This week in TV news: Game of Thrones speculation to cheer die-hard fans, Inhumans and other development news, Space Ghost, and castings: Holly Hunter, Rumer Willis, and more.
HBO Talks Game of Thrones Prequel + Take the Poll!
HBO programming president Casey Bloys confirmed this week that the network is still talking to A Song of Ice and Fire series author George R.R. Martin about developing a prequel to hit series Game of Thrones, which is expected to wrap after its eighth season. “It’s still kind of preliminary ongoing talks,” Bloys told EW. (Read RT’s interview with Aisling Franciosi, who plays prequel-speculation favorite character Lyanna Stark.) The show also released its sixth season on DVD and Blu-ray (including four deleted scenes) this week and announced a fan event tie-in. “Game of Thrones: Season 6 – Behind the Scenes” includes three groundbreaking events with interactive experiences including photo, video, and virtual reality that take fans behind the scenes and immerse them into the world of Game of Thrones. The event makes its first stop at Astor Place in New York City on Friday, Nov. 18 and Saturday, Nov. 19, followed by stops at Grant Park in Chicago on Saturday, Nov. 26 and Sunday, Nov. 27, and at Hollywood & Highland in Los Angeles on Friday, Dec. 9 and Saturday, Dec. 10. The operating hours for all events and dates are 12:30 p.m.–8 p.m. Fans can pre-register for the event by visiting GoTBehindTheScenes.com for expedited entry.
[socialpoll id=”2401410″ path=”/polls/2401410″ fif=”false”]
The Inhumans Are Coming! Along With a Bunch of Other Things
The Inhumans are coming! The Inhumans are coming! The race of powerful superhumans first presented in comic form by Marvel in 1965
will debut on TV and IMAX in 2017. ABC will introduce versions of the first two episodes of
Marvel’s The Inhumans in IMAX theaters in late summer 2017 prior to its network debut next fall. “
Confessions of a Drug-Addicted High School Teacher” — a non-fiction article by Jason Smith on the Addiction Unscripted blog site
will also hit ABC as a limited series called
Pecos.
Variety revealed that
Empress, a developing series about the seventh and eighth century Chinese empress Wu Zetian, is set to hit American home screens in late 2018. It will star and be co-produced by 61 year old Chinese actress-producer
Liu Xiaoqing.
Joe Sofranko and Lili Fuller are
writing The Cut on Fox, a dance drama set in the Manhattan School of Dance.
Robert Downey Jr. and
Susan Downey‘s new production company Team Downey signed a first-look deal with Sonar Entertainment and are developing new series
Singularity, co-created and starring
Anthony Michael Hall. The TV adaptation of
Neil Gaiman‘s book
American Gods has been in production for Starz, and now we hear Gaiman is creating an
original fantasy show about alternate realities called
The Building at 20th Century Fox TV. In more comic-to-TV news, The CW is planning a
TV adaptation of Valiant graphic novel Dr. Mirage written by
Gary Dauberman and produced by CBS TV Studios.
Rosewood producer
Andy Berman and creator–executive producer
Todd Harthan have been
recruited by Fox to bring new series
Hawk — a twisty legal drama — to life, And finally, on the day of the finale of
Candle Cove, which is the debut season of SyFy anthology series
Channel Zero, the
teaser trailer was dropped for the second season, which is titled
No End-House and will premiere in 2017.
Judges Panel Blocks Release of Making a Murderer Co-Defendant
The murder conviction of Brendan Dassey was overturned in August after the Netflix documentary Making a Murderer raised many questions about his — and co-defendant Steven Avery’s — case in the murder of photographer Theresa Halbach. But now, Judge William Duffin, has ordered the release of the 27-year-old. Initially, the state of Wisconsin was allowed a maximum of 90 days to carry out the release, but the judge ordered immediate release. In a new turn of events, however, the state filed an emergency injunction to keep Dassey behind bars, and on Thursday a three-judge panel granted the motion without revealing why. Avery, is also still imprisoned, though he revealed in an episode of Dr. Phil in early October that he had hoped to be released soon and to marry new fiancée Lynn Hartman. But in the weeks following the air date, the relationship seems to have ended. The convict also told Dr.Phil that he thinks Brad Pitt ought to play him in a fictional film based on his story. We’re sure that — in some alternate universe — that resemblance is uncanny.
Rumer Willis, Holly Hunter, Damon Wayans Jr., and Courtney B. Vance in Casting News This Week
Rumer Willis has landed a pivotal role on the hip-hop drama series
Empire. Willis, who is also a singer in real life, will play an explosive singer-songwriter essential to Jamal’s work, but is also trying to make a comeback of her own. Drama ensues.
New Girl and
Let’s Be Cops co-stars
Damon Wayans Jr. and Jake Johnson are reteaming in a new single comedy
The Henchman helmed by the duo. Wayans is expected to star in the comedy, which has been acquired by Fox.
Holly Hunter joins a pethora of movie stars headed to the small screen. Hunter will star in a contemporary straight-to-series drama from
Alan Ball for HBO. She will star as Audrey Black, the head of a multi-racial family, who, along with her husband, are socially conscious idealists who decided to build a family by adopting children from several different countries before having a child of their own. Emmy-award winning
Courtney B. Vance will join
Felicity Huffman in ABC’s new
Libby & Malcolm. The show is about a blended family that revolves around to political pundits from opposite points of view that fall in love.
Libby & Malcolm is being co-written by
Kenya Barris, creator-showrunner of ABC’s hit
Black-ish.
Every Episode of Space Ghost Coast To Coast Now Available Online
Fans of the late-night talk-show spoof Space Ghost Coast to Coast can rejoice, as all 92 episodes have been uploaded onto the Adult Swim website to stream for free. The chance to binge-watch the entire series should come as a comfort to the show’s loyal viewers after the loss of C. Martin Croker, animator and the voice of Zorak, who passed away in September.
