TAGGED AS: Drama, news, streaming, television, TV
Quentin Tarantino wants to direct a limited TV series next year. The Duffers unveil new details for Stranger Things 5. Amazon is developing the live-action Spider-Man spinoff series, Silk: Spider Society. The Morning Show added Clive Standen, Alano Miller, and Lindsay Duncan to the cast of season 3. The first-ever NCIS crossover event is coming to CBS. Plus, trailers for Yellowstone prequel series 1923, starring Harrison Ford and Helen Mirren, Netflix’s spy thriller The Recruit, and more of the biggest news in TV and streaming from the past week.
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(Photo by Randy Holmes/ABC via Getty Images)
Quentin Tarantino wants to direct more television in 2023, Variety reported. The filmmaker behind such films like Pulp Fiction, Django Unchained, and Inglorious Basterds shared his plans with moderator Elvis Mitchell in New York on the final stop of his book tour for “Cinema Speculation,” a collection of essays on films that shaped Tarantino’s life.
Does he have a genre, network, or streaming platform in mind? Tarantino (pictured above in an October appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live!) kept all these details close to the vest, leading to all sorts of speculation. Since writing and directing two episodes of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation back in 2005, Tarantino’s name has popped up multiple times in conversations regarding a possible return to the small screen. In 2019, he toyed with the format by teaming with Netflix to release The Hateful Eight as a four-episode miniseries. Most recently, he was in talks with FX to take on multiple episodes of the highly-anticipated Justified revival series.
(Photo by Netflix)
The fifth and final season of Stranger Things will be “a culmination of all the seasons,” Ross Duffer teased at a Los Angeles event on Sunday, which was moderated by Patton Oswalt.
According to Ross Duffer, the first script for season 5 has already been submitted to Netflix and things are now, “full steam ahead,” THR reported. And by all accounts, there’s going to be a lot to wrap up.
“Just as important as the supernatural, we have so many characters now — most who are still living — and it’s important to wrap up those arcs,” he continued. “A lot of these characters have been growing since season one so it’s a balancing act between giving them time to complete their character arcs and also tying up loose ends and doing our final reveals.”
Those aware of how the series will end are few and far between, but during the two-hour pitch meeting, Matt Duffer explained to the crowd, the planned closer for the epic series made the Netflix executives cry.
Executive producer Shawn Levy, who was also in attendance, added: “The thing about these Duffer Brothers is that even though the show has gotten so famous and the characters have gotten so iconic and there’s so much about the ’80s and the supernatural and the genre, it’s about these people, it’s about these characters. Season five is already so clearly taking care of these stories of the characters because that’s always been the lifeblood of Stranger Things.”
So what exactly does a culmination of all previous seasons mean for the highly-anticipated final installment of Stranger Things? From the Amblin-esque feel of season 1 to the gruesome horror of season 4, Ross explained, “I think that what we’re trying to do is go back to the beginning a little bit in the tone of [season] 1, but scale-wise it’s more in line with what [season] 4 is. Hopefully it’s got a little bit of everything.”
“Violence has always haunted this family,” the voiceover narration says, kicking off 30 seconds of wild west action in the first look at 1923, the highly-anticipated Yellowstone prequel series coming to Paramount+.
Set during the early 20th century, the series, which will enjoy a two-season run on the streamer, stars cinema icon Harrison Ford, in his first dramatic TV role, and Oscar-winner Helen Mirren as Jacob and Cara Dutton, the leaders of the Dutton clan. The Great Depression, Prohibition, and a historic drought are just three of the epic challenges the Duttons will face in the period drama from showrunner Taylor Sheridan.
Starring alongside Ford and Mirren are Brandon Sklenar, Darren Mann, Michelle Randolph, James Badge Dale, Marley Shelton, Brian Geraghty, Aminah Nieves, Julia Schlaepfer, and Jerome Flynn.
1923 will premiere its first episode on December 18 on Paramount+, with the second set to air on January 1.
More trailers and teasers released this week:
• Gossip Girl season 2 is back with everything you’d expect: old enemies, new allies, and constantly shifting sands. By the end of the school year, everyone will know where the bodies are buried, and who was holding the shovel. Premieres December 1. (HBO Max)
• Season 2 of Your Honor finds Bryan Cranston’s Michael Desiato reeling from the tragedy that transpired last season. Thanks to the arrival of federal prosecutor Olivia Delgado (Rosie Perez), his life gets thrown into chaos again. Ultimately, the question remains: How far are you willing to go to protect what matters most to you? Premieres January 13. (Showtime)
• Sr. is a lovingly irreverent portrait of the life and career of maverick filmmaker Robert Downey, Sr. that quickly devolves into a meditation on art, mortality, and healing generational dysfunction. It is produced by Robert Downey, Jr. and directed by Chris Smith (American Movie). Premieres December 2. (Netflix)
• In season 2 of Bel-Air, Will comes to a crossroads as a new figure comes into his life who challenges what he’s learned in Bel-Air. Could his influence be enough to control Will’s future? Premieres February 23. (Peacock)
• If These Walls Could Sing takes viewers inside the infamous Abbey Road recording studio. Paul McCartney, Elton John, and more reflect on the place’s impact on culture and history. Premieres December 16. (Disney+)
• The Recruit follows Owen Hendricks (Noah Centineo), a young CIA lawyer whose first week on the job turns chaotic when he discovers a threatening letter by former asset Max Meladze (Laura Haddock), who plans to expose the agency unless they exonerate her of a serious crime. Owen quickly becomes entangled in a dangerous and often absurd world of power, politics, and mischievous players, as he travels the world in hopes of completing his assignment and making a mark at the CIA. The series also stars Aarti Mann, Colton Dunn, Fivel Stewart, Daniel Quincy Annoh, Kristian Bruun, Vondie Curtis Hall, Byron Mann, Angel Parker, and Kaylah Zander. Premieres December 16. (Netflix)
• Little America season 2 Premieres December 9. (Apple TV+)
• My Dad the Bounty Hunter follows the hyperdrive adventures of two kids who discover their seemingly average-Joe dad is actually an intergalactic bounty hunter. Premieres February 9. (Netflix)
• Trevor Noah: I Wish You Would finds the Emmy and Grammy nominated writer and comedian returning to Netflix to share revelations about learning to speak German, modern communication, and his love for curry. Premieres December 2. (Netflix)
• My Unorthodox Life continues to follow Julia Haart’s untamed, unpredictable and unorthodox life in season 2. This time, she’s faced with a barrage of challenges as a highly-publicized divorce threatens everything she’s built since leaving her ultra-Orthodox Jewish community behind. Premieres December 2. (Netflix)
For all the latest TV and streaming trailers subscribe to the Rotten Tomatoes TV YouTube channel.
(Photo by Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images)
Apple TV+’s The Morning Show is building out its cast for its third season. Vikings alum Clive Standen will play photojournalist Andre Ford, Miller is sports agent Marcus Hunter, and Lindsay Duncan is political strategist Martha Ellison, who also happens to be Cory Ellison’s (Billy Crudup) mom. They join new series regulars Nicole Beharie and Jon Hamm, as well as Tig Notaro, Stephen Fry, Natalie Morales, and Julianna Margulies, all in supporting roles. (Deadline)
AMC’s upcoming Bob Odenkirk dramedy Straight Man has cast Alvina August as English professor June Washington-Chen, a recurring role in the series. She joins previously announced cast members Sara Amini, Diedrich Bader, Suzanne Cryer, Mireille Enos, Olivia Scott Welch, Arthur Keng, and Cedric Yarbrough. (Variety)
Chief of War, Apple TV’s historical Hawaiian epic drama starring Jason Momoa, has cast Luciane Buchanan as Ka’ahumanu, who is described as “intelligent and progressive in thought” and “curious about the larger world beyond her home islands.” (Variety)
The Goldbergs has cast Isabella Gomez in a recurring role. In season 10, the One Day at a Time actress will appear as Carmen, the new waitress at the retro diner where Adam (Sean Giambrone) works. (Deadline)
For All Mankind has added Sventlana Efremova as a series regular to the cast of the acclaimed space drama’s upcoming fourth season. She will play Irina Morozova, a high-ranking Soviet official. (Deadline)
Hulu’s limited series We Were the Lucky Ones has added Robin Weigert and Lior Ashkenazi as regulars opposite Joey King. Weigert will play Nechuma and Lior is Sol, the matriarch and patriarch of the Kurc family. (Deadline)
(Photo by Marvel Comics)
Amazon is getting into the Marvel TV show game – ordering a suite of live-action programs all based on Sony’s universe of Marvel characters. Silk: Spider Society is the first project in the deal, which is from The Walking Dead showrunner Angela Kang (who will serve as showrunner and exec producer here) and Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse‘s Oscar-winning producers Phil Lord and Chris Miller.
“Angela is a pro’s pro whose perspective and creativity we greatly respect and admire,” Lord and Miller said in a statement. “She’s also a hell of a lot of fun. She loves these characters and we feel really lucky for the chance to work with her to bring Cindy Moon’s story to the world.”
“I’m beyond thrilled to be joining the Amazon Studios family for this next chapter of my career,” Kang said. “I look forward to working with the executive team on diverse, character-forward, watercooler shows for a global audience and am so excited to dive in to my first challenge — bringing Korean-American superhero Silk to life on screen.”
Silk: Spider Society follows a Korean-American woman named Cindy Moon who was bitten by the same spider that bit Peter Parker. She escapes imprisonment and searches for her missing family and, along the way, becomes the superhero known as Silk.
(Photo by CBS)
The NCIS universe (NCIS, NCIS: Hawai’i, and NCIS: Los Angeles) will unite for the first time ever in a special three-hour crossover event. A very personal, high-stakes case to take down a mysterious hitman will reside at the core of the crossover. On the eve of an event celebrating a beloved professor who taught multiple members of each of the squads, the teacher-in-question is found dead of an apparent suicide. But foul play is immediately expected. While digging into his past, they discover a mysterious hitman. The more they uncover, the bigger the targets on their backs become. When members of the team are suddenly kidnapped, the divisions must all come together to save the day. The NCIS crossover event will air on Monday, Jan. 2 at 8 p.m. on CBS, and will be available to stream on Paramount+.
Allison Janney and Bob Greenblatt have partnered with Grace and Frankie writer Alexa Junge to adapt Tori Telfer’s book “Confident Women: Swindlers, Grifters, and Shapeshifters of the Feminine Persuasion” into an anthology series for Prime Video. (Variety)
Nipsey Hussle will be the subject of a docuseries currently in the works from LeBron James and Maverick Carter’s Springhill and Hussle’s Marathon Films. The currently untitled project will explore Hussle’s journey from his formative years growing up in Crenshaw, to the rapper and activist he became. Snoop Dogg, Kendrick Lamar, and Diddy are among the 50 collaborators who will be featured in the series.
It started in Crenshaw, now the marathon continues. 🏁 Stay tuned for #HUSSLEDoc 💙🙏🏾 @makespringhill #LegendsNeverDie👑 pic.twitter.com/wBKZnikDQ8
— LeBron James (@KingJames) November 15, 2022
Talk Nerdy to Me, the single-camera comedy created by Dana Schwartz (She-Hulk: Attorney At Law), is in development at CBS. The series is a workplace comedy centering on two sisters navigating the peculiar realm of female geekdom together, but from two different perspectives. (Deadline)
Seth Rogen is coming to Apple TV+ with a new, yet-to-be-titled, half-hour comedy series about a legacy Hollywood movie studio’s attempt to survive a world where the struggle for art and commerce to coexist together has become increasingly difficult. Rogen will also write and direct the series with Evan Goldberg. (Variety)
Spike Lee is set to direct and executive produce a coming-of-age ROTC drama, currently in development at Amazon Studios, from writers Jalysa Conway (9-1-1: Lone Star) and Rebecca Murga (Swagger). The program is set at a major university, in the world of the facility’s ROTC military program, where students come together to push themselves beyond their preconceived limits. (Deadline)
Jason Schwartzman is adapting Apples — a 2020 Greek film of the same name by Christos Nikou — for the small screen, alongside Iain Reid. Expanding on the movie’s story, the comedic series will be set amidst an outbreak of sudden amnesia and follows a diverse group of amnesiacs who enroll in an experimental program designed to assist in creating new identities. (Deadline)
(Photo by Prime Video)
Prime Video released a first-look image of Emma Roberts starring as Rex in Amazon Original movie Space Cadet. The film follows the Florida party girl who, funnily enough, becomes the hope for NASA after a fluke puts her in training with candidates who are more qualified (at least, on paper), but don’t have her smarts, heart, and nerve. Joining Roberts in the recently-wrapped production are previously announced Poppy Liu (Hacks), Gabrielle Union (The Inspection, Bad Boys II), Tom Hopper (The Umbrella Academy), Colombian pop star Sebastián Yatra, Dave Foley (The Kids in the Hall), and Desi Lydic (The Daily Show, Awkward). Space Cadet doesn’t yet have a premiere date, but will launch exclusively on Prime Video.
A24 and BBC are adapting Douglas Stuart’s Booker Prize-winning novel “Shuggie Bain” to series. The story follows the relationship of a mother and son in Glasgow, Scotland where Shuggie’s mom struggles with alcohol addiction, regularly dreaming of the elegant life that passed her by, while effeminate young Shuggie struggles to fit into society as a “normal” boy. (Variety)
A true crime scripted series based on the Murdaugh family is in the works at Hulu. Currently titled, Murdaugh Murders, the series will follow Alex Murdaugh’s “stranger-than-fiction family drama” recounting journalist Mandy Matney’s in-depth reporting on the powerful-yet-troubled family, which can be heard on her popular “Murdaugh Murders Podcast.” (Variety)
The White Lotus and Insecure alum Natasha Rothwell is bringing How to Die Alone to Onyx Collective and Hulu. The eight-episode comedy, which she will write, star in, and co-showrun, follows Melissa (Rothwell), a neurotic Black woman who’s never been in love. After nearly meeting her end, she gets a new lease on life and refuses to settle for anything less than the life she deserves, which sends her on a journey to becoming “100-percent that bitch” by any means necessary. (Deadline)
Chelsea Handler is finally coming back to Netflix with a new stand-up special titled, Revolution. It will mark her first time back on the comedy stage for the streamer since her show Chelsea, which premiered in 2016 and was the streamer’s first-ever talk show, was canceled. It will drop on December 27. (Variety)
In celebration of the Andor season finale on Disney+, and as an added kick-off gift for the Thanksgiving holiday, The Walt Disney Company is giving audiences the chance to check out the first two episodes, “Kassa” and “That Would Be Me” on ABC, FX, Freeform and Hulu.
Here is the programming schedule:
Star Wars: Andor is set five years before the events of Rogue One and focuses on Cassian Andor’s (Diego Luna) journey in becoming a rebel hero. Luna is joined by cast members Genevieve O’Reilly, Stellan Skarsgård, Adria Arjona, Denise Gough, Kyle Soller, Fiona Shaw, Forest Whitaker and Andy Serkis.
(Photo by AMC)
After 11 seasons, AMC’s groundbreaking zombie series The Walking Dead will air its series finale on Sunday, Nov. 20. Keeping the dream alive, however, is a new tabletop role-playing game from AMC Networks in partnership with Free League Publishing and Genuine Entertainment. The Walking Dead Universe Roleplaying Game is set to hit shelves in the fall of 2023. The game will feature narrative elements taken from the current series and spinoffs. And to whet the appetites of fans everywhere, the game will even come with a Liveplay series created with the help of Chief Content Officer of The Walking Dead Universe, Scott M. Gimple.
“The Walking Dead has always been about characters — and audiences, by extension — facing impossible life and death choices,” Gimple said in a statement. “Now, fans can face these choices head on, putting themselves in the world of The Walking Dead — at any time in the timeline, encountering familiar faces and places and brand-new ones and, within our apocalypse, making the biggest choice: Who are you going to be? We’ve seen a lot of stories in the Walking Dead Universe, now it’s time to see yours.”
In The Walking Dead Universe RPG, players are enter this unforgiving, post-apocalyptic sandbox and are put to the test to learn survival skills and how to thrive in this new world order. In an effort to push the boundaries of the survival genre, each group of players are encouraged to tailor their RPG experience to suit their own interests and play style. “Each session should feel like you’re writing, directing, and starring in your own TWD episode,” Mike Zagari, Head of AMC Networks Publishing, added. “Where it goes is up to you.”
Genuine Entertainment’s Joe LeFavi added: “Just like the show, this game is not about killing walkers. It’s not about losing health points and fighting to stay alive. It’s about losing your humanity and fighting to find and protect what’s worth living, killing, and dying for.”
Visit thewalkingdead-rpg.com for more details.
