TAGGED AS: FX, TCA, TCA Winter 2020
FX’s day at the Television Critics Association winter press tour was loaded with news of premiere dates and renewals; although not every anticipated show is coming as soon as its fans would like (or as FX had promised). FX Networks and FX Productions chairman shared the following details on hits like Atlanta and American Horror Story — as well as new shows like Devs — with entertainment journalists on Thursday morning.
Plus, news of a hot new adaptation for another prestige network in today’s edition of TV Talk.
(Photo by FX)
Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk‘s hit anthology series American Horror Story has been renewed through season 13, FX announced. The announcement keeps the Emmy-winning campy fright fest on the network for (at least) three more seasons following the previously-ordered season 10 set to air later this year.
“Somehow it just feels really poetic to me that American Horror Story will have 13 seasons,” Landgraf chuckled.
Still, he said that Murphy hasn’t revealed any details on what the themes for these new seasons will be.
“It’s like an annual ritual for him,” Landgraf said of Murphy, adding that “he loves the act of imagination and creating something new, starting from the ground up with a concept, production design, casting, makeup hair costume. Every year, he probably has a bucket of possibilities. But every year, he kind of figures out what he’s obsessed with this year, what he thinks is relevant. Sometimes it’s classic. Sometimes it’s more responding to the moment. And then, he surprises me by telling me what it’s going to be.”
(Photo by Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for TIME)
Despite the good news about AHS, Landgraf said that there will be some lag time with another project from Murphy (pictured) and his producing partners. American Crime Story: Impeachment, the latest chapter in the Emmy-winning anthology series based on true events, was supposed to premiere on September 27.
Landgraf said that this is now infeasible for the drama, which tells the story of the Bill Clinton impeachment trial with Beanie Feldstein as Monica Lewinsky and Clive Owen as the embattled president — not because of the backlash the network faced over its intention to premiere right before the 2020 election, but because Murphy is currently filming a movie, and production won’t start on Impeachment until March.
“The factor determining that [hold up] is Ryan’s availability,” Landgraf said. “The fact that we won’t be done by September is determined by his availability.”
If it sweetens the blow, FX did announce premiere dates for many of its new and returning shows.
Perhaps filling the ACS void is Mrs. America, a new limited series starting April 15 in which a star-studded cast depicts the women’s rights movement of the last century. Cate Blanchett stars as Phyllis Schlafly, Rose Byrne is Gloria Steinem, and Uzo Aduba appears as Shirley Chisholm.
New comedies Breeders and Dave premiere March 2 and March 4, respectively, while tech thriller Devs starts March 5 (more on that below). All four episodes of new docu-series The Most Dangerous Animal of All premiere March 6.
The fourth and final season of Pamela Adlon’s lauded dramedy Better Things starts March 5, as does the second season of weekly comedy showcase Cake. The second season of vampire mockumentary series What We Do in the Shadows starts April 15. The fourth installment of anthology series Fargo starts April 19, and season 11 of Archer starts May 6.
(Photo by Matthias Clamer/FX)
The new season of FX dramedy Atlanta is long delayed because creator Donald Glover has been busy with other projects. Landgraf said that, instead of one long season, the next 16 episodes of Atlanta will be broken up into two seasons. One is intended to premiere in early 2021 while the other will hit later that year.
“They’re going to shoot them all in sequence,” Landgraf said, while teasing that “a good chunk of it shoots outside the United States.”
(Photo by NEON)
In other TV news, Parasite writer-director Bong Joon Ho has partnered with Adam McKay on a television adaptation of his Korean-language awards hit for HBO, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
“It is unclear if the limited series will be some sort of follow-up to the movie or an English-language remake,” THR reported.
Creator Alex Garland’s eagerly anticipated technology-centered thriller stars Sonoya Mizuno as a computer programmer investigating her boyfriend’s mysterious disappearance. To complicate matters, they both work for a computing company run by Nick Offerman’s well-whiskered and powerful Forest. But don’t get too obsessed with the series. Landgraf said that, while he’d be “dancing an Irish jig” for more of Devs, right now the plan is for it to be an actual limited series of eight episodes.
(Photo by Macall Polay/FX)
FX’s adaptation of Brian K. Vaughan and Pia Guerra’s comic-book series Y: The Last Man has gone through plenty of behind-the-scenes drama. Eliza Clark took over as showrunner from Michael Green and Aïda Mashaka Croal last year and Landgraf says he’s seen five to six episodes.
Even though the title Y doesn’t make for good online searching, FX plans to keep it.
“It’s informally called Y, but we haven’t gone through the process of figuring out … marketing it,” Landgraf said.
