Murphy's Multiverse

Tag: TV News

  • Season 2 of ‘Squid Game’ Confirmed by Hwang Dong-hyuk

    Season 2 of ‘Squid Game’ Confirmed by Hwang Dong-hyuk

    Since its debut in September, Squid Game has proven to be a massive success for Netflix.

    By the end of October, The Korean drama amassed an astounding 3 billion minutes viewed in a week’s span. With just under two months since its release, Squid Game has earned the honor of best title performance of 2021 in the U.S. rankings. Not bad for a series that only premiered in September. The drama continues to dominate Netflix’s Top 10, too, where it has remained since its debut. Yet, a second season has remained in question… until now.

    AP Entertainment recently had a chance to speak with Hwang Dong-hyuk, the creator, writer and director behind the Netflix smash hit. While an official announcement has yet to come, Dong-hyuk promises there are more Gi-hun adventures on the way. “I will say there will indeed be a second season,” he says. “It’s in my head right now. I’m in the planning process currently.”

    Unfortunately, those hoping for a quick return will find themselves disappointed. “I do think it’s too early to say when and how that’s going to happen.”

    The first season of Squid Game is now streaming on Netflix.

  • EXCLUSIVE: Details on Scrapped ‘Offenders’ Hulu Team-Up Cartoon

    EXCLUSIVE: Details on Scrapped ‘Offenders’ Hulu Team-Up Cartoon

    Once upon a time, Hulu was to be the new home for a slew of adult-oriented Marvel content, specifically an edgy animated team-up show titled the Offenders. Starring a line-up of offbeat characters that included the likes of Howard the Duck, MODOK, Hit-Monkey, Dazzler, and Tigra, the concept never saw the light of day due to Marvel Television shutting down. MODOK and Hit-Monkey, however, managed to survive the ordeal.

    I spoke to Hit-Monkey showrunners Will Speck and Josh Gordon today and asked about what exactly Marvel had in store for an original concept like The Offenders.

    It was a very loose plan. It was the idea that there were a few sidelined characters that could, at some point, join up and that was the vision. One of the original concepts, when they pitched it to Hulu, was, “Let’s design four separate shows that don’t necessarily have plans to combine and find a way to combine them.” We were always in talks with the other showrunners like [MODOK executive producer] Jordan Blum to figure out where the points of intersection were. Stylistically and humor-wise, the shows were never created to resemble each other. We always thought that it was such a cool choice to combine the different styles.

    From the sound of it, it kinda seems like Offenders would have been a show that was unlike any other superhero show currently out there. The idea they had in mind sounds very familiar to a lot of the Adult Swim mashups like Harvey Birdman, Attorney-at-Law and Space Ghost, Coast to Coast; an idiosyncratic marriage of polarizing premises to create a crazy blob of a show.

    As fun as it would have been to see a stop-motion MODOK interact with a 2D Hit-Monkey, it’s hard to imagine a Feige-led Marvel brand agreeing to something this wacky. MODOK, for all its oddities, was actually a well-made show. Saving more of my elaborate thoughts in my review, I’ll say that Hit-Monkey was also a pleasant surprise.

  • Netflix’s Live-Action ‘Yu Yu Hakusho’ Eyeing December 2023 Release

    Netflix’s Live-Action ‘Yu Yu Hakusho’ Eyeing December 2023 Release

    Here’s a curious way to start off the day, as Netflix has revealed on Twitter that their live-action adaptation of Yoshihiro Togashi‘s manga Yu Yu Hakusho will eye a release in 2023. While they haven’t offered an official first look just yet, there’s still some time as it won’t premiere on the streaming service until December of 2023. There has been rather little fanfare surrounding this adaptation, but a set photo leaked back in June as it was filming in Japan at the time.

    Netflix has been quite busy preparing live-action adaptations of popular anime and manga. Cowboy Bebop is only a week away before we get to explore a Western adaptation of the classic series. They also announced a One Piece series some time ago, which has been slowly building up momentum since the official first logo was finally unveiled a few months ago. Even if Netflix is announcing a release date for its Yu Yu Hakusho series, it doesn’t mean we’ll get an official first look yet. With almost two years to go, which is odd considering it started production supposedly in June, we might have a long wait ahead of us.

    Source: Twitter, CBR

  • ‘Raised by Wolves’ Line Producer Joins Netflix’s ‘One Piece’ Series

    ‘Raised by Wolves’ Line Producer Joins Netflix’s ‘One Piece’ Series

    We’ve been still waiting for quite some time to find out what exactly the future has in store for Netflix’s live-action adaptation of One Piece. Recently, some new photos have surfaced teasing the Straw Hats’ famous ship, the Going Merry, parked comfortably in their shooting location in Cape Town. Yet, we still haven’t heard anything about the upcoming cast that will bring the East Blue saga to life. To bridge our wait until we get more information, a listing on the website CallaCrew has revealed that Cheryl Eatock joined the project as a line producer.

    The website includes the resumé of Lerato Tshabalala, who is Eatock‘s production secretary. Of course, it doesn’t explicitly call it by the series’ name but rather the production title we’ve uncovered back when we shared the news on Marc Jobst directing the pilot episode. At one point, the production changed from Project Roger, named after the famous king of the pirates to Project Panda. The title is a joke reference to the manga’s creator Eiichiro Oda‘s ongoing joke of including a random character known as Pandaman in the background.

    Eatock has quit the experience working in South Africa, as she also was the line producer of Ridley Scott’s first TV series Raised by Wolves. She’s also worked on other big-budget films like The Dark Tower and Bloodshot. She once shared that it took them four months of pre-production to prepare for a 22-week shoot. We’ve noticed that some of the production team behind One Piece moved to South Africa, and there’s a chance they are also busy preparing everything. Here’s hoping it means the wait won’t be much longer, but her work on Raised by Wolves might help turn Cape Town into the crazy world of the East Blue.

    Source: CallaCrew, IMDb, Motion Pictures

  • Disney+ Day To Feature Scheduled Content

    Disney+ Day To Feature Scheduled Content

    The excitement around Disney+ Day has been growing since Disney announced it would be an event to celebrate their iconic brands. Fans of Disney, Pixar, Marvel, and Star Wars have been excited about the event as a chance to see the future of the storyworlds they love. With Disney+ Day approaching this Friday, there has been a lot of fan discussion about whether there would be a live presentation like Investor Day 2020 or not. 

    The two year anniversary of the launch of the service will also feature its expansion into Asia-Pacific markets which has had some people thinking they might launch content with friendly schedules to those timezones. It’s now become clear that there won’t be a featured live presentation, but there will be a schedule of content uploads throughout the day instead. 

    Disney+ Day Kicks Off Global Celebration With Week-Long, Company-Wide Promotions

    Disney has confirmed via press release that fans can follow along on the Disney+ social media accounts on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram for first looks, trailers, exclusive clips and appearances from stars and creators from Friday November 12th at 6:00am PT / 2:00pm GMT.  Subscribers will also be the first to see exclusive on-platform specials from Pixar Studios at 8:00am PT / 4:00pm GMT and Marvel Studios at 8:45am PT / 4:45pm GMT. In addition to this, Disney have also confirmed that new subscribers will have a 75% discount for this month with the cost being $1.99, opening up the platform for fans who want to see this on-platform content. 

    It will be exciting to see what new things we might learn about the future of the storyworlds we love this Friday. With so much in production it will be exciting to see new characters and worlds. Here’s hoping we get some new announcements of as yet unannounced productions to incite more speculation. What are you hoping to see on Disney+ Day this Friday? 

    Sources: Disney

  • ‘Raya and The Last Dragon’ Writer Qui Nguyen Working on A Marvel Studios Project

    ‘Raya and The Last Dragon’ Writer Qui Nguyen Working on A Marvel Studios Project

    Raya and The Last Dragon screenwriter Qui Nguyen seems to be at work on a project for Marvel Studios. According to his bio at Geffen Playhouse, the playwright, author and screenwriter seems to have worked on a television project (likely a streaming series) for Marvel Studios. As you can see, he also lists being a screenwriter for Marvel Studios among his accomplishments on his Twitter bio.

    IMDB does not list any Marvel Studios’ projects for Nguyen, so it’s likely that whatever the project is, it has not been released yet. Though he’s a noted and award-winning playwright, Nguyen has recently worked as an executive story editor on AMC’s Dispatches from Elsewhere and Netflix’s The Society and as staff writer on SyFy’s Incorporated, so he has plenty of recent experience with episodic TV series.

    Marvel Studios has plenty of streaming series in the works, including at least one animated series other than What If…?, so there are plenty of potential projects to which Nguyen could be attached. We’ll continue to follow this story as it develops.

    Sources: Twitter, Geffen Playhouse

  • Naughty Dog’s Neil Druckmann Wraps Up Work on HBO’s ‘The Last Of Us’

    Naughty Dog’s Neil Druckmann Wraps Up Work on HBO’s ‘The Last Of Us’

    HBO’s adaptation of the popular gaming franchise The Last Of Us has continued for quite some time, as we got set photos teasing a very game-accurate depiction of a post-apocalypse city. It has been a bit quiet on the series’s development since, but it seems that Neil Druckmann has wrapped up his work on the series, as the game director also took on the challenge of directing an episode. He took to Twitter to share that he finished work in Canada and was heading back to Naughty Dog Studios.

    https://twitter.com/Neil_Druckmann/status/1457355785814544386

    This doesn’t mean production has wrapped completely. We don’t know how many episodes the game director was meant to tackle. So, it’s likely that he finished up his final shot before returning to whatever project his studio is currently tackling. Still, it’s great to see that The Last of Us is still going strong and there’s a good chance we might get some more details soon as they are finishing up production on some of the episodes. Of course, we still don’t have an exact release date but there’s a good chance they are eyeing a late 2022 release. It also depends on how much post-production work is necessary to bring the more fantastical elements, like the fungal-infected zombies, to life.

    Source: Twitter

  • The Pulse: Collecting the Biggest News of the Week of Oct. 31st-Nov. 6th

    The Pulse: Collecting the Biggest News of the Week of Oct. 31st-Nov. 6th

    Gael Garcia Bernal Will Be Hairy and Scary

    Marvel Reportedly Has Some Big Plans For Upcoming Disney+ Halloween Special

    For some time now, the rumor mill has been buzzing about the possibility of Jake Gomez being the MCU’s Werewolf By Night in the 2022 Halloween Special. Now, with the casting of award-winning actor Gael Garcia Bernal as the lead in the event, it seems even more likely.

    Netflix’s Live-Action Avatar is Heating Up

    STEVEN LIPPMAN | MENS HEALTH | DANIEL DAE KIM | 3

    Daniel Dae Kim has joined the cast of Netflix’s adaptation of Avatar: The Last Airbender amidst reports that the streaming series was searching for some fire benders. The ambitious series looks like it is currently set to stream late in 2022.

    What is Dead Can Never Die: ‘Titans’ Season 5 Confirmed

    TEEN TITANS VOL. 3: DEATH OF THE FAMILY | DC

    In a move not even the most hardcore DC fans can explain, the HBO Max streaming series Titans is coming back for not only a 4th season, but also a 5th. Nobody is taking the news harder than our own Mary Maerz who is questioning the series of unfortunate events that led her to Murphy’s Multiverse and in the unenviable role of the reviewer of Titans.

    ‘The Incal’ adapation finds its director in Taika Waititi

    At a time when Denis Villeneuve‘s Dune is being hailed as a major cinematic accomplishment, The Incal adaptation is a few steps closer to having its own time to shine on the big screen, with Taika Waititi at the helm. What do these projects have in common? Well, a lot. Alejandro Jodorowsky is famous for having unsuccessfully tried to adapt and film Frank Herbert‘s 1965 Dune in the mid-1970s. After that, one of his projects was a graphic novel series written by himself and originally illustrated by Jean Giraud: The Incal. A project that includes and expands the concepts and artwork from the abandoned Dune film.

    Laurie Holden as Crimson Countess in ‘The Boys’ Season 3

    Amazon struck gold with its adaption of Garth Ennis’ The Boys, a world where the superheroes aren’t kept in check and act as they please. In the upcoming season, things are set to get even crazier than before with the arrival of Jensen Ackles’ Soldier Boy, and superhero team Payback. But these won’t be the only members of the team making their way to Vought this season, as Laurie Holden is already set to debut as Crimson Countess, their play on Scarlet Witch.

    Lucasfilm Seemingly Fast Tracking a Film Based on the Old Republic

    old republic movie

    A few months back, we got the reveal that Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic was getting a remake exclusively for PlayStation 5. Now, it seems Lucasfilm also wants to take a look into that timeline in an upcoming film. It is seemingly eyeing a 2023 release set during the Old Republic that is set to enter production sometime next year.

  • Netflix’s ‘Devil May Cry’ Series to Have a “Multi-Season Arc”

    Netflix’s ‘Devil May Cry’ Series to Have a “Multi-Season Arc”

    Netflix’s dipped its toes in animation throughout the years with Castlevania being one of their highlight series. After four seasons, it officially came to an end with a new spinoff on the way that explores the same universe with different characters. Yet, its producer, Adi Shankar, isn’t quite done yet as he is revving up production on another iconic gaming franchise, Devil May Cry. In an interview with IGN, he confirmed that the scrips are finished for the first season and offered a tease of what is to come.

    The season 1 scripts are done. They are rad. I could not be more excited

    Adi Shankar

    Yasuke writer Alex Larsen was involved with the scripts, and the upcoming first season will run for eight episodes, as confirmed by Shankar. He also pointed out that there are plans for a “multi-season arc” but wouldn’t go into details. He did, however, confirm that the story will feature Vergil, Dante, and Lady. In the same interview, he also talked about his work with Capcom producer Hiroyuki Kobayashi.

    The entire team both from the management side and the creative side have been so incredibly supportive and gracious. Kobayashi-san has been wonderful. It’s seriously a joy to work with Capcom. Their character library is unlike anything assembled.

    Adi Shankar

    He also jokingly confirmed that Chris Pratt won’t voice any characters, as there has been a running joke of him voicing every character now after getting cast in two animated roles. If they only just finished the scripts, it means we’re still going to have to wait a bit longer until the series releases, as animation notoriously takes a bit of time before it is finalized. Still, if they are already planning multiple seasons, Netflix seems to truly believe in the project and the wait between each might be shorter.

    Source: IGN

  • EXCLUSIVE: Character Descriptions Hint at ‘Tyler Perry’s Sistas’ Zatima Spinoff’s Story

    EXCLUSIVE: Character Descriptions Hint at ‘Tyler Perry’s Sistas’ Zatima Spinoff’s Story

    We just recently broke the news that Tyler Perry is already working on a spinoff of his popular BET series Sistas. It’ll focus on the fan-favorite couple of Fatima and Zac, who are given the couple nickname Zatima. DeVale Ellis and Crystal Hayslett‘s characters got together in the third season’s midseason finale, which became a fan-favorite moment and most likely inspired the series’ creator to give them their series. Well, we’re not quite done as we can also exclusively offer some insight into the characters that’ll join the duo.

    The series is currently casting for a December production start. The character of Angela, who is described as “Fatima’s best female friend.” Coincidentally, she is dating one of Zac’s best friends, Jake. Once she meets him, she’ll realize that she “heard all about the shady corners of Zac’s life.” So, Fatima and Zac’s relationship might face some bumps early on, as they decide to move together. There’s also the character of Belinda, who used to date him and is another close friend of Fatima’s.

    We’ll also meet some of Zac’s basketball friends, such as Nathan, who is “married to Carolyn, who treats him like a dog on a short leash.” There is also Tony, who generally “has an extremely negative view of marriage.” There’s also another recurring role given to a character named Deja, who’ll rent Zac’s duplex. Yet, her interest in her new neighbor might end up leading to some trouble down the line.

    These characters offer some insight into what we might expect from the spinoffs story. It looks like the whirlwind romance between Fatima and Zac will remain turbulent, especially with Angela’s knowledge of Zac’s looming over them. So, we might have to expect some conflict in the upcoming series that challenges their love but also explores the relationships forming around them.