s World, he is hired to investigate the suicide of a Meth (short for Methuselah, one of the long-lived rich people who can afford replacement sleeves) named Laurens Bancroft – by Bancroft himself. He believes his suicide was actually a murder, but his backup was 48 hours old, so he has no recollection of the events preceding his death.

Kalogridis (Avatar, Shuttered Island) optioned the books four years ago, and wrote a screenplay (with David H. Goodman, Once Upon A Time), which Netflix wants adapted to a series. Kalogridis will serve as executive producer/showrunner, with Skydance’s David Ellison, Dana Goldberg and Marcy Ross serving as executive producers. Kalogridis’ partners in Mythology Entertainment Brad Fischer and James Vanderbilt will produce along with Russel Friend, Garrett Lerner, Mike Medavoy and Arnie Messer.

Syfy has announced the premiere dates for the first season of Hunters and the second season of 12 Monkeys, both produced by Universal Cable Productions (in association with Valhalla Entertainment and Atlas Entertainment, respectively).

Hunters, which debuts Monday, April 8th, at 10/9c, follows Baltimore FBI agent Flynn Carroll (Nathan Phillips, Wolf Creek) as a search for his missing wife leads him to a highly-classified government organization – the Exo-Terrorism Unit (ETU) – who track and fight alien terrorists. Britne Oldford (American Horror Story) plays Regan, a valuable ETU operative keeping secrets of her own. The show comes from executive producers Gale Anne Hurd (The Walking Dead, The Terminator Trilogy) and Natalie Chaidez (12 Monkeys, Heroes), and Emile Levisetti (Royal Pains). Chaidez will serve as showrunner. The series is inspired by best-selling author Whitley Strieber’s novel, Alien Hunter.

12 Monkeys returns for a second 13-episode season on Monday, April 18 at 9/8c. Aaron Stanford (James Cole), Amanda Schull (Dr. Cassandra Railly), Kirk Acevedo (Ramse), Emily Hampshire (Jennifer Goines), Barbara Sukowa (Katarina Jones) and Todd Stashwick (Deacon) reprise their roles.

BBC announced new programming today, which includes a green light on a new adaptation of Douglas Adams’ Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency, and they will pick up the BBC Three Doctor Who spin-off Class.

Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency is an adaptation of Douglas Adams’ (Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Doctor Who) wildly successful comic novels, and is set in the unexpected world of its hyperactive, absurdist, eponymous detective, Dirk Gently. The straight-to-series order includes eight one-hour episodes. Penned by Max Landis — the mind behind cult classic Chronicle — the series is a co-production of AMC Studios, Ideate Media, and IDW Entertainment, with Circle of Confusion producing.

Sarah Barnett, President of BBC America, commented, “Dirk Gently is a very original series, fresh and unlike anything else. The novels have legions of fans, and with Max Landis’ brilliant and audacious take on this material, we are excited to bring Dirk to life for our BBCA super-fans.”

Dirk Gently is a serialized comedic thriller that follows the bizarre adventures of eccentric “holistic” detective Dirk Gently and his reluctant assistant Todd, as they wend their way through one big, seemingly insane mystery, crossing unlikely paths with a bevy of wild and sometimes dangerous characters, each episode landing them a few random steps closer to uncovering the truth.

In addition to show creator Max Landis, Executive producers include Ted Adams and David Ozer for IDW; David Alpert and Rick Jacobs for Circle of Confusion; and Zainir Aminullah and Arvind Ethan David for Ideate Media.

Class was announced in October by BBC as a spin-off to Doctor Who – although how it ties in is still a mystery. Done as an eight-part series, Class will be co-produced by BBC America marking the TV screenwriting debut of acclaimed author Patrick Ness, best known for his award-winning book [asin=0763660655]A Monster Calls[/asin]. Set in a school in contemporary London, it is executive produced by Steven Moffat and Brian Minchin, the team behind Doctor Who.

Produced by BBC Cymru Wales and filmed in Cardiff, Class will premiere in 2016.

It’s time. It’s been three weeks. I’ve seen it again. People NEED to discuss it. But in case you somehow haven’t seen it yet, SPOILERS AHEAD!

By the way, I saw it again this past weekend in IMAX 4k Laser 3D. This is an awesome way to see it – brighter and higher contrast. For most of the movie it was shown in the standard aspect ratio, which meant that the full height of the IMAX screen wasn’t used. But for many if not all of the scenes on Jakku it was filmed with an IMAX camera, and the full IMAX aspect ratio was used on our screen – even though this was in a digital format, whereas only the 70mm film format generally could be shown so large. IMAX has finally figured it out and figured it out well. Alas, I believe there are only 7 such projectors currently in the U.S., and about 13 worldwide at this point. So if you do have one near you, GO!

And visually, while keeping some of the classic feel of the original trilogy, it at the same time felt more realistic with the location shoots in a number of locations, especially in the outside scenes on Takodana.

Now, for the discussion points…if you’d like to take part in a discussion, join me over on our Facebook page and find the post for this article.
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At any moment, Star Wars: The Force Awakens will become the number 1 all time grossing movie in the U.S., taking in around $750 million after the 2nd-higest ever New Years Weekend box office draw of $219.3M. The current record holder is Avatar.

Globally the film is still in fourth at $1.536B, with Jurassic World ($1.669B), Titanic ($2.187B) and Avatar ($2.788B) still ahead of it. Third is likely and possibly second, but it is a long way from Avatar still. A big question mark will be China, where it opens this Saturday. Star Wars: The Force Awakens has reached it’s totals much faster than it’s predecessors though…will it have the steam to reach the top?