Star Wars Goes Anime with New Series
The long-expected announcement for the new Star Wars animated series finally hit yesterday as Disney announced that the anime-inspired Star Wars: Resistance will debut on the Disney Channel and Disney XD in Fall 2018. According to Hollywood Reporter, the new show will focus on “Kazuda Xiono, a young pilot recruited by the Resistance whose mission is to spy on the growing threat of the First Order.” The series will take place prior to the events in Star Wars: The Force Awakens and Oscar Isaac and Gwendoline Christie will return on a recurring basis to voice their characters from the movies Poe Dameron and Captain Phasma. The series will also have the droid BB-8 as a regular character. Dave Filoni, who worked on Star Wars: Clone Wars and Star Wars Rebels, created the series and claims that the idea “came out of my interest in World War II aircraft and fighter pilots”. A premiere date has not been set yet, but expect it to hit the schedule around the September to October time frame.
Netflix Orders Another Life Starring Katee Sackhoff
Battlestar: Galactica alum Katee Sackhoff is returning to sci fi TV in the upcoming Netflix series Another Life. The streaming service has placed a ten-episode order for the show and Variety gives the following description:
The series will star Katee Sackhoff as astronaut Niko Breckenridge as she leads a crew on a mission to explore the genesis of an alien artifact. As she and her young crew investigate, they face unimaginable danger on what might very well be a one-way mission.
Aaron Martin (Slasher) created the series and it will likely bow on the streaming service at some point in 2019.
Sci Fi TV Development: Origins, Heart of Darkness, and More
And yet more new announcements this week as sci fi TV development continues at a frenzied pace in the Peak TV rush. YouTube has given a ten-episode order to the sci fi series Origins which stars Harry Potter alums Natalia Tena and Tom Felton. Deadline Hollywood gives the following description for the project:
Created, written and exec produced by Mika Watkins, the 10-episode series follows a group of strangers who find themselves stranded on a spacecraft bound for a distant planet. The abandoned passengers must work together for survival, but quickly realize that one of them is far from who they claim to be.
The series is expected to debut on YouTube Red later this year. Sony’s Crackle streaming service is working on a sci fi series based on Joseph Conrad’s seminal novel Heart of Darkness. Variety gives the following description:
The project is set in the future where Earth is a distant memory. It is described as an exploration of what it means to be human on a space odyssey where the survival of the human race hangs in the balance and will explore themes of race, immigration, and colonization much like the book.
That one is in development now and has not received a series order yet. Chernin Entertainment and Endeavor Content have picked up the rights for a television adaptation of After the Flood based on the yet-to-be-published novel of the same name by Kassandra Montag. Deadline Hollywood gives the following description of the story:
The novel, which had several suitors, is set in a post apocalyptic 2130. The Earth has flooded, leaving an archipelago of mountaintops surrounded by water. Myra and her young daughter join a large ship searching for safe haven. Her oldest daughter, Row, was kidnapped during the flood. When Myra convinces the crew to head north in an effort to rescue Row, the decision changes everyone’s fate.
This is in early development at this point and no network is attached yet.
Sci Fi TV on the Big Screen: Two Star Trek Films are in the Works
It looks like Star Trek will continue its voyages on the big screen as Paramount has announced plans for a fourth film in the reboot series that J.J. Abrams kicked off in 2009. S.J. Clarkson (Jessica Jones) is currently pegged as the director for that one which would be the first time a woman has helmed a Trek film. The script for that has not been written, but apparently the Quentin Tarantino-led film is still moving forward at Paramount as well. Not much is known about that one other than it will be R-rated and written by Mark L. Smith (The Revenant). It is also believed that it will not take place in the alternate timeline created by the reboots and could bring by actors from the original series and/or its spin-offs.
Sci Fi TV Status Report: Syfy Cancels Ghost Wars after One Season
Syfy announced over the weekend that its freshman supernatural series Ghost Wars has been cancelled after one season. That show started out last Fall without much promotion and debuted with numbers that were low even for a Syfy entry. It never managed to build up much of an audience nor develop a fanbase and appeared destined for cancellation since early in its run. That show, like the network’s other new supernatural series Superstition, seemed like an odd programming choice for a network that had claimed it was returning to its sci fi roots. Syfy has struggled to convince the sci fi community to tune back into its shows after its 2009 rebranding, and adding two new supernatural entries in Fall seemed like a misfire because that is not what fans were looking for from the network. The cancellation for Ghost Wars has been expected, and a similar announcement for the equally low-rated Superstition will likely come by the end of the season. That latter show will begin streaming internationally on Netflix at the end of April, so there is a slight chance that could help its fate if it proves popular in other countries.
In ratings news, FX’s Legion saw an improvement to its numbers on Tuesday as it pulled a 0.20 rating based on same day viewing for the 18-49 demographic with 434K total viewers. Those ratings are still significantly lower than what the show was seeing last year, but at least it has staved off its downward trend for one week. Over on Syfy, The Expanse improved to a 0.18 rating with 553K total viewers on Wednesday. If it can hold at or above this level, its chances for a fourth season pickup look a little better. You can keep up with the ratings results and renewal / cancellation status of your favorite sci fi and fantasy shows at at CancelledSciFi.com and the Cancelled Sci Fi Twitter Site
Sci Fi TV Schedule: Colony Returns for its Third Season on USA, The Rain Has Its Debut on Netflix
USA’s fan-favorite alien invasion series Colony returns with its third season premiere this week as it shifts nights to Wednesdays at 10 PM EST. Also this week, Netflix’s Danish post-apocalyptic series The Rain has it debut on Friday with all eight of its first season episodes available for viewing that day. Wrapping up for the week is CBS spy fi entry MacGyver which has its second season finale on Friday. Also, FOX’s The Last Man on Earth finishes its current season with its fourth year finale on Sunday. You can see the full Spring schedule of sci fi and fantasy shows at this link and you can keep up with the weekly listings at this link.
More Sci Fi TV News
Damon Lindelof has indicated that the upcoming HBO Watchmen series will not be a direct adaptation of the comic.
Netflix has set June 8th as the date that the series finale episode of Sense8 will be available for streaming.
Jurnee Smollett-Bell has been cast as the female lead in HBO’s upcoming dark fantasy series Lovecraft Country that comes from J.J. Abrams’ Bad Robot productions.
