Murphy's Multiverse

Tag: Paramount Plus

  • ‘Halo’ Showrunner Didn’t Use the Game as Reference

    ‘Halo’ Showrunner Didn’t Use the Game as Reference

    It’s crazy to think that we’re this close to the release of a Halo series. the project seemingly was in development hell for quite some time with stories of countless scripts holding it back. Yet, it’s finally on the horizon and the creative team is sharing their thoughts on the journey that may have seemed endless at some time.

    It’s uncertain how they may have approached the project, but it looks like they didn’t look at the games for reference. Showrunner Steve Kane, known for his work on The Last Ship, has shared that while they did consult the developers behind the game, they wanted to not shackle themselves to the game’s

    We didn’t look at the game. We didn’t talk about the game. We talked about the characters and the world. So I never felt limited by it being a game.

    Steve Kane

    Pablo Schreiber, who takes on the challenging role of bringing Master Chief to live-action, added the following regarding the universe they are about to enter in the adaptation.

    The richness and the depth of the universe was immediately kind of mind-boggling. And incredibly exciting, because what it means as a storyteller is that there’s already been a huge amount of preparation and groundwork

    Pablo Schreiber

    We still know very little about the series’ overall direction and how closely it might follow the storyline of the original games. It wouldn’t be too surprising for them to take a different route to keep old fans just on their toes like newer ones, but with a season 2 renewal already in place, Paramount+ is all-in with this new franchise. So, we’ll see if it hits the chords fans are hoping to see.

    Source: Variety

  • ‘Vampire Diaries’ Paul Wesley Joins ‘Star Trek: Strange New Worlds’ Season 2 as James T. Kirk

    ‘Vampire Diaries’ Paul Wesley Joins ‘Star Trek: Strange New Worlds’ Season 2 as James T. Kirk

    It looks like the Star Trek: Discovery spinoff has added to its cast for its second season in the form of Vampire Diaries‘ Paul Wesley. Not only will he join the cast of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds but also take on quite an important role, as he will play the series’ version of James T. Kirk. the producers have shared the following statement on his casting:

    Paul is an accomplished actor, an astonishing presence and a welcome key addition to the show. Like all of us, he is a life-long Star Trek fan and we are excited by his interpretation of this iconic role.

    Alex Kurtzman/Akiva Goldsman/Henry Alonso Myers
    paul wesley as kirk on strange new worlds

    He’s the third actor to take on the role after William Shatner made him famous before the Kelvin universe introduced a rebooted version of the character played by Chris Pine. During the timeline that this series takes place, Kirk was an instructor at the Starfleet Academy before he would take over from Pike, played by Anson Mount. It’s unclear if the project is hoping to explore his take over across multiple seasons, or he might generally take over the series as a lead.

    Either way, it’s great to see these new series explore more from the timeline and offer a glimpse at how the iconic characters that we’ve come to love became who they are. There’s a chance that he only has a temporary role in the second season, as they don’t highlight if he is a recurring guest character or part of the main cast moving forward. We’ll see if he might even have a brief appearance in the end of the first season.

    Source: Decider

  • Master Chief Will Take his Helmet Off in Paramount+’s ‘Halo’

    Master Chief Will Take his Helmet Off in Paramount+’s ‘Halo’

    This news might not be to the liking of long-time Halo fans, as the upcoming Paramount+ series will make one major change to the character of Master Chief. For a long time, the Spartan infamously never took off his helmet. Yet, it seems that the creators behind the series plan to break that tradition, as revealed by executive producer and 343’s Studio Head of Transmedia, Kiki Wolfkill during IGN’s Fan Fest.

    I think we set out to tell a character story and a personal story. And once we really got into what that story was, it became clear that you really needed to see the person in the armour and under the helmet.

    Kiki Wolfkill

    There have been many mysteries on what he might look like. Yet, the expectation after being a mystery for a long time might also lead to some concerns by fans of the franchise. It makes sense they want to remove the helmet, as even our favorite superheroes have the habit of taking off their masks repeatedly throughout their projects. She goes on to highlight that:

    For some people, it’s been a moment 20 years in the making, and for other people it is something that feels very hard to imagine. We absolutely respect both sides of that fence, those who really want to see Chief’s face and those who really don’t. But for the nature of this story, it felt really important to connect with the Master Chief in a different way, and that meant showing the face.

    Kiki Wolfkill

    In a way, the official poster kind of hinted at this very revealing. He’s seen holding the helmet in his hand, but we might’ve not expected that they’d reveal his face. We already know Pablo Schreiber is playing the character but if they are making a big deal out of it, who knows if he might have some prosthetics to make him look different. With the developers behind the latest Halo game involved with the project, this confirms they also signed off on this decision. We’ll have to see how they tackle this.

    Source: IGN

  • ‘South Park’ Set to Arrive to Paramount+ in 2025

    ‘South Park’ Set to Arrive to Paramount+ in 2025

    After a $500 million deal for the exclusive streaming right to the South Park back catalog for HBOMax, Paramount is bringing South Park to their own streaming service Paramount+. The deal is set to end in 2025, and that will mark the end of South Park on HBO and the beginning of their likely new permanent home.

    Along with the news, we also have word that South Park will also air two events every year for the next six years, similar to their Post-Covid projects. Likely due to the success of their Coronavirus event. Paramount+ will also stream new episodes of the show before anyone else starting in 2024. The streaming service is gearing up to take on the big hitters like Disney and HBO in the streaming wars, and becoming the home of South Park will surely help them in that area.

    Source: Twitter

  • Paramount’s ‘Yellowstone’ Footprint Expands with New Prequel, ‘1932’, More Episodes of ‘1883’

    Paramount’s ‘Yellowstone’ Footprint Expands with New Prequel, ‘1932’, More Episodes of ‘1883’

    The story of the Dutton family will continue to be cornerstone content for Paramount +. With a fifth season of Yellowstone recently greenlit and 6666 spinoff in development, the studio revealed today that more content is on the way.

    According to an official release, 2022 will see the debut of “the next chapter” of the Yellowstone prequel 1883 and the development of an all-new prequel, 1932. Whether the next chapter of 1883 refers to a second season or simply more episodes of the current season, which was expected to be a 10-episode run concluding on February 27th, was not made clear in the announcement. The series, which stars Tim McGraw, Faith Hill and Isabel May as the ancestors of Kevin Costner’s Yellowstone character, John Dutton, tells the story of how the Dutton family came to be in possession of the land which came to be the Yellowstone Ranch.

    The new prequel, 1932, will tell the tale of, presumably, the next generation of Duttons post-1883 as they deal with Westward expansion, the Great Depression and the Prohibition era.

    The new prequel order comes as fans seemingly can’t get enough of the Duttons and their story. The fourth season of Yellowstone recently finished its run and drew incredible numbers. The increased viewership led directly to the success of 1883’s first season and now it seems the Yellowstone-verse is upon us.

  • New ‘Beavis and Butt-head’ Revival Series Heading to Paramount+, Movie to Arrive this July

    New ‘Beavis and Butt-head’ Revival Series Heading to Paramount+, Movie to Arrive this July

    Previously announced Beavis and Butt-Head renewal is headed to Paramount+. The show was originally supposed to air on Comedy Central, but as the streaming wars ramp up, it looks like Paramount is choosing to keep it as an exclusive to subscribers. The show is currently ordered for a 9 episode return. Along with the show, a new movie is in the works and will debut this July. The new episodes are set to follow, although an exact release date is still unknown.

    The return of the classic franchise is definitely going to put a smile on a generation’s face. It’s cute that the logo still includes MTV. The design we’ve seen some time ago, but it’s still jarring to see aged-up versions of these iconic characters. It’ll be interesting to see just how meta the project might end up being, especially with how South Park approached it with its Post-Covid films.

    Source: Twitter

  • ‘Sonic the Hedgehog’s First Spinoff Series to Focus on Idris Elba’s Knuckles

    ‘Sonic the Hedgehog’s First Spinoff Series to Focus on Idris Elba’s Knuckles

    There were hints that Paramount was all in on their upcoming Sonic the Hedgehog cinematic universe and they aren’t waiting for the sequel’s release, as they’ve just announced that a third film is in development as well as a spinoff focused on Idris Elba‘s Knuckles, which is heading to Paramount+. It’ll be the first live-action spinoff series and is eyeing a 2023 launch. The wording on this being the “first” is curious and who knows what they might already be actively working on.

    This is quite unexpected, as Knuckles is highlighted primarily as an antagonist in the upcoming film. There’s also the question of what they might be focusing on, such as either taking inspiration from his game spinoff meeting Team Chaotix. Otherwise, we may also use this to explore the Echidna tribe that was heavily focused on in the first film’s opening. Perhaps it’ll set up the next sequel by exploring Master Emerald’s ties to Chaos.

    Who knows how the upcoming third entry will end and it may set up the sequel that’s already eyeing a release next year. If the franchise continues to grow, we may be able to expect more spinoffs in-between cinematic releases. Paramount certainly seems excited about further exploring the franchise if they go out of their way to say Knuckles is the first.

    Source: Deadline

  • Paramount+’s ‘Halo’ Nabs Early Season 2 Renewal

    Paramount+’s ‘Halo’ Nabs Early Season 2 Renewal

    Even after a troubled production timeline that took years to bring this series to life, Paramount+ has given its upcoming Halo adaptation an early Season 2 renewal. The series is currently on course to release on March 24th. While received with some skepticism, there’s a lot of anticipation for this project that brings the Xbox video game classic to life for the streaming service. Brave New World‘s David Wiener is also confirmed to join as executive producer and showrunner, which was hinted at a few weeks ago.

    It’s a surprise that the series got an early renewal given its long and troubled production schedule. The series must’ve been expensive to produce but there’s a lot of belief that it’ll become a tentpole franchise for the streaming service. It makes sense given how popular Halo is as a gaming franchise, and it got some additional momentum after the recent release of Halo Infinite.

    They might also want to make use of everything that was prepared for the first season, especially with Wiener already being considered before an official announcement dropped. So, perhaps talks internally were already underway and it may have depended if the new showrunner would sign on the project. At the rate Paramount is going, who knows if a spinoff series is only a few months away from being announced.

    Source: Variety

  • Six Cast Members Nearing Deals for ‘Criminal Minds’ Revival on Paramount+

    Six Cast Members Nearing Deals for ‘Criminal Minds’ Revival on Paramount+

    Wheels up, viewers. The Criminal Minds revival is breaking ground at Paramount+ as six cast members are nearing deals for their returns.

    Deadline announced on Friday that Paramount Plus’ forthcoming revival of Criminal Minds is slowly moving ahead. As it stands, a deal is still being made with executive producer/showrunner Erica Messer. However, cast members are nearing deals to return should the project officially move forward. Joe Mantegna, Kirsten Vangsness, Adam Rodriguez, A.J. Cook, Aisha Tyler and Paget Brewster will reprise their role in the revival, should deals finalize.

    It is of note, however, these new contracts, while multi-year, will not be exclusive contracts. This will allow the cast members to still take on other projects — including large recurring roles and series regular roles in a limited series. All of this, naturally, will hinge on their availability. Per Deadline, all six actors are merely waiting on Messer’s deal to finalize to sign on.

    As for fan-favorite Matthew Gray Gubler, it’s unlikely he’ll return as Spencer Reid. While Daniel Henney, who played Matt Simmons, is currently starring in Amazon’s Wheel of Time, making his return complicated.

    Source: Deadline.

  • ‘Halo’ Has a New Showrunner In Case of a Season 2 Renewal by Paramount+

    ‘Halo’ Has a New Showrunner In Case of a Season 2 Renewal by Paramount+

    Halo‘s release hasn’t been an easy one. After being in development hell for eight years, it is finally releasing on Paramount+ this March. It originally was produced as a Showtime series, but the streaming service from ViacomCBS became its new home. Currently, there has not been a renewal for the second season, but it seems that they may have a new showrunner who is ready to take over, the third one so far.

    Executive producer Justin Falvey shared that David Wiener, known for his work on Fear the Walking Dead and Brave New World, would take over from Steven Kane, who was responsible for the production of the first season. Yet, he wasn’t the only one as Kane was responsible for the production in Budapest, while Killen worked on it in the United States. As of now, both have left the project, but Kane is open to still staying on as a consultant.

    Kane shared during the Television that he worked on the Budapest production for two years, and being away from his family for so long as the reason he stepped down from the project. The series has had a troubled production for so long, as it also went through two directors with Rupert Wyatt forced to drop the project due to scheduling conflicts. So, only Otto Bathurst remained on to finish it. We’ll probably have to wait until the viewership numbers are in for Paramount before they decide to continue with the project.

    Source: Hollywood Reporter