The First Game of Thrones Prequel is On the Way

HBO has given the greenlight to the first of what could be several prequels / spin-offs from Game of Thrones. This one comes from Jane Goldman (Kingsman, Kick-Ass) and George R.R. Martin and following is the official synopsis given by the cable service:

Taking place thousands of years before the events of Game of Thrones, the series chronicles the world’s descent from the golden Age of Heroes into its darkest hour. And only one thing is for sure: from the horrifying secrets of Westeros’ history to the true origin of the white walkers, the mysteries of the East to the Starks of legend … it’s not the story we think we know.

There is no word at this point on when this will hit the small screen, but expect late 2019 at the earliest considering the production time need for a GoT series. The final season of the main series has completed filming and will likely have its debut around Spring 2019.

Cancellation Watch Weekly Roundup: Reverie Has Slow Start for NBC, Timeless Still Waiting for More Time Read

Joss Whedon Will Return to Television

The creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Firefly will be returning to television to work on the half-hour detective comedy series Pippa Smith: Grown-Up Detective. The series was created by Siobhan Thompson and Rebecca Drysdale and Hollywood Reporter gives the following description:

The project, which is in development at the younger-skewing, Disney-owned cable network, is described as a dark comedy that follows Pippa Smith, a twentysomething who played a former kid sleuth on television, as she deals with relationships, addiction and being too dang old for the detecting game. In each episode, Pippa solves a new case, while unraveling a bigger mystery and attempting to navigate a messy personal life.

It is unclear at this point if the series will include genre elements, but with Whedon attached as producer, consider that that a strong possibility.

DC Universe Streaming Service Set to Debut Around August

We have been hearing about the upcoming DC Universe streaming service for a while and now we are getting close to a debut date. DC Entertainment Community Manager Dani Snow recently said that late August looks like the time that the service will kick off. Snow went on to say the “right now, we’re working on getting everything from the back catalog of animated TV shows and movies on there now”. So when the service launches, it may only have reruns out of the gate. But currently there are plans for five original series to appear on the service: the live-action shows Titans and Metropolis, as well as the animated series Young Justice (returning from cancellation), Harley Quinn, and The Swamp Thing. Titans and Young Justice are supposed to debut later this year with the other shows likely bowing at some point in 2019. There is also a possibility that FOX’s recently cancelled Lucifer could make a move to the new streaming service (but that is speculation only).

Freeform Has Another Genre Entry in the Works

Freeform has given a pilot order for the military-fantasy drama Motherland. Following is the logline for the series:

Set in an alternate America where witches ended their persecution 300 years ago by cutting a deal with the U.S. government to fight for their country, the series follows three young women from basic training in combat magic into early deployment at Fort Salem. In this world, the traditional roles of gender and power are flipped with the more dominant women on the front lines fighting looming terrorist threats that are familiar to our world, but with tactics and weapons supernatural.

The network will likely be looking at adding this to their 2019 schedule.

Sci Fi TV Status Report: Shadowhunters Cancelled by Freeform, Cloak & Dagger Has a Decent Start

Freeform announced earlier this week that its fantasy / supernatural series Shadowhunters will be ending after its third season, though the network has ordered two additional episodes to wrap up the show’s storylines. That one went on hiatus a couple of weeks ago after airing the first half of its third season, and the second half appeared to be heading toward a late Summer return date. But with the cancellation, the network has moved those episodes to a 2019 start so that they can air together with the final two episodes which will be produced later this year. That group of episodes will be referred to as Shadowhunters: The Final Hunt and will cover books four through six from the series of novels.  You can read more about the cancellation at this link.

On Thursday, Freeform’s new series Cloak & Dagger, based on the Marvel comic book of the same name, had its debut and pulled a 0.29 rating based on same day viewing for the 18-49 demographic with 835K total viewers.  Those are decent numbers for that network and about in line with the 0.30 rating that renewed series Siren had for its premiere in Spring.  If the numbers for Cloak & Dagger‘s first season track similar to that show, expect a second year renewal. Be sure to follow CancelledSciFi.com and the Cancelled Sci Fi Twitter Site to keep track of the renewal / cancellation prospects of your favorite shows.

Sci Fi TV Schedule: 12 Monkeys Returns for Its Final Season

Another Summer entry joins the schedule next week as Syfy’s 12 Monkeys starts airing its final season on Friday.  That show will air three-hour blocks of episodes on that night through July 6th when it has its two-hour series finale.  Also next week, FOX’s supernatural comedy Ghosted returns to air its remaining first season episodes starting on Sunday. In addition, several shows will be wrapping up or going on hiatus during the week.  On Monday, Crackle’s Supermansion will have its third season finale.  On Tuesday, FX’s Legion wraps up its second season.  And on Sunday, AMC’s Into the Badlands has its mid-season finale. You can see the full Summer 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

Penguin Random House is planning a series of novel tie-ins with Netflix’s Stranger Things starting with a prequel that will cover the story of Eleven’s mother and the MKUltra program.

Starz’s American Gods has cast Kahyun Kim in the role of Media, replacing Gillian Anderson who played the character in the show’s first season. Other casting announcements include Dean Winters as Mr. Town and Devery Jacobs as Sam Black Crow.

Ruth Wilson and James McAvoy have joined the upcoming BBC His Dark Materials series and will play Mrs. Coulter and Lord Asriel respectively.