This week in the TV world: lots of casting news, The Good Fight moves to broadcast, The Dark Crystal and more series get full trailers, and more.
The upcoming series adaptation of Jim Henson’s ’80s cult favorite The Dark Crystal, titled The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance, now has a full-length trailer. Launching on Friday, Aug. 30, the prequel series “returns to the world of Thra with an all new adventure. When three Gelfling discover the horrifying secret behind the Skeksis’ power, they set out on an epic journey to ignite the fires of rebellion and save their world,” per Netflix’s official description.
The main cast includes Taron Egerton (Rian), Anya Taylor-Joy (Brea), and Nathalie Emmanuel (Deet) voicing the main Gelfling heroes, along with Caitriona Balfe, Helena Bonham Carter, Harris Dickinson, Natalie Dormer, Eddie Izzard, Theo James, Toby Jones, Shazad Latif, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Mark Strong, and Alicia Vikander as other Gelflings. The Skeksis & Mystics are voiced by Harvey Fierstein, Mark Hamill, Ralph Ineson, Jason Isaacs, Keegan-Michael Key, Ólafur Darri Ólafsson, Simon Pegg, and Andy Samberg. Donna Kimball voices Aughra, and additional characters will also be voiced by puppeteers from the production, including Alice Dinnean, Louise Gold, Neil Sterenberg, and Victor Yerrid as Hup.
(Photo by Kevin Baker/Netflix)
Other trailers released this week include:
Production has wrapped on Netflix’s upcoming adaptation of The Witcher, and star Henry Cavill celebrated with a lengthy Instagram post about his experience filming the series. The takeaway: “All of those 3 am wake ups were worth it,” he writes.
(Photo by Patrick Harbron/CBS)
The Good Fight is getting its on-air debut: CBS announced that the CBS All Access legal drama, a spinoff of its critically acclaimed legal drama The Good Wife, will be broadcast on CBS this summer. It’ll be the first series from CBS’ streaming service, which is also home to Star Trek: Discovery and the Twilight Zone reboot, to air on the network. While there are three seasons available on CBS All Access, CBS will air season 1 of The Good Fight.
“For three seasons, The Good Fight has been a big success for CBS All Access,” CBS Entertainment president Kelly Kahl said in a press release announcing the news. “We’re excited to provide our network audience the opportunity to catch up with characters they first fell in love with on The Good Wife, as well as introduce new viewers to this outstanding, critically acclaimed drama.”
(Photo by Elizabeth Goodenough/Everett Collection)
Q: What is good news? A: Alex Trebek’s latest announcement that his cancer is on its way out. The Jeopardy! host told People that although he was diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer three months ago, he’s in “near remission” and “some of the tumors have already shrunk by more than 50 percent.”
(Photo by Dee Cercone/Everett Collection)
Fox’s upcoming experimental comedy What Just Happened??! — a faux-aftershow about a fictional series, hosted by Fred Savage (playing himself), has added a few more head-scratching details. Joining Savage as “host” will be comedian Taylor Tomlinson, and the two will be joined by Best Coast as the house band. The series is dedicated to exploring the fandom surrounding The Flare, a fictional drama based on a fictional sci-fi book series by fictional author TJ Whitford, “The Moon is the Sun at Night,” which, according to the press release announcing the very meta news, “has been a favorite of Fred Savage’s since childhood. The book revolves around a solar event and its effects on Earth – specifically, the small, blue-collar town of Milford, IL – and slowly unfolds into a post-apocalyptic battle for human survival.” What Just Happened??! will feature “multiple segments, including authentic sit-down celebrity interviews, set visits to The Flare and interviews with the ‘cast,’ as well as discussions with fans and more.” It premieres Sunday, June 30 on Fox.
According to Entertainment Weekly, The Flare’s cast includes Shiri Appleby, Guillermo Diaz, Kevin Zegers, Duane Reed, Sola Bamis, Tyler Ritter, Sprague Grayden, and Amy Acker.
The Beverly Hills, 90210 reboot BH90210, a mockumentary-style series featuring the main cast members attempting to launch a revival of their beloved teen soap, has cast La La Anthony and Vanessa Lachey to play the wives of Brian Austin Green and Jason Priestley, respectively. Anthony is music superstar Shay, and Lachey is high-powered publicist Camille. (No word on whether Green’s real-life wife, Megan Fox, will appear in the series.)
National Geographic’s adaptation of Tom Wolfe’s The Right Stuff has tapped former Suits star Patrick J. Adams to play Maj. John Glenn in the series adaptation of the bestseller. “The series takes a clear-eyed look at what would become America’s first ‘reality show,’ as ambitious astronauts and their families become instant celebrities in a competition that will either kill them or make them immortal in the quest to be a part of Project Mercury,” according to the official description. Production will begin in Florida in the fall and the series is set to premiere on National Geographic in 2020.
Variety reports that The Princess Bride’s Cary Elwes and The Path’s Stephanie Hsu will appear in season 3 of Amazon Prime Video’s The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.
Downton Abbey’s Jessica Brown Findlay will star in USA Network’s adaptation of Brave New World alongside Alden Ehrenreich and Harry Lloyd. She’ll play Lenina Crowne, a resident of utopian New London, a city with a rigid social order and “culture of instant gratification and ubiquitous sex,” per the official description. But after a trip to the Savage Lands, they become embroiled in a rebellion and begin to question the lives they’ve known.
Streaming service Shudder’s upcoming series adaptation of Creepshow has cast David Arquette, Tricia Helfer, and Dana Gould in three different installments of the horror series. Arquette will star in “Times is Tough in Musky Holler,” about “leaders who once controlled a town through fear and intimidation get[ting] a taste of their own medicine”; Helfer will star in “Lydia Layne’s Better Half,” in which “a powerful woman denies a promotion to her protégée and lover but fails to anticipate the fallout”; and Gould is in “Skincrawlers,” featuring a man who “considers a miraculous new treatment for weight loss that turns out to have unexpected complications.”
Desus and Mero are set to host the 2019 TCA Awards on Saturday, Aug. 3. They follow in the footsteps of former TCA hosts Kristin Chenoweth, James Corden, Terry Crews, Key & Peele, and more celebs who have emceed the annual (untelevised) Television Critics Association honors, which is held every summer in Beverly Hills.
The Kissing Booth 2 has added a pair of cast members: #LegendsOfTomorrow alum @maisie_rs will play a seemingly-perfect college girl who Noah grows close to while Taylor Perez will play Marco, a new classmate who Elle simultaneously develops a close friendship with. pic.twitter.com/CO8YdWHQwd
— See What's Next (@seewhatsnext) May 30, 2019
Hulu has ordered a half-hour series based on Sally Rooney’s Normal People, about “the tender but complicated relationship of Marianne (played by Gentleman Jack‘s Daisy Edgar-Jones) and Connell (newcomer Paul Mescal) from the end of their school days in a small-town west of Ireland to their undergraduate years at Trinity College.”
Lilly Wachowski is returning to TV for her first project post-Sense8: the new half-hour comedy series Work in Progress, which will premiere on Showtime later this year. The series debuted as part of the indie episodic program at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival, and was created by Abby McEnany and Tim Mason. McEnany stars as “a 45-year-old self-identified fat, queer dyke from Chicago whose misfortune and despair unexpectedly lead her to a vibrantly transformative relationship.” Wachowski will co-write the first season and executive produce alongside the creators.
Netflix has optioned three novels by YA author Sarah Dessen to be made into movies for the streaming service (following in the footsteps of the successful To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before, which is getting a sequel this year). The author’s titles being adapted for the screen include This Lullaby, Once and for All, and Along for the Ride, the latter of which will be the first to become a film.
