Sci-Fi Storm

Two cool casting announcements today…

First, Emma Watson has been set to star as Belle in Disney’s upcoming live-action version of Beauty and the Beast, about a self-educated girl that tries to escape the stereotypical female role in her village and the clawing local hunk only to be captured by a horrible beast who needs to learn about love. Emma seems perfect for the role, although she may need to grow out her hair after she cut it short post-Harry Potter…Beauty is just the latest in Disney’s live action re-imaginings of its most popular animated features, most recently with Maleficent and with Cinderella up next and The Jungle Book also in the pipeline. Production will likely begin later this year.

Across the Disney studio in the Marvel section, the Netflix 13-episode original series A.K.A. Jessica Jones has picked up their villain, Kilgrave, in the form of Doctor Who and Broadchurch star David Tennant. Kysten Ritter stars as the title character, a former superhero turned private eye, dealing with cases involving people with remarkable abilities in New York City. Kilgrave, a foe of Daredevil (which will also be a Netflix series, shown before A.K.A. Jessica Jones, but unclear if there will be a relation) who used Jones against him, returns to upend Jones’ world.

The show may not be SF, but it does star – and will star – a favored actor.

ITV’s recent police drama Broadchurch (shown in the U.S. on BBC America), which starred Doctor Who‘s David Tennant and was about a police investigation into the death of a young boy that rocks a small beachside town, is going to get it’s own U.S. version done by Fox…and it will star David Tennant!

Tennant will be an American detective this time (with accent), and the show will be set in an American beachside town, with the same basic premise, but I’m going to guess the ending will be different. Original creator Chris Chibnall (who has also written for Doctor Who and Torchwood, and produced the latter) will executive produce. Filming will begin in January for the 2014-2015 TV season. No details if this will be a mini-series or stretched for an entire season.

I really don’t know what to believe any more. There are constant rumors about a special 50th Anniversary episode of Doctor Who featuring at least some of not all of the previous Doctors, but the BBC has not confirmed any such thing – only the making-of docudrama An Adventure in Space and Time. And even though we’ve gotten denials by those supposedly involved, we also got nods and winks too…but either nothing really is happening, or it’s the greatest conspiracy concocted to hide a TV show.

The latest is a quote attributed to David Tennant on Timeout.com. It’s not much, but in reference to the 50th anniversary of Doctor Who, they quote Tennant as “beginning to give up hope that anything’s going to happen.” It isn’t clear if he’s referring to his participation, or the show in general. But it’s hard to imagine an anniversary show that wouldn’t include other Doctors – and especially Tennant.

Let’s just go with the conspiracy theory, and Tennant is just a spokesman. 🙂

Well, the long simmering rumors that David Tennant will join the cast of The hobbit have taken a hit again, with Peter Jackson announcing on Facebook that Lee Pace (The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn) will take the role of King Thranduil. Simultaneously he announced that Kiwi actor Dean O’Gorman (Young Hercules) will take over the role of Fili after Rob Kazinsky dropped out of the role.

Mind you, they still haven’t said Tennant hasn’t been given a different role, so I’m sure rumors will still run…

Figured I’d address the swirling rumors that have picked up again about David Tennant being cast in The Hobbit – although rumored for months, David Tennant has not yet been confirmed to appear in The Hobbit despite all the recent casting announcements, but more recently the rumors have been more specific – with Tennant taking the role of the king of the Silvan Elves, Thranduil. Tennant may have scheduling issues due to the recent announcement that he and his Doctor Who companion Catherine Tate would star together on stage in London in Much Ado About Nothing, plus his wedding plus rumors of being an expectant father…if you believe The Sun (I’ll wait for another source…)

Also still to be confirmed is Orlando Bloom, rumored to be reprising his role as Legolas. While not specifically appearing by name in the book, there is some logic to his appearance as Legolas was the son of Thranduil and lived among the Silvan elves of Mirkwood, who Bilbo encounters on his journey.