Sci-Fi Storm

“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!

I am once again trying to play catch up, so here is a rundown of the last several days worth of news…

On the casting side, Syfy’s Superman prequel Krypton has signed Hannah Waddingham (How to Lose Friends & Alienate People) as Jax-Ur, once one of Kypton’s eminent scientists turned leader of the terrorist group Black Zero. An interesting choice, as the character has traditionally been portrayed as a male.

On the opposite side of the comic world, Marvel and Netflix’s Daredevil added Joanne Whalley (Willow), in an unspecified role. However, the finale of The Defenders made mention of a “Maggie” who is believed to be Sister Maggie, a character in the comic series who is in fact Matt Murdock’s mother who left her family to become a nun, and return to nurse her son back to health.

The much anticipated Ready Player One will open a day earlier than originally scheduled. Instead of opening on Good Friday, March 30th, of the Easter weekend it will now open on the Thursday, March 29th. Thursday openings for big movies is becoming more common…based on the [asin=0307887448]2011 SF novel[/asin], the story is set in a near-future dystopian society, in which teenager Wade Watts enters a virtual reality game to look for the game’s “easter egg” which could net him wealth – but there are those willing to kill to stop him.

ABC has ordered a pilot for the remake of The Greatest American Hero with a put commitment (ABC will at a minimum air the pilot as a special/TV movie, or pay a penalty). This version centers around 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 it doesn’t work out so well. Cast has yet to be named. This is the first collaboration between 20th Century Fox Studios and ABC, who are set to become siblings. Fox and ABC studios are co-producing with Fresh Off the Boat‘s Rachna Fruchbom and Nahnatchka Khan’s Fierce Baby.

Lastly, the Irish Film Board just gave a huge boost to the production of George R.R. Martin’s Nightflyers, which will be filming at Troy Studios in Limerick, Ireland. The board granted €850,000 (about $1.1 million) to the production, which is the largest such award in the current funding cycle. Syfy ordered the 10-episode series earlier this month from Universal Cable Productions, with Netflix on board for international distribution.

A couple of renewal-related items…Netflix sure does love their slate of Marvel programs, as it gave a second season renewal for The Punisher. The show, starring Jon Bernthal as former soldier turned vigilante Frank Castle, debuted just last month and it now joins its brethren (Daredevil, Jessica Jones and Luke Cage) is getting a second season (with Daredevil getting a third already).

For vigilantes of a more financial nature, USA Network series Mr. Robot – which concludes its third season tonight – has received a fourth season order from the network, according to creator Sam Esmail on Instagram:

Calm down everyone. #MrRobot season_4.0 writers' room is officially open for business.

A post shared by Sam Esmail (@samesmail) on Dec 13, 2017 at 6:59am PST

Netflix released a teaser entitled “Demolition” for the next Marvel series to release on the streaming platform, Marvel’s The Punisher. Netflix is still coy on when exactly it will be released, only mentioning “2017” with the rest obscured…

Rejoice Sensates! Sense8 will return, at least temporarily…

After getting canceled by Netflix earlier this month with some things unresolved, Lana Wachowski, via the official Sense8 Twitter account, explained why she hasn’t said much, but also why she is talking now!

Death doesn't let you say goodbye. 2 hour finale episode in the works. Tell your cluster. pic.twitter.com/GHZgGuHwS0

— Sense8 (@sense8) June 29, 2017

So it seems we will at least get some closure – and just maybe, a bit more…

Netflix is lining up a new set of guest stars for the upcoming season season of Lemony Snicket’s A Series Of Unfortunate Events. We don’t know yet who they are playing, but Nathan Fillion (Castle, Firefly), Tony Hale (Veep, Sara Rue (Impastor), Lucy Punch (Bad Teacher), and Roger Bart (Desperate Housewives) have all signed on.

The second series, is expected to be 10 episodes, covering books five through nine – The Austere Academy, The Ersatz Elevator, The Vile Village, The Hostile Hospital, and The Carnivorous Carnival.

The dark comedy series follows the unfortunate lives of the Beaudelaire children, Violet (Malina Weissman), Klaus (Louis Hynes) and baby Sunny (voice of Tara Strong) after their parents are killed, and their constant escapes from the evil plans of their uncle, Count Olaf (Neil Patrick Harris), who will stop and nothing to gain the children’s inheritance. Patrick Warburton plays the eponymous author Lemony Snicket, who narrates through the depressing tale.

Less than a month after the release of the second season of Sense8, the sci-fi series from Lana and Lilly Wachowski and J. Michael Straczynski, Netflix has announced there will be no third season.

In a statement, Netflix’s Vice President of Original Content Cindy Holland said, “After 23 episodes, 16 cities and 13 countries, the story of the Sense8 cluster is coming to an end. It is everything we and the fans dreamed it would be: bold, emotional, stunning, kick ass, and outright unforgettable. Never has there been a more truly global show with an equally diverse and international cast and crew, which is only mirrored by the connected community of deeply passionate fans all around the world. We thank Lana, Lilly, Joe and Grant for their vision, and the entire cast and crew for their craftsmanship and commitment.”

Sense8 had a lofty budget and long production time, with Season 2 release almost two years after the original premiere. In fact, the options on the actors had lapsed after filming on Season 2 so while editing was being done they started to negotiate for a potential third season, with about half the leads having already climbed on board, but apparently Netflix decided against moving forward.

We are VERY excited about this!

Netflix has ordered 10 episodes of The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance from the Jim Henson Company. The series is a prequel to the 1982 film The Dark Crystal, where Jim Henson brought his puppet-making prowess to bring to life an entire fantasy world full of Gelflings, Skeksis, Mystics and more.

Louis Leterrier (Now You See Me, The Incredible Hulk), Lisa Henson (CEO of the Jim Henson Company) and Halle Stanford will executive produce, with Rita Peruggi (long time Henson collaborator) as producer and Blanca Lista as co-executive producer. Jeffrey Addiss and Will Matthews (Life in a Year) and Javier Grillo-Marxuach (The 100) will head up writing, with Addiss and Matthews also co-executive producing.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve watched The Dark Crystal. Back in the early days of having cable, it filled a void in TV of fantasy content for me. And to see the familiar puppet styles but so much more advanced was fascinating. I can’t wait to see how they take this some 35+ years later.

Canadian sci-fi drama Travelers, which stars Eric McCormack and was created by Brad Wright (executive producer on the Stargate TV franchise), has received a second season order from Canadian network Showcase and Netflix. Production will begin in March in Vancouver, with the show set to air on Showcase in the Fall, followed by a worldwide (except Canada) release on Netflix.

Travelers follows the last humans on Earth hundreds of years in the future, who have discovered how to send their consciousness minds into the past into random people, where they work together to avoid the fate that the human race faced in their future.

Schedules have been set to accommodate McCormack, who will also appear in a 10-episode revival of Will & Grace for NBC.

The worst thing about this? We have to wait until Halloween.

I like how it starts out with the Jason Hervey Eggo commercial…really threw me off what it was…