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Tag: TV News

  • EXCLUSIVE: Start Date for Destin Daniel Cretton’s ‘American Born Chinese’

    EXCLUSIVE: Start Date for Destin Daniel Cretton’s ‘American Born Chinese’

    In October, it was revealed that Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings director, Destin Daniel Cretton, would direct an adaptation of American Born Chinese for Disney Plus. Now, we can exclusively reveal production is set for early 2022.

    Filming on the pilot episode of American Born Chinese, penned by Kelvin Yu and Charles Yu, will kick off in Los Angeles beginning in mid-February with the series continuing to film through June. Kelvin Yu serves as the showrunner on the series, which is an adaptation of the graphic novel by Gene Luen Yang.

    American Born Chinese tells the story of Jin Wang, a teenager who is juggling his high school social life and immigrant home life. After he meets a new foreign student on the first day of the school year, Jin finds himself wittingly entangled in a battle of Chinese mythological gods.

    Cretton and Yu will executive produce the series alongside Mar, Kasdan, Asher Goldstein and Yang. American Born Chinese was given a straight to series order, although the number of episodes has yet to be confirmed.

  • BREAKING: Cobie Smulders Returning as Maria Hill for ‘Secret Invasion’

    BREAKING: Cobie Smulders Returning as Maria Hill for ‘Secret Invasion’

    It seemed like a sure-thing that Cobie Smulders would return as Maria Hill in the upcoming Secret Invasion Disney+ series, but we never got a confirmation. Well, at least that was until now as Deadline has reported she’ll indeed return for the upcoming series. She’ll join the already stacked cast consisting of the returning Ben Mendelsohn, Olivia Colman, Kingsley Ben-Adir, Christopher McDonald, Killian Scott, Emilia Clarke, and, of course, Samuel L. Jackson.

    It’s still curious that she was never part of the initial announcement during Disney’s Investors Day, where only Mendelsohn and Jackson were confirmed. Smulders has been a mainstay in the franchise, especially if it came to Nick Fury and SHIELD. We don’t know the exact details of how the Secret invasion storyline from the comics will get adapted. So, perhaps her role is rather small overall or there were still some contract discussions and that is why she’s a late addition.

    There’s a curious inclusion in the article, as they add that “details about the role are being kept under wraps, but I hear it is a newly created character.” As she’s already well-established in the franchise, it’s an odd comment to add. So, perhaps it was from an older article or they might’ve given away she’s a potential Skrull. As we get closer to the series release, we’re going to get a lot more confused about who is and isn’t a Skrull.

    Source: Deadline

  • ‘Only Murders in the Building’ Adds Cara Delevingne

    ‘Only Murders in the Building’ Adds Cara Delevingne

    It looks like Hulu and Star’s popular mystery comedy series Only Murders in the Building has added Cara Delevingne in a new role. The actress will join the trio of Martin Short, Steve Martin, and not a Martin, Selena Gomez. Delevigne ‘ll play the character of Alice, who’ll end up entrapped in the mystery.

    The story follows the main trio of strangers that end up getting ensnared in a murder mystery within the walls of their apartment building. They document their tale through a podcast as the hobbyists take it upon themselves to solve the mystery. The series was created by John Hoffman and Steve Martin, who both are executive producers on it alongside Gomez, Short, Jamie Babbitt, Dan Fogelman, and Jess Rosenthal.

    Her addition will certailny add to the trio’s dynamic and we’ll see how they might twist up with her character’s arrival. She’s described as an art insider, who might also add an intersting twist to whatever story they find themselves in. There’s no word if she is just a temporary addition for the season or it might become a bigger role moving forward.

    Source: Variety

  • HBO Lost $30M on the Now Canceled ‘Game of Thrones’ Prequel Spinoff

    HBO Lost $30M on the Now Canceled ‘Game of Thrones’ Prequel Spinoff

    Here’s an interesting surprise. Long before House of the Dragons was in development, there were stories about a Game of Thrones spinoff in development. It makes sense if you consider how large the original was when it aired on HBO. While they are currently on a high with many projects finding development, their first attempt failed and was swiftly canceled after the pilot was showcased. We knew very little about the project but Bob Greenblatt, who was chairman of WarnerMedia, shared some insights in his new book Tinderbox. In it, he revealed that it cost them $30M to produce the “prequel pilot” before realizing that it wasn’t what they were looking for.

    They had spent over $30 million on a ‘Game of Thrones’ prequel pilot that was in production when I got there. And when I saw a cut of it in a few months after I arrived, I said to [HBO boss Casey Bloys], ‘This just doesn’t work and I don’t think it delivers on the promise of the original series.’ And he didn’t disagree, which actually was a relief. So we unfortunately decided to pull the plug on it. There was enormous pressure to get it right and I don’t think that would have worked

    Bob Greenblatt

    It’s not uncommon that some gambles don’t always pay out, but $30M is a considerable amount for just a pilot. After the success of the original series, they were all in for the spinoffs and would take the gamble to give the series a considerable budget. It’s curious they outright canceled the project rather than reworking it to fit, but the investment might’ve not paid off if they did.

    Source: IndieWire

  • AMC Orders Anne Rice’s ‘Lives of the Mayfair Witches’ to Series

    AMC Orders Anne Rice’s ‘Lives of the Mayfair Witches’ to Series

    AMC has been quite excited to bring Anne Rice’s many classic stories to life. Not too long ago, they greenlight a series based on the Interview With the Vampire storyline. Casting has been underway, but we’re still waiting for more details. Yet, AMC believes in their new projects and has now ordered Lives of the Mayfair Witches to series. It’ll be based on the Anne Rice novels of the sesame name with Esta Spalding and Michelle Ashford joining as showrunners. Mark Johnson will executive produce the project alongside them.

    It’s not the first time we’ve heard about the project, as the first development news hit the web back in August. AMC Studios has opened up a writer room on the author’s famous line of books to develop direct-to-series orders and it’s certainly paying off. Spalding shared her excitement of adapting the series:

    The world of witches has fascinated and terrified for centuries, and yet Anne Rice’s particular lens on witches explored something new altogether – women who are powerful, and often brutal, and always committed to subverting our current power structures.

    Esta Spalding

    It’ll be interesting to see how they bring these stories to life and how they’ll continue on the various Rice adaptations. It’ll join the 2022 line-up that has been quite stacked with new projects and others coming to an end. AMC has been making strong pushes on building up their library to also support the streaming service AMC+.

    Source: Deadline

  • ‘Hawkeye’ Episode 3 Includes Kingpin Easter Egg

    ‘Hawkeye’ Episode 3 Includes Kingpin Easter Egg

    The hints are getting more obvious that Wilson Fisk is making his grand return to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Not only do we have the mention of a mysterious uncle and his short hand-cameo in Echo’s flashback, but there is quite an emphasis on his role moving forward when even Hawkeye hints that he’s someone you don’t want to get in trouble with. There’s one more tiny detail that may have added to his upcoming appearance.

    At one point in Echo’s flashback, she visits her father at his workshop. It’s the sequence where we find out how she connects to Ronin, the location they are at is given a rather curious name, Fat Man Auto Repair Shop. Now, it is more than just an additional tease of Fisk’s appearance in the series in a later episode but also is a great little Easter egg for fans of Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes.

    In the animated series, the Kingpin never physically makes an appearance. Yet, there’s a brief mention by the Grim Reaper who calls him “Fat-Man.” Plus, it’s an ongoing joke by Spider-Man to mock NYC’s most dangerous criminal about his weight. So, it adds a fun layer to his potential arrival and what the series has in store for viewers. Given the number of teases throughout this episode, it seems likely that we might get our first official appearance next week, but the team behind Hawkeye might also be playing the long con as the teases rise in frequency.

  • Netflix’s ‘Raising Dion’ Season 2 Nabs Premiere Date

    Netflix’s ‘Raising Dion’ Season 2 Nabs Premiere Date

    Netflix has unveiled the release date for Season 2 of Raising Dion.

    The streaming giant officially announced the series will return on Feb. 1, 2022. As part of its news drop concerning its genre titles, Netflix announced the return of the series for its 8-episode second season. Along with the massive release dates unveiled by Netflix, Peter Friedlander, the Head of Scripted Series, celebrated the streamer’s massive genre slate which includes Raising Dion. “Genre stories have the power to transport us to new universes like the Upside Down in Stranger Things, teach us new vocabulary like The Witcher and, most importantly, unite us in our shared love of sci-fi, horror, fantasy, anime and everything in between.”

    Raising Dion is the story of Nicole (Alisha Wainwright) and her young son Dion, played by Ja’Siah Young. Nicole finds herself struggling as a single mother following the death of her husband, Mark. As she tries to balance her grief and raising her son, Nicole soon finds herself having to endure yet another life-altering change: Dion has superhuman abilities and she must help to conceal them with the help of Mark’s best friend, Pat (Jason Ritter).

    Carol Barbee serves as the showrunner on the Netflix series, while Michael B. Jordan, Kenny Goodman, Kim Roth, Dennis Liu and Charles D. King’s Macro serve as executive producers. News of Raising Dion‘s second season first hit in January last year. The series was noted as one of Netflix’s most-watched series of 2019.

    Source: Netflix

  • Guillermo Del Toro and Netflix’s Horror Anthology Series Adds Rupert Grint

    Guillermo Del Toro and Netflix’s Horror Anthology Series Adds Rupert Grint

    Guillermo del Toro‘s next major project, the anthology Cabinet of Curiosities has found an additional actor for its series. It’s not just anyone, but Ronald Weasley himself, Rupert Grint, will join the already stacked cast. The project includes Essie Davis, Andrew Lincoln, F. Murray Abraham, Ben Barnes, Tim Blake Nelson, Luke Roberts, David Hewlett, and many more. It’s quite an impressive cast of many different talents that’ll explore different types of horror stories in the series. Del Toro is co-showrunner and executive producer on the project with Panos Cosmatos, Jennifer Kent, and Vincenzo Natali writing as well as directing episodes.

    Not much is known about the project outside of it exploring eight sinister tales, as Deadline puts it, that’ll showcase the different corners of horror. Del Toro has personally selected the writers and directors for the project to bring the vision to life. It seems Grint was on his radar for quite some time since his work on Apple’s Servant. So, he might have high hopes for the actor in bringing his role to life in the series. He is set to appear in the upcoming 20th Anniversary special for Harry Potter on HBO Max. We’ll see if anyone else is still in the pipeline to join the project before it enters production.

    Source: Deadline

  • New ‘Hawkeye’ Featurette Includes Comic-Accurate Costume During LARP Scene

    New ‘Hawkeye’ Featurette Includes Comic-Accurate Costume During LARP Scene

    Here’s a curious way to reveal a comic-accurate design for Clint Barton’s Hawkeye comic costume. Many lamented that the LARP – short for Live Action Role-Playing – sequence didn’t force our favorite archer into a costume that is closer to one from the comics. Well, it turns out that a member of the game was going to wear the costume in the Disney+ series, as revealed in a new featurette on the segment. He appears early on and seemingly was cut at some point of the production, but perhaps they have plans for the costume later down the line if they didn’t want to include it here, or it just took away from his interactions with Grills.

    Here’s a screenshot o the costume design with the LARPer even in a fitting stance,r ready to shoot out two arrows:

    His costume looks quite impressive and continues the trend of making the cheesier designs a reality, such as WandaVision‘s Halloween costumes or Loki classic outfit through an older Variant. It would’ve been a great addition but also might add some questions about his inclusion. We’ve never seen Clint wear a costume like that and it seems unlikely they might’ve based it on him. There’s, of course, the chance that someone just created merchandise with that costume and he might be quite annoyed by its existence. We’ll see if his original design still gets a shoutout eventually in the series.

    Source: YouTube

  • Korean ‘Money Heist’ Remake Adds ‘Squid Game’s Park Hae-soo

    Korean ‘Money Heist’ Remake Adds ‘Squid Game’s Park Hae-soo

    Just as the news drops that Money Heist is getting a spinoff series, it seems the upcoming Korean adaptation wanted to bank on the current trend. Deadline has just reported that Squid Game‘s Park Hae-soo has joined the remake as the character of Berlin, who is the character that just got his own spinoff series. He’s the first to join the production ever since its announcement back in November 2020. Of course, the timing is perfect as it’s released just after his success on the hit Korean series and ahead of the Spanish’ final episodes releasing.

    It’ll be interesting to see how they tackle the project. A Korean adaptation might mainly focus on the core characters of Tokyo, Berlin, the Professor, and more. Given the series simple concept, they might even add their own twist but simply stick to the namings for the core mission. Here’s hoping they add an interesting twist that also reflects their cultural aspects to make it stand out from the original in some way.

    Netflix has seen the potential of utilizing its international shows to garner worldwide acclaim. This project feels like the perfect blend of exactly that, as it combines two of their most popular shows from across the world. We’ll see if some other familiar faces might make it into the project once more castings are revealed in the coming weeks.

    Source: Deadline