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Liam Hemsworth will take over as Geralt of Rivia from Henry Cavill starting with season 4. Disney+ is working on a WandaVision spinoff series about new Vision. HBO Max has shifted story gears on its Green Lantern TV series after losing Seth Grahame-Smith as showrunner. Prime Video has provided a first look at its upcoming Fallout series and has ordered Sausage Party: Foodtopia from creators Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg. HBO Max’s The Batman prequel series has a new showrunner and will now take place in Arkham Asylum. Grey’s Anatomy alum Jesse Williams joins season 3 of Only Murders in the Building. Plus, trailers for season 4 of HBO’s Succession and the Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special on Disney+, and more of the week’s biggest news in TV and streaming.
(Photo by Jay Maidment/Netflix; Frazer Harrison/Getty Images)
Henry Cavill announced on Instagram that he’s leaving the role of monster-hunter Geralt of Rivia in The Witcher, but he still leads the cast in season 3. The Hunger Games star Liam Hemsworth will take over in the fourth season.
“My journey as Geralt of Rivia has been filled with both monsters and adventures,” Cavill posted, “and alas, I will be laying down my medallion and my swords for season 4. In my stead, the fantastic Mr. Liam Hemsworth will be taking up the mantle of the White Wolf. As with the greatest of literary characters, I pass the torch with reverence for the time spent embodying Geralt and enthusiasm to see Liam’s take on this most fascinating and nuanced of men. Liam, good sir, this character has such a wonderful depth to him, enjoy diving in and seeing what you can find.”
Hemsworth also posted on Instagram: “As a Witcher fan I’m over the moon about the opportunity to play Geralt of Rivia. Henry Cavill has been an incredible Geralt, and I’m honoured that he’s handing me the reins and allowing me to take up the White Wolf’s blades for the next chapter of his adventure. Henry, I’ve been a fan of yours for years and was inspired by what you brought to this beloved character. I may have some big boots to fill, but I’m truly excited to be stepping into The Witcher world.”
The series, from showrunner and executive producer Lauren Schmidt Hissrich, expands later this year with the four-part prequel series The Witcher: Blood Origin premiering on December 25, 2022, while The Witcher will return for season 3 in summer 2023.
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Cavill recently made an appearance as Superman in the DC Comics film Black Adam, the first time the actor has returned to the role in five years, and the actor confirmed in another Instagram post that he will play the character again in future DC installments.
“A very small taste of what’s to come, my friends,” Cavill wrote on a post with an image of him in the costume and a video in which he says, “I am back as Superman…Thank you for your support and thank you for your patience. I promise, it will be rewarded.”
DC Comics’ Instagram account replied: “Welcome back. ♥”
Related: James Gunn Tapped to Co-Lead DC Studios, and More Movie News
(Photo by DC Comics)
The Green Lantern has been in development since 2019 at HBO Max and, with the departure of showrunner Seth Grahame-Smith — who completed scripts for the full eight-episode season — the project is getting a creative overhaul. It is said Grahame-Smith exited the project after the Warner Bros. Discovery merger caused multiple strategic pivots, layoffs, and restructuring at HBO Max.
Originally set to focus around the characters of Guy Gardner and Alan Scott, with Finn Wittrock and Jeremy Irvine already cast to play each Green Lantern, the series (from executive producer Greg Berlanti) is starting over. Now it is being reported that the show will center on John Stewart, one of DC Comics’ first Black superheroes.
The decision to refocus Green Lantern arrives at a pivotal time for DC. Sources say the character of John Stewart was off the table to producers who envisioned the show as focusing on the first Green Lanterns, the openly gay Alan Scott, and Guy Gardner as well as a “multitude of other Lanterns — from comic book favorites to never-before-seen heroes.” With the exit of DCEU boss Walter Hamada, the choice was made to scrap things and rebuild the project around Stewart. (THR)
Get ready for a whole new Sausage Party. Prime Video has ordered an animated series inspired by 2016’s R-rated feature film created by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, titled Sausage Party: Foodtopia.
Rogen, who starred in the film – which follows a group of sentient grocery store items that come to life at night and eventually discover they’re meant to be eaten, sparking a hilarious mission to fight back – will return to the project along with cast members Kristen Wiig, Michael Cera, David Krumholtz, and Edward Norton. Joining them are newcomers Will Forte, Sam Richardson, Natasha Rothwell, and Yassir Lester.
“Film used to be the superior art form to television, and we humbly reached the pinnacle of what can be achieved with film in our remarkable opus, Sausage Party,” Rogen and Goldberg said in a statement. “But now that film is completely dead and TV is the forever-king of entertainment, we’ve decided to continue the epic adventures of our culinary crew in the soon-to-be-legendary televised masterpiece Sausage Party: Foodtopia. It’s got all the heart, double the puns, and triple the food-on-food sex. In other words, it’s exactly what the world needs right now.”
Sausage Party: Foodtopia will premiere exclusively on Prime Video in more than 240 countries and territories worldwide in 2024.
“I’m a hundred feet tall,” Logan Roy (Brian Cox) announces in the first official trailer for Succession season 4. “These people are pygmies.” If you thought the strain on the Roy family was tight before, by the looks of things, the tensions existing within the powerful clan are about to reach a crescendo. After the jaw-dropping events that transpired in the season 3 finale, a the younger Roys — Kendall (Jeremy Strong), Shiv (Sarah Snook), and Roman (Kiernan Culkin) — have bounded together to go to war against their father who basically pulled the rug out from under them with his strategic moves to sell Waystar Royco to tech visionary Lukas Matsson (Alexander Skarsgård). What will their lives look like once the deal goes through? Cue the existential dread and family drama in 3, 2, 1 … Succession season 4 will air in early 2023 on HBO.
More trailers and teasers released this week:
• 1899 comes from the creators of Netflix’s spooky hit, Dark. And by the looks of things, this mind-bending turn-of-the-century outing will definitely be spooky — and dark. Premieres November 17. (Netflix)
• Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan is once again stuck between a rock and a hard place as the titular CIA analyst fights to stop a global catastrophe from taking place, while being marked as an enemy of the state, in the process. Season 3 premieres December 21. (Prime Video)
• Fleishman Is in Trouble is the compelling new drama hailing from FX and adapted from the book by Taffy Brodesser-Akner. It stars Jesse Eisenberg, Claire Danes, and Lizzy Caplan. Premieres November 17. (Hulu)
• Poker Face is the mystery-a-week police detective procedural we all need in our lives. Created by Rian Johnson and starring Natasha Lyonne as Charlie, a detective with “an extraordinary ability to determine when someone is lying.” Premieres January 26. (Peacock)
• Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special is here to cheer up Star-Lord (and us, really) just in time for the holiday season. Since losing Gamora (Zoe Saldaña), the love of his life, thanks to all that Thanos business in Avengers: Endgame, he’s just not been feeling the Christmas spirit. In an effort to change all that, the Guardians head on down to Earth to provide their leader some comforts from home. And kidnap Kevin Bacon, while they’re at it. Premieres November 25. (Disney+)
• The Santa Clauses finds Tim Allen back in that jolly red suit as he ponders retirement from all this Christmas business. But who would be his successor? Premieres November 10. (Disney+)
• Stutz is a documentary about mental health directed by Jonah Hill that highlights his life-changing therapy sessions with leading psychiatrist Phil Stutz. Premieres November 14. (Netflix)
• The Calling, created by David E. Kelley, tells the story of NYPD Detective Avraham Avraham, whose belief in mankind is his superpower when it comes to uncovering the truth. But when a routine investigation turns upside down, Avraham is left to question his own humanity. Premieres November 10. (Peacock)
• Servant is gearing up for the fourth and final season, and if this teaser has anything to say about it, the twisty and terrifying family drama from M. Night Shyamalan is going to go out with a bang. Premieres January 13. (Apple TV+)
For all the latest TV and streaming trailers subscribe to the Rotten Tomatoes TV YouTube channel.
(Photo by Bruce Glikas/WireImage)
From Grey’s Sloan Memorial to the Arconia, Jesse Williams has joined the cast of Hulu’s hit series, Only Murders in the Building, for season 3. The Grey’s Anatomy alum, who played Dr. Jackson Avery in 12 seasons of the Shonda Rhimes series, will appear as a documentarian who hones in on the case that Charles (Steve Martin), Oliver (Martin Short), and Mabel (Selena Gomez) are investigating. Co-created by Steve Martin and John Hoffman, the series takes place in the Arconia, a New York City apartment building, where a real-life murder mystery takes shape right beneath their true-crime loving noses. Season 1 explored the death of their neighbor, Tim Kono; the second found them implicated in the death of the building’s board president Bunny Folger. As for the season 3 plot, it was previously announced that Paul Rudd has joined the cast for the next go-round and his character, Broadway actor Ben Glenroy, will suffer a tragic death on the stage of Oliver’s play — on opening night. How the trio will get out of this one, is anyone’s guess. (Variety)
True Detective season 4 has added Aka Niviâna, Isabella Star Lablanc, and Joel D. Montgrand to the cast. Niviâna will play Julia, Navarro’s (Kali Reis) sister. Star Lablanc will play Leah, Danvers’ (Jodie Foster) stepdaughter. Montgrand will be Eddie Qavvik, Navarro’s love interest. (Variety)
Apple TV+’s upcoming series Land of Women has added Amaury Nolasco as a recurring guest star, along with new series regulars Santiago Cabrera, Gloria Muñoz, and Victoria Bazua to the series, currently in production in Spain. (Deadline)
Joel McHale’s upcoming Fox comedy Animal Control has cast Vella Lovell as his co-star. She will play Emily, the sweet-natured awkward boss of the Animal Control precinct. (Variety)
Hulu’s comedy series Interior Chinatown has added Chloe Bennet and Ronny Chieng to its cast. Based on Charles Yu’s book, the two join Jimmy O’Yang who will star. (Variety)
(Photo by Peacock)
Amy Poehler will replace Andy Samberg as Maya Rudolph’s co-host in season 2 of Peacock’s cooking competition series, Baking It.
Animal Kingdom alum Leila George will star opposite Cate Blanchett and Kevin Kline in Apple TV+’s upcoming psychological thriller Disclaimer, from Alfonso Cuarón. (Deadline)
CW’s The Flash has upgraded Jon Cor, who appeared as Blaine (aka Chillblaine) in the past two seasons of the series, to series regular for the ninth and final season of the show. (Deadline)
HBO Max’s hit DC Comics series Doom Patrol has added Elijah Rashad Reed to its cast for season 4. He will play robotics teacher Deric, who unexpectedly gets involved in the life of his former best friend, Vic Stone (aka Cyborg). (Deadline)
CBS’s hit series Ghosts has tapped Tara Reid to appear in a guest starring role in the episode, titled “Trevor’s Body,” which will air in 2023. Reid is set to play herself, Tara Reid, the former acquaintance of Trevor Lefkowitz (Asher Grodman), who has come to pay her respects after his remains were found. (Deadline)
Power Book III: Raising Kanan has added Grantham Coleman to the cast of season 3. He will play Ronnie Mathis, Unique’s older, amoral, conscienceless brother, who was recently released from prison. (Deadline)
Kenan Thompson will return to host the People’s Choice Awards for his second time. The show will air on NBC and E!, simultaneously, from Santa Monica’s Barker Hangar on Tuesday, December 6. (Hollywood Reporter)
(Photo by Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures/ ™ & © DC Comics)
HBO Max’s prequel series to the Matt Reeves–directed film The Batman (pictured above) has a new showrunner and story focus. Antonio Campos, who created, wrote, executive produced and directed HBO Max’s true-crime series The Staircase will take over showrunning duties from Joe Barton (Giri/Haji). Barton replaced Terence Winter, who was initially attached to the project when it was announced in July 2020. At that time, the series was pitched as a prequel centering on the inner-workings of the Gotham Police Department. That concept has changed and now, with Campos leading the charge, the streamer’s highly-anticipated Batman series will take place in and around the famed Arkham Asylum. (Deadline)
Disney+ is planning another WandaVision spinoff, according to reports, and it’s focused on Vision. In addition to Agatha: Coven of Chaos about witch Agatha Harkness (Katherine Hahn), head writer and executive producer Jac Schaefer is developing Vision Quest, which will follow the newly created Vision introduced at the end of WandaVision in recovering the character’s memories. Paul Bettany reportedly will reprise the role. The comic storyline is tied to the West Coast Avengers, which include She-Hulk. (Variety)
Doctor Who is coming to Disney+. On the heels of a new distribution deal between BBC and Disney Branded Television, the long-running sci-fi series – which just revealed the return of fan-favorite David Tennant as the 14th Doctor – will be available for viewing on the streamer, outside of the UK and Ireland.
Related: Doctor Who: David Tennant, Disney+, and Everything We Know About the 60th Anniversary
FX has ordered Never Let Me Go, a new drama series inspired by Kazuo Ishiguro’s sci-fi novel of the same name. The thriller will star Viola Prettejohn as Thora, a rebellious clone who breaks free from the boarding school that has sheltered her and her fellow clones from society, and begins to live among humans, sparking a revolution, in the process. Tracy Ullman, Kelly Macdonald, Aiysha Hart, Spike Fearn, Shaniqua Okwok, Gary Beadle, Kwami Odoom, Susan Brown, Keira Chanse, and Edward Holcroft fill out the cast.
Disney+ has picked German House, the five-part miniseries adaptation of the novel of the same name by author Annette Hess, which follows the events of the first Auschwitz trial post Holocaust, as its next German original. (Variety)
Nasim Pedrad’s comedy series Chad, which was canceled by TBS right before the second season was set to begin airing, has been picked up by the Roku Channel. (Variety)
The Bad News Bears is eyeing a return to the spotlight at CBS as a single-camera comedy series. This new take will center on a divorced mom who coaches a team of underdogs and misfits in the highly competitive realm known as Little League Baseball. (Deadline)
The Rookie: Feds, the spinoff of ABC’s hit police drama series starring Nathan Fillion, has received a full-season order at the network. The Niecy Nash-Betts–starrer has scored nine extra episodes, clocking in the freshman outing at a total of 22 episodes. (Deadline)
Netflix canceled new animated series Bad Crimes, which starred Nicole Byer and Lauren Lapkus, in the middle of production on the first season. It won’t air on the streamer and is currently being shopped elsewhere. (Deadline)
Amazon’s upcoming Fallout TV series, the streamer’s post-apocalyptic program adapted from the popular post-apocalyptic video games, provided a first look at the dwellers of Vault 33.
Congratulations and Happy 25th Birthday! We made something special for the occasion. #Fallout #Fallout25 @BethesdaStudios @Bethesda @Fallout @Kilter_Films pic.twitter.com/eFg7t5O8Wa
— Prime Video (@PrimeVideo) October 25, 2022
While the image is not a huge revelation, by any means, we are granted a look at the backs of two characters donning the iconic blue-and-yellow jumpsuits the vault dwellers wear in the Fallout games. Facing the bunker’s massive door, blinding light from the nuclear war-ravaged world outside spills in. Something tells us these two are about to venture out topside, where mutants, irradiated insect beasts, and wasteland bandits abound.
Co-created by Westworld‘s Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy, Fallout stars Walton Goggins, Ella Purnell, Kyle MacLachlan, Xelia Mendes-Jones, and Aaron Moten.
