(Photo by AMC)
Updated: September 15, 2023
As TV and movie franchises go, some might think The Walking Dead is in its infancy with only five titles currently available for public consumption. Compare the hours of viewing time available, however, and the franchise looks positively geriatric. The Walking Dead franchise: nearly 252 hours of programming. Harry Potter films, for example: approximately 26 viewing hours (31 if we’re generous and include streaming specials Harry Potter: Hogwarts Tournament of Houses and Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return to Hogwarts). The story is similar if you look at the (bulk-wise) fledgling Game of Thrones franchise, too.
Warner Bros. Discovery is chasing TWD’s success with a planned Harry Potter streaming series for its Max service that will retread all of the books previously adapted into films and supersize each into season-long storytelling. The company simultaneously announced another Game of Thrones prequel, as well. Prime Video has its The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power and The Wheel of Time fantasy efforts that could easily spawn new series, while its espionage series Citadel was specifically created as the cornerstone of an international franchise.
In the meantime, AMC’s Walking Dead juggernaut trundles forth with The Walking Dead: Dead City, which concluded its first season in July; The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon , which premiered on September 10; and the Andrew Lincoln and Danai Gurira spin-off, The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live, expected in 2024.
We’ve gathered the Walking Dead titles that have Tomatometer scores to see how they currently rank. TWD: Dead City overtook the original series for the top spot, then Daryl Dixon debuted in the middle of the pack following the series’ season 1 review embargo lift, but more recently has been fighting for No. 1. We’ll see how it fares in coming weeks as more episodes are released — that is, if the series sees enough critical mass on each episode to create episodic scores.
70%
The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon: Season 1
(2023)
premieres on Sunday, September 10 on AMC, streaming on AMC+.
AMC released the first three images from the Norman Reedus-fronted spinoff, The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon. Ted Lasso season 3 teaser drops. HBO Max’s The Penguin adds more to its cast. Seth MacFarlane is developing graphic novel The Shrouded College for Peacock. Plus, trailers for Shadow and Bone season 2, Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story, and more of the biggest news in TV and streaming of the past week.
TOP STORY
(Photo by Emmanuel Guimier/AMC)
The Walking Dead may be over, but the adventures of Daryl Dixon will continue in AMC’s new undead spinoff The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon, with Norman Reedus returning to play the fan favorite character. To whet the appetites of fans everywhere, AMC dropped three new images from the upcoming show to tease what Daryl may be up to when he touches down in France.
With more spinoffs in various stages of development, including the Maggie and Negan–centered The Walking Dead: Dead City and the highly-anticipated (and yet to be titled) Rick and Michonne spinoff project, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed and inundated with zombies.
And we don’t blame you.
Reedus apparently feels it, too. He described this continuation of Daryl’s storyline as a “reset,” telling EW, “You learn a lot of things after 12 years of doing a show, and there are certain paths that you inevitably have to go down because [there is such a big cast]. We don’t really have that over there. It’s kind of a fresh start for us, with all the things that we loved doing, and just a whole bunch more.”
The six-episode first season of The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon is set to premiere in the fall. Until we know more, check out the other two first-look images below.
(Photo by Emmanuel Guimier/AMC)
(Photo by Emmanuel Guimier/AMC)
AFC Richmond will hit the field once again, and maybe for the last time, when Apple TV+’s celebrated sports series returns for season 3. Will they come out on top when all is said and done? According to the above teaser, all we have to do is believe.
Jason Sudeikis, Brett Goldstein, Brendan Hunt, Hannah Waddingham, and Juno Temple will return for the Emmy-winning series. And they’ll definitely have their work cut out for them, considering the reveal in season 2 that Nick Mohammed’s Nate, still reeling from being dubbed “the Wonder Kid” by the media, has gone over to work for Rupert (Anthony Head) and the opposing team.
With Roy Kent stepping up as AFC Richmond’s assistant coach, while Ted continues wrestling with professional and personal challenges, the emotional stakes for the new run of episodes may be the highest yet. But when all the cards feel like they’re stacked against him, Coach Lasso always seems to rise to the occasion. Can he do it again, this time? All we can do is believe.
Ted Lasso season 3 will premiere on March 15 on Apple TV+
Read also: The Most Anticipated TV and Streaming Shows of 2023
“What nightmare have we gotten ourselves into?” Kaz Brekker (Freddy Carter) asks in the new trailer for Shadow and Bone season 2. If you thought things were going to get easier for Alina Starkov (Jessie Mei Li), you’ve got another thing coming.
Continuing the saga based on Leigh Bardugo’s bestselling Grishaverse book series, the new episodes will find Alina in a challenging predicament: She’s got to level up her cool new sun-summoning powers and figure out how to use them to stop General Aleksander Kirigan (Ben Barnes), better known as the Darkling, from dragging the entire world into utter darkness.
An unkillable army made of shadows is just one of many problems Alina and her new crew of allies will face in battling Kirigan. All she has to do, really, is embark on a continent-spanning journey to find the mythical creatures that will help to amplify her powers. Hey, no pressure.
Shadow and Bone season 2 premieres on Thursday, March 16 on Netflix.
More trailers and teasers released this week:
• Part 2 of You season 4 picks up where the previous episodes left off. Gone is the whodunnit theme of the first half of this installment. What’s left? Bloody hell. Premieres March 9. (Netflix)
• Swarm, which hails from Atlanta creator Donald Glover and writer Janine Nabers, follows Dre (Dominique Fishback), a young woman whose obsession with a pop star takes a dark turn. Premieres March 17. (Prime Video)
• American Born Chinese is based on the genre-hopping graphic novel by Gene Luen Yang and tells the story of Jin Wang, an average teenager juggling his high school social life with his home life. When he meets a new student on the first day of the school year, even more worlds collide as Jin is unwittingly entangled in a battle of Chinese mythological gods. Premieres Spring 2023. (Disney+)
• Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies is a musical prequel series to musical film Grease, taking place four years before Danny Zuko and Sandy Olsson lit up Rydell High, before rock ‘n’ roll ruled, and before the T-Birds were the coolest in the school. The story follows four fed-up outcasts who dare to have fun on their own terms, sparking a moral panic that will change things forever. Premieres April 6. (Disney+)
• Outlast is a raw survival competition series where 16 lone wolves must outlast each other in the Alaskan wilderness in an attempt to win $1 million dollars. There is only one rule in this cutthroat game: They must be a part of a team to win. Premieres March 10. (Netflix)
• Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story, a prequel to the bodice-ripping phenomenon from TV super-producer Shonda Rhimes, tells the love story of young Queen Charlotte’s marriage and tracks Lady Agatha Danbury’s rise in society. The limited series premieres May 4. (Netflix)
• Daisy Jones & the Six follows the story of a 1970s band fronted by two feuding, charismatic singers, Daisy Jones and Billy Dunne. Based on the New York Times bestselling novel and set to the soundtrack of original music, the limited series portrays an iconic band imploding at the height of its powers. Premieres March 3. (Prime Video)
• Extrapolations is a bracing drama that introduces a near future where the chaotic effects of climate change have become embedded into our everyday lives. Eight interwoven stories about love, work, faith, and family from across the globe will explore the intimate, life-altering choices that must be made when the planet is changing faster than the population. Premieres March 17. (Apple TV+)
• Lucky Hank stars Bob Odenkirk as Professor Hank Devereaux, an English department chairman at an underfunded college who toes the line between midlife crisis and full-blown meltdown. Premieres March 19. (AMC and AMC+)
• MH370: The Flight That Disappeared explores the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370. When the plane and the 239 people on board went missing, a global investigation into the greatest mystery of the modern age ensued. Despite official reports, countless theories, and tireless searches for evidence, one central question remained: What are we missing? Premieres March 8. (Netflix)
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(Photo by ©Warner Bros/Courtesy Everett Collection)
Michael Kelly, Shohreh Aghdashloo, and Deirdre O’Connell have been added to HBO Max’s series, The Penguin. The program stars Colin Farrell as the notorious Batman villain and will continue the story that began in The Batman. Marvel’s The Runaways alum Rhenzy Feliz has also been added to the cast, Variety reported in a separate article. Details regarding the characters the actors will be playing have yet to be released. (Variety)
Digman!, the new half-hour adult animated comedy series co-created by Emmy- and Golden Globe–winning actor Andy Samberg, has announced an epic slate of guest stars for the show’s inaugural season. Clancy Brown, Andy Daly, Cole Escola, Harvey Guillén, Kirby Howell-Baptiste, Marc Evan Jackson, Rachel Kaly, Kerri Kenney, Lauren Lapkus, Jane Lynch, Mike Mitchell, Kyle Mooney, Claudia O’Doherty, Lennon Parham, Daniel Radcliffe, Maya Rudolph, Paul Rust, Jason Schwartzman, Carl Tart, Joe Lo Truglio, and Edgar Wright will all lend their voices to the new Comedy Central series. Digman! is set in a world where archaeologists are massive celebrities and the coolest people on the planet, with Samberg providing the voice of the protagonist, Rip Digman. Mitra Jouhari, Tim Robinson, Dale Soules, Guz Khan, Melissa Fumero, and Tim Meadows round out the main cast.
Apple TV+’s crime drama series Sinking Spring has added seven more to its cast, opposite leads Brian Tyree Henry (who plays the main character Ray), Michael Mando, Marin Ireland, Kate Mulgrew, and Amir Arison. The new additions are Ving Rhames, who will play Ray’s ex-con father Bart; Dustin Nguyen who will play Ray’s friend, Ho Dinh; Nesta Cooper who is Michelle, a lawyer hired to represent both Ray; Idris Debrand who will play a younger version of Ray; Liz Caribel who is Manny’s girlfriend Sherry; Will Pullen who will play junior DEA agent Marchetti; and Kaci Walfall who is Marietty, a girlfriend from Ray’s past. (Deadline)
Sam Esmail’s Metropolis has cast Briana Middleton in the lead role. She will plays Finnie Polito in the Apple TV+ series adaptation of Fritz Lang’s iconic 1927 sci-fi film. Librarians alum Lindy Booth has since been added as the show’s second official cast member. (Variety)
It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia alum Kaitlin Olson will star in Drew Goddard’s American remake of HPI, the popular French detective series. Olson, who will also produce the series, will play a single mom of three who helps solve an unsolvable crime when she rearranges some evidence during her shift as a cleaner for the police department. Soon, she is brought on as a consultant to help solve cases. Deadline reported separately that Daniel Sunjata will also star. (Deadline)
Ben McKenzie will star in ABC’s drama pilot The Hurt Unit. According to the show’s logline, the series is “a cutting-edge medical drama about a highly skilled team of trauma surgeons and nurses who race into the field to treat the patients who won’t make it to the hospital in time.” Deadline has since reported that Augustus Prew, Michelle Ortiz, and Jaime Lee Kirchner have been added to the cast. (Variety)
Joel Kinnaman will play former CIA analyst John Nixon in Debriefing The President, based on Nixon’s non-fiction book that documented his experience as the first American to identify and interrogate Saddam Hussein after he was captured in 2003. (Deadline)
J.J. Abrams and LaToya Morgan’s Duster was ordered to series by HBO Max. The eight-episode crime caper will star Rachel Hilson and Josh Holloway and follow the first Black female FBI agent (the series is set in 1972) as she sets out to take down a growing crime syndicate with the help of a gutsy getaway driver. Keith David, Sydney Elisabeth, Greg Grunberg, Camille Guaty, Asivak Koostachin, Adriana Aluna Martinez, and Benjamin Charles Watson will also star.
Taylor Sheridan’s Bass Reeves series has added Forrest Goodluck and Lauren E. Banks to star opposite series lead David Oyelowo. Banks will play Jenny, the loyal and fierce wife of Reeves. Goodluck is a young and stylish Cherokee man named Billy Crowe. The series will follow the true story of Reeves, who is known as the greatest frontier hero in American history. (Variety)
(Photo by Steve Granitz/FilmMagic)
A new horror adventure is making its way to Peacock, thanks to Seth MacFarlane. The Shrouded College, which is written by Charles Soule and Will Sliney, who will also executive produce, is a set of seven interconnected stories that follow a group of characters enlisted to become secret agents fighting a cold war of supernatural proportions on behalf of a down-and-out organization known as The Shrouded College. “Hell to Pay,” the first issue in the comic series, was published in November 2022 and the second installment, “The Bloody Dozen,” will drop in late 2023. Over the next few years, the series will hit the shelves in comic and graphic novel formats. (Deadline)
Creatures of Sonaria, the open world survival video game in Roblox, which features a bevy of dragons, monsters, and other supernatural creatures, is in development by Wind Sun Sky Entertainment and Productivity Media, Inc., as a live-action scripted series. As the press release states, the series will “bring the games’ fantastical creatures and epic world to life in a new medium that consumers haven’t experienced before.”
Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson continues to carve out a successful niche in the television world. The Emmy and Grammy award-winning producer, director, actor, and recording artist has entered into a non-exclusive multi-project broadcast deal with Fox Entertainment. Through his production company G-Unit Film & Television, Jackson will bring scripted dramas, live-action comedies, and animated series to the network.
Starsky & Hutch may be returning to television soon, but with a new look and feel. The one-hour drama, which is being developed at Fox by writers and showrunners Sam Sklaver and Elizabeth Peterson, will center on Sasha Starsky and Nicole Hutchinson, two female detectives who solve crimes in Desert City. The series will explore their professional relationship and close friendship as it revolves around a mystery that sent their fathers to prison a decade and a half ago for a crime they didn’t commit. The original series the original series followed partners David Michael Starsky (Paul Michael Glaser) and Kenneth Richard “Hutch” Hutchinson (David Soul) as they fought crime, and looked cool while doing so in their iconic Ford Gran Torino, in Bay City, California. It aired on ABC from 1975 to 1979. (Deadline)
https://twitter.com/NetflixAnime/status/1625630975375081472?s=20
Netflix is creating an anime based on Japan’s popular manga Pluto, which will hit the streamer later this year. Hailed as a masterpiece, with multiple awards to back that claim up, the manga is based on Osamu Tezuka’s Astro Boy “The Greatest Robot on Earth” story arch from 1964, and created by Naoki Urasawa and long-time collaborator Takashi Nagasaki. The thriller takes place in a neo-futuristic world where humans and high-functioning robots exist in harmony. Shinshu Fuji, Yoko Hikasa, and Minori Suzuki will lead the voice cast.
Stone Cold Fox is getting the TV adaptation treatment at Universal. Rachel Koller Croft, the author of the recently released book, is set to write the series. Julie Plec and Emily Cummins will executive produce the program, which is about a woman, whose mom was a con artist, striving to escape her dark past for good. But when she focused on one last con, to marry into an American dynasty, unexpected challenges appear to threaten the new life she’s worked so hard for. (Deadline)
N.K. Jemisin’s bestselling novels The City We Became and The World We Make, known as the author’s “The Great Cities” duology, has been acquired by Walden Media with plans for series development. The books are set in an alternate reality that finds major cities becoming sentient through human avatars. When New York falls into a coma and disappears, a group of five human representations of New York’s boroughs come together to save New York, and maybe even the world. (Variety)
Multi-camera comedy JumpStart has received a pilot order at CBS. The program is based on Robb Armstrong’s comic strip, which debuted back in 1989 and follows a Philadelphia cop named Joe, his nurse wife Marcy, and Joe’s partner Crunchy. (Deadline)
https://twitter.com/RottenTomatoes/status/1626725710587895809
James Graham, Michael Sheen, and Adam Curtis have teamed up to create BBC drama, The Way, a three-part drama that follows a civil uprising in a small industrial town. Graham will write the series, Sheen will make his TV directorial debut, and the duo co-created the project with Curtis, a celebrated documentarian. (Deadline)
The Snakehead, based on Patrick Radden Keefe book of the same name, may be headed to television courtesy of A24. This immigration story, which is described as a mix between The Godfather and Chinatown, exists in a secret world run by a middle-aged woman from New York’s Chinatown. She runs a lucrative business smuggling people to America, safely. (Deadline)
The restructuring of Paramount Global’s streaming platform Paramount+, which includes the absorption of Showtime into the streamer, has led to the service raising prices. According to CFO Naveen Chopra, in an update delivered on a post-earnings conference call, the rebranded Paramount+ with Showtime will raise $2 dollars from $9.99 a month to $11.99 a month. The essential tier without Showtime is increasing from $4.99 to $5.99 a month. (Deadline)
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Excited fans took to the floor of the Jacob Javits Convention Center to celebrate their favorite TV shows and highly-anticipated new films at New York Comic Con over the weekend. While attendees buzzed over exclusive items, collectibles, and freebies on the show floor, a curated selection of programming rooms, stage panels, and Q&A events provided news reveals that echoed beyond the convention halls.
Here are the top highlights as they were presented at NYCC:
His Dark Materials season 3 finally has a trailer, and a premiere date
“The Amber Spyglass,” the final book in Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials series gets the adaptation treatment in the third and final season of HBO and BBC’s landmark fantasy series. Get ready for elephants on wheels, a whole load of angels, tiny folks who ride insects to and fro, and of course, hell.
84%
His Dark Materials
season 3 premieres on Dec. 5 on HBO Max.
The Super Mario Bros. Movie trailer boasts an all-star cast
It’s been three decades since the notoriously cheesy ’90s live-action adaptation of Nintendo’s massively popular video game franchise hit theaters. Illumination Animation and Universal finally unleashed the first trailer for their highly-anticipated The Super Mario Bros. Movie at New York Comic Con and its cast is superb. Chris Pratt plays Mario, Charlie Day is Luigi, Anya Taylor-Joy is Princess Peach, Jack Black goes full villain as Bowser, Seth Rogen is Donkey Kong and Keegan-Michael Key plays Toad.
59%
The Super Mario Bros. Movie
(2023)
premieres on April 7, 2023, nationwide in theaters.
Anne Rice’s The Mayfair Witches continues the author’s legacy on AMC
In its continued effort to expand the Anne Rice story universe on television, AMC+ is gearing up to bring The Mayfair Witches to the small screen. The official trailer for the series dropped before the show’s NYCC panel, and ensures the author’s enduring legacy is firmly in-tact.
Stars Alexandra Daddario (Dr. Rowan Fielding), Harry Hamlin (Cortland Mayfair), Tongayi Chirisa (Ciprien Grieve) and Jack Huston (Lasher) joined executive producers Esta Spalding, Mark Johnson and Michelle Ashford on stage after the clip came to an end. How will this series differ from the witch stories that came before it? According to Ashford, the idea of telling a story of witches — aka, healers who were demonized by society — felt absolutely relevant to present day.
Anne Rice’s The Mayfair Witches premieres Thursday, January 5, 2023, on AMC+.
Mindy Kaling’s Scooby Doo spinoff Velma is an adult animated series without Scooby
In the vein of raucous animated programs like Rick and Morty and Harley Quinn, Warner Bros. Animation’ Velma digs into the high school origin story of the orange-turtleneck wearing, be-spectacled Velma Dinkley. Gone is the family friendly vibe of previous Scooby Doo installments, making way for some blood-spattered horror goodness and thought-provoking adult themes to take shape.
During the NYCC panel, showrunner Charlie Grandy explained the omission of everyone’s favorite burger-loving Great Dane.
“What made Scooby-Doo a kid show is Scooby-Doo,” Grandy said. “We couldn’t have a take on it, like, How can we do this in a fun and modern way?”
It turns out, their efforts to keep Scoob out of things lined up with Warner Bros. Animation saying they couldn’t use him anyway. Without Scooby, the series is able to differentiate itself, fully leaning into its adult tone.
It’s still a high school series, though. Mindy Kaling, who doesn’t just voice Velma, but also executive produces the series, tapped into her knack for bringing high school stories to life, here. The Never Have I Ever show creator revealed her love of exploring “people from different social strata find[ing] something in common.”
With a uniquely diverse cast, and various themes of identity being explored, Kaling assured the crowd that this series is completely in her wheelhouse: “We get to see all the high school events and dances in addition to it being a murder mystery.”
Joining Kaling in the series is Constance Wu, who plays Daphne, Sam Richardson’s Norville (who will also go by “Shaggy), and Glenn Howerton’s Fred.
Velma will premiere in 2023 on HBO Max.
The Legend of Vox Machina drops trailer for season 2, and exciting season 3 news
Ahead of the second season of Prime Video’s hit animated series, The Legend of Vox Machina, the cast announced to the NYCC crowd the exciting news that a third season is now in the cards. The series is based on the characters and adventures as originally featured in Critical Role, the web series phenomenon that follows a cast of voice actors as they play through various Dungeons & Dragons campaigns.
As the official season 2 synopsis states: “After saving the realm from evil and destruction at the hands of the most terrifying power couple in Exandria, Vox Machina is faced with saving the world once again — this time, from a sinister group of dragons known as the Chroma Conclave.”
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The Legend of Vox Machina
season 2 premieres in January on Prime Video.
Adult Animated Koala Man Adds Jemaine Clement, Rachel House, and Jarrad Wright with Miranda Otto and Hugo Weaving set to make guest appearances
(Photo by Hulu)
Hulu paneled the upcoming original adult animated series Koala Man on Thursday and announced the casting of Jemaine Clement, Rachel House, and Jarrad Wright with Miranda Otto and Hugo Weaving set to make guest appearances. Previously announced cast includes Hugh Jackman, Sarah Snook, Demi Lardner, and creator Michael Cusack. Koala Man follows middle-aged dad Kevin (Cusack) and his titular not-so-secret identity, whose only superpower is a passion for following rules and battling petty crime in the town of Dapto, an Australian suburb.
The Wheel of Time drops the highly-anticipated trailer for season 2
Season 2 of The Wheel of Time has been wrapped for some time and finally, during Friday’s panel for the series (which was partnered with Prime Video’s other fantasy juggernaut series The Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power), series creator Rafe Judkins offered fans a peek at what’s to come in the new episodes.
During the presentation, Judkins teased the inclusion of the Seanchan, a magical army of invaders who appear in Robert Jordan’s second Wheel Of Time book. The villainous entities with the long metal nails can be seen briefly in the trailer above. Gone from the series is Barney Harris, who played Mat Cauthon in season 1, with Dónal Finn taking over as the character. We may not have a premiere date yet, but by the looks of the season 2 trailer, the situation seems dire for Moiraine, Lan, Rand al’Thor, and the gang.
81%
The Wheel of Time: Season 1
(2021)
is now streaming on Prime Video.
The Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power season finale trailer gives a first look at Sauron
Say hello to Sauron! Prime Video released a trailer teasing the epic season finale for Lord of the Rings prequel series, Rings of Power during the show’s panel. And by the looks of things, this upcoming week’s episode will finally bring Mordor’s big bad to the small-screen.
Some other noteworthy tidbits were released regarding the show’s future on the platform. Given the good news that the series was renewed for a second season, showrunners J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay were absent from the NYCC panel. They’re in pre-production on the new episodes which will switch shooting locations from New Zealand to London. Not to mention, Felicia Day has been tapped to host an eight-episode companion podcast that will go live on October 14, just in time to talk about season 1’s end.
With a five-season plan in place, Prime Video seems to have plenty of confidence in the high-budget fantasy series. Just where things will go is anyone’s guess, but it sure will be pretty to look at once season 2 premieres.
84%
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power: Season 1
(2022)
concludes on Friday, October 14 on Prime Video.
Good Omens season 2 gets a premiere date, and noteworthy additions to the cast
(Photo by Prime Video)
Neil Gaiman appeared to tease Good Omens’ anticipated summer 2023 return to Prime Video. While he was mostly tight-lipped about specific story details for the six new episodes, he did hint at a love story being in the cards. Whether that romance is between Michael Sheen’s angel Aziraphale and David Tennant’s demon Crowley is anyone’s guess.
During the New York Comic Con panel, some new casting details were released for season 2 and some familiar faces are returning to play new characters. Actresses Maggie Service and Nina Sosanya, who portrayed nuns in the first installment of the show, are returning to play new characters, aptly named Maggie and Nina.
(Photo by Prime Video)
“There were two characters in it,” Gaiman shared coyly, “and I wanted them played by Maggie and Nina. In order to make it clear to everyone reading the script that those characters were going to be played by Maggie and Nina, I called them Maggie and Nina.”
“I play Maggie,” Service added. “She runs a record shop, which is besides Aziraphale’s bookshop in SoHo. It’s a shop that’s been passed through the generations. My shop look looks across …”
“… another shop, which is a coffee shop” Sosanya added, explaining her character. “It’s called Give Me Coffee or Give Me Death. Nina is a bit mintier than I am. She runs this independent coffee shop in SoHo. She is good at dealing with people who come into a coffee shop in SoHo. She’s not afraid of dealing with people.”
(Photo by Prime Video)
A new addition to the cast is actress Quelin Sepulveda, who will be playing an angel named Muriel. She’s a completely new character in the Good Omens story canon. And, by all accounts, she’s just a friendly welcoming sort. Something that is a bit hard to come by in heaven, apparently.
“We realized that one thing we didn’t have in heaven was, apart from Aziraphale, any nice, well-meaning angels,” Gaiman continued. “All we had were bastards.”
(Photo by Prime Video)
“Muriel has spent about 6,000 years or more in the same office in heaven,” Gaiman added. “Just filing things and reading things, just hoping someone will come in and the day will get more interesting.”
Miranda Richardson is back in season 2, playing a demon named Shax who’s aiming to replace Crowley. And Shelley Conn takes over as Beelzebub in the new episodes.
(Photo by Prime Video)
(Photo by Prime Video)
86%
Good Omens
season 2 is expected to premiere in 2023 on Prime Video.
Teen Wolf: The Movie first look teases a very different Derek Hale
Paramount+ revealed a first look clip for the streamer’s upcoming Teen Wolf sequel movie, aptly titled Teen Wolf: The Movie. The film takes place 15 years after the end of the MTV series and checks in with Scott McCall, who, as star Tyler Posey revealed during the movie’s panel, “is not a teen wolf, anymore. He’s a 30-year-old wolf.” What does that mean, exactly? According to Posey, “It’s the first time we’ve seen him [try to be a normal human] since the pilot.” And, apparently, you can’t be a normal human without dealing with issues like, “depression, loneliness, and anxiety.”
As for the scene that was teased before the panel, Tyler Hoechlin (who reprises the role of Derek Hale) was unable to introduce the clip due to getting stuck in traffic. Writer Jeff Davis teased that Derek will also be shown “in a whole new light.” Being a father to Eli (Vince Mattis’ character) and taking on the role of mentor sure can change a wolf. Even though everyone has matured, the addition of Eli to the cast helps to “bring the teen back to Teen Wolf.”
32%
Teen Wolf: The Movie
(2023)
premieres January 26, 2023, on Paramount+.
Sarah Michelle Gellar trades vampires for werewolves in first trailer for Wolf Pack
Wolf Pack is technically a Teen Wolf spinoff series, in that, both stories take place in the same story world, but that’s where the connection ends. Boasting the genre TV return of Buffy’s Sarah Michelle Gellar, the series follows four teenagers brought together after a California wildfire sparks a werewolf attack.
Gellar plays arson investigator Kristin Ramsey, who also has some helpful supernatural insight. Joining her in the series is Rodrigo Santoro, Armani Jackson, Bella Shepard, Chloe Rose Robertson, and Tyler Lawrence Gray, all of whom appeared in front of the New York Comic Con crowd to promote the show.
Explaining why she chose to return to horror, Gellar said, “Utilizing the supernatural is how we explain the things we cannot really understand. The stories that we can’t really grasp, or the ones that would be too depressing in real life, and too upsetting. We use those to scare ourselves into understanding.”
44%
Wolf Pack
premieres January 26, 2023, on Paramount+.
Star Trek: Discovery season 5 trailer introduces new outlaws and a new Starfleet captain
Star Trek owned New York Comic Con in Saturday with Paramount+ presenting a gargantuan Star Trek Universe panel to the packed event, promoting Star Trek: Discovery season 5, Star Trek: Prodigy, and Star Trek: Picard’s third and final season.
Sonequa Martin-Green hit the NYCC stage to share this first look trailer for season 5 of Star Trek: Discovery. The teaser gives a peek at new characters Rayner (played by Callum Keith Rennie), a hardened Starfleet captain; Moll (played by Eve Harlow), a criminal who faces off with the Discovery crew; and her partner, L’ak (played by Elias Toufexis).
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Star Trek: Discovery
season 5 premiere date is to be announced.
Star Trek: Prodigy‘s midseason return adds a familiar Starfleet officer to the cast
Star Trek veteran Ronny Cox was announced as a new addition to the voice cast on Star Trek: Prodigy. Previously, Cox played the character of Edward Jellico in Star Trek: The Next Generation. Now, in the animated children’s series, he will reprise the role, who has moved up the ranks in Starfleet to Admiral status.
94%
Star Trek: Prodigy: Season 1
(2021)
makes its mid-season return on October 27 to Paramount+.
Star Trek: Picard reunites the Next Generation cast in the trailer for its third and final season
The trailer for the third and final season of Star Trek: Picard delivered some epic fan service during the show’s panel at New York Comic Con. Some core Next Generation cast members joined Patrick Stewart on stage to tease the final episodes, including Brent Spiner (who has appeared as multiple characters throughout the first two seasons of Picard), LeVar Burton, Michael Dorn, Jonathan Frakes, Gates McFadden and Marina Sirtis.
Amanda Plummer was revealed as the vengeful alien Vadic, who seeks to destroy Jean-Luc Picard and his old crew. This time around, Spiner will be playing Lore, Data’s evil android brother, who appeared multiple times throughout the original TNG run. Daniel Davis, who played the hologram version of Professor James Moriarty in The Next Generation, is also returning to Picard.
Adding some cool connective tissue to the casting of the series is the addition of Mica Burton, LeVar’s daughter, who will be playing Ensign Alandra La Forge, Geordi La Forge’s youngest daughter.
89%
Star Trek: Picard
season 3 will premiere February 16, 2023, on Paramount+.
The Walking Dead‘s Lauren Cohan and Jeffrey Dean Morgan tease Dead City spinoff
(Photo by AMC)
During the final New York Comic Con panel for AMC’s The Walking Dead, a first look peek was given to The Walking Dead: Dead City, the network’s upcoming spinoff series starring Lauren Cohan as Maggie and Jeffrey Dean Morgan as Negan. It’s a pretty fitting tease, considering the fact that the apocalyptic new show is set in the Big Apple.
“The crumbling city is filled with the dead and denizens who have made New York City their own world full of anarchy, danger, beauty, and terror,” AMC said in its original press release for the series in March, back when it was titled Isle of the Dead.
Check out the other first look images below:
(Photo by AMC)
(Photo by AMC)
(Photo by AMC)
(Photo by AMC)
(Photo by AMC)
(Photo by AMC)
The Walking Dead: Dead City will premiere in April 2023 on AMC and AMC+.
Wednesday unleashes Fred Armisen as Uncle Fester in new trailer
Saturday was the day for Wednesday. During the panel for Netflix’s highly-anticipated Adams Family spinoff series, a new trailer was released upon the world giving the first ever looks at Fred Armisen’s Uncle Fester, and the return of Christina Ricci — who played Wednesday Adams in both Adams Family movies — to Tim Burton’s story world.
The clip gave a deeper look at Wednesday’s high school experience at Nevermore Academy, where Ricci plays a professor named Miss Thornhill.
Armisen, who appeared as a surprise guest during the panel, confirmed he shaved his head to properly get in character. “I shaved my head because this was like a role [that] as soon as I heard about it, I was like, Oh, I gotta be Fester! I really wanted to do it, and I wanted to do it right and not have a bald cap or anything. So, I just shaved my head, and I was proud to do it.”
73%
Wednesday
will premiere on November 23 on Netflix.
Netflix’s Wendell & Wild drops full trailer to ring in the spooky season
During Saturday’s panel for Netflix’s highly-anticipated stop motion animated feature, director Henry Selick hit the stage to showcase the full trailer for the movie, and give some insight behind its humble humorous beginnings. And yes, this definitely links back to Jordan Peele and Keegan-Michael Key’s groundbreaking sketch comedy series Key & Peele.
“I was so inspired by Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele and their range of subjects, characters,” Selick said. “By the third season I just said, I gotta reach out to those guys.”
Originally a seven-page story Selick wrote for his two sons, Peele joined the creative team and helped expand the story into the full-length movie.
80%
Wendell & Wild
(2022)
premieres on October 28 on Netflix.
Tom Welling joins CW’s Supernatural spinoff The Winchesters
Tom Welling, the actor best known for playing Clark Kent on Smallville, will be joining The Winchesters in the recurring role of Samuel Campbell, Mary’s (Meg Donnelly) dad. From the sound of things, the Winchester Family Business actually began with the Campbell family and Samuel here, as the announcement goes, taught Mary everything he knows. He will make his first appearance in the series in episode 7.
100%
The Winchesters
premieres on Tuesday, October 11 on The CW.
Doom Patrol touches down with a new season 4 trailer
After a year of waiting, NYCC fans got a peek at the upcoming fourth season of Doom Patrol and, if anything, the show looks like it hasn’t at all lost its bizarre luster. It’s unclear if season 4 is the final run of the DC series, but considering the new addition of Madeline Zima to the cast (she’s playing Space Case, a superhero who was a bit part of the Gerard Way/Nick Derington run of the books), all signs are pointing to another bonkers fun outing for the rag-tag group of heroes.
98%
Doom Patrol
season 4 part 1 premieres December 8 on HBO Max.
Titans season 4 part 1 trailer gets dark and bloody
DC’s Titans is gearing up to get culty in its fourth season. During DC’s Sunday panel for the series at New York Comic Con, a new teaser dropped to whet our appetites for the coming episodes and by the looks of things, the show is about to get very bloody. Could the Church of Blood (the cult ran by villain Brother Blood) play a big part of the new season? It’s very possible. We’ll get the answers we seek in November.
89%
Titans
season 4, part 1 premieres Thursday, November 3 on HBO Max.
FX’s Kindred adaptation finally gets a premiere date
(Photo by FX)
FX’s new drama series Kindred, based on Hugo Award-winner Octavia E. Butler’s novel of the same name, will premiere all eight episodes on Tuesday, December 13 exclusively to Hulu. The announcement came during the Kindred panel presentation at New York Comic Con on Sunday, the closing day of the event.
Per the network’s official press release, the series follows Dana James (Mallori Johnson), “a young Black woman and aspiring writer who has uprooted her life of familial obligation and relocated to Los Angeles, ready to claim a future that, for once, feels all her own. But, before she can settle into her new home, she finds herself being violently pulled back and forth in time. She emerges at a 19th-century plantation, a place remarkably and intimately linked with Dana and her family. An interracial romance threads through Dana’s past and present, and the clock is ticking as she struggles to confront secrets she never knew ran through her blood, in this genre-breaking exploration of the ties that bind.”
Starring alongside Johnson are Micah Stock, Ryan Kwanten, Gayle Rankin, Austin Smith, David Alexander Kaplan, Sophina Brown and Sheria Irving.
Kindred season 1 premieres Tuesday, December 13 on Hulu.
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(Photo by AMC)
Updated 10/11/21.
The Walking Dead fans have hung with AMC’s zombie series for over 10 seasons now — 161 episodes — and helped the show break several ratings records, including the most-watched cable episode in history when its season 5 premiere aired.
Apparently, the saga of Rick (Andrew Lincoln), Carl (Chandler Riggs), Michonne (Danai Gurira), Daryl (Norman Reedus), Carol (Melissa McBride), Maggie (Lauren Cohan), Glenn (Steven Yeun), Morgan (Lennie James), and the rest of the gang has legs — and feet and arms and decapitated heads — to spare.
We looked at how each of its episodes so far have fared on the Tomatometer and found the most Rotten episodes occurred in season 6, with five of the 16 episodes in that season being deemed Rotten by a consensus of critics (although the season fared well overall — it is Certified Fresh at 76%).
The fifth season is the Freshest of the bunch, with eight TWD seasons overall Certified Fresh, and with the highest overall score at 90%.
Seasons 5 and 3 scored the most episodes in the top 10, claiming four slots each standing at 100%. Season 7’s premiere, “The Day Will Come When You Won’t Be,” had the most reviews of any individual episode with 54 — unsurprising, given that it was the episode in which viewers found out which characters Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) had brained.
Where did “For Blood,” episode 8 of season 11 land? Read on to find out!
What was your favorite episode of The Walking Dead? Tell us in the comments.
Two beloved series bid adieu this month on NBC and AMC, while we welcome in much-anticipated sophomore seasons from the likes of Comedy Central, HBO Max, Showtime, and more. With plenty of binge-worthy series to go around, let’s break down what you should be catching up on this August.
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The L Word: Generation Q
(Showtime)
What it is: From creators Michele Abbott, Ilene Chaiken, and Kathy Greenberg, the original Emmy-nominated series (decorated elsewhere by GLAAD for its landmark lesbian, bisexual, and transgender characters) and its years-in-the-making sequel series, The L Word: Generation Q, charts the intersecting friendships and love lives of a group of queer women living in Los Angeles.
Why you should watch it: As heralded today as it is maligned, there’s no denying that The L Word made leaps for LGBTQ representation onscreen upon its 2004 premiere, even if it didn’t always hit its mark. While its first season was Certified Fresh for all its bombastic soapiness and memorable characters, critics didn’t follow it into its subsequent seasons, resulting in years without Tomatometer scores — and its sixth and final season was ravaged with a measly 8%. But the show still has its fans and its merits. Plus, its reboot welcomely (and freshly) revisits the components that first made us fall in love with these ladies (including original stars Katherine Moennig and Jennifer Beals) while expanding and bettering itself where there is room to grow. The L Word: Generation Q season 2 premieres August 8 on Showtime.
Where to watch: Amazon, Google Play, Hulu, Microsoft, Showtime, Vudu
Commitment: Approx. 77.5 hours (for all six seasons of The L Word and The L Word: Generation Q season 1)
94%
DC's Stargirl
(The CW)
What it is: Based on the character from the DC Comics by Geoff Johns and Lee Moder, DC’s Stargirl follows teenager Courtney Whitmore, who, upon discovering the Cosmic Staff and learning that her stepfather was once sidekick to Starman, takes up the cause of the Justice Society of America and recruits a whole new crew of superheroes to join her cause.
Why you should watch it: Already renewed for a third season before its second even airs, star Brec Bassinger has woven some superpowered magic with her hit DC Universe–turned–CW series. With action and family-friendly fun for all ages, it strikes an inspiring narrative of the powers of good that can rise up in the face of evil. Season 2 premieres August 10 on the CW.
Where to watch: Amazon, Google Play, HBO Max, Microsoft, Vudu
Commitment: Approx. 9.5 hours (for the first season)
95%
Brooklyn Nine-Nine
(NBC)
What it is: This hit comedy series from creators Dan Goor and Michael Schur is a workplace sitcom featuring some very distinct personalities — the aloof and gregarious Detective Jake Peralta (Saturday Night Live alum Andy Samberg), his fictional precinct’s dry commanding officer, Captain Ray Holt (Andre Braugher), and the rest of the motley crew of the Nine-Nine.
Why you should watch it: We’ve seen fan-initiated primetime resuscitations before, but rarely do they happen as swiftly as Brooklyn Nine-Nine’s after its unceremonious cancellation at Fox. The online outcry had barely begun before Universal Television began shopping the sitcom around, and it was scooped up by NBC just a day later — with good reason. The series is beloved by fans, which is why it comes as particularly sad news that its eighth season, premiering August 12, will also be its last.
Where to watch: Amazon, FandangoNOW, Google Play, Hulu, Microsoft, Peacock, Vudu
Commitment: Approx. 52 hours (for the first seven seasons)
89%
Titans
(HBO Max)
What it is: This series is centered on its titular group of young superheroes — led by none other than Nightwing (formerly Robin of Batman-sidekick fame) — as they save the world from forces that want to end it. A long-in-the-making effort, Titans is a welcome addition to DC Comics’ TV footprint.
Why you should watch it: Greg Berlanti is the mastermind behind DC Comics’ takeover of the small screen, so you know you’re in good hands for this streaming hit with him and co-creators Akiva Goldsman and Geoff Johns (also of Stargirl fame) at the helm. The Titans action is slick and laid on thick, and buoyed by a stellar young-Hollywood cast. We can’t wait to see what superhero adventures are in store next. Season 3 premieres August 12 on HBO Max.
Where to watch it: Amazon, FandangoNOW, Google Play, HBO Max, Vudu
Commitment: Approx. 18 hours (for the first two seasons)
69%
Modern Love
(Amazon Prime Video)
What it is: From director and showrunner John Carney (best known for musical romances Once, Begin Again, and Sing Street) and based on the New York Times’s much-loved column of the same name, Modern Love is a anthological series charting the love lives of various disparate New Yorkers played by the likes of Tina Fey, Anne Hathaway, Dev Patel, Catherine Keener, and more.
Why you should watch it: The acting talent alone is enough reason to tune in, but this series packs on the charm in ways both expected and surprising, sending its material over the edge from just basic rom-com fare to something a little more special. Season 2 premieres August 13 on Amazon Prime Video.
Where to watch: Amazon
Commitment: Approx. 4 hours (for the first season)
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Awkwafina Is Nora From Queens
(Comedy Central)
What it is: Creator Awkwafina stars here as Nora Lin, a Flushing, Queens, native comically trying to get her young adulthood life together with the help of some family and friends.
Why you should watch it: Fresh off the breakout acclaim of Crazy Rich Asians and The Farewell, Awkwafina’s self-titled Comedy Central series became the latest semi-autobiographical half-hour to take a hold of us. With supporting and scene-stealing turns from BD Wong, Lori Tan Chinn, and Bowen Yang as her father, grandmother, and cousin respectively, it’s a series that showcases the universality of coming-of-age. Season 2 premieres August 18 on Comedy Central.
Where to watch: Amazon, FandangoNOW, Google Play, HBO Max, Microsoft, Vudu
Commitment: Approx. 5 hours (for the first season)
79%
The Walking Dead
(AMC)
What it is: Don’t know what The Walking Dead is? You may want to check your pulse…
Why you should watch it: Based on the comic book series by Robert Kirkman, Tony Moore, and Charlie Adlard’s post-apocalyptic premise of zombies walking the Earth and ending mankind as we know it, the acclaimed series developed by creator Frank Darabont indulges in gore and “what if” fascinations. These are characters brought to life with bone-deep precision from a stable of some of TV’s greatest talents. You just never know when your favorite will bite the dust, but that’s admittedly part of the fun, too. Its eleventh and final season premieres August 22 on AMC.
Where to watch: Amazon, FandangoNOW, Google Play, Microsoft, Netflix, Vudu
Commitment: Approx. 114 hours (for the first 10 seasons)
100%
Work in Progress
(Showtime)
What it is: Following the highs and lows of a self-proclaimed fat, queer dyke who suffers from OCD and depression while living in Chicago, co-creator and star Abby McEnany turns the lens inward and makes one heck of a debut.
Why you should watch it: Not many entertainers can say they had their “mainstream” breakout after 50, but McEnany can count herself among the lucky few. A mainstay of Chicago’s comedy scene via Second City and a one-time student of Stephen Colbert, the multi-hyphenate finds ways to turn the cringingly personal into universal reflections on contemporary humanity. Season 2 premieres August 22 on Showtime.
Where to watch: Amazon, FandangoNOW, Google Play, Hulu, Microsoft, Showtime, Vudu
Commitment: Approx. 4 hours (for the first season)
80%
The Witcher
(Netflix)
What it is: From director Kwang Il Han and based on the book series by Polish author Andrzej Sapkowski, The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf is a prequel spinoff film of Netflix’s hit Henry Cavill starrer from creator Lauren Schmidt that charts the monster-slaying adventures of Geralt’s mentor, Vesemir, in stunning anime.
Why you should watch it: If you haven’t already read the source material, we recommend the best way to catch up for this feature is to binge the first season of The Witcher. Ambitiously violent and larger-than-life, it certainly ranks as one of Netflix’s best fantasy series and will give you all the knowledge you need to appreciate this animated vision of what came before. The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf premieres August 23 on Netflix. (Season 2 of the live-action series premieres on December 17.)
Where to watch: Netflix
Commitment: Approx. 8 hours (for the first season)
77%
American Horror Story
(FX)
What it is: Now going into its 10th season, the spooky anthology series is a favorite of critics and audiences alike. Previous seasons featured haunted houses, witches, vampires, crazed killers, and every manner of unhinged human.
Why you should watch it: You don’t have to watch every season of American Horror Story to catch up for season 10, but don’t you want to!? The acclaimed anthology series is known for being as campy as it is horrific. The upcoming season, American Horror Story: Double Feature, is divided in two parts for two times the fun; one half is set by the sea, the other by the sand. Returning stars to the franchise include Sarah Paulson and Evan Peters after taking a break from 1984, Frances Conroy, Leslie Grossman, Billie Lourd, Lily Rabe, Angelica Ross, Finn Wittrock, Denis O’Hare, Matt Bomer, and more. Season 10 premieres August 25 on FX.
Where to watch: Amazon, FandangoNOW, Google Play, Hulu, Microsoft, Netflix, Vudu
Commitment: Approx. 85 hours (for the first nine seasons)
91%
Archer
(FXX)
What it is: Even the sleekest of action-packed espionage thrillers have an air of cartoonish hyperbole to them, but FXX’s Archer does away with that suspension of disbelief by making the whole thing a cartoon to begin with. The half-hour comedy from creator Adam Reed can land a joke as deftly as its titular man-child spy can land a punch, so expect to be thrilled while laughing yourself silly.
Why you should watch it: Over 11 hit seasons, Archer has never shied away from genre experimentation. Season 8’s Dreamland and 9’s Danger Island were particularly high-concept highlights, with season 10 following suit with 1999, which saw Archer not as the ass-kicking spy of ISIS we know from earlier incarnations, but a futuristic explorer of space on the M/V Seamus alongside our longstanding favorite characters and the voice actors behind them. Season 11 marked the spies much-anticipated return to reality after he wakes up from his coma and does away with those bottle-themed seasons. Season 12, which features the late, great Jessica Walter’s final bow as the voice of Malory, premieres August 25 on FXX.
Where to watch: Amazon, FandangoNow, Google Play, Hulu, Microsoft, Vudu
Commitment: Approx. 45 hours (for the first 11 seasons)
97%
The Other Two
(HBO Max)
What it is: Cary (Drew Tarver), and his sister, Brooke (Heléne Yorke) had dreams of fame of fortune, but now fast-approaching 30 with not much to show for it, they’re forced to contend with overnight, Justin Bieber–style viral fame of their teen brother Chase (Case Walker).
Why you should watch it: With a never-better Molly Shannon as the central three’s supportive (but a bit delusional) mother, this laugh-out-loud series from Saturday Night Live vets Chris Kelly and Sarah Schneider parodies pop culture as much as it celebrates it — and it’s just about perfect. Season 2 premieres August 26 on HBO Max.
Where to watch: HBO Max
Commitment: Approx. 3.5 hours (for the first season)
Thumbnail photo credits: Josh Stringer/AMC; Matt Sayles/The CW; Comedy Central
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Star Wars and X-Men actor Oscar Isaac has learned some new moves as a Marvel superhero, get a look at the Powerpuff Women, and Jeffrey Dean Morgan hints at The Walking Dead Negan spinoff. Plus, new trailers and more of the biggest TV and streaming news of the week.
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It probably shouldn’t come as a total surprise that mercenary with multiple personalities could become quite violent. But a new video chronicling Moon Knight star Isaac’s training for his role as the lead in the upcoming Disney+ Marvel series suggests the titular character may be a real killer, something that could potentially the family friendliness right out of the MCU story.
The video reveals some impressive fight moves during Isaac’s training, several sequences of which end with what appears to be throat-slitting knife work. The video was posted to Instagram by Mad Gene Media, the New York–based production company founded by Isaac and Elvira Lind.
Whatever Isaac’s character is getting up to in the series, it definitely seems like there’s plenty of action-packed drama ahead … for viewers whose mommies and daddies deem it appropriate viewing, anyway.
(Photo by James Acomb/The CW)
If you were a little underwhelmed last week at the sight of the Powerpuff girls in costume on the set of The CW’s upcoming live-action reboot of the Powerpuff Girls cartoon, we’ve got news and an important update. The literally cartoon-y look of the costumes was intentional; the scenes being filmed were flashbacks to Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup Utonium in action during their teenage years.
This week, The CW released the first official photo of Powerpuff stars Chloe Bennet, Dove Cameron, and Yana Perrault as adults, and they’re wearing some colorful, but still all grown up, stylin’ duds. The pilot, in fact, will be largely focused on the women as adults, and their angst about having spent their younger years as world-saving heroines.
In other Powerpuff news, Robyn Lively joined the cast as Sara Bellum, the mayor’s assistant, while original series narrator, Tom Kenny, will return as the narrator for the reboot..
With season 10’s finale – the season-best “Here’s Negan” episode of The Walking Dead that featured Jeffrey Dean Morgan and his real-life wife Hilarie Burton playing Negan and his wife Lucille – setting up the inevitable showdown between Negan and Lauren Cohan’s Maggie in TWD’s upcoming final season, fans are facing the end of the line for most TV versions of TWD’s characters.
But during Morgan’s appearance on Conan this week, he provided hope for fans of his performance of Negan, confirming to Conan O’Brien that there have been discussions about a spin-off series revolving around the bat-swinging killer who’s trying to redeem himself.
“I think they’re thinking of a couple different ideas, but I’ve definitely had conversations about possibly continuing the story of Negan,” Morgan said.
(Photo by AMC)
Future TWD projects already announced include a spin-off starring BFFs Daryl (Norman Reedus) and Carol (Melissa McBride) and a series of movies featuring the return of Andy Lincoln as Rick Grimes.
And speaking of Rick, who disappeared from the series when Lincoln left the series, but was killed off in the comic book, he’s going to be resurrected for a special issue of the book.
Walking Dead creator Robert Kirkman announced this week he’ll celebrate the 10th anniversary of his company Skybound with a five-issue, limited edition comic book series called Skybound X, with one non-canonical issue featuring Rick Grimes and revisiting a bonus ending story from the comics (issue #75) that revealed aliens to have a hand in the zombie apocalypse.
The Underground Railroad is Oscar-winning director Barry Jenkins’ moving series that imagines an alternate timeline in which the network of abolitionists is an actual railroad, based on Colson Whitehead’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel. Stars Thuso Mbedu, Joel Edgerton, Chase W. Dillon, William Jackson Harper, and Damon Herriman. Premieres May 14 (Amazon Video).
More trailers and teasers released this week:
• In Treatment returns with season 4 and new lead the Emmy-winning Uzo Aduba, as observant, empathetic Dr. Brooke Taylor, a Los Angeles therapist who will help her patients tackle topics like the global pandemic and recent major social and cultural shifts, while she also deals with the complications of her own personal life. Also stars Joel Kinnaman, Anthony Ramos, Quintessa Swindell, and John Benjamin Hickey. Premieres May 23 (HBO).
• Ziwe is the new variety series from the titular comedian and Desus & Mero writer, featuring sketches, musical numbers, and interviews that challenge America’s discomfort with race, politics, and other cultural issues. Stars Ziwe, and guest stars like Bowen Yang and Phoebe Bridgers. Premieres May 9 (Showtime).
• Cruel Summer is a new twist-filled teen mystery set in Texas and sparked by an abduction. Stars Sarah Drew, Chiara Aurelia, and Harley Quinn Smith. Premieres April 20 (Freeform).
• In Mythic Quest season 2, the Raven’s Banquet gang is back in the office post-quarantine, except for C.W. (F. Murray Abraham), whose advanced age means it’s safer for him to continue working remotely. Stars Rob McElhenney, Jessie Ennis, Charlotte Nicdao, Danny Pudi, David Hornsby, and guest star Snoop Dogg. Premieres May 7 (Apple TV+).
• Shrill is the third and final season of the comedy starring delightful Saturday Night Live star Aidy Bryant. Premieres May 7 (Hulu).
• The Sons of Sam: A Descent Into Darkness is the docuseries about the story behind the story of the investigation of the 1970s “Son of Sam” murders in New York. David Berkowitz was convicted of the serial killings, but a journalist named Maury Terry became obsessed with the idea that Berkowitz had not acted alone. His obsession eventually cost him everything. Premieres May 5 (Netflix).
• Headspace Guide to Sleep is the animated series that sheds health-changing light on just how important sleep is to the human body, and the things we can do – and shouldn’t do – to ensure we get it. Premieres April 28 (Netflix).
• A Black Lady Sketch Show returns for Season 2 with guest stars Gabrielle Union, Miguel, Jesse Williams, and Skai Jackson. Premieres April 23 (HBO).
• Pet Stars is a reality series about an animal talent agency revolving around the biggest social media animal influencers. Premieres April 20 (Netflix).
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(Photo by Frederic J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images)
Jamie Lannister is coming back to television … or rather his portrayer, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau is. The Game of Thrones will star in and executive produce The Second Home, a series adaptation of author Christina Clancy’s debut novel of the same name. The story follows the Gordon and Shaw families, and the two generations of the families whose lives are unraveled by a secret that began during a fateful summer in Cape Cod. No network is yet attached to the series. (Variety)
Fabien Frankel (Last Christmas) has been cast in the Game of Thrones prequel House of the Dragon, where he’ll play Ser Criston Cole, a common-born man with serious sword-swinging skills who is a member of King Viserys I Targaryen’s Kingsguard. (George R. R. Martin’s Blog)
Oscar winner Common has joined the season 2 cast of Mindy Kaling’s YA Netflix hit Never Have I Ever. In a recurring role written just for him after he proclaimed the series one of his pandemic watch favorites, Common will play Dr. Chris Jackson, a dermatologist with a list of celebrity patients, who works in the same building as Nalini (Poorna Jagannathan). Season 2 is scheduled to premiere in July.
Another Oscar winner, Natalie Portman, is staking more claim in TV land. Portman, who recently signed a first-look deal with Apple TV+, will star in and executive produce The Days of Abandonment, an HBO movie adaptation of author Elena Ferrante’s book of the same title. Portman will play Tess, a woman who gave up her dreams to be a wife and mother, only to be abandoned herself when her husband leaves her and throws her world out of control.
Arrested Development alum Michael Cera will make his first return in a regular TV role since Arrested, playing a farmer and chef who brutally honest in the upcoming Amy Schumer Hulu comedy Life & Beth. Schumer, who stars in, executive produces, directs, and writes the 10-episode series, plays Beth, who seems successful to everyone around her, but is shaken when a sudden event makes her rethink her teen years and who she really wants to be.
Justin Timberlake will play The Gong Show host Chuck Barris in an Apple TV+ series about Barris’ life. The series will be based on the late Barris’ 1984 memoir Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, in which he claimed his gigs as game show host and creator of game shows The Dating Game and The Newlywed Game were actually covers for his other job: as CIA assassin. The book was already adapted as the 2002 George Clooney–directed movie adaptation of the same name, with Sam Rockwell playing Barris. (Deadline)
(Photo by Cindy Ord/Getty Images for FIJI Water)
Renée Elise Goldsberry, star of Hamilton and Tina Fey’s upcoming Peacock series Girls5Eva, will also star in the Disney+ Marvel series She-Hulk, playing a character named Amelia. The series, starring Tatiana Malany in the title role, started filming this week in Atlanta. (Deadline)
Christine Elise McCarthy and Alex Vincent are the latest Child’s Play franchise stars who will join their titular creepy doll co-star in the upcoming USA/Syfy series Chucky. McCarthy (Beverly Hills 90210) will again play Kyle, which she also played in Child’s Play 2 and Cult of Chucky, while Vincent will play Andy Barclay, a role he played in the original 1988 Child’s Playmovie, as well as Child’s Play 2 and Curse of Chucky. Original movie star Brad Dourif is returning as the voice of Chucky in the series, while Dourif’s daughter Fiona will reprise her role as Nica, which she played in Curse of Chucky and Cult of Chucky. Jennifer Tilly (Bride of Chucky, Seed of Chucky, Curse of Chucky, and Cult of Chucky), Barbara Alyn Woods (One Tree Hill) and her daughter Alyvia Alyn Lind (The Young and the Restless), and Devon Sawa (Final Destination) also star. (EW)
District 9 star Sharlto Copley has joined the upcoming second season of Natasha Lyonne’s Netflix hit Russian Doll. No details have been released about the storyline or new characters for season 2 of the dramedy. (Deadline)
All-American star Jordan Belfi will join the cast of NBC’s Good Girls for a recurring role this season. He’ll play Z, who Dean (Matthew Lillard) meets when he gets mixed up with a multi-level marketing group. (Deadline)
New Amsterdam star Anupam Kher, one of the series’ original cast members as Dr. Vijay Kapoor, has left the series to spend more time with his wife, actress Kirron, as she battles cancer. (EW)
Rob Delaney will co-star with Chiwetel Ejiofor in Showtime’s The Man Who Fell to Earth. Catastrophe alum Delaney will play Hatch Flood, the black sheep of a wealthy tech family who becomes involved with Ejiofor’s titular alien character.
Andrew Dice Clay and Pepi Sonuga (9-1-1) are joining the cast of Hulu’s Pam & Tommy limited series about the infamous sex tape made by former marrieds Pam Anderson and Tommy Lee. Clay will play a shady loan shark character, while Sonuga will play Anderson’s best friend. (Deadline)
(Photo by Dave J Hogan/Getty Images for Entone)
Hulu is developing a limited series adaptation of the classic 1915 John Buchan thriller novel and 1935 Alfred Hitchcock movie The 39 Steps, starring Benedict Cumberbatch. Reteaming with his Patrick Melrose director Edward Berger on the project, Cumberbatch will play Richard Hanney, a man who becomes a pawn in a global conspiracy to change the world, via 39 steps. The actor and Berger are also executive producers on the limited series. (Deadline)
Magic Mike star Channing Tatum and director Steven Soderbergh are among the executive producers of The Real Magic Mike, an upcoming HBO Max reality series in which 10 men will compete for cash and a shot to perform in the Magic Mike Live stage show in Las Vegas.
Kenan co-star Don Johnson confirmed he’s set to begin production in San Francisco on a Nash Bridges reboot that may be a full reboot or a two-hour movie, airing on NBC or Peacock. He’ll be joined by original co-stars Cheech Marin and Jeff Perry. (TVLine)
EPIX has greenlit the 10-episode sci-fi horror series From, created by John Griffin (Crater). The cliffhanger-packed drama “unravels the mystery of a nightmarish town in middle America that traps all those who enter. As the unwilling residents fight to keep a sense of normalcy and search for a way out, they must also survive the threats of the surrounding forest – including the terrifying creatures that come out when the sun goes down.” Game of Thrones and Lost director Jack Bender directs the first four episodes of From, which begins production in May in Nova Scotia for a planned 2022 premiere.
(Photo by Russ Martin/CBS)
Star Trek: Picard and upcoming Strange New Worlds co-showrunner Akiva Goldsman says the new series, which stars Anson Mount as original Trek captain Christopher Pike, will be more episodic, like the original series that launched the Trek universe, with stories jumping from horror to “hard sci-fi” to more comedic turns, like the classic “The Trouble with Tribbles” installment. (THR)
Ron Howard and his character-actor brother Clint are writing a joint memoir about their lives as child actors. The Boys: A Memoir of Hollywood and Family will be released on October 12 from William Morrow, and will unfold a story “by turns confessional, nostalgic, heartwarming, and harrowing” that “lifts the lid on the Howard brothers’ closely held lives. It’s the journey of a tight four-person family unit that held fast in an unforgiving business and of two brothers who survived ‘child-actor syndrome’ to become fulfilled adults.”
VAX LINE: The Concert to Reunite the World will air and stream on May 8 as a concert to try to inspire vaccine confidence around the world. Selena Gomez hosts and performers include Foo Fighters, Jennifer Lopez, Eddie Vedder, J Balvin and H.E.R. for the special, which will air on ABC, CBS, FOX, YouTube, and iHeartMedia.
Demi Lovato may be doing double duty for NBC, as the network ordered pilots for her comedy Hungry and romantic comedy Someone Out There. The autobiographical Hungry stars Lovato (who also executive produces) as the member of an eating disorder group, and the romantic comedy stars the singer and actress as one half of a stubborn duo who are inspired by strangers to change their ways and potentially find love (and possibly with each other).
Netflix will be the home for the live-action movie adaptation of the 1979 TV series Gundam, which Brian K. Vaughn (Y: The Last Man) will write and Kong: Skull Island director Jordan Vogt-Roberts will direct.
Colton Underwood, star of season 23 of ABC’s The Bachelor, announced he is gay during an interview on Good Morning America on Wednesday, and on Thursday Variety reported he is filming a reality show for Netflix about living as a gay man.
The original cast of NBC’s ER, including George Clooney, Noah Wyle, Laura Innes, Anthony Edwards, Paul Crane, Ming-Na Wen, Gloria Reuben, Julianna Margulies, Goran Visnjic, Yvette Freeman, CCH Pounder, and Alex Kingston, are reuniting on April 22 in a live, virtual gathering on Stars in the House, in a benefit for the Waterkeeper Alliance, the global nonprofit focusing on clean water. Reuben is the president of Waterkeeper Alliance, and the reunion will stream on People magazine’s social media platforms at 8 PM ET on April 22.
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It’s been 10 years since The Walking Dead shuffled onto our screens. The series went on to spawn an entire universe of zombie drama, including Fear the Walking Dead and YA horror roadtrip The Walking Dead: World Beyond. If you’ve already checked out those, here are five other shows with horror and post-apocalyptic melancholy that we think you’ll enjoy more than a zombie scarfing down a bowl of brains. Dig in!
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(Photo by Tommaso Boddi/Getty Images for AMC)
It should come as no surprise that Christmas is not Greg Nicotero’s favorite holiday.
“Do I even have to answer that question? Of course Halloween is my favorite holiday,” The Walking Dead and Shudder’s Creepshow series executive producer told Rotten Tomatoes. “I know that there’s going to be a bunch of zombie heads on spikes in my front yard for sure. The zombie heads are easy. The spikes are harder for me, because now I have to make them. But I got a bunch of zombie heads that I want to line up along the street outside of my house.”
Trick-or-treaters, be on the lookout, because as the co-founder of the Oscar and Emmy-winning KNB EFX Group special effects studio, Nicotero’s lawn decorations of horror will obviously top anything you can buy at Target. In addition to the more than 400 TV and movie projects he and KNB have worked on since they formed in 1988, Nicotero’s handiwork is an integral part of the look of The Walking Dead, which he has been a part of since the show premiered on Halloween 2010.
In honor of the series’ 10th anniversary, we talked to Nicotero about how he was actually part of the series before it became a series thanks to his friendship with Frank Darabont, why he thinks the show’s Western vibes are a big reason it propelled zombies into the mainstream, and how the upcoming spin-off with Carol (Melissa McBride) and Daryl (played by his good friend and Nic & Norman’s restaurant partner Norman Reedus) has been building since season 2.
Nicotero also talks about the cast and crew’s famously close relationships (including the only person he told about how nervous he was to direct his first episode), how TWD and Creepshow are dealing with filming during the pandemic, and the very cool zombie idea he’d like to try out before The Walking Dead wraps after season 11.
(Photo by Mark Hill/AMC)
Kim Potts for Rotten Tomatoes: How are you doing?
Greg Nicotero: I’m really good. We’re filming away on Creepshow, and it’s been super fun, surprisingly. I was a little concerned about all of the crazy COVID procedures making it more tedious and less fun, but it’s been a blast. The actors have been great, and the crew has been great. We’re having a really good time, so it feels great to be back at it again. You get to set, and you’ve got your mask on and your face shield, but when you’re in it, you forget about all that stuff, and you get a chance to focus on what you love doing.
You’re also working on the additional Walking Dead season 10 episode that will air next year?
Nicotero: Yeah. The challenge is sort of getting out of one bubble and getting myself into another bubble, then getting tested, then doing set work, and then tested again, because you can’t go from one set to the other without getting tested and put into another bubble. We probably started prepping Walking Dead stuff back in July, just sort of making adjustments in what we were doing for the show to allow for accelerated makeup times and easier application and all kinds of scenarios. I was working on Walking Dead July, August, and September, and then in September we started shooting Creepshow again. It’s been kind of busy.
Has it forced you to make any storyline changes in either show?
Nicotero: The Walking Dead stuff is really intended to be these kind of episodes that are a little more production-friendly … because you’re dipping your toes in the water a little bit. With Creepshow, we’re primarily a stage show, so we don’t have to go out into the world very often, and that allows us to be a little bit more self-contained. Fortunately, not a lot of people kiss in either show, so we’re not worrying too much about somebody kissing someone. It’s definitely a change in the way that we are accustomed to doing things, but so far, so good.
Are you directing any of the six remaining season 10 episodes?
Nicotero: No. Originally, (TWD showrunner) Angela (Kang) had called and asked me if I wanted to and, unfortunately, because of when the pandemic hit and everything shut down, Creepshow was set to start shooting, and we had prepped the first two episodes. I think in my head originally, I was like, “Well, I can shoot Creepshow and then run over and do Walking Dead,” and then I thought, “That’s insane. I would literally die.” Until January, I’m all the way up to my eyeballs in Creepshow.
(Photo by AMC)
Halloween this year marks the 10th anniversary of The Walking Dead. Does it feel to you like it’s been a decade? I always think of the show as all of you making an hour-long movie, for TV, every week.
Nicotero: Yeah, it feels like it’s been 100 years. Honestly, time has a very different meaning when you’re on a show of this magnitude for this duration, because there are some episodes I remember like they were yesterday. There are other episodes that I’m like, “I don’t even remember that,” just because we’ve done so many episodes. Even when I go to the studio, and I’ll stand on the backlot and be like, “This is where the prison was, and then that’s where the Heaps were, and then, oh, this is the scene where they thought that Carol was dead and they put a grave in the prison field …” There are numerous beautiful moments of the show, and some of them get lost in the fact that we’ve been on for such a long time, and I kind of forget some of them.
I just recently went back and rewatched Game of Thrones with my son, Deven, and there was so much stuff that I was able to appreciate about the show going back and seeing it after a little bit of time. I’m looking forward to doing that with Walking Dead, going back to the beginning and really sort of looking at what the DNA of the show was then and the great scenes that we crafted and the great moments with Chandler (Riggs) and with Emily (Kinney). There are so many people that you start going back and thinking about what amazing work they did. God bless Scott Wilson, because I had some of the greatest moments of my career with Scott. I’ll be forever grateful that I got a chance to be a part of his life.
I don’t think I’ve ever talked to you about this: how did your involvement with the show begin?
Nicotero: Frank (Darabont) is one of my best friends, still to this day, and probably a year before the show was ever put into production, he had given me the script and was like, “Okay, we’re going to do The Walking Dead.” The irony behind all of this was I remember buying the first issue of the comic book when I was working with Robert Rodriguez in Austin, Texas. There was a great comic book shop there, and I bought the first issue. Frank and I had always talked about the idea of wanting to do a zombie project, because he loved Night of the Living Dead. His No. 1 criteria was, it’s got to be the right stories. It really needs to be about survival and what people do, what they become in order to survive.
I remember one night specifically, one dinner, where we were talking about it. I don’t think we ever thought about it as a TV show, because this was years before Walking Dead even happened. At that point, zombie television wasn’t even a thing. No one would have ever imagined doing a TV show with zombies in it. We were talking about a movie. Then a couple of years later he sent the script over and was like, “Hey, man, this is what we’re going to do.” We had designed a couple of zombie busts that he took to his meetings to help sell the show, because one of the big questions that every network asked was, “Well, how are you going to do the zombies? No one’s ever done anything like this on television before.” (Frank) was like, “Oh, it’s easy. I got this guy, Greg Nicotero, and he makes zombie busts, and this is what the zombies are going to look like.”
(Photo by Scott Garfield/AMC)
There are so few of you left from the beginning, but you’ve been there even before it was even a show.
Nicotero: I remember talking about the opening scene with Frank, with a little girl at the gas station, and I said, “You know, Frank, the Dawn of the Dead remake had a very similar sequence where there’s a little girl zombie at the beginning,” and he was like, “Yeah, I don’t care about that. It doesn’t matter. This is going to be our show.”
I would have never imagined that the mainstream would have sort of caught up to everything that I have loved since I was a kid, which is zombie movies. Before The Walking Dead, zombies were a very, very niche sort of sub-genre that appealed to a specific group of people. I think what Frank was able to do was really break the mold and show that The Walking Dead really is a Western. Andy (Lincoln) always, always talked about that a lot; his inspiration for Rick Grimes was Clint Eastwood and The Outlaw Josie Wales. That was something that was very important, because a lot of the actors, when we did season 1, they hadn’t seen a lot of zombie stuff. They hadn’t seen Night of the Living Dead. They hadn’t seen Dawn of the Dead. Even though that was a lot of the inspiration for the show, they were approaching it like Frank, from sort of a dramatic survival standpoint.
I have to say that the cast that we put together for season 1, with Sarah Callies and Steven Yeun and Jon Bernthal and Laurie Holden and Jeff DeMunn … what a cast. I mean, the cast was absolutely astonishing and that’s where Frank always excels, his ensemble casting. He did it in The Green Mile. He did it in Shawshank (Redemption). He did it in The Mist. And, of course, there are Norman (Reedus) and Melissa (McBride), who have been on the show since day one.
Do you think it’s that focus on those aspects, those dramatic aspects and the kind of survival, the universal, human themes is what really helped the show cross over to the mainstream?
Nicotero: Absolutely. Absolutely, because a lot of times in zombie movies, prior to The Walking Dead, the gore was the big element, the horror was the big element, and I think there were a lot of instances where people might have been turned off by the gore. Even when you talk to people that watch The Walking Dead, they had this preconceived notion about it until they watched it, and when they experienced it through the eyes of Rick Grimes, who is waking up in the hospital, and he’s learning about what the world is, the first thing people would say is, “It’s not a show about zombies.” I’m like, “No, it’s a show about survival, and it’s a show about what people are willing to do in a situation like that.” Of course the zombies are a big part of it, and I’m very proud of the contribution that I’ve made to the show and that my team has made to the show, but a lot of the drive for the show has been about those specific character moments where the audience can identify with Maggie or Glenn or Hershel and put themselves in those characters’ positions and imagine what they would or would not have been able to do.
(Photo by Gene Page/AMC)
Do you have a favorite episode or storyline? You’ve been involved in so many of the great ones, but can you choose just one?
Nicotero: I would probably say one of my favorite episodes is the episode where Merle fights The Governor and Merle dies [“This Sorrowful Life”]. The moment where Norman just literally poured his soul out when he saw Merle as a walker. I’ll never forget filming that. I’ll never forget people calling me and saying, “How the fuck did you make me cry in a show like this?” I’ve had so many amazing moments working with Norman and working with Melissa. I mean, having filmed Andy’s last episode, and the number of people that I’ve had to kill on the show, that’s never fun.
I don’t know if I could pick just one episode. I think the episode where the walkers invade Alexandria [“Start to Finish”], and that was like our Night of Living Dead homage. I would probably go back and watch episodes and not even remember like, “Oh, I shot that episode. That’s right,” because we’ve had so many, so many moments. Negan’s introduction [“Last Day on Earth”, which was certainly controversial, but I’m tremendously proud of what we did, and Jeffrey (Dean Morgan’s) performance and shooting 12 pages of dialogue in two nights is, it’s a little bonkers in the TV schedule. So yeah, I just don’t know if I could pick one.
Has the show ever made you cry?
Nicotero: I think there have been characters that died (that have made me cry). I think the moment with Jeffrey DeMunn, that was the first episode I had ever directed [“Judge, Jury, Executioner”], and, yeah, I got emotional when I shot it and when I watched the first cut. Chandler was a little boy. I remember Chandler running down through the field and shooting his reaction to seeing Jeff on the ground with his stomach torn open and blood bubbling out of it, and just how hysterical everybody got. To see the fear in Jeffrey’s eyes when Norman walked over with the gun and said, “I’m sorry, brother,” it was intense.
That episode was just … I was so terrified, because it was the first hour of television that I had ever directed, and I had my little graphs and my little charts of where the camera would go. I think probably Andy was the only person that I had shared with him like, “I’m scared sh–less here,” but I trusted my instincts, I trusted my camera department, and I trusted my actors. If you look at the episodes in season 2, 3, and 3, those episodes are so dense. There’s so much story that we’re telling, and it just propelled us. If you watch that episode, which was written by Angela, there’s so much. You’re telling an entire season’s worth of story in that one episode.
That’s what I mean. They were like movies every week.
Nicotero: Oh, without a doubt. There’s not one moment where there’s a frame of film that doesn’t serve something, that doesn’t serve a character, a story point, the propulsion of the show as it’s moving forward. I’ve rewatched that episode recently, and it’s just crazy what we did. I think we shot that in seven days maybe.
(Photo by Gene Page/AMC)
You are responsible for starting The Walking Dead Zombie School, to train the zombie actors on the show. How has that evolved through the seasons? I’m guessing that just from watching the show, people are coming to you a little more prepared at this point.
Nicotero: Definitely. In fact, I don’t think we’ve done Zombie School in two years, because at this point, we have our troupe of zombie performers and actors, and I think the people that we love, we bring them back over and over again. At the beginning, we wanted to make sure that we were maintaining the aesthetic of what we wanted for the zombies, but also, they had to be able to perform with the actors. They have to be able to die well, they had to be able to be convincing as zombies. What you don’t want to do is spend an entire hour or two fine tuning background zombie performances that would then be taking away from shooting the rest of the scene, so it was always very important that the zombies were well directed in terms of their performance and what was expected of them. Every season, I would say we’d probably end up with like 20 people that were just standout performers, and a lot of them initially came from a place in Georgia called Netherworld, which is a haunted house attraction that would open in September/October. A lot of those people that had been working at that attraction ended up being some of our best zombie performers.
The Walking Dead cast and crew have been known to be very close, even though there are a lot of changes with all the character deaths. How have you maintained that?
Nicotero: Well, listen, the dynamic of the cast changes as certain actors leave and other actors come in, so it evolves. It’s a very organic thing. I think one of the unique things about any show that has a tightknit family is when you’re in the trenches with them, you’re sharing something that you can’t share with anybody else. That was something I learned working with Quentin Tarantino. When we were doing Inglourious Basterds, he had looked at me one day and said, “You know, there’s nobody else I would ever want to be in the trenches with,” and that really stuck with me a lot, because I realized that it’s a shared experience, and I have a bond with this crew and these actors that no one can ever take away from me and no one can replace. I still keep in touch with most of the actors from the show, even if it’s once a month, just a quick text saying, “Hey, how’s it going?” I talk to Sonequa (Martin-Green) a lot. I talk to (Michael) Cudlitz a lot. I talk to Alanna (Masterson) a lot. Of course, on the show, Norman and Jeffrey and Christian (Serratos) and Lauren (Cohan). Even during the pandemic, I would just find myself calling Khary (Payton) to just see how he is doing. or I would call Seth (Gilliam).
When you’ve been in these intense situations with these people for so long, they just become part of your life. I’m grateful, forever grateful, for that and for the friendships that I have. I talked to Jeffrey DeMunn not long ago. It’s like that never goes away. When you work on a movie, that goes for six months or eight months, then it’s gone, and you move on. When you’re doing serialized television, you come back year after year, and you come back with the same people. You watch their children grow up, and you watch them get married or divorced or whatever happens, but you end up being a part of that whole scenario. It’s fun for me to look at Andy’s kids and Jeffrey (Dean Morgan)’s kids. Jeffrey’s son is really into special effects makeup, so I would send him little makeup kits and little zombie wounds and things. I send videos to Andy from set of the creatures from Creepshow so that he can show it to his kids, because they’re sort of now at that age where they’re kind of fascinated with the monster aspect of it.
(Photo by AMC)
You mentioned Carol and Daryl, and how Norman and Melissa are the other people still with the show who have been there from the beginning. Their characters, separately and together, are so beloved that they’re going to be their own spinoff. Since you’ve witnessed it all, is that relationship something that developed organically?
Nicotero: With Daryl, that was a creation of Frank Darabont, and I remember specifically when we were casting for the show, Frank had called me one day and said, “Hey, I’m thinking about this guy Norman Reedus to play Daryl, and I know that you had worked with him on Masters of Horror. What did you think of him?” I gave him a huge thumbs up, but I said, “Listen, let’s reach out to the director and get a review from John Carpenter.” John couldn’t say enough good things about Norman. The next thing I knew, I was sitting in the van dressed up as a zombie for (“Tell It to the Frogs”), and Norman’s sitting in the chair next to me. I didn’t even realize that the deal had gone through. He didn’t recognize me because I was dressed up as a zombie. I had my zombie teeth in, and I was trying to talk to him. Ironically enough, I am the first zombie that Daryl kills in the series.
I think the way that season 2 was crafted and the way that Daryl’s character evolved into somebody who was not going to give up looking for Carol’s daughter, Sophia, that’s really where that bond began, because of Daryl’s undying commitment to find Sophia. Between Melissa’s brilliant performance as Carol and Norman, they just fell together so perfectly that you couldn’t have planned it. It just worked amazingly well and kept growing from there.
You are an executive producer, the special effects guru, and a go-to director on the series. What do you still want to do in The Walking Dead universe?
Nicotero: Oh, boy. I was thinking about this the other night, that it would be kind of interesting to have an episode where we actually follow a walker all the way from the beginning, like the opening scene would be a person is killed, and they’re on the ground dead, and then they come back as a walker, and we actually follow them through the world as they come into contact with different people. I just think it would be a unique perspective, to see an episode not necessarily shot from the point of view of the zombie, but kind of being with a walker as it’s killed and then reanimated and then going into a herd. We kind of had a little bit of that in the beginning of season 2 when we started showing the beginning of the herd that overruns Hershel’s farm, but I just think we could do something really fun and special with that.
The Walking Dead returns to AMC in 2021.
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Just because the flagship is coming to an end doesn’t mean there won’t be more of The Walking Dead: AMC has announced that there are not one but two new spin-offs in the works. Other major developments this week include an update on the production of Atlanta‘s much-delayed third season, a big new TV role for former Veronica Mars guest star Jessica Chastain, yet another The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air update, and much more. Read on for the biggest stories in TV and streaming from the past week.
(Photo by Jackson Lee Davis/AMC)
The Walking Dead might be ending after an expanded 11th season, but the world of the AMC hit will live on in two new spin-offs — including an anthology series and one based on fan favorite duo Daryl Dixon (Norman Reedus) and Carol Peletier (Melissa McBride).
The two original cast members will return for the latter series, which was created by TWD universe boss Scott Gimple and current TWD showrunner Angela Kang and is set to premiere in 2023.
“It’s bittersweet to bring The Walking Dead to an end, but I could not be more excited to be working with Scott Gimple and AMC to develop a new series for Daryl and Carol. Working with Norman Reedus and Melissa McBride has been a highlight of my career, and I’m thrilled that we get to keep telling stories together,” Kang said in a statement announcing the news.
The second spin-off, Tales of the Walking Dead, is an anthology that will allow the franchise to dig into the backstories of existing characters, introduce new ones, and tell new stories in the world in standalone episodes or arcs.
McBride said in a statement that she’s thrilled she’ll get to explore the “Caryl” dynamic further in a spin-off with Reedus, her fellow original cast member.
“Their shared history is long, and each’s own personal fight to survive, even longer — the more obvious aspect of what has kept them close and loyal,” she wrote. “But there is also a rather mysterious aspect to their fondness for one another that I enjoy, and their playfulness when the world permits.”
Reedus’ statement was similar, singling out his character’s unique relationship with Carol.
“Daryl’s relationship with Carol has always been my favorite relationship on the show — sorry, Rick. I love the way these characters interact and relate to each other on so many levels and can’t wait to see where their ride goes from here.”
(Photo by Guy D'Alema/FX)
Fans of Donald Glover‘s groundbreaking comedy Atlanta are no stranger to delays — the second season premiered a full two years after the first — but the planned third season, which was supposed to film in 2020 and premiere in early 2021, has been pushed to an undetermined date thanks to COVID-19.
There’s good news, though: Because of the delay, Glover and his writing team have written all of season 3 — and all of season 4, too.
FX Networks chairman John Landgraf told reporters on Wednesday that the complications have come from scheduling all of the series’ in-demand stars, including Brian Tyree Henry, LaKeith Stanfield, and Zazie Beetz.
“One of the things that’s been an unexpected boon from COVID-19 is that writers have had a lot of time to write,” Landgraf said. “However, the availability [of actors] has been pushed back because of the [pandemic].
The third season will take place mainly in Europe, as Henry’s Al and Glover’s Earn flew overseas for a tour at the end of season 2, but season 4 is set back in Atlanta. The current production plan will see both seasons filmed concurrently — 10 episodes for season 3 and eight for season 4 — so they’ll both be in the can for future premiere dates.
https://twitter.com/nicolebyer/status/1304113750308339712
TBS is going really, really big with Go-Big Show, its new hourlong “extreme talent competition” featuring “monster trucks, alligator trainers, stunt archery and other radical feats, the program celebrates daring acts alongside personal, behind-the-scenes stories from the challengers as they battle head-to-head to impress the judges and advance toward the finale’s ultimate $100,000 prize.”
Celebrity judges include Snoop Dogg, Rosario Dawson, Jennifer Nettles, and “The American Nightmare” Cody, and the series is hosted by comedian Bert Kreischer. It’s currently being filmed in Macon, GA under strict health and safety protocols.
Meanwhile, the network has hired John Cena and Nicole Byer to host its revamped version of Wipeout. The duo will provide commentary as contestants complete the series’ trademark wacky obstacle courses (big balls included), with Camille Kostek acting as field reporter.
The upcoming original cast reunion isn’t the only new Fresh Prince of Bel-Air content headed to TV: Will Smith announced this week that Peacock has ordered two seasons of a dramatic reboot called Bel-Air.
According to Peacock, the new series is a “serialized one-hour dramatic analogue of the ’90s sitcom The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air that leans into the original premise: Will’s complicated journey from the streets of West Philadelphia to the gated mansions of Bel-Air. With a reimagined vision, Bel-Air will dive deeper into the inherent conflicts, emotions and biases that were impossible to fully explore in a 30-minute sitcom format, while still delivering swagger and nods to the original show.”
And it’s all based on a viral parody trailer from Morgan Cooper, who will also direct, co-write, and co-executive produce alongside showrunner Chris Collins.
Freeform has teamed up with Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle star (and former Barack Obama White House staffer) Kal Penn for a new unscripted series, Kal Penn Approves This Message, that will help reach out to Millennial and Gen Z voters. The series, which premieres September 22, is described as a “smart, irreverent unscripted comedy series” featuring funny field pieces and a sit-down between Penn and a featured guests. Topics will include voting basics, voter empowerment, the economy, and climate change.
The CW is also hoping its viewers stay civically engaged with its new Vote Actually campaign, featuring PSAs starring the network’s on-air talent encouraging the audience to register to vote, obtain a mail-in ballot if applicable and know the deadlines in their individual states.
The upcoming horror anthology Monsterland, set to debut October 2 on Netflix, released its first trailer this week. The creepy two-minute clip reveals just a portion of the mermaids, fallen angels, and “other strange beasts” that inspire the horror of the series, which comes from Mary Laws and is based on Nathan Ballingrud’s story collection North-American Lake Monsters. Stars include Kaitlyn Dever, Jonathan Tucker, Nicole Beharie, Kelly Marie Tran, Mike Colter, and many, many more.
More trailers and teasers released this week:
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(Photo by Richard Olley/Columbia Pictures)
Jessica Chastain is headed to TV in George & Tammy, a new limited series from Spectrum Originals and Paramount Network about country music power couple Tammy Wynette and George Jones and the complicated relationship that inspired some of the most iconic country music of all time. The series will air exclusively for Spectrum cable subscribers, and after a nine month window it’ll air on Paramount Network and the forthcoming streaming service from ViacomCBS.
Production on Season 2 of Greg Nicotero’s Shudder horror anthology Creepshow is officially underway in Atlanta. New stars this year include Anna Camp, Keith David, Ashley Laurence, and Josh McDermitt.
Titans‘ Alan Ritchson will play the titular role in Amazon’s upcoming Jack Reacher series, about the former military man at the center of Lee Child’s bestselling novel series. And don’t worry — he’ll continue playing a superhero on Titans, too.
Saturday Night Live featured player Ego Nwodim has been promoted to full cast member for the late-night sketch comedy stalwart’s 46th season.
Denise Richards is leaving The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills after two seasons, according to Variety. The most recent season of the Bravo hit featured the actress fighting with her cast mates amid rumors of her hooking up with former Housewife Brandi Glanville, though Richards has denied the rumors.
Karrueche Tran has joined the second season of BET’s Games People Play, alongside Lauren London and series regulars Sarunas J. Jackson, Karen Obilom, Parker McKenna Posey, Jackie Long, and Kendall Kyndall.
HBO Max’s dog-grooming competition Haute Dog will feature celebrity dog groomer Jess Rona and Emmy nominee Robin Thede judging the canine makeovers, with comedian Matt Rogers hosting. It was filmed under strict COVID-19 precautions this summer and premieres Sept. 24.
(Photo by ABC)
The black-ish universe is getting even bigger: ABC is eyeing a third spin-off from the network’s long-running sitcom. According to the Hollywood Reporter, the newest installment would be old-ish, following Laurence Fishburne and Jenifer Lewis‘s characters. The new series would join the college-set grown-ish and the ’80s-set prequel, mixed-ish.
Doogie Howser, M.D. is getting a new look: Disney + announced it has ordered a rebooted version of the classic series about a teen doctor, this time starring a 16-year-old girl prodigy balancing a new medical career with life as a teenager. Doogie Kameāloha, M.D. is a 10-episode comedy following Lahela “Doogie” Kameāloha, a mixed race 16-year-old girl with an Irish mother and Hawaiian father who guide her (and sometimes complicate things) as she juggles her responsibilities. It’s set in present-day Hawaii with showrunner Kourtney Kang at the helm.
Starz’s series adaptation of Blindspotting is a go: The network officially ordered a spin-off of the 2018 feature film from Daveed Diggs (Hamilton, Snowpiercer) and Rafael Casal (Bad Education, Are You Afraid of the Dark?). Both men will write and serve as executive producers, with Casal taking showrunner duties in addition to a recurring role. The series will focus on teacher Ashley (Hamilton‘s Jasmine Cephas Jones, who will also produce and was also in the original film), whose partner of 12 years was suddenly incarcerated, forcing Ashley and their young son to move in with his family.
Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos have signed a deal with Lifetime to produce two new movies for the network’s Ripped from the Headlines series. They’ll serve as executive producers alongside Albert Bianchini in the two true crime-themed projects, which are scheduled to premiere in 2021.
HBO Max has ordered a script for a series based on the Newberry Medal-winning mystery The Westing Game. The YA book follows the events that unfold when 16 people gather for the reading of eccentric, game-loving millionaire Samuel W. Westing’s will.
Fantasy novel series The Wheel of Time is one of Amazon Prime Video’s most anticipated upcoming adaptations — next to a little series called The Lord of the Rings, of course. The streamer served up a delectable tease to fans this week.
https://twitter.com/WOTonPrime/status/1303755050850885640
(Photo by Amazon Prime Video)
Updated as of March 22, 2020
We’ve tracked the best (and worst) cold-weather TV and streaming offerings since mid-December, gathering a list of all the premieres this season – series, miniseries, and TV movies across cable, broadcast, and streaming – and ranked them by Tomatometer. And now it’s time to say goodbye. We’ve closed down the list as of March 19, the last day of winter.
The final list of 110 titles includes every eligible new TV season or streaming movie that premiered since December 13, with highlights like The Witcher on Netflix, AMC’s Better Call Saul, The Expanse on Amazon Prime Video, Star Trek: Picard on CBS All Access, the final season of Schitt’s Creek on Pop, Freeform’s Party of Five, HBO’s The New Pope, 9-1-1: Lone Star on Fox, Awkwafina Is Nora From Queens on Comedy Central, Katy Keene on The CW, Briarpatch on USA Network, Mythic Quest: Raven’s Banquet on Apple TV+, the final season of Homeland on Showtime, High Fidelity on Hulu, Outlander on Starz, Togo on Disney+, and more!
To be included, each TV show on the list must have received at least 10 critic reviews, while TV movies had to have at least 20 reviews. So if you’re wondering why your favorite show or TV movie isn’t on here, it likely just doesn’t yet have enough reviews to qualify under our criteria. And remember: a Certified Fresh badge generally means that a show or film has earned the respect of the majority of reviewers weighing in (at least 20 for a TV season and 40 for films), including some of the industry’s top critics.
Just added: Visible: Out on Television (miniseries), Queen Sono: season 1, Brockmire: season 4, Motherland: Fort Salem: season 1, Feel Good: season 1
(Photo by Disney+)
In a world in which the most anticipated TV return of the year, Game of Thrones — the title we all expected would be a top contender in this list — crashed and burned in a fiery three-episode Rotten streak to end the epic HBO series, we can’t help but be surprised about the midyear lineup in our ranked list of the best TV shows of the year through late June.
We collected all of the Certified Fresh TV and streaming titles of 2019 — the season premieres that occurred January through December 31 that are Fresh with at least 20 critics reviews (five of those being from Top Critics) — to provide you with a list of the best 2019 TV shows you should be watching, according to critics. They are listed below from those that were Certified Fresh at 75% or above, but subsequently fell below that threshold for CF designation, to this year’s 20 members of the 100% Club, an enviable group whose members have gotten a positive review from every critic who’s seen them.
The year’s surprises:
In our most recent and final update to our 2019 list, Watchmen took a tumble in the ranking, although its score remains above 95%; a Rotten episode 8 score sent American Horror Story: 1984 lower, as well; and a number of late-season additions peppered the list from top to bottom.
Among the recent additions, Adult Swim’s Rick and Morty season 4 and Work in Progress season 1 score coveted spots in the 100% Club — coveted, for instance, by titles like The Expanse, which is two Top Critic reviews away from a 100% Certified Fresh score for its fourth season. (The space-opera’s third season is only one Top Critic review away from the honor.)
Meanwhile, Apple TV+’s Dickinson squeaks onto the list with a 75% score, joining the first seasons of The Twilight Zone and Modern Love and miniseries I Am the Night as 2019 TV seasons that flirted with Certified Fresh and won.
And the final word on 2019 TV – that is, until someone writes a review that awards another 2019 series Certified Fresh status (welcome, Dublin Murders!): Season 2 of Amazon comedy Fleabag remains the most appreciated season of TV in 2019 with a 100% Tomatometer score on 90 reviews. Fleabag season 2 is also the best of the decade, in fact (see that list here).
Read on to find out where popular titles The Mandalorian (season 1), The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (season 3), and Servant (season 1) made their debut.
Did your favorite 2019 show make the list? Have a look at our ranking and see what series from this year are Certified Fresh.
Just added (1/2/20): Dublin Murders