Lucasfilm’s Star Wars streaming series Ahsoka was one of the 10 most streamed series in 2023 and left fans wanting more. Now, in an official press release via StarWars.com, confirmation has come that a second season of the Rosario Dawson-led series in in the works.
The Season 1 finale saw Ahsokaand Sabine Wren stranded on Peridea while Grand Admiral Thrawn returned from his exile to ascend as the Heir to the Empire; however, stowaway Ezra Bridger was reunited with Hera Syndulla, providing some hope that the New Republic might find a way to fend off Thrawn and the Shadow Council.
Was only a question of time but it looks like Disney is dead set on owning Hulu 100% moving forward. It has been announced that they are set to purchase the remaining 33% stake for around $8.61 billion from Comcast. The following statement has been shared on why they are now invested in getting their hands on the rest of that streaming service.
The acquisition of Comcast’s stake in Hulu at fair market value will further Disney’s streaming objectives.
It’s unclear what exactly their streaming objectives are and if moving forward Hulu and Disney+ will become a more united streaming service, but it seems Disney has some plans to at least counteract the continued drop in linear TV viewership. As much as people are discussing the streaming wars, TV as we know it is still dying with viewership dropping steadily over the last few years.
So, we might see a major shake-up in the streaming market moving forward as everyone is ensuring they have the equity stake in the various platforms to ensure long-term investments. We will see if a new disruptor might pop up in the coming years but for now: streaming is here to stay.
As of now, it looks like Marvel Studios will be pushing out three streaming series in 2023. Spread out over Spring, Summer and Fall, the series couldn’t really be any different from one another than they are though all three do share one thing in common: very little is known about them to date! To fix that and get you primed for 2023, we share what it is we know about each project.
Secret Invasion
When news of this series was first broken by the trades, it was described as a Nick Fury-centric project, so after years of being an important supporting character, Fury gets to shine in Secret Invasion. Fans looking for this to be an Avengers cameo fest like the comic book event of the same name are likely barking up the wrong tree. This is likely to be a much more personal and small-scale paranoid thriller that revolves a little more closely around the worlds of Fury and Talos and those in their orbits such as Rhodey, Talos’ daughter and Olivia Colman’s Sonya Falsworth. Kingsley Ben-Adir’s Skrull villain has a history with Talos’ family which lends itself to being a much smaller story.
Obviously, Skrulls have been on Earth for some time now and have infiltrated positions of power and Europe seems to be a hot spot. The official description from Disney Plus indicates that the Skrulls, much like in the comics, want Earth to be their new planet and crew gifts that were handed out indicate that the story may take some inspiration from the comics in the form of Ben-Adir’s faction believing the Earth was prophesied to belong to them. Outside of that, this isn’t the Avengers-level event you’re looking for.
Loki Season 2
Even though there’s great connectivity and continuity from Season 1 with Eric Martin taking over for Michael Waldron, going into Season 2 expecting more of the same would be a mistake. What you think you know about the end of Season 1 may not be quite right…and it could lead to one hell of a wild ride.
All of Season 1’s key players are back and Owen Wilson and Tom Hiddleston‘s fantastic chemistry will be at the forefront again, so expect some more laughs. However, this is still a wild time-traveling adventure and it will explore the fallout from Sylvie’s choices in the Season 1 finale. Ke Huy Quan‘s Bo plays a major role in dealing with that fallout and much like Season 1, you’ll probably be surprised by who the villain of the series actually is (unless you’ve already been spoiled) and how important this series is to the overall plot of the Multiverse Saga.
Ironheart
“Dark arts vs. technology.” It sounded hard to believe at first, but Marvel Studios has taken the dive in Ironheart, due out sometime in the Fall. Riri Williams’ debut in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever means fans will already know a bit about the character when the series begins which is perfect because it’s going to take some time to wrap their brains around Sacha Baron Cohen‘s Mephisto and his deal with Anthony Ramos‘ Parker Robbins.
The footage of this screened exclusively at D23 put an emphasis on Robbins and his gang of misfits, which he wants Williams to join. It also looked upbeat and incredibly fun, giving the impression that this series may be the surprise hit of 2023.
After going through a long development process, the revival of the hit sitcom Frasier has officially received a series order from Paramount+. This news comes after the initial announcement of the sequel series all the way back in February of 2021. As well, word of a revival of Frasier has been in Hollywood circles dating back to the summer of 2018. Beyond it serving as the return of Kelsey Grammer to his beloved and iconic role of Dr. Frasier Crane, not much is currently known about what the revival will consist of.
The series is being written by Chris Harris (How I Met Your Mother) and Joe Cristalli (Life in Pieces). It is being produced by CBS Studios and Kelsey Grammer’s production company Grammnet Productions.
Frasier began as a spinoff to the classic sitcom Cheers, in which Grammer reprised his role that initially was a foil to the love story of Sam Malone and Diane Chambers. Frasier followed the titular character following his move from Boston to Seattle and his new career as a radio psychiatrist and dealing with reuniting with his turbulent family. Airing on NBC between 1993 and 2004, Frasier became a massive success in the television landscape. In its 11-season run, the original series and its cast earned a then-record 37 Primetime Emmy Awards (only to recently be broken by HBO’s Game of Thrones).
The new sequel series for Frasier will certainly have a lot to live up to in relation to the previous television homes of Dr. Frasier Crane. And for the young Paramount+ streamer, it is certainly hoping this can become the stalwart smash hit it is in the business for.
A new massive success story for Netflix is Dahmer: Monster – The Jeffrey Dahmer Story. In its second week on the streaming service, it has been viewed a total of 299.84 million hours. This follows the 196.2 million hours viewed in the debut week for the limited series. This puts Dahmer: Monster only behind Stranger Things 4 as the second most watched English-language series in a week. For reference, the two separate batches of Stranger Things 4 episodes released were initially viewed for 301 million and 335 million hours, respectively.
Based on the momentum the series currently has, it’s not out of the realm of possibility for Dahmer: Monster to be viewed more than the likes of Lucifer and Bridgerton and end up being a top five all-time viewed series for the streaming stalwart. It has already surpassed the ninth place ranking based on its statistics and has passed the likes of Ozark and 13 Reasons Why. All in all, Dahmer: Monster has the potential to join Stranger Things and Squid Games as one of the largest success stories for Netflix.
The series was created by Ryan Murphy, best known for his work on American Horror Story and American Crime Story, alongside Ian Brennan. It stars Evan Peters as the serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer and follows a dramatized account of ten separate murders conducted by him and how the ineptitude of police establishments allowed Dahmer to get away with them for so long.
It looks like the streaming market isn’t taking a nosedive after all. Netflix and HBO Max have been low expectations; especially the former continuing to lose subscriber count. The same fear existed with Disney+ but it seems that they managed to pull it to their advantage as they just reported that they’ve added 14.4M subscribers, which is ahead of their predicted 10M. As such, the stock is up 6% as a result and its revenue continues to be driven by its parks offerings.
Bob Chapek, the current CEO of Walt Disney, has shared the following statement on their third fiscal quarter:
We had an excellent quarter, with our world-class creative and business teams powering outstanding performance at our domestic theme parks, big increases in live-sports viewership, and significant subscriber growth at our streaming services. With 14.4 million Disney+ subscribers added in the fiscal third quarter, we now have 221 million total subscriptions across our streaming offerings. We continue to transform entertainment as we near our second century, with compelling new storytelling across our many platforms and unique immersive physical experiences that exceed guest expectations, all of which are reflected in our strong operating results this quarter.
Bob Chapek
Unlike most, Disney has a diversified portfolio that can counterbalance any scares with the booming streaming business. Plus, the confirmation that an ad-supported model of Disney+ will hit the US in December also adds to the excitement on what exactly the future may hold for investors. Of course, the price hike to $10.99 for an ad-free version might rub som the wrong way.
Chapek promised investors in late 2021 that they’d reach 230M+ subscribers by September of 2025. It’ll be interesting to see if that continues to rise or if we should expect a slow-down anytime soon. They also expect Hulu and ESPN+ to become profitable by then as well.
It turns out Tom Hiddleston wasn’t lying when he said Wednesdays are the new Fridays. After his show, Loki, debuted to record-breaking numbers last week on Disney+, the streaming service has officially made the move to leave weekends behind and shift all original programming to Wednesday episode drops. Only Disney+ original films will continue to be made available on Fridays. The shift in their schedule will affect the platform globally, with every series set to debut after July 1 changing its initial release date. For example, the anticipated Monsters Inc. spin-off Monsters at Work will now drop its first episode on July 7 instead of July 2, and Disney’s Turner & Hooch reboot series will move its debut from July 16 to July 21. Other series impacted include Chip ‘n’ Dale: Park Life, Growing Up Animal, Short Circuit, Turning the Tables with Robin Roberts, and The Wonderful World of Mickey Mouse.
The change is a notable one, considering Disney has been fully committed to the classic weekend episode drop since its launch. Marvel’s previous series, WandaVision and The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, both adhered to the policy with great success, as did Lucasfilm’s The Clone Wars and The Mandalorian. It would seem Loki debuted to astronomical numbers if they were convincing enough to alter a working machine. Disney+’s current Star Wars project, The Bad Batch, will not be affected by the new corporate policy. Episodes will continue to be released on Fridays. Yet, it will most likely be the last high-profile series to do so on the streaming service.
Amazon released the first season of TheBoys in 2019. It’s based on a comic that I don’t think too many were familiar with at the time. The series quickly became a smash hit, gaining critical acclaim and praise from fans alike. A second season promptly got ordered, and even before it aired, a third was reportedly on the way. With the raging success of one show comes the incredible potential for more from the brand. In September, Amazon revealed that the show’s team had begun working on a spin-off focusing on young heroes. This group would be in training to one day join Vought. The series got put on the fast track, and Illuminerdi got their hands on our first casting details for a total of eight characters.
The university will have a wide variety of attendants. It will feature the 22-year-old Golden Boy, who has thermonuclear powers, who is fighting the pressure of being called the next big hero. Andrea, or Polarity, the black sophomore student who has a co-dependent relationship with his father, a former B-list hero. The Asian-American twins Mark and Jordan Lee have very different lives. Mark is a former party animal that fell in love with someone that is trying to support them, while Jordan is falling into a spiral filled with drugs, sex, and alcohol.
There is also the former child star Britney, who got caught up in a drug scandal. She is trying to use the university to revive her career. Emma, on the other hand, is looking for a human connection. She lives under the shadow of her mother, who was once a renowned superhero. Last but not least, there is Marie Moreau. The 18-year-old black woman is the Caribbean’s first and only superhero. She has to live with a lot of weight on her shoulders, as she carries “the pride of her nation and her family’s financial future.”
The series will most likely take some inspiration from the G-Men. They were a spoof of the X-Men within the universe of The Boys. The series currently has no release date, and production on the project is being fast-tracked. It means that the casting could be imminent. The third season of The Boys has already begun production and is currently filming in Toronto, with set photos giving us our very first look at Jensen Ackles‘ Solider Boy.
The upcoming Sandman series on Netflix is by far one of the most anticipated adaptions out there. Sandman is another title that was trapped in development hell for quite some time. At one point, Joseph-Gordon Levitt was attached to star before fizzling out. Luckily, that all changed as the Netflix adaptation started filming in October. Yet, they have been tight-lipped on the show’s cast.
After a long wait, Netflix has graced us with official casting for the upcoming adaption. They have officially revealed who will be playing the Lord of Dreaming and the Lord of Hell. Let’s start with the dreamer, as it was confirmed that Tom Sturridge will take on the role of Morpheus, one of the seven Endless. This reveal confirms a rumor from some time ago that he was in negotiations. Joining Sturridge is Gwendoline Christie as Lucifer. Boyd Holbrook will be playing The Corinthian, who is an escaped nightmare. Vivienne Acheampong has been cast as Lucienne, the librarian of dreams. Charles Dance is the charlatan and magician, Roderick Burgess. Rounding out the cast are Asim Chaudhry and Sanjeev Bhaskar, who will be playing as the first victim Abel and predator Cain respectively.
One notable absence from this announcement is that of Dream’s siblings, the other Endless. They are a group of anthropomorphic personification of metaphysical entities that represent Destiny, Desire, Despair, Delirium, Destruction, and Death. It’s possible the rest of the casting has yet to be announced. As they only started filming a few months ago, they might be keeping some news under wraps until the show officially starts its marketing campaign before release. Either way, this is quite the stellar cast they’ve added and it’ll be exciting to see their take on the iconic comic franchise.
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