‘Hawkeye’: Marvel Series Officially Adds ‘Spotlight’ Actor Brian D’Arcy James

Another big casting score for Marvel Studios!

Brian D’Arcy James has officially joined the cast of Hawkeye according to Marvel Studios and Disney. He was part of the Best Picture Winner Spotlight that featured a stellar cast that happened to include many Marvel Cinematic Universe alumni such as Michael Keaton, Mark Ruffalo, Rachel McAdams, Stanley Tucci, and John Slattery.

Spotlight is a personal favorite and the drama is worth checking out if you haven’t already.

The news was announced as part of the Disney Investor Day event from last week and we have missed the casting tidbit in the shuffle.

READ MORE: ‘Hawkeye’: Vera Farmiga Is Set As Kate’s Mother and Fra Fee Playing Villain Clown – Florence Pugh Confirmed

Marvel also confirmed many other casting additions such as Vera Farmiga, Fra Fee, Tony Dalton, Zahn McClarnon, and newcomer Alaqua Cox as Maya Lopez aka Echo. These names had been previously reported on. Filming on the series has been taking place in NYC with mostly exterior shots featuring Jeremy Renner as Clint Barton and Hailee Steinfeld as Barton’s young protege Kate Bishop. The production will eventually move back down to Atlanta.

While not announced by Marvel, there are reports that revealed characters such as Clown, The Swordsman, and Florence Pugh‘s Yelena Belova will be part of the lineup.

READ MORE: ‘Hawkeye’: First Look At Kate Bishop’s Superhero Costume Via Set Photos

READ MORE: ‘Hawkeye’: Series Taking Place Years After The Events of ‘Avengers: Endgame’

As previously reported by The Ronin, Marvel Studios is indeed aiming for Hawkeye to begin airing in late 2021 on Disney+ along with Ms. Marvel. This means there will be five live-action shows coming to Disney+ from Marvel next year not to mention the four feature films.

READ MORE: Marvel’s ‘Ms. Marvel’ and ‘Hawkeye’ Still Targeting 2021 Releases On Disney+

SOURCE: DISNEY

‘Alien’ Series Officially Coming From Ridley Scott and Noah Hawley – Will Be Set On Earth

Over a year ago I first reported at HN Entertainment that there was a rumbling of a potential live-action Alien series from producer Ridley Scott was in the works at Hulu and later on it was revealed that Fargo‘s Noah Hawley had attempted to pitch an Alien series then played coy about show’s current status when Deadline confronted him with sourced information that it was happening.

READ MORE: Noah Hawley Suggests His Unmade ‘Alien’ Series At FX Would Have Been Character-Driven and Further Explore The Universe

There was a sense after HBO Max announced that Ridley Scott’s mature sci-fi series Raised By Wolves was their their most viewed original on the streaming service, that it was only a matter of time before Disney came to their senses with a series set within the Alien universe.

During the Disney Investor Day event earlier in the week, it was officially announced that the series was moving forward at FX on Hulu with a combined effort from Ridley Scott and Noah Hawley. Nothing was revealed outside the project will be the first to be set on a near future Earth, of course, they’re ignoring the Alien vs. Predator films.

Noah had recently telegraphed in an interview with the Observer his series would focus on the human-side of the Alien universe which is just as dangerous as the xenomorphs as profits come before lives.

HAWLEY: “Alien is on some level the complete opposite of Stark Trek. It’s sort of about humanity at its worst. There’s this moment in the second film when Sigourney says, ‘I don’t know which species is worse. At least they don’t screw each other over for a percentage.’ If you look at what Aliens tends to be, it’s usually a trapped story – trapped in a ship, trapped in a prison, etc. And because the Alien has this life cycle to it, where it goes from egg, to chestburster, to xenomorph, there becomes a certain routine to it.”

“I thought it would be interesting if you could expand. If you’re going to make something for television, you’ve got 10 hours let’s say. Even if you have a lot of action, like two hours, then you’re still going to have eight hours left. So what is the show about? That’s what I tried to talk to them about. As I did with Legion, the exercise is: Let’s take the superhero stuff out of the show and see if it’s still a great show. What’s the show about? Let’s take the Alien out of the show. What’s the show about? What are the themes, who are the characters and what is the human drama? Then we drop the aliens back in and we go, ‘This is great. Not only is there great human drama, but there’s aliens!’”

READ MORE: Walter Hill Reveals ‘Alien V’ Script Co-Written With David Giler Is From March 2020 – Teases Retconning ‘Alien 3-4’?

READ MORE: Ridley Scott Says Next ‘Alien’ Film Still In Development – Teases It Might Be Something New?

Ridley Scott has suggested in various interviews that his Alien: Awakening (working title) could still happen and was in development at 20th Century Studios. A third incarnation of Alien V was recently being written on spec by franchise screenwriters/producers Walter Hill and David Giler. The pair have worked on Scott’s Alien, James Cameron’s Aliens, and David Fincher’s Alien 3.

We’re still waiting on Disney and 20th Century Studios to make announcements concerning the feature film side.

SOURCE: DISNEY

‘House of The Dragon’: New ‘Game of Thrones’ Series Adds Matt Smith, Olivia Cooke, and Emma D’Arcy

We’re all excited to see how the new Game of Thrones spinoff series House of The Dragon as production is said to be kicking-off this spring in Belfast, Northern Ireland.

Today, WarnerMedia has announced three new additions to the cast that will be joining Paddy Considine in the fantasy prequel that will focus on various Targaryens. The new names include Matt Smith as Prince Daemon Targaryen, Olivia Cooke as Alicent Hightower, and Emma D’Arcy as Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen.

The Illuminerdi first reported that Matt Smith was in the mix.

Based on George R.R. Martin’s book Fire & Blood, the series will tell the story of House Targaryen (a.k.a. the House that gave us the Mother of Dragons herself, Daenerys Targaryen) and take place 300 years before the events of Game of Thrones.

Directors on the first season are Miguel Sapochnik, Clare Kilner, Geeta Patel, and Greg Yaitanes.

You can read the official character breakdowns below.

Paddy Considine as King Viserys Targaryen. Viserys was chosen by the lords of Westeros to succeed the Old King, Jaehaerys Targaryen, at the Great Council at Harrenhal. A warm, kind, and decent man, Viserys only wishes to carry forward his grandfather’s legacy, but as we’ve learned from Game of Thrones, good men do not necessarily make for great kings.

Olivia Cooke as Alicent Hightower. She’s the daughter of Otto Hightower, the Hand of the King, and the most comely woman in the Seven Kingdoms. She was raised in the Red Keep, close to the king and his innermost circle; she possesses both a courtly grace and a keen political acumen.

Emma D’Arcy as Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen. The king’s first-born child. She is of pure Valyrian blood, and she is a dragonrider. Many would say that Rhaenyra was born with everything…but she was not born a man.

Matt Smith as Prince Daemon Targaryen. The younger brother of King Viserys and heir to the throne, Daemon is a peerless warrior and a dragonrider who possesses the true blood of the dragon. But it is said that whenever a Targaryen is born, the gods toss a coin in the air…

It’s unclear when House of The Dragon will begin airing on HBO and HBO Max.

SOURCE: WARNERMEDIA

‘Buck Rogers’: Legendary Hires Brian K. Vaughn To Write New Series Based On Pulp Sci-Fi Hero

It was announced not too long ago that Legendary Entertainment landed the film and television rights to the classic sci-fi hero Buck Rogers. Now, there is word from The Hollywood Reporter that Legendary has hired comic book and screenwriter Brian K. Vaughn (Lost, Y: The Last Man, Saga) to tackle a new television series.

Brian K. Vaughan, the comics author behind Y: The Last Man and Saga, has been tapped to pen Legendary’s television series adaptation of classic pulp hero Buck Rogers. Don Murphy and Susan Montford, whose credits include TransformersandReal Steel, will produce via their Angry Films banner along with Flint Dille, the grandson of the original Buck Rogers creator.

Rogers first appeared in a story titled Armageddon 2419 and published in a 1928 issue of pulp mainstay, Amazing Stories. Written by Philip Francis Nowlan, the story told of a man who is trapped in a coal mine during a cave-in, falls into suspended animation, and Rip Van Winkle-style, wakes up almost 500 years into the future. There, he is enlisted to help fight a war between several gangs in what was once America.

Where the show will land is up-in-the-air but most recently Dune spinoff series Dune: The Sisterhood is at HBO Max. However, there could be issues with working with WarnerMedia at the moment as Legendary is reportedly on the cusp of suing them over placing Dune and Godzilla vs Kong on HBO Max, something that the production company wasn’t consulted on after WarnerMedia blocked a $250 million offer from Netflix to secure Godzilla vs Kong.

They’re also said to be developing a film and anime series.

SOURCE: THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

‘The Mandalorian’: Temuera Morrison Talks Incorporating Maori Culture and Plays Coy About Reprising Boba Fett Role Anytime Soon

Last Friday, we finally got to see the true return of Boba Fett thanks to The Mandalorian episode directed by Robert Rodriguez, which saw Jango Fett actor Temuera Morrison inhabit the role and give him a coolness factor he didn’t get with the original trilogy as he was a much more effective warrior.

The Maori actor talked to The New York Times about how he added his culture to the role and played super coy about reprising the Boba Fett anytime soon despite reports from Deadline that a project is currently filming focused the bounty hunter.

MORRISON: “I come from the Maori nation of New Zealand, the Indigenous people — we’re the Down Under Polynesians — and I wanted to bring that kind of spirit and energy, which we call wairua. I’ve been trained in my cultural dance, which we call the haka. I’ve also been trained in some of our weapons, so that’s how I was able to manipulate some of the weapons in my fight scenes and work with the gaffi stick, which my character has.”

MORRISON: “I’m just going to have to wait and see. I think a lot of it depends on how things go with this season, but I don’t really know. I wanted to bring everything I had to that [episode] and give them a glimmer of what I can offer. There’s room for this to go someplace. I hope I’m going to be included.”

Boba Fett mentions in the episode that his father Jango Fett was a foundling that eventually fought in the Mandalorian Civil Wars, re-establishing the pair as “real Mandalorians” after it had been alluded that the pair were grifters pretending to be Mandalorians. The image upgrade could have something to do with this Boba Fett project that is apparently shooting but it remains to be seen where in the Star Wars timeline the show will take place.

SOURCE: THE NEW YORK TIMES

‘Hawkeye’: First Look At Kate Bishop’s Superhero Costume Via Set Photos

Set photos from the NYC set of Marvel’s upcoming series Hawkeye have made their way online and gives fans their first look at Kate Bishop’s superhero costume. You can check out the latest set photos with Hailee Steinfeld’s Bishop all suited-up alongside Jeremy Renner’s Clint Barton.

The rest of the cast includes Florence Pugh confirmed to reprise the Black Widow role of Yelena Belova, Alaqua Cox is Maya Lopez aka Echo, Vera Farmiga is playing Kate Bishop’s mother Eleanor, Fra Fee is playing Kazi aka Clown, Tony Dalton is playing Jack Duquesne aka Swordsman, and Zahn McClarnon is playing William Lopez (Maya’s father).

Previous set photos suggested the series will take place around 2025, well after the events of Avengers: Endgame. However, we could still see flashbacks to Barton’s dark patch as Ronin between Infinity War and Endgame.

Hawkeye is part of the first wave of live-action Marvel shows at Disney+ that also includes WandaVision, The Falcon & The Winter Soldier, Loki, She-Hulk, Moon Knight, and another show will reportedly focused on Samuel L. Jackson’s Nick Fury.

According to Deadline, Disney is going to announce new Marvel Studios projects this week at their Investor Day 2020 event, which could include some updates on when they plan on releasing upcoming projects on Disney+ along with new movies.

Bryan Cogman Developing Series Based On Akira Kurosawa’s ‘Yojimbo’ – Previously Worked On ‘Game of Thrones’ and Amazon’s ‘Lord of The Rings’

The Hollywood Reporter has learned that Bryan Cogman has landed an overall deal at Entertainment One (formerly at Amazon) and his first project will be a commentary series based on the iconic Akira Kurosawa masterpiece Yojimbo that starred legendary Japanese actor Toshiro Mifune.

The first project under the pact is a contemporary take on Akira Kurosawa’s Yojimbo. 

YOJIMBO (1961) – A nameless ronin, or samurai with no master (Toshiro Mifune), enters a small village in feudal Japan where two rival businessmen are struggling for control of the local gambling trade. Taking the name Sanjuro Kuwabatake, the ronin convinces both silk merchant Tazaemon (Kamatari Fujiwara) and sake merchant Tokuemon (Takashi Shimura) to hire him as a personal bodyguard, then artfully sets in motion a full-scale gang war between the two ambitious and unscrupulous men.

The samurai film, like Seven Samurai, influenced multiple versions in the west most famously the Sergio Leone western A Fistful of Dollars (1964) that starred Clint Eastwood and there was also a lesser known gangster remake from Walter Hill with Last Man Standing (1996) starring Bruce Willis. It also has had some influence on more modern projects such as the Star Wars series The Mandalorian.

Cogman previously worked on HBO’s fantasy series Game of Thrones and the first season of Amazon’s expensive Lord of The Rings series. He also penned Disney’s live-action Stone In The Stone film.

FX is also attempting their own modern samurai series with a revival of Shogun based on the novel by James Clavell.

SOURCE: THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

‘The Queen’s Gambit’ Showrunner Scott Frank Developing ‘Sam Spade’ Series Starring Clive Owen – Previously Adapted ‘Out of Sight’ and ‘Get Shorty’

Netflix drama series The Queen’s Gambit is becoming a massive hit for the streaming service thanks to showrunner Scott Frank and actress Anya Taylor-Joy. Frank has had really solid run as a screenwriter with films like Get Shorty, Out of Sight, Minority Report, The Lookout, The Wolverine, and Logan.

He most recently worked on television projects for Netflix with the western Godless and now the chess drama The Queen’s Gambit.

Scott Frank was interviewed on The Watch podcast (spotted by The Playlist) and revealed he is developing a six-part series focused on Sam Spade, the hard-boiled private detective made famous from the John Huston-directed noir film The Maltese Falcon (1941) that starred Humphrey Bogart. Frank hoping he can land British actor Clive Owen (Children of Men) to play Sam Spade in the show.

FRANK: “What if you do Sam Spade later in life and he’s 60s years old?. He’s now an ex-pat living in the South of France. His past comes to his past and finds him in this small town. It’s going to be a six-episode series with Clive Owen.”

When and where this project will come together is a little unclear.

THE MALTESE FALCON: In this noir classic, detective Sam Spade (Humphrey Bogart) gets more than he bargained for when he takes a case brought to him by a beautiful but secretive woman (Mary Astor). As soon as Miss Wonderly shows up, trouble follows as Sam’s partner is murdered and Sam is accosted by a man (Peter Lorre) demanding he locate a valuable statuette. Sam, entangled in a dangerous web of crime and intrigue, soon realizes he must find the one thing they all seem to want: the bejeweled Maltese falcon.

SOURCE: THE WATCH PODCAST

Jango Fett’s Origin Explained In ‘The Mandalorian’

SPOILERS AHEAD FOR CHAPTER 14 OF THE MANDALORIAN

The latest episode of The Mandalorian released back on Friday brought back Boba Fett with prequels actor Temuera Morrison playing the role and finally getting to wear the armor as well. Morrison previously playing Jango Fett and the Clone Troopers in the prequel films.

In Chapter 14, Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni seemingly restored Jango Fett and Boba Fett (by proxy) status as Mandalorians after there had been hints from the animation side that they were frauds that happened to obtain the armor. This leading fans to proclaim that neither Fetts were “real Mandalorians”. This apparently has been patched-up with some dialog in the new episode with Boba Fett revealing that his father Jango Fett was a foundling just like Din Djarin and fought in the Mandalorian Civil Wars.

DIN DJARIN: “You’re father was a foundling?

BOBA FETT: “Yes, he even fought in the Mandalorian Civil Wars.

DIN DJARIN: “Then that armor belongs to you.”

The episode also attempts some image repair on the Boba Fett character making him an effective soldier rather than the joke he was in Star Wars: The Return of Jedi and even seems a bit heroic, this likely has a lot to do with his own series.

Does this mean that both Boba Fett and Bo-Katan will become regulars on the show given that The Mandalorian title could now end up referring to all three of these characters? That remains to be seen as Deadline reported last month that a secret Boba Fett series began shooting without word who was director or even writing.

I’m slightly curious if we’ll end up seeing Bo-Katan or even Boba eventually take over the series if Mando happened to get killed-off possibly in a duel with Moff Gideon as he wields the Darksaber.

When I first exclusively reported at HN Entertainment that The Mandalorian would get a Season 2 (the first Star Wars series to get multiple seasons) I suggested that Lucasfilm could use an anthology model allowing them to pivot to different Mandalorian characters in various seasons. Given that we have zero information about this Boba Fett series and Jon Favreau hoped to begin shooting before the end of 2020, I wouldn’t be shocked if the Fett project might actually be Season 3 of The Mandalorian (only my speculation).

‘Hawkeye’: Series Taking Place Years After The Events of ‘Avengers: Endgame’

Filming on Marvel’s Hawkeye series began this week in NYC and there have been a few reveals including Lucky aka Pizza Dog. Another interesting group of set photos from the other day posted on HQ Celeb Corner reveals when the show could be taking place and it’s well after the events of Avengers: Endgame which took place in 2023.

A set dressing poster on a Chinatown set celebrates the Chinese New Year in 2025 (January 29th, 2025) , the year of the snake. This would allude to this scene being set around or after the Chinese New Year.

There had been some question if the series would be taking place after Thanos’ snap leading him down to the path of his violent vigilante persona Ronin or would be taking place post-Endgame. It looks like at least the scenes with Hailee Steinfeld’s Kate Bishop will be taking place in or around 2025, around two years after Avengers: Endgame.

We could still see flashbacks to Barton’s dark patch between Infinity War and Endgame.

The rest of the cast includes Florence Pugh confirmed to reprise the Black Widow role of Yelena Belova, Alaqua Cox is Maya Lopez aka Echo, Vera Farmiga is playing Kate Bishop’s mother Eleanor, Fra Fee is playing Kazi aka Clown, Tony Dalton is playing Jack Duquesne aka Swordsman, and Zahn McClarnon is playing William Lopez (Maya’s father).

If production stays on track without anymore hiccups it’s possible that it could begin airing on Disney+ before the end of 2021.

SOURCE: HQ CELEB CORNER