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Tag: TV News

  • ‘Superman & Lois’ Renewed, ‘Gotham Knights’ Canceled

    ‘Superman & Lois’ Renewed, ‘Gotham Knights’ Canceled

    The CW has opted to renew Superman & Lois for a fourth season, while opting to cancel freshman series Gotham Knights. The news was announced on Monday evening. Both shows, along with All American: Homecoming, were the final shows from the network awaiting renewal decisions following the network’s upfronts last month.

    Now under new ownership, thanks to Nexstar, the CW is looking to rebrand and (hopefully) make the network profitable finally. Nexstar took time to evaluate each series – weighing the pros and cons before making any type of decision – and ultimately seemed to look at the views for each series. While Gotham Knights is said to be the cheapest of any DC series over the years, it lacked the audience to justify bringing it back. Superman & Lois, on the other hand, might’ve carried a hefty price tag but also managed to be the second most-watched show on the CW within the past year.

    Superman & Lois joins three others shows moving forward from the CW: All American, Walker, and All American: Homecoming. The show, which is returning for its fourth season, is expected to see an episode reduction in season four. As of now, Superman & Lois is expected to have a ten-episode fourth season, down three episodes from season three.

    Source: THR.

  • Netflix’s Password Crackdown Led to Highest Subscriber Growth Since COVID

    Netflix’s Password Crackdown Led to Highest Subscriber Growth Since COVID

    There was a lot of controversy when Netflix started its password-sharing shutdown. It took big steps to avoid people sharing passwords cross-country and most of the Internet pointed to dropping their involvement with the streaming service. Most expected a massive loss in subscriber numbers but once again the Internet remains a smaller space than one might think.

    Netflix has reported that since their mail on password sharing was released on May 23rd, they saw around 100K daily new subscribers on May 26th and May 27th. Their current growth is even higher than what they saw during COVID, which is when people had nothing to do and were stuck at home most of the day.

    Antenna shared the following graph with The Wrap on how the sign-ups have developed since pre-pandemic times.

    Of course, cancelations have increased as well but they did not keep up with the sign-ups. It seems the rate has gone up by 25.6% in the previous 60 days. They are continuing to push the narrative that a Netflix subscription share is meant for a “household” and it#s surprising that there wasn’t a bigger drop overall.

    It’ll be interesting to see if this continues to keep up long-term subscriber growth going or if this is just a blip for now. Either way, Netflix is very happy with its decision and most of the PR discussions will be forgotten over time. Of course, the question is if their content will remain more consistent with fewer cancelations moving forward to keep people watching.

    Source: Deadline, The Wrap

  • Star Wars Streaming Series ‘Ahsoka’ Shifts Release Date

    Star Wars Streaming Series ‘Ahsoka’ Shifts Release Date

    With under 3 months to go before it’s set to stream on Disney Plus, Lucasfilm’s Star Wars streaming series, Ahsoka, has gotten a new release date. Originally set to release on August 31st, the Rosario Dawson-led series will not debut on August 23rd.

    The series is set to reunite former Jedi Ahsoka Tano with the crew of the the Ghost as they embark on a quest to find Ezra Bridger. Mandalorian Sabine Wren, Hera Syndulla and Chopper (and maybe some surprises) will join Bridger in making their live-action debuts along with the villainous Grand Admiral Thrawn.

    Set after the fall of the Empire, Ahsoka follows the former Jedi knight Ahsoka Tano as she investigates an emerging threat to a vulnerable galaxy.

  • ‘One Piece’s Taz Skylar Shares What it Was Like Preparing to Play Sanji

    ‘One Piece’s Taz Skylar Shares What it Was Like Preparing to Play Sanji

    Netflix has a reputation when it comes to anime live-action adaptations. Ever since they released Death Note in 2017, it seemed like many have made up their mind about what future anime adaptations will be like. Cowboy Bebop wasn’t welcomed with a lot of fanfare before swiftly being canceled after only one season. Still, Tomorrow Studios has one major project up their sleeve for Netflix: a live-action adaptation of One Piece.

    It’s a major challenge to tackle one of the world’s biggest manga franchises but the talented team and cast added some hope for what’s to come. Among the talented cast is Taz Skylar, who will take on the role of the Straw Hat cook, Sanji. While filming, the actor shared his intense kick-based training while also highlighting he took cooking lessons.

    In an interview with Zero Nine, Skylar got a chance to share what it was like bringing the character of Sanji to life and added that he had “a clean slate” for bringing a character to life that never had a live-action adaptation before but is aware of the challenge of bringing an animated character to life.

    Whenever you see references of the character, (Sanji) I don’t have to worry about my interpretation being anything close or anything that is copying or resembling anything that anyone else has done. I get a clean slate when I do it. But secondly, with it being animation, there’s not a single thing you see that isn’t deliberately done.

    Taz Skylar

    He goes on to highlight what makes his character different from the others, as while most have a weapon of some kind, Sanji mainly uses kicks as his weapon of choice. He also deliberately doesn’t use his hands due to them being tools to cook.

    Every other character has an external object they had to practice with. This doesn’t diminish the process of learning how to be good at something. However, in my case, I couldn’t learn to use the object until it became usable. Understanding the mechanics of kicking, for example, doesn’t count unless you can reach the target.

    Taz Skylar

    Skylar goes on to also share that he was all-in or “gone psycho” for this role. We’ve seen a lot of dedication from the cast throughout the production. He shared how he handled the pressure of preparing for this multi-faceted role.

    I’ve never gone psycho like I’ve gone psycho on this. This is the hardest I’ve ever worked for anything in my entire life. But part of it was because of the pressure, which I don’t like admitting because I don’t think it’s a useful sentiment. My way of dealing with the pressure was to go, “Well, at least if I do everything that I know is humanly possible by my standards. And then, you know, if people don’t like it, I can’t go, ‘Oh, well, maybe just Ignore them and go for it.

    Taz Skylar

    To highlight what he accomplished during production, director Marc Jobst took to Twitter highlighting that “he’d come to rehearsal with another awesome dish” and that he was truly committed to the role.

    It’s great to see just how committed Skylar was to the role and here’s hoping that it’ll pay off with this series going on for many more years, as the story of One Piece is still being told after over 1,000 chapters. While the WGA may postpone any work on a second season and Netflix’s tendency to set very high standards for viewership, if there’s any project to accomplish it, it would be Eiichiro Oda’s work.

    Source: Twitter, Zero Nine

  • ‘Daredevil: Born Again’ Star Confirms SDCC ’23 Plans

    ‘Daredevil: Born Again’ Star Confirms SDCC ’23 Plans

    Convention season is upon us and as it begins to ramp into high gear, studio plans for the biggest fan convention of the year are once again a hot topic. Last year, Marvel Studios kept a lid on whether or not they’d even attend SDCC ’22 for quite some time, with One Above All Kevin Feige waiting until late June to confirm. While the Feigster has yet to comment on the studios plans for the 2023 convention, which will run from July 19-23, it looks like MCU fans can start planning out their Saturday night.

    In response to a Tweet from the #WeSavedDaredevil account, Daredevil: Born Again star Vincent D’Onoforio has revealed that he co-star Charlie Cox will “definitely” be at SDCC ’23.

    Daredevil: Born Again was officially announced as one of the biggest surprises at SDCC ’22 and Cox and D’Onofrio are sure to draw a huge reaction from the Hall H crowd at SDCC ’23. Production on the 18-episode series has been ongoing in and around New York City since January and is expected to continue throughout most of 2023, despite the ongoing WGA strike.

  • Natashsa Liu Bordizzo on Sabine’s Headspace in ‘Ahsoka’

    Natashsa Liu Bordizzo on Sabine’s Headspace in ‘Ahsoka’

    In 2018, the final episode of the final season of the animated canonical series Star Wars Rebels ended with Sabine Wren making a promise to find Ezra Bridger. Five years and a jump to live-action later, fans will finally see Sabine, brought to life by actress Natasha Liu Bordizzo, make good on that promise in the Disney Plus streaming series Ahsoka.

    As teased in the epilogue to the final episode of Star Wars Rebels, former Jedi Ahsoka Tano will accompany Sabine on the journey to find out what happened to their friend after they freed Ezra’s home planet of Lothal from looming Imperial presence. While it’s not entirely clear how much time has passed in the galaxy far, far away since the epilogue, Bordizzo says that Sabine’s promise to find Ezra remains at the forefront of the character’s mind.

    “She feels an obligation to him,” Bordizzo told Empire. “When they freed Lothal, she was given this hero status. But she doesn’t feel that she’s earned that because she lost her friend in that whole debacle. She’s just focused on the promise she made to him to find him.” And while finding Ezra will fulfill that promise, Sabine and the rest of the crew of the Ghost will have to deal with the fact that their friend won’t be the only familiar face they find. How will she and her friends deal with the return of Grand Admiral Thrawn, who went missing alongside Ezra? Tune into Ahsoka when it debuts on Disney Plus on August 31st to begin to find the answer to that question.

  • Dave Filoni on His Biggest Challenge in Creating ‘Ahsoka’

    Dave Filoni on His Biggest Challenge in Creating ‘Ahsoka’

    Now one of two primary creators of the New Republic era stories being told through multiple streaming series on Disney Plus ahead of a theatrical event, Dave Filoni was once the chief creative mind behind Lucasfilm’s canonical animated adventures such as Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Star Wars Rebels. Through Disney Plus streaming series such as The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett, Filoni has had the opportunity to shepherd the adaptation of several fan-favorite animated characters into live-action.

    Of those characters, none was dearer to Filoni than Ahsoka Tano, who, played by Rosario Dawson, made her live-action debut in the second season of The Mandalorian. Now, three years later, the former Padawan of Anakin Skywalker will take center stage in her own streaming series, Ahsoka, and Filoni opened up to Empire about putting his beloved creation at the center of a series to be shared with legions of Star Wars fans, some of whom have not seen the animated adventures that fleshed out her story.

    Ahsoka Tano from “STAR WARS: TALES OF THE JEDI”, season 1 exclusively on Disney+. © 2022 Lucasfilm Ltd. & ™. All Rights Reserved.

    While Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Star Wars Rebels are considered canon, Filoni is acutely aware that not everyone who will be tuning into Ahsoka will be a Star Wars completist, meaning that not insignificant chunk of the audience won’t be fully familiar with the lead character’s story. According to Filoni, that presented him with a bit of a problem. “The biggest challenge was, there’s a whole bunch of audience that know her, and a whole bunch that don’t,” said Filoni. “She has one foot in the Star Wars that a lot of people know because of her connection to Anakin, and yet she’s all new and can go in her own direction, in her own way.”

    As is often the case with creatives, however, Filoni found a way to reframe that challenging aspect of the character. Rather than limit Ahsoka by holding her to what little fans who haven’t seen the animated series do know about her, Filoni has chosen to see the unfamiliarity as door that opens myriad possibilities. “I think that makes her an interesting bridge between what came before and what’s really possible,” said Filoni of Ahsoka’s potential. Given that the character is likely set to play a major role in Filoni’s New Republic era film and his enduring love for her, it sounds like there may be many more stories in Ahsoka’s future.

    Ahsoka debuts on Disney Plus on August 31st.

    Source: Empire

  • Ahsoka Tano Creator Dave Filoni on the Character’s Lonely Journey to Her Solo Series

    Ahsoka Tano Creator Dave Filoni on the Character’s Lonely Journey to Her Solo Series

    After making the jump to live-action in The Mandalorian, Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Star Wars Rebels fan-favorite Ahsoka Tano her own streaming series this August on Disney Plus. Ahsoka, brought to live action by Rosario Dawson, has had one of the most compelling and emotional arcs of https://www.empireonline.com/tv/news/ahsoka-wanderer-dave-filoni-exclusive-image/any character in the great history of the Star Wars franchise. Once the promising Padawan of Anakin Skywalker, Ahsoka is a Jedi no more and now finds herself in a galaxy again on the brink of another major power struggle. The series, set in the same New Republic era as The Mandalorian, will reunite the character with her friends from the cast of and, according to an Empire interview with creator Dave Filoni, help her find a “new purpose.”

    “She’s a wanderer at this point,” says Filoni of Ahsoka’s lifestyle at the beginning of the series, “and is in a lot of ways wary of any organization as such because of the power that comes with it as a group. She walks a path that basically died out a long time ago,” he explains. “And there aren’t many like her left, if any. So that’s a lonely thing.” No longer a Jedi, Ahsoka is more of a ronin, as fans have seen in her appearances in The Mandalorian.

    However, as teased in the final episode of Star Wars Rebels, the former Jedi has one very important mission to take care of that will reunite her with her friends, the crew of the Ghost, who she hasn’t seen in years. “If you are a loner, you have a very small circle of friends. What is it like, then, when you try to open back up?” That question seems to be at the heart of what fans can expect in Ahsoka.

    With the series set to see Grand Admiral Thrawn return to the galaxy far, far away, it is expected to play a major role in the ongoing New Republic era of stories. While it’s not been confirmed, it’s widely believed that the character will play a large role in Filoni’s untitled and undated Star Wars “Heir to the Empire” film. If that’s the case, that makes Ahsoka a ca n’t-miss for fans when it starts streaming on Disney Plus on August 31st.

    Source: Empire

  • New Filing Identifies Christopher McDonald’s ‘Secret Invasion’ Character

    New Filing Identifies Christopher McDonald’s ‘Secret Invasion’ Character

    Marvel Studios first streaming series of 2023, Secret Invasion, will debut on Disney Plus in just over three weeks and the hype for the project has begun to build. The series will see Samuel L. Jackson‘s Nick Fury uncover an ongoing plot hatched years ago by a faction of Skrulls who seek to take over the Earth. The promotional footage and material from the show has leaned heavily into the paranoid aspects of the spy thriller though one character who is rumored to play a heavy role in that has been notably absent.

    Happy Gilmore star Christopher McDonald was cast in what has been described as a newly-created “Tucker Carlson-esque news anchor” who will almost certainly stoke the flames of paranoia throughout the series. Thanks to a filing at the US Copyright site, his character name has been revealed.

    It seems McDonald’s character will go by the name of Chris Stearn, a name not associated with any Marvel Comics character though it could be a reference to legendary shock jock Howard Stern. The idea of a talking head who fans the flames of paranoia–and who could himself be a Skrull for that matter–is a great touch that provides some interesting commentary on the state of modern media. As originally reported, McDonald’s Stearn could end up finding himself included in other projects down the road after appearing in a fairly regular supporting role in Secret Invasion.

    Who do you trust? Marvel Studios Secret Invasion begins streaming on June 21st.

  • Vincent D’Onofrio Confirms ‘Daredevil: Born Again’ Remains in Production

    Vincent D’Onofrio Confirms ‘Daredevil: Born Again’ Remains in Production

    As the WGA strike continues, multiple Marvel Studios productions have been halted or delayed. After kicking off in April, Destin Daniel Cretton‘s Wonder Man has been delayed indefinitely in Los Angeles and both Blade and Thunderbolts, which were slated to begin production in and around Atlanta, have been postponed. Marvel’s most ambitious project, Daredevil: Born Again, an 18-episode streaming series starring Charlie Cox, Vincent D’Onofrio and Jon Bernthal, kicked off production in New York City earlier this year and its current status has been a source of confusion among some fans. Now, D’Onofrio has cleared up where it stands amid the strike.

    Though production on the project was shut down for a day earlier this month, D’Onofrio told Comic Book that while it’s not “business as usual”, the streaming series is still filming. “I wouldn’t call business as usual because we want to… Well, I’ll speak for myself. I want to be loyal to the writers and to the teamsters,” D’Onofrio explained. “We’ve been told that the company is going to work through. Our writers are on strike, so we have no writers at the moment, but we have our scripts, so that’s good.“

    Cox and D’Onofrio reportedly spent quite a bit of time ahead of the start of production making sure the scripts were in tip-top shape which is good news for fans as there are surely not two stars more invested in their Marvel Studios characters than them. And while they have those scripts to work from and they plan to move forward filming the series, that doesn’t mean that their won’t be more production delays along the way. “As long as we’re doing it in a gracious way and everybody’s in agreement that we can work when we’re allowed to work and we’ll shut down when we should shut down,” said D’Onofrio. “Out of respect for the teamsters and the writers and such, then that’s what we’re going to do. And so far, so good. It’s been going well.“

    In summary, Daredevil: Born Again will face some challenges during its production but Disney has, at least for the time being, made the decision to push ahead. The streaming series is reportedly set to hit Disney Plus beginning in 2024.

    Source: Comic Book