Category: Television News

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David Chase In Talks For New ‘Sopranos’ Series At HBO Max & Wants To Do Another Prequel Movie

David Chase’s Sopranos previous film The Many Saints of Newark, left a lot to be desired as it felt like “Call-Back: The Movie” and for fans sort of simply rehashed stories told in the show rather than giving us something new.

Well, it’s starting to sound like Chase and WarnerMedia are inching closer to more Sopranos content in the near future. WarnerMedia Studios CEO Ann Sarnoff spoke to Deadline revealing they are in active talks with David Chase about a new Sopranos-related series at HBO Max and that film’s poor box office wasn’t a huge factor.

“Yes, the box office was not quite as big, but back again to the demographics of whose going to theaters. On the other hand, you see Sopranos pop into the top 10 of the most viewed series on the service. It’s given it an entirely new life. We’re talking to David about a new series Sopranos related on HBO Max. It’s (the movie) literally lifted the Sopranos franchise in a new way, so you can’t measure it in and of itself in the box office,” Sarnoff revealed to Deadline.

Another movie could be on the way too.

Sopranos creator David Chase told Deadline that he’s interested in another prequel movie much like Many Saints of Newark.

It’s hard to imagine they wouldn’t attempt to flush-out young Tony, Johnny Boy, and Junior with this potential series, given the actors they’ve assembled it always felt like they were aiming to making stuff beyond The Many Saints of Newark. That’s unless they’ll attempt to go further back in time.

THE MANY SAINTS OF NEWARK – Young Anthony Soprano is growing up in one of the most tumultuous eras in Newark, N.J., history, becoming a man just as rival gangsters start to rise up and challenge the all-powerful DiMeo crime family. Caught up in the changing times is the uncle he idolizes, Dickie Moltisanti, whose influence over his nephew will help shape the impressionable teenager into the all-powerful mob boss, Tony Soprano.

SOURCE: DEADLINE

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RUMOR: George Clooney Reunited With Oscar Isaac To Direct Episode Of Marvel’s ‘Moon Knight’

While Moon Knight has wrapped filming, there seem to be plenty of surprises left as we still don’t know the full cast/characters of the Marvel Studios series that will air on Disney+ in 2022.

Moon Knight, aka Marc Spector (Oscar Isaac), a mercenary who has numerous alter egos — cabbie Jake Lockley and millionaire playboy Steven Grant — in order to better fight the criminal underworld. But later he was established as being a conduit for the Egyptian moon god Khonshu. Most recently, the character was a consultant who dresses in all-white and goes by the name Mr. Knight. 

Filming took place in Budapest, London, and Jordan with an established directing team that consists of Mohamed Diab, Justin Benson, and Aaron Moorhead.

The Ronin has learned that George Clooney (The Midnight Sky, The Monuments Men, Confessions Of A Dangerous Mind) may have directed an episode of Moon Knight for Marvel after finishing his shoot on the Boston-set drama The Tender Bar that stars Ben Affleck.

However, we’re treating this as a rumor as we can’t confirm the tidbit at this time and we’re unsure if he’ll have an acting role as well.

It’s worth mentioning that Oscar Issac and George Clooney have worked together before on the Clooney-directed thriller Suburbicon, so there is an established working relationship.

Clooney wouldn’t be new to directing television as he tackled a series adaptation of the war satire Catch-22 at Hulu and the HBO series Unscripted.

The actor-turned-director has a complicated relationship with comic book projects as he played Batman in Joel Schumacher’s Batman & Robin leading to a franchise reboot that was eventually assigned to Christopher Nolan giving us The Dark Knight Trilogy.

Recently, Brad Pitt and Clooney took lead roles in a non-superhero pic directed by Jon Watts at Apple Studios, who just wrapped up the MCU’s Spider-Man trilogy with Spider-Man: No Way Home. Watts had also been announced as the director of Marvel’s Fantastic Four reboot last December.

There is an expectation that Marvel Studios will be making a big presentation on November 12 at the Disney+ Day event and give 2022 shows like Moon Knight a promotional push, hopefully, we’ll get some footage or first look images as Oscar Isaac as Marc Spector/Moon Knight.

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Ridley Scott Already Taking Shots At Noah Hawley’s ‘Alien’ Series: “It’ll Never Be As Good As The First One”

Last December, it was made official by Disney that Noah Hawley (Legion, Fargo) would be making an Earthbound series set within the Alien franchise for FX On Hulu with Ridley Scott taking a producing role (Scott being the gatekeeper of the Alien franchise via Scott Free).

While speaking with The Independent, Ridley Scott gives the impression he might be more hands-off than we previously expected and proceeded to theorize the show will “never” be as good as his original 1979 film, which comes off as more of a dig towards Hawley than trying to motivate the successful creator of FX’s Legion and Fargo to outshine Alien.

“Wherever [the series goes], whatever they do, ‘It’ll never be as good as the first one,’ [Scott grins] ‘That’s what I’ll say.’”

These somewhat passive-aggressive comments aren’t terribly shocking given that Ridley Scott seems to big his own biggest cheerleader and believing he alone knows what is best for the Alien franchise. Then again, Alien: Covenant ended up one of the biggest misfires in the franchise and due to it’s weak audience response, the cliffhanger ending never paid off similar to Prometheus.

When Neill Blomkamp got candid about Alien 5 over the summer, the director cited Ridley Scott as the reason his movie never went into production and how he basically intervened with the studio to have him thrown off Alien 5, potentially because of Chappie.

“At the end of the day even though Ridley Scott is producing it, he brought that to the world, so if he changes his mind or if there is a director on it he doesn’t want, whatever it may be, it’s his. I understand that, it makes logical sense to me.”

“It’s possible that Ridley watched Chappie and he was like, this guy can’t do Alien so let’s just go ahead and move on.”

Scott already taking minor shots on the series in the press isn’t all that surprising, hopefully, he won’t throw his weight around for a second time to get another Alien project killed/blocked.

The director has The Last Duel and House of Gucci hitting theaters alongside period dramas Kitbag and a sequel to Gladiator on the horizon to go behind cameras in the near future. While he’s teased talks with 20th Century Studios about a third Alien prequel, that hasn’t been made official or greenlit.

FX boss John Landgraf previously indicated back in August that the show could be ready for 2023 (possible 2022 shoot) and will feel like it is part of the cinematic universe.

“I think you’ll also see that the show will feel like a part of the cinematic universe you’re familiar with in terms of Alien. I have optimism that that show may well roll out in 2023. It will probably roll out 2023, but we want to get it right.”

Noah Hawley is also busy lining up an untitled heist thriller at Netflix starring Rege-Jean Page and will be produced by The Russo Brothers.

Granted, Alien is an amazing movie, but it comes off as reductive and childish for Scott to dismiss the potential of the series before it’s even started filming.

SOURCE: THE INDEPENDENT

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Kathryn Hahn Returning As Agatha Harkness For Untitled ‘WandaVision’ Spinoff Series From Jac Schaeffer

Another spinoff series is reportedly in the works at Marvel Studios and Disney+, this new one will apparently include actress Kathryn Hahn reprising the Agatha Harkness role that was introduced in WandaVision.

Variety reports that untitled Marvel series is said to be a WandaVision spinoff coming from head writer Jac Schaeffer, who signed an overall deal with Marvel Studios and 20th Television earlier in the year.

Hahn would reprise the role of Agatha Harkness in the series, which is described by sources as a dark comedy, though exact plot details remain under wraps. WandaVision head writer Jac Schaeffer would serve as the writer and executive producer on the project. Should the spinoff go forward, it would be the first project Schaeffer has set up with Marvel since she signed an overall deal with them and 20th Television in May.

In WandaVision, Hahn started out playing the role of Agnes, Wanda and Vision’s nosy neighbor, before it was revealed she was in fact Agatha, a powerful witch. In the Marvel comics and the series, Agatha is shown to have survived the Salem Witch Trials and is more than a match for Wanda, a.k.a. Scarlet Witch. When viewers last saw her in the finale of WandaVision, Wanda traps Agatha in Westview by using her powers to force her revert to her Agnes persona.

However, it’s not clear what the “dark comedy” Marvel show actually is and they don’t mention a title or concrete plot details.

When the S.W.O.R.D./Nick Fury series was first announced in separate trade reports they weren’t aware it was going to be an adapation of Secret Invasion. It’s possible the show could another project with multiple key MCU characters coming together. We also aren’t aware if this series leaves room for other established magic users like Elizabeth Olsen’s Scarlet Witch, Benedict Cumberbatch’s Doctor Strange or Benedict Wong’s Wong will be involved.

We should be getting a lineup update on new and upcoming Marvel Studios projects at Disney+ Day on November 12.

SOURCE: VARIETY

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‘Shogun’: ‘F9’ Actress Anna Sawai & ‘Thor: Ragnarok’s Tadanobu Asano Join The FX Samurai Series

FX has been working on a new series remake of Shōgun that originally aired back in 1980 and starred legendary Japanese actor Toshiro Mifune (Yojimbo, Seven Samurai) as Lord Yoshii Toranaga. Their new incarnation of the samurai series will be led by Hiroyuki Sanada and British actor Cosmo Jarvis.

Shōgun is set in feudal Japan. It charts the collision of two ambitious men from different worlds and a mysterious female samurai: John Blackthorne (Jarvis), a risk-taking English sailor who ends up shipwrecked in Japan, a land whose unfamiliar culture will ultimately redefine him; Lord Toranaga (Sanada), a shrewd, powerful daimyo, at odds with his own dangerous, political rivals; and Lady Mariko, a woman with invaluable skills but dishonorable family ties who must prove her value and allegiance.

It was written by Justin Marks and Rachel Kondo, which is based on the iconic novel from author James Clavell.

A casting update from The Hollywood Reporter has revealed that actress Anna Sawai (F9: The Fast Saga) will be playing the show’s female lead, Lady Mariko.

Other additions include Tadanobu Asano, Fumi Nikaido, Tokuma Nishioka, Takehiro Hira, Ako, Shinnosuke Abe, Yasunari Takeshima, Hiroto Kanai, Toshi Toda, Hiro Kanagawa, Néstor Carbonell, Yuki Kura, Tommy Bastow, Moeka Hoshi, Yoriko Doguchi, and Yuka Kouri.

The Ronin exclusively reported the series would be directed by Reprisal’s Jonathan van Tulleken.

Filming is underway in Vancouver and there have been some indications that some second unit filming in Japan is on the table.

Production kicked-off in late September and is expected to wrap in April 2022.

Sanada also has a role in Keanu Reeves’ John Wick: Chapter 4 and will appear in David Leitch’s Japanese-set action pic Bullet Train starring Brad Pitt. Other Hollywood credits include Westworld, The Last Samurai, Mortal Kombat, Army of The Dead, The Wolverine, Avengers: Endgame, Sunshine, Rush Hour 2, and 47 Ronin.

SOURCE: THR

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‘True Lies’ Series At CBS Replaces Jamie Lee Curtis With ‘She-Hulk’ Actress Ginger Gonzaga

A True Lies sequel series was originally being pitched to Disney+ by McG (Terminator: Salvation) with an expectation that Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jamie Lee Curtis potentially reprising their roles from the James Cameron action film.

Sadly, the project was passed-over and headed to CBS as a pilot with Arnold Schwarzenegger being replaced with television/character actor Steve Howey (Shameless) as the new Harry Tasker.

Now, Variety has a casting update that comedic actress Ginger Gonzaga (She-Hulk) is taking over the Helen Tasker role, that was previously played by Jamie Lee Curtis, the wife of secret spy Harry Tasker (Howey).

Helen is described as Harry’s supportive wife, mother of two teenage kids and a linguistics professor who is getting annoyed by Harry’s constant business trips away from home. Increasingly angered, she feels as if she’s been robbed of the life she once envisioned for herself. Thrilled when Harry invites her along for a trip to Paris, Helen is in for a rude shock when she sees a very different side to her husband, learning that he is in fact a world-class spy.

Matt Nix (Burn Notice) is writing the pilot with Anthony Hemingway (The Wire, Red Tails) directing. It sounds like CBS could turn the project into a generic mid-budget series that likely won’t be terribly exciting in any real way, but Hemingway directing is giving me a slight glimmer of hope.

McG and James Cameron will executive produce.

Interestingly enough, True Lies is based on a French film La Totale! that was released back in 1991.

TRUE LIES – Secretly a spy but thought by his family to be a dull salesman, Harry Tasker (Arnold Schwarzenegger) is tracking down nuclear missiles in the possession of Islamic jihadist Aziz (Art Malik). Harry’s mission is complicated when he realizes his neglected wife, Helen (Jamie Lee Curtis), is contemplating an affair with Simon (Bill Paxton), a used-car salesman who claims he’s a spy. When Aziz kidnaps Harry and Helen, the secret agent must save the world and patch up his marriage at the same time.

SOURCE: VARIETY

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‘The Book Of Boba Fett’ Begins Airing December 29 On Disney+ & Tackles The Criminal Underworld

It’s been made official that The Book of Boba Fett will begin airing December 29 on Disney+ and the first solid synopsis for the Star Wars series has been released. Confirming that Boba Fett will indeed be focused on the criminal underworld, as teased with the Jabba’s Palace sequence in season two of The Mandalorian.

Fett will continue into 2022 with other Star Wars shows set to debut next year such as Obi-Wan Kenobi, Andor, and the third season of The Mandalorian.

Here is the official press release from Lucasfilm.

Disney+ announced today that The Book of Boba Fett — the new Lucasfilm series teased in a surprise end-credit sequence following the Season 2 finale of The Mandalorian — will premiere on Wednesday, December 29, exclusively on the streaming service. Disney+ also debuted the key art for the series, which you can see for yourself below.

The Book of Boba Fett, a thrilling Star Wars adventure, finds legendary bounty hunter Boba Fett and mercenary Fennec Shand navigating the galaxy’s underworld when they return to the sands of Tatooine to stake their claim on the territory once ruled by Jabba the Hutt and his crime syndicate.

The Book of Boba Fett stars Temuera Morrison and Ming-Na Wen. Jon Favreau, Dave Filoni, Robert Rodriguez, Kathleen Kennedy, and Colin Wilson are the executive producers. Karen Gilchrist and Carrie Beck serve as co-executive producers, with John Bartnicki producing and John Hampian as co-producer.

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‘Andor’: Diego Luna Teases “Familiar Faces” To Appear As The ‘Star Wars’ Series Wraps Filming

Obi-Wan Kenobi and The Book of Boba Fett aren’t the only upcoming Star Wars series wrapping their productions, as Andor star Diego Luna has revealed to Deadline in an interview that they have finished filming on 12-episode Rogue One: A Star Wars Story prequel.

Luna also teased familiar characters from the Star Wars universe showing up in Andor.

“You’ll definitely see familiar faces.”

“I can tell you about this project like no other because I can’t spoil the ending if you’ve seen [Stars Wars: Rogue One] already. No matter what I say, I can’t ruin the ending.”

“While I can’t say much, what I can tell you is that the experience was literally a transformation for me. It’s something that I really wanted to do and that I thought I was not going to be able to do. I’m more than happy.”

Forest Whitaker will reprise the role of Saw Gerrera, which was confirmed earlier in the year via Swedish actor Stellan Skarsgard (Thor, Dune, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo). Whitaker also reprises the role in the video game Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order.

Originally, Alan Tudyk was announced to reprise his role as the smart-mouthed droid K-2SO, but had recently revealed to Collider that he was unlikely going to be involved with Season 1 due to changes made by Tony Gilory when he joined the project and rewriting episodes. He also inadvertently teased Andor would be getting multiple seasons.

TUDYK: “They’re shooting it right now, I’m not in it. But, if it stays on the air, stories keep getting told, I’ll end up in there.I’m going to be in the show. It’s just that the story that Tony [Gilroy] is telling doesn’t involve K-2SO until later on… I can’t be too specific, but I can definitely say that I’m not going to be in the first season.”

It wouldn’t be shocking if we end up seeing other existing characters like Darth Vader or folks from the animation side. I had assumed that Thrawn might be a contender to appear but we’ll have to wait to see if that is happening before the Ahsoka show.

The rest of the Andor cast includes Adria Arjona (Morbius), Denise Gough, Genevieve O’Reilly as Mon Mothma, Robert Emms (Chernobyl), Fiona Shaw, and Kyle Soller. 

Toby Haynes (Sherlock, Doctor Who, Utopia, Black Mirror) will be directing with a writing team that includes Tony Gilroy (Rogue One: A Star Wars Story), Dan Gilroy (Nightcrawler), Beau Willimon (House of Cards), and Stephen Schiff (The Americans).

Andor’s 12-episode run will debut on Disney+ sometime in 2022.

SOURCE: DEADLINE

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‘House Of The Dragon’: HBO Adds Graham McTavish From ‘Hobbit’ Trilogy & ‘Outlander’ To ‘Game Of Thrones’ Spinoff

House of The Dragon is the next big installment of the Game of Thrones franchise from HBO and producer/creator George R.R. Martin, which is based on the prequel novel Fire & Blood that chronicles the Targaryens (House of The Dragon).

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.

HBO has announced via The Hollywood Reporter that six more actors have joined the mature fantasy series with the standout being Scottish actor Graham McTavish, who had a supporting role in Peter Jackson’s Hobbit trilogy and might be better known for his role on the television series Outlander.

Check out the roles and character descriptions from HBO.

Ryan Corr (Holding the Man) as Ser Harwin ‘Breakbones’ Strong — ‘Breakbones’, Harwin is said to be the strongest man in the Seven Kingdoms. Ser Harwin is the eldest son to Master of Laws Lyonel Strong and heir to Harrenhal.

Jefferson Hall (Vikings) as Lord Jason Lannister — the Lord of Casterly Rock and twin to Ser Tyland Lannister. Jefferson Hall as Tyland Lannister — a crafty and calculating politician, twin to Lord Jason Lannister.

David Horovitch (Miss Marple) as Grand Maester Mellos — a voice of reason and trusted advisor to King Viserys.

Graham McTavish (Outlander) as Ser Harrold Westerling — Ser Harrold has served in the Kingsguard since the days of King Jaehaerys; he is a paragon of chivalry and honor.

Matthew Needham (Chernobyl) as Larys Strong — younger son of Master of Laws Lyonel Strong, brought to court by his father.

Bill Paterson (Fleabag) as Lord Lyman Beesbury — Lord of Honeyholt and Master of Coin on King Viserys’s small council.

Gavin Spokes (Hamilton) as Lord Lyonel Strong — Master of Laws to King Viserys and Lord of Harrenhal.

The rest of the cast consists of Paddy Considine as King Viserys Targaryen, Olivia Cooke as Alicent Hightower, Emma D’Arcy as Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen, Matt Smith as Prince Daemon Targaryen, Steve Toussaint as Lord Corlys Velaryon (The Sea Snake), Eve Best as Princess Rhaenys Velaryon, Rhys Ifans as Otto Hightower (The Hand of the King), Sonoya Mizuno as Mysaria, Milly Alcock as Young Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen, and Emily Carey as Young Alicent Hightower.

Martin recently signed a five-year deal with HBO and could see even more Game of Thrones projects being developed. There have been previous reports that George R.R. Martin’s Knight of The Seven Kingdoms will be turned a series, titled Tales of Dunk & Egg, along with other projects in development such as Sea Snake aka The 9 Voyages, 10,000 Ships, and three animated projects as one will focus on The Grand Empire of Yi Ti (a fantasy version of Imperial China).

A Flea Bottom show has been killed by HBO, we’ll likely see more projects not make the finish line. The Long Night/Bloodmoon was a prequel series about the origin of The White Walkers that only shot a pilot and didn’t get a series pick-up.

House of The Dragon will begin airing sometime in 2022.

SOURCE: THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

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Oscar-Winning Composer Ludwig Göransson To Score ‘The Book Of Boba Fett’ Alongside ‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’

After winning on Oscar for Black Panther and an Emmy for The Mandalorian, Swedish composer Ludwig Göransson is cementing a working relationship with Disney. He’s set to score Pixar’s upcoming Toronto-set animated film Turning Red and there is even more.

It was announced earlier in the month by Göransson to Variety, that he would be reuniting with director Ryan Coogler for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever and he’s even doing a second Star Wars show on top of that.

Film Music Reporter has revealed that the composer is also working on The Book of Boba Fett, the spinoff series of The Mandalorian focusing on the clone bounty hunter. The series wrapped months back with Lucasfilm previously announcing it will debut on Disney+ this December.

In the show, we’ll see further adventures of Boba Fett (played by Temuera Morrison) and his newly acquired partner Fennec Shand (Ming-Na Wen), the stinger teased he’ll attempt to either get revenge or take over the underworld returning to his gangster life.

We wouldn’t be shocked if Ludwig Göransson is also going to work on the third season of The Mandalorian or the Rosario Dawson spinoff Ahsoka, it’s only a matter of time before that is made official.

While it’s likely, a second season for The Book of Boba Fett hasn’t been hinted to or announced by Disney/Lucasfilm.

The Black Panther sequel will be released on July 8, 2022, with a returning cast that consists of Danai Gurira as Okoye, Letitia Wright as Shuri, Daniel Kaluuya as W’Kabi, Winston Duke as M’Baku, Lupita Nyong’o as Nakia, Florence Kasumba as Ayo, Angela Bassett as Romonda, and Martin Freeman as Everett K. Ross.

New additions to the cast for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever are expected to include Dominique Thorne (Judas & The Black Messiah) making her MCU debut as Riri Williams (getting her own Disney+ series Ironheart) alongside Emmy-winner Michaela Coel (I May Destroy You, Black Mirror) and Tenoch Huerta (Narcos: Mexico).

SOURCE: FILM MUSIC REPORTER