Murphy's Multiverse

Tag: TV

  • Marvel Studios Pumps the Brakes on ‘Nova’

    Marvel Studios Pumps the Brakes on ‘Nova’

    The Human Rocket is still headed to the MCU but fans of the character are going to have to wait a bit longer. According to a new report from THR, as part of Bob Iger’s mandate that Disney’s big brands like Marvel Studios and Lucasfilm be more selective with their streaming projects, development on Marvel’s Nova project has been slowed.

    The project was first revealed to be in development in March 2022 with Moon Knight writer Sabir Pirzada penning the adaptation. There’ve been conflicting reports about the nature of the project, but given its inclusion in THR’s report, it can be inferred that Nova was not being developed as a theatrical release but rather a streaming series of Special Presentation similar to Werewolf By Night. Marvel Studios’ Head Cheese, Kevin Feige, recently confirmed that the studio’s Disney Plus programming schedule was going to change, and the slowdown in the development of Nova certainly fits into that change.

    Given that Nova never had a release date, it’ll be tough to track a delay, but it sounds like fans of the character probably won’t be seeing him on screen until 2024 at the very earliest.

    Source: THR

  • Marvel Studios Reportedly Considering an Indefinite Delay in Releasing ‘Ironheart’

    Marvel Studios Reportedly Considering an Indefinite Delay in Releasing ‘Ironheart’

    When Kevin Feige explained that Marvel Studios was looking to modify its streaming plans he meant it. Just 7 months ago, Feige revealed the studio’s ambitious plans for the streaming service in 2023 that included five live-action series spread out throughout the year beginning with Secret Invasion, ending with Agatha: Coven of Chaos and sprinkling Echo, Season 2 of Loki and Ironheart in between. According to a new report from THR, it seems only two of those series are now safe bets to stream in 2023.

    While most fans have long since understood that neither Echo nor Agatha: Coven of Chaos would make it to Disney Plus in 2023, THR’s report indicates that Ironheart is no longer guaranteed a slot on this year’s slate. Despite the fact that the project completed production some time ago, THR’s source states that due to tinkering in post-production, and the desire to spread out its content, Marvel Studios may delay the release of Ironheart until 2024.

    While Ironheart never had a firm release date (it was only given a Fall 2023 release window), talk of a delay comes as a bit of a surprise. Footage of the series (along with footage of Echo) was screened exclusively at D23 and was incredibly well-received by the audience; however, unlike Echo, Ironheart was never subject to rumors of a troubled production and this new report is the first time news of a delay has been relayed to fans.

    Given its relatively trouble-free production, it seems likely that Ironheart’s delay, should it happen, will be more related to a new mandate from Bob Iger, who wants all of Disney’s big brands to be “better at curating” their streaming content. According to an anonymous source, “There is going to be a level of rigor on Marvel and across the entire company. Numbers matter now, and costs are going to be outlined and enforced,” and in Ironheart’s case, it could simply be a matter of using post-production time to ensure the series is of the highest quality when it is released rather than rushing to get it to D+.

    Source: THR

  • ‘Squid Game’ Star Promises “Bigger” Season 2, Set for a Summer Production Start

    ‘Squid Game’ Star Promises “Bigger” Season 2, Set for a Summer Production Start

    Netflix has a strange habit of finding random success with projects and then taking quite a bit of time to get their franchise plans rolling. This is mainly due to them waiting if a show even seemingly has potential rather than risking it. The only exception was The Witcher, which got renewed ahead of its release, but there have also been some big surprise hits that ended up getting expanded as a result.

    Among them was the Korean smash hit Squid Game, which was released back in 2021 and ended up as a massive success story during the pandemic. It seems though that the wait for the sequel might finally be over sooner rather than later, as actor Lee Jung-jae has revealed that the second season is set to start filming this summer.

    The actor is quite busy working on the upcoming Disney+ series, Star Wars: The Acolyte series. Yet, it seems he won’t have much of a break after, as he’ll be then joining the production of Squid Game at some point this summer, as he will likely wrap up work on his current project around March or April of this year.

    It’s probably safe to assume that. As we all saw at the end of season 1, the main plot of season 2 will be revenge, and the key figure who controlled the workings of the games in season 1 was Lee Byung Hun sunbae, so it seems that the two of us will be the central figures of this next story. This is the first time that I’ll be working with Lee Byung Hun sunbae, actually. Well, we worked on a drama called ‘White Nights 3.98’ back in the day, but we didn’t have any scenes together. Anyways, ‘Squid Game 2’ will begin filming in the summer and the filming will likely last for about 10 months. We were working on season 1 for about 10 months as well, but that was with delays caused by COVID-19. But seeing as season 2 will be bigger in scale, it will probably take longer to complete.

    Lee Jung-jae

    The tease of a “bigger” Squid Game with a revenge story does make you wonder if we’ll even see the games from the iconic project. Perhaps his character will just go on a straight-forward revenge spree but if they will start filming for ten months, it is hard to say if the series will even still release in 2024 considering how much post-production work it’ll require. At least we now know that it’ll definitely start filming soon.

    Source: AllKPop

  • REVIEW: ‘The Bad Batch’ Remembers How To Use Omega

    REVIEW: ‘The Bad Batch’ Remembers How To Use Omega

    Star Wars: The Bad Batch is usually at its best when it’s tackling one of two ideas – the state of the Galaxy in a post-Order 66 world, or the possible extent of humanity in its titular clones. This week’s episode, titled The Crossing, doubles down on the latter. After a tense midseason event altered the course of the series forever, the latest installment offers a bit of levity with an easier and more straightforward adventure, using its quieter moments as an opportunity for some much-needed character work. It does what more of its one-off episodes should do by standing alone as a semi-independent story while also progressing the development of its protagonists. In balancing these successfully, The Crossing continues the series’ current path toward a more interesting end to the season.

    When fans last saw their favorite band of intrepid misfits, they were bidding a fond farewell to one of their own. Dee Bradley Baker‘s Echo, a Star Wars: The Clone Wars staple who joined the team after their inaugural outing and then never really did much, left to rejoin his old friend, Dee Bradley Baker‘s Captain Rex, on a separate mission in the heart of Imperial territory. There’s no telling whether this means Echo is gone from the series for good, but it’s certainly something that concerns Michelle Ang‘s Omega, as she spends most of the episode coping with her loss alongside either Dee Bradley Baker‘s Wrecker or Dee Bradley Baker‘s Tech. Oddly enough, Echo’s presence is felt much harder when he’s not on the team, used expertly by the writers as a means of exploring Omega’s youthful perception of abandonment.

    (L-R): Omega, Tech, Hunter, and Wrecker in a scene from “STAR WARS: THE BAD BATCH”, season 2 exclusively on Disney+. © 2023 Lucasfilm Ltd. & ™. All Rights Reserved.

    The actual task at hand in The Crossing, which has Dee Bradley Baker‘s Hunter spearhead the group on a mission to extract dangerous resources from a remote mine, is not particularly interesting. If it weren’t for the tender, familial scenes shared between Omega and her older siblings, the episode may fall flat. Most of the action is unremarkable, and the story as a whole is not overly memorable. Luckily, that doesn’t seem to be the main purpose of the plot or its arcs. Throughout it all, Omega expresses immense concern over the fact Echo is no longer part of the Batch. It’s clear that Omega, a child who has just recently found a genuine family, is not used to the prospect of losing one of her own. The Bad Batch utilizes this as a means of taking a deeper dive into the compassion and individuality of the clones, and The Crossing is much better for it.

    So far this season, The Bad Batch has teetered precariously between redundancy and forward progress. Omega, as she’s always been, is the key to maintaining the momentum of the second option. The show is consistently more intriguing when it leans into her and what she has to offer as a wildly unique persona. Hopefully, the series continues to do this as the story moves on, and Omega is used as the centerpiece to a spectacular season finale.

  • REVIEW: A Sometimes Messy ‘Carnival Row’ Pulls It Together for a Solid Second Season

    REVIEW: A Sometimes Messy ‘Carnival Row’ Pulls It Together for a Solid Second Season

    After a long wait following its first season, Carnival Row returns to Amazon Prime Video for ten final episodes to conclude the story. The titular city continues to escalate its boiling tensions built around prejudice towards the immigration of mythical beings. After an extended hiatus, the audiences should be curious to follow if the conclusion to the epic fantasy series will be worthwhile. Having seen the entirety of the second season, the conclusion of Carnival Row will likely be well-received among already-existing fans of the series. However, there are noticeable faults that will hold back the quality for anyone who may be on the fence about one of Prime Video’s marquee series.

    Something worth discussing in season two of Carnival Row is how the pandemic adversely affected its production. Filming for the show faced multiple extended pauses following its start in November 2019 which meant it didn’t fully conclude until September 2021. With that information in mind, one can understand how the narrative pacing issues came to be, though as time passes, it will be harder for audiences to use this notion as a crutch for some faults with the show’s ending. 

    A potential silver lining for the extended production time is that the visual effects for Carnival Row are top-notch. The creative team behind this season put what was likely an extremely high budget from Amazon Studios to optimal use. This is especially the case with the mysterious monster who quickly should rise to the ranks of great fantasy villains for audiences.

    One major credit that Carnival Row deserves is its high-quality acting. Across the board, the ensemble cast predominately provides strong performances that help level the characters for the audience despite the fantastical nature of the story. In particular, Karla Crome soars as Tourmaline Larou in an elevated role from season one that places her right in the heart of the main plot throughout the ten episodes. The pairing of David Gyasi and Tamzin Merchant’s Argeus Astrayon and Imogen Spurnrose also provides many highlights for season two of Carnival Row. And one would be remiss not to mention how well Darius Sykes, played by Ariyon Bakare, fits in a supporting role to elevate his scene partners. This is especially the case in providing Orlando Bloom’s Philo with a stronger sense of relatability throughout his story.

    Even though Carnival Row is home to various great acting performances, the writing and directorial teams struggle to unify these performances into what feels like a cohesive television season. The most predominant flaw in these ten episodes is how disparate most plot threads are for most of the runtime. The issue is especially the case with Argeus and Imogen’s characters who are geographically and narratively distant from anything of significance to the main story for more than half of the final season.

    And even for the storylines based directly on the location of Carnival Row, the two protagonists in Orlando Bloom’s Philo and Cara Delevigne’s Vignette seldom connect for most episodes. The separation between the two plays into themes of issues between the reunited relationship, but there are critical moments in the plots for both characters that would’ve been resolved if Philo or Vignette simply communicated more often about their plans. Anyone who enjoyed the developed relationship between Philo and Vignette in season one is likely to be disappointed in this component of season two.

    In addition to the disparate nature of various storylines, their pacing is another issue season two of Carnival Row faces. Multiple important threads move slowly for the first three-fourths of the season but reach radical turning points towards the endgame that don’t appear in line with what got set up in earlier episodes. Audiences also will find a critical component of Philo’s character set up to be an important lynchpin ignored throughout most of the conclusion. It ultimately leads to a notion of if Carnival Row was always meant to only last two seasons. The scripting for the show would’ve been better served if the creative team divided the show into a solitary second season followed by a concluding third.

    But even with a rushed ending, audiences will greatly feel the stakes of the conclusion once it begins to be set into motion. While pacing for numerous threads is inconsistent, they all are successful in building towards an epic conclusion by the final few episodes. And the issues of disparate storylines are erased by the time of the last few episodes. The close of the series provides some truly unexpected moments through its willingness to kill off lead characters as needed for a robust ending.

    The process of setting up the finale is ultimately emblematic of Carnival Row’s final season as a whole. There are noticeable issues in how audiences reach their destination, but there are equally enough dynamic elements that it shouldn’t be considered a bad ending. Season Two of Carnival Row earns its stripes as a landmark Amazon Prime Video series.

  • ‘The Batman’s Gotham PD Spinoff May Be in Development After All

    ‘The Batman’s Gotham PD Spinoff May Be in Development After All

    The DC Cinematic Universe is about to unwind in a new direction, but that doesn’t mean that Matt Reeves‘ corner of the DC Multiverse is going away anytime soon. Luckily, the new Elseworld branding gives them the opportunity to expand The Batman franchise. Just recently we are finally seeing some movement on the Penguin-focused spinoff with Rhenzy Feliz joining the project. Yet, there’s an interesting detail tucked away.

    For a while, there was a Gotham PD-focused series in development for HBO Max. Yet, that project eventually ended up becoming something entirely different with the focus now set on Arkham Asylum. While we only know that the project is being spearheaded by Antonio Campos, it seems that a Gotham PD series is in development. Variety points out that it’s one of the three The Batman spinoffs Matt Reeves is using to expand his unique corner of the franchise.

    It’ll be interesting to see how Matt Reeves maps out these projects, as we won’t have the sequel to The Batman until 2025. So, we might have these series to bridge us until then. Gotham PD was originally going to be Batman’s Year One but that may have changed. If Arkham Asylum took over that timeline, this may be something that’ll be used to explore the aftermath of the events from the first film.

    We can only speculate and there’s no word about who might be involved with the project. There’s a good chance that it simply is still on the table while the main focus relies on the Arkham Asylum series, which still has no title. Actually, even the Penguin-focused spinoff doesn’t have a title quite yet. So, we’ll have to see what’s heading our way once Matt Reeves gets a chance to share what his universe plans are.

    Source: Variety

  • Newly Leaked ‘One Piece’ Set Props Tease Iconic Locations

    Newly Leaked ‘One Piece’ Set Props Tease Iconic Locations

    After a long wait, we finally got our first look at the upcoming live-action adaptation of One Piece. While the posters only give us a glimpse, it means we’re about to see more from it as the months go by for this adaptation. People are still nervous, as with any live-action adaptation of a popular manga or anime, but there is something promising about this offering, especially how enthusiastic the already existing fanbase is.

    @OP_Netflix_Fan and @OPLAfandom have seemingly uncovered a variety of set props that hint at different locations that’ll be featured in the live-action adaptation. Among these various props, the one that stands out the most is the Tangerine signs for Nami’s hometown, Coco Village. In the anime, it was known as Cocoyasi Village but shortened to Coco Village in the VIZ manga adaptation and the infamous 4Kids dub. It may still be named Cocoyasi but shortened for the adaptation.

    The next are two signs that are supposedly from Loguetown. One is a caffé and a pizzeria. The interesting thing here is the name “Dei Nuovi Inizi” which translates to “Of New Beginnings” fitting for Loguetown which acts as a prologue and epilogue to those journeying from and to the Grand Line.

    Last but not least, we have a familiar location already teased during last year’s Geeked Week. We saw the neon sign for Party’s Bar situated in Windmill Village, the hometown of Luffy. It’s run by Makino and plays a big part in Luffy’s origin story. While the image of the Cocktail menu doesn’t reveal anything, if you look closely you’ll see they are using the Berry symbol, which confirms it’ll keep the in-universe currency for the adaptation. It’s a bit hard to make out but you can see the top of the same symbol used in the manga.

    It’s definitely exciting to get a little glimpse behind the scenes as we continue the build-up toward the official release. We’ll have to see how long the wait will be until we get another glimpse at the project, but you can explore our feature on when the promotion might truly kick off by clicking here.

    Source: Twitter

  • Kevin Feige on Moon Knight’s MCU Future

    Kevin Feige on Moon Knight’s MCU Future

    Marvel Studios D+ streaming series Moon Knight was well-received by critics and fans, leaving the latter hungry for more adventures with the character. Star Oscar Issac and director Mohamed Diab seem ready to spin more stories as well, but nearly a year after the conclusion of the first series, the future of the character has remained a mystery…until now.

    In an interview with EW, Marvel Studios’ biggest decision maker, finally gave some insight into what’s next for Moon Knight. “I think there’s a future for that character as we move forward,” Feige said of Marc, Steven and apparently Jake. Whether that means a second season of the show or simply a continuation of his story told in theatrical projects is unclear, but with Marvel Studios looking to cut back a bit on the number of streaming projects and their pacing, Season 2 of Moon Knight might be YEARS away. In that case, the Fist of Khonshu might turn up as a powerful ally to the Avengers in a film or two before the end of the Multiverse Saga!

    Source: EW

  • Marvel Studios to Cut Back on Disney Plus Programming

    Marvel Studios to Cut Back on Disney Plus Programming

    Not too long ago, it seemed as though rolling out four films and four streaming series might be the norm for Marvel Studios, but 2022 was not without its challenges. For some time now, rumors have swirled that Marvel Studios might look to cut back on the amount of content it releases each year as it learned from its first couple of years of streaming programming. While Kevin Feige isn’t ready to put a number to it, it sounds like fans might be getting back to waiting longer in between projects.

    In an interview with EW, Feige was asked about the studio’s ever-expanding library of content, which has become the source of frustration and jokes among fans.

    “It is harder to hit the zeitgeist when there’s so much product out there — and so much “content,” as they say, which is a word that I hate,” said Feige. “But we want Marvel Studios and the MCU projects to really stand out and stand above. So, people will see that as we get further into Phase 5 and 6. The pace at which we’re putting out the Disney+ shows will change so they can each get a chance to shine.”

    When asked to clarify if a change of pace meant spacing out the shows or releasing fewer a year, Feige gave a relatively clear answer, “Both, I think.” Part of that process may be a natural progression as the studio realizes that fans are having a hard time keeping up with all the changes made to characters between appearances. Part of that process may also be the result of a history of productions being rushed to meet timelines. In that regard, Marvel may have learned their lesson and the streaming series Echo may be the first evidence of that. Originally said to be coming to D+ in Summer of 2023, the series seems to have been delayed indefinitely, though not canceled as many rumor-mongers would have you believe.

    Surely some more details about changes to the upcoming slate of projects should be forthcoming from Marvel Studios given the fact that they rolled out a two year calendar at SDCC, but until then it looks like fans should start preparing themselves for a little less Marvel every calendar year.

    Source: EW

  • Jinkies! ‘Velma’ Season Two Reportedly In The Works

    Jinkies! ‘Velma’ Season Two Reportedly In The Works

    Warner Bros. TV is planning more firepower for its slate of comedy series, including a second season for Velma. Despite significant backlash from the first season of the HBO Max original, there are plans to forge ahead. There have been no indications of storylines for season two, but it’s reasonable to suspect the series will continue to push boundaries.

    Mindy Kaling, executive producer and voice of Velma Dinkley, previously spoke about wanting to explore the possibilities of challenging expectations. Showrunner Charlie Grandy backs Kaling saying, “We faced no resistance. We came in and said, ‘This is what we want to do, and this is how we want to do it.’”

    If Velma season two is going to work, it will likely be on the efforts of the pure viewing numbers alone. The show holds the record for the biggest premiere day for any animated original on HBO Max.

    Source: Deadline