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The Haunting of Hill House creators Mike Flanagan and Trevor Macy sign a deal with Amazon Studios. Robert De Niro will have his first series starring role in Netflix’s political limited series Zero Day, while Scarlett Johansson will have her small-screen starring-role debut in Prime Video’s Just Cause. The Last of Us character posters arrive. Comic book legend Frank Miller is adapting Hugo Pratt’s Corto Maltese graphic novels for television. Plus, trailers for 1923, starring Harrison Ford and Helen Mirren, Netflix’s That ’70s Show spinoff That ’90s Show, season 3 of Prime Video’s espionage thriller Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan, and more of the biggest news in TV and streaming from the past week.
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The creators of Netflix genre series including The Haunting Of Hill House and Midnight Mass have signed an exclusive series-production deal with Amazon Studios. In the multiyear overall series deal, Mike Flanagan and Trevor Macy will develop and produce projects via their Intrepid Pictures banner will exclusively stream on Prime Video in more than 240 countries and territories worldwide.
“Mike and Trevor are remarkable at telling immersive, suspenseful stories that masterfully keep audiences engaged from start to finish,” Vernon Sanders, head of global television at Amazon Studios, said in a statement. “We are excited to welcome them to Amazon Studios and are looking forward to our global customers experiencing their genre-bending creativity.”
“Amazon is a studio that we have long admired. Their commitment to engaging in groundbreaking series and content aligns with the ethos of what we have built at Intrepid. We are looking forward to working with the entire Amazon team as we bring our brand of genre productions to the service and audiences around the globe,” Flanagan and Macy said in the statement.
(Photo by Netflix)
Flanagan took to Tumblr to reveal that their series The Midnight Club has been canceled by Netflix and to generously clear up some of season 1’s dangling mysteries.
“I’m writing this blog as our official second season, so you can know what might have been, learn the fates of your favorite characters, and know the answers to those dangling story threads from the first season,” Flanagan wrote.
Given the nature of the facility that the teens were housed in, it should come as no surprise that most of them eventually die; the shadow they’ve been seeing is a version of themselves that comes to bring them “understanding and catharsis” at their deaths; the janitor is Death, who sees them off with some kind words; Spence benefits from mid-90s HIV breakthroughs; and Ilonka and Kevin are reincarnated soulmates — who they see as seeming ghosts Mirror Man and the Cataract Woman — one of whom built the house and is named after the builder of the Stanley Hotel (the inspiration for The Shining).
“While they seemed scary in season 1, that was just how Ilonka and Kevin’s mind were trying to remember their pasts. We even had their faces distorting in ways consistent with how memories degrade over time,” Flanagan wrote of Mirror Man and the Cataract Woman.
“It’s a shame we won’t get to make [season 2], but it would be a bigger shame if you guys simply had to live with the unanswered questions and the cliffhanger ending,” Flanagan wrote.
(Photo by Kristina Bumphrey/Variety via Getty Images)
Robert De Niro is set to star in Zero Day, a limited series being developed at Netflix by Eric Newman (Narcos, The Watcher) and Noah Oppenheim, the current president of NBC News, Variety reports.
While the main details of the project are unknown at this time, Zero Day will be a political thriller and De Niro, in his first regular TV series role, will take on the role of a former U.S. president, according to Variety.
All-new #TheLastOfUs character posters feature Pedro Pascal, Bella Ramsey, Storm Reid, Nick Offerman, and more. pic.twitter.com/0Y7xSwNQK4
— Rotten Tomatoes (@RottenTomatoes) November 30, 2022
“Men kill quick with a bullet or a noose,” says Helen Mirren, sporting an Irish accent as Cara Dutton in the new trailer for the Yellowstone prequel series. “But the fight is with me and I kill much slower.”
The next chapter of Taylor Sheridan’s enthralling Yellowstone universe, viewers will venture back to the year 1923, where Jacob and Cara Dutton fight to protect their land against Donald Whitfield (Timothy Dalton), the family’s sinister neighbor.
World War I may be ending, with Prohibition gaining headway across the country, but that’s all just background noise to the Duttons.
“You attack my family, it’s gonna be the last thing you ever do,” Ford’s Jacob warns.
By the looks of things, the family will have some bigger fish to fry once the series premieres on December 18 to Paramount+.
More trailers and teasers released this week:
• Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan finds Jack accused of treason with a Red Notice out for his arrest in the third season of Prime Video’s hit series. Can Jack race against the clock to clear his name and stop the cascade of destabilizing conflicts from leading to global catastrophe? Premieres December 21. (Prime Video)
• Doom Patrol season 4, Part 1 mixes things up for the team as they unexpectedly travel to the future to find an unwelcome surprise. Faced with their imminent demise, the Doom Patrol must decide once and for all which is more important: their own happiness or the fate of the world? Premieres December 8. (HBO Max)
• Shrinking follows a grieving therapist (Jason Segel) who decides to break the rules and tell his clients exactly what he thinks. Ignoring his training and ethics, he finds himself making huge, tumultuous changes to people’s lives — including his own. Premieres January 27. (Apple TV+)
• Lizzo: Live in Concert will ring the New Year in with style with Emmy and three-time GRAMMY-winning superstar Lizzo, her band The Lizzbians and The Little Bigs, and The Big Grrrls with special guests Cardi B, SZA and Missy Elliott. Expect lots of love, positivity, and incredible music. Premieres December 31. (HBO Max)
• The Best Man: The Final Chapters is the continuation of the Universal film franchise written and directed by Malcolm D. Lee. The series will catch up with Harper, Robyn, Jordan, Lance, Quentin, Shelby, Candace, and Murch as relationships evolve and past grievances resurface in the unpredictable stages of midlife crisis meets midlife renaissance. Premieres December 22. (Peacock)
• That ’90s Show takes viewers back to the world of That ’70s Show, just two decades later. Set in 1995, the spinoff follows Leia Forman (Callie Haverda) who comes to Point Place to visit her grandparents, Red and Kitty. She soon finds what she’s looking for right next door when she meets the dynamic and rebellious Gwen. With the help of Gwen’s friends, including her lovable brother Nate, his smart, laser-focused girlfriend Nikki, the sarcastic and insightful Ozzie, and the charming Jay, Leia realizes adventure could happen there just like it did for her parents all those years ago. Premieres January 19. (Netflix)
• Emily in Paris season 3 picks up where we last left Miss Cooper, as she was forced to reckon with a major decision: staying at the Gilbert Group, which had rather unceremoniously taken over the Savoir offices, and return home to Chicago after a year like she’d always planned — or join Sylvie at her new marketing firm, throwing caution to the wind and fully embracing the Parisian way of life by making a permanent home there. Decisions, decisions. Premieres December 21 (Netflix)
• Baking It season 2 finds Amy Poehler joining Maya Rudolph as host of the quirky holiday competition series. Eight teams of two talented home bakers will compete for confectionary glory. Premieres December 12. (Peacock)
• Godfather of Harlem continues exploring the story of infamous crime boss Bumpy Johnson in season 3 as the criminal underworld of the 1960s and the civil rights movement collides. Premieres January 15. (MGM+)
• The Rig follows those working on an oil rig off the coast of Scotland. When the time comes for them to return back to land, the oil rig becomes engulfed by a supernatural mist. Can the crew survive and make it back to dry land? Premieres January 6. (Prime Video)
For all the latest TV and streaming trailers subscribe to the Rotten Tomatoes TV YouTube channel.
(Photo by Monica Schipper/Getty Images for David Yurman)
Scarlett Johansson will star and executive produce Prime Video’s limited series Just Cause, based on the 1992 novel by John Katzenbach. Deadline reports Johansson will play Madison “Madi” Cowart — a role that was gender-swapped from the book’s male protagonist Matt Cowart — a Florida journalist covering the final days of a death row inmate. Johansson’s connection to the project stems back to her early days as an actress as she appeared in the 1995 film adaptation of the book, playing the 10-year-old daughter of Harvard law professor Paul Armstrong, who was played by Sean Connery.
Related: Everything We Know About The Boys Season 4 — Rosemarie Dewitt Joins Cast, Simon Pegg To Return
Disney+ and National Geographic have solidified the remaining cast for Genius: MLK/X. Ron Cephas Jones will play Elijah Muhammad, the leader of the Nation of Islam; Gary Carr is Clyde X, Elijah Muhammad’s trusted confidant; and Hubert Point-Du Jour will step into the role of Baptist minister and Civil Rights leader, Ralph Abernathy. (Deadline)
Yellowstone prequel 1923 has added Peter Stormare, Tim Dekay, and Amelia Rico in recurring roles. Stormare will play a weathered and wise sailor named Lucca; Delay is Montana rancher Bob Strafford; and Rico will play a Crow woman named Issaxche. (Variety)
(Photo by Courtesy of NATAS)
The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (NATAS) has tapped Emmy nominee Jack McBrayer (30 Rock, Hello, Jack! The Kindness Show) and music and social media sensation JoJo Siwa to host the first annual Children’s & Family Emmy Awards. McBrayer will take the stage for the Children’s & Family ceremony on Sunday, December 11 and Siwa will host the Children’s & Family Creative Arts Emmy ceremony on Saturday, December 10. Both events will take place at the Wilshire Ebell Theatre in Los Angeles.
This Is Us alum Mandy Moore will star opposite Edgar Ramirez in season 2 of Peacock’s anthology series, Dr. Death. She’s set to play investigative journalist Benita Alexander, who, as the press release states, “falls into a whirlwind romance with celebrated surgeon Paolo Macchiarini (Ramirez), only to realize she’d be uncovering more about him than she would have ever imagined.”
Prime Video’s Alex Cross series, starring Aldis Hodge, has added Ryan Eggold and Isaiah Mustafa to the cast. Eggold will play charming, well-connected, and devious Midwesterner Ed Ramsey. Mustafa is John Sampson, Alex’s long-time best friend and partner on the police force. (THR)
David Corenswet will star in FX’s The Answers, an adaptation of Catherine Lacey’s mind-bending novel of the same name. The series hails from Kit Steinkellner, Danny Strong, and Darren Aronofsky. (Deadline)
Kate Dickie has joined the cast of #Loki Season 2.
The Game of Thrones actress will reportedly play a villain in the new season of the Marvel series.
via @Deadline – https://t.co/jC6Ked5rQR pic.twitter.com/bKiNG2LRLr
— Rotten Tomatoes (@RottenTomatoes) December 2, 2022
Pretty Little Liars alum Janel Parrish joins the cast of new Hallmark Movies & Mysteries original Family History Mysteries: Buried Past. She’ll play expert genealogist Sophie McClure, who excels at digging up the past and bringing families together. (Deadline)
Hulu’s Career Opportunities of Murder and Mayhem has cast Christian Svensson as physically intimidating and intellectual business man, Andreas Windeler. (Deadline)
Brandy and Rita Ora have been cast in Disney+’s original movie The Pocketwatch (wt), the latest installment in Disney’s hit Descendants franchise. Brandy will reprise her role as Cinderella, which she first played in Disney Television’s 1997 live version of Rogers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella. Ora will play the villainous Queen of Hearts, from “Alice in Wonderland” fame.
(Photo by Stefania M. D'Alessandro/Getty Images for RFF)
Frank Miller, the comic book writer famous for The Dark Knight, Sin City, and 300 (among many others) is on board to create, write and executive produce a limited series based on Italian illustrator Hugo Pratt’s Corto Maltese graphic novels. The character of Corto Maltese was created in 1967 by Pratt. He is a heroic sailor seeking out adventure in his worldly travels. Miller is taking point on all things Corto Maltese and will develop the six-episode live-action series in partnership with StudioCanal and Canal+ (the studio recruited Miller for the job) and special effects guru Phil Tippett (Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope, Robocop) will oversee the visual effects. (THR)
Disney+’s The Artful Dodger series has revealed its main cast. Thomas Brodie-Sangster will play Jack Dawkins (better known as “The Artful Dodger”), David Thewlis is Fagin, and Maia Mitchell will play Lady Belle Fox in the streamer’s new take on the Charles Dickens classic. (THR)
Fox Entertainment and writer, producer, and director McG have partnered up in a non-exclusive broadcast direct development deal that would find the multi-hyphenate and his Wonderland Sound & Vision production company creating drama series for Fox. This is the latest step in McG’s long-standing relationship with the network, which stems back to his role as The O.C. executive producer. Most-recently, McG served as executive producer on Fox’s small-screen Lethal Weapon adaptation (in which he directed the first two episodes). All the programs developed under the deal will be fully owned and distributed by the network.
MGM+ has picked up scripted crime drama A Spy Among Friends, after the program was scrapped by Spectrum. Starring Damian Lewis and Guy Pierce, the six-episode limited series, which is based on the novel written by Ben Macintyre, explores the true story of two British spies and lifelong friends, Nicholas Elliott and Kim Philby. Philby rose to fame as the most notorious British defector and Soviet double agent in history. The series will premiere domestically on MGM+ in 2023. Internationally, A Spy Among Friends was commissioned by ITV for new streaming service ITVX, which will premiere the series in the UK in December.
(Photo by Netflix)
Netflix unveiled two first-look images for Idris Elba as DCI John Luther in the upcoming Luther movie. Elba will be joined by new co-stars Andy Serkis and Cynthia Erivo. Plot details are scarce for the project, thus far. The highly-anticipated title will premiere to the streamer in 2023.
(Photo by Netflix)
Drama series Eliza Starts a Rumor is in development at NBC. The project, which is based on the book of the same name by Jane L. Rosen, will follow a group of women who are affected by a rumor about an affair, posted anonymously on a mommy blog. (Deadline)
Gladys Knight has partnered with Cineflix Productions to create a series based on her life. If it moves forward, the series would follow the narrative example of Netflix’s The Crown and explore different periods of the music legend’s life. (Deadline)
Hulu’s next true-crime documentary series will be Stolen Youth: Inside the Cult at Sarah Lawrence, and will follow stories told by former students who fell victim to Larry Ray’s infamous sex cult in 2010. (Variety)
More original anime originals will be coming to Disney+, thanks to the expanded partnership between The Walt Disney Company and Japanese publishing powerhouse Kodansha. The collab will also bring established anime titles based on popular manga to the streamer, beginning with Tokyo Revengers: Christmas Showdown Arc premiering in January 2023. (THR)
Kaleidoscope stars Giancarlo Esposito, Rufus Sewell, Paz Vega, Tati Gabrielle, Peter Mark Kendall, Rosaline Elbay and Jai Courtney. The above behind-the-scenes clip gives further insight to the groundbreaking production, which will premiere on January 1 on Netflix.
Check out the first-look images, below:
(Photo by Netflix)
(Photo by David Scott Holloway/Netflix)
(Photo by Clifton Prescod/Netflix)
(Photo by Netflix)
(Photo by Netflix)
(Photo by Netflix)
(Photo by Clifton Prescod/Netflix)
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