Tag: Game of Thrones

Posted on in Television News

EXCLUSIVE: James Gunn’s ‘Peacemaker’ Series Adds ‘Game Of Thrones’ & ‘Lost In Space’ Cinematographer Sam McCurdy

The Ronin can confirm that James Gunn’s HBO Max series Peacemaker has added British cinematographer Sam McCurdy, who is likely best known for shooting Neil Marshall’s Blackwater episode of Game of Thrones. Pacemaker is a direct spinoff of Gunn’s upcoming sequel The Suicide Squad focusing on the origins of John Cena’s character Christopher Smith.

Oh f*ck, it’s Peacemaker! HBO Max is set to explore the origins of the Peacemaker character, the master of weapons from the highly anticipated upcoming The Suicide Squad film, in the new Max Original action-adventure-comedy series Peacemaker. HBO Max has given a straight-to-series order of eight episodes for the first season of the show. John Cena will reprise his role from The Suicide Squad movie to star in the series, and the film’s acclaimed writer/director James Gunn will write all eight episodes of Peacemaker and will direct multiple episodes, including the first.

Sam McCurdy also worked with Neill Marshall on his feature films Dog Soldiers, The Descent, Doomsday, and Centurion. Other credits include Netflix’s Lost In Space (Neil Marshall again), The Hills Have Eyes 2, The Devil’s Double, Into The Badlands, Pennyworth, and Carnival Row.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bxKzT7AzK1c

He isn’t the only seasoned cinematographer on the DC Comics project as Michael Bonvillain (Westworld, Zombieland, Cloverfield, Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters, Outside The Wire) was announced a while back.

The show’s directing team working alongside James Gunn consists of Jody Hill (Eastbound & Down), Rosemary Rodriguez (Jessica Jones), and Brad Anderson (Boardwalk Empire).

Production on Peacemaker is said to be wrapping up next month and actor Chris Pratt revealed on Jimmy Kimmel Live! that he expects Guardians of The Galaxy Vol.3 to begin filming in November.

James Gunn previously announced that Peacemaker will debut on HBO Max sometime in January 2022 and you’ll get your first real taste of John Cena as the character on August 6 in The Suicide Squad.

THE SUICIDE SQUAD – Welcome to hell—a.k.a. Belle Reve, the prison with the highest mortality rate in the US of A. Where the worst Super-Villains are kept and where they will do anything to get out—even join the super-secret, super-shady Task Force X. Today’s do-or-die assignment? Assemble a collection of cons, including Bloodsport, Peacemaker, Captain Boomerang, Ratcatcher 2, Savant, King Shark, Blackguard, Javelin and everyone’s favorite psycho, Harley Quinn. Then arm them heavily and drop them (literally) on the remote, enemy-infused island of Corto Maltese. Trekking through a jungle teeming with militant adversaries and guerrilla forces at every turn, the Squad is on a search-and-destroy mission with only Colonel Rick Flag on the ground to make them behave…and Amanda Waller’s government techies in their ears, tracking their every movement. And as always, one wrong move and they’re dead (whether at the hands of their opponents, a teammate, or Waller herself). If anyone’s laying down bets, the smart money is against them—all of them.

Posted on in Film News

‘Red Sonja’: Millennium Taps ‘Ant-Man & The Wasp’s Hannah John-Kamen For Their Sword & Sorcery Action Flick

Millennium Films has finally found their new Red Sonja as The Hollywood Reporter reveals that British actress Hannah John-Kamen will be playing the fantasy heroine birthed from the pages of Marvel Comics and inspired by characters from Conan creator Robert E. Howard.

Hannah has been long involved with genre projects with credits that include Ant-Man & The Wasp, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Black Mirror, Misfits, Tomb Raider, Ready Player One, Game of Thrones, and Brave New World. She recently nabbed the Jill Valentine role in the Resident Evil reboot.

Sonya was created by Roy Thomas and Barry Windsor-Smith for Marvel Comics’ Conan the Barbarian comic in the early 1970s and was an amalgam of several characters from Conan creator Robert E. Howard. The character, fiery and strong enough to go toe-to-toe with Conan while refusing his advances, proved popular enough to get her own book, continuing to this day even as the Howard and Conan licenses have moved through several companies. Millennium is saying their movie is based on the comic published by Dynamite Entertainment

The film will be directed by Transparent’s Joey Soloway, after the studio removed X-Men’s Bryan Singer in the wake of multiple sexual assault allegations. Soloway also co-wrote the remake’s script with Tasha Huo.

Danish actress Brigitte Nielsen played the role originally alongside Arnold Schwarzenegger in the 1985 film. A reboot had been previously in the works from producer Robert Rodriguez with Planet Terror’s Rose McGowan set to play the role before things fell apart.

SOURCE: THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

Posted on in Television News

HBO’s ‘Game of Thrones’ Prequel Series ‘House of The Dragon’ Has Officially Begun Production

Today, it was announced by HBO via the official Game of Thrones Twitter account that their prequel spinoff series House of The Dragon, focusing on the Targaryen family, has finally begun production in Belfast, Northern Ireland. The show is based on George R.R.’s Fire & Blood.

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 previously revealed the cast and characters that will appear in the new series.

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…

Steve Toussaint as Lord Corlys Velaryon aka “The Sea Snake.” The lord of House Velaryon, a Valyrian bloodline as old as House Targaryen, “The Sea Snake,” is the most famed nautical adventurer in the history of Westeros. He built his house into a powerful seat that is even richer than the Lannisters and that claims the largest navy in the world.

Eve Best as Princess Rhaenys Velaryon. A dragonrider and wife to Lord Corlys Velaryon, “The Queen Who Never Was” was passed over as heir to the throne at the Great Council because the realm favored her cousin, Viserys, simply for being male.

Rhys Ifans as Otto Hightower, the Hand of the King, who loyally and faithfully serves both his king and his realm. As the Hand sees it, the greatest threat to the realm is the king’s brother, Daemon, and his position as heir to the throne.

Sonoya Mizuno as Mysaria. She came to Westeros with nothing, sold more times than she can recall, and could have wilted…but instead she rose to become the most trusted — and most unlikely — ally of Prince Daemon Targaryen, the heir to the throne.

The House of The Dragon is expected to debut in 2022.

SOURCE: HBO

Posted on in Television News

‘Game of Thrones’ & ‘Solo’ Actress Emilia Clarke Is The Latest Addition To Marvel’s ‘Secret Invasion’ Series

Yesterday, it was revealed that Oscar-winner Olivia Colman (Hot Fuzz, The Favourite, The Father) would be joining the Disney+ series Secret Invasion from Marvel Studios. A huge crossover event that will see the shape-shifting aliens, Skrulls, quietly taking over positions of power on Earth replacing humans. In the comics, it also bleeds over to the ranks of the Avengers as well seeing various.

Another high-profile actor is being courted for the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Variety reports that Emilia Clarke is the newest addition to the cast of Marvel’s upcoming event series Secret Invasion. The Game of Thrones and Solo: Star Wars Story actress is currently in talks with Marvel to join the Skrull series.

Apparently, this wouldn’t be her first brush with Marvel as she had been wanted for role in Iron Man 3. This being revealed by the film’s screenwriter Drew Pearce on Instagram back in 2019 but things obviously didn’t work out.

Emilia told The Sunday Times she would be keen to join the Marvel family.

CLARKE: “I think, if I did, it would be me having a giggle. I want to do something absolutely stupid and silly, like, you know, The Avengers or whatever. Something where I got to have a giggle with mates.”

She would join Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury, Ben Mendelsohn as Talos, Olivia Colman in an undisclosed role, and fellow Brit Kingsley Ben-Adir reportedly taking a villain role in the Disney+ series.

Filming is said to begin this fall in the United Kingdom.

SOURCE: VARIETY

Posted on in Film News

‘Game of Thrones’ Alumni Pilou Asbæk In Talks To Join James Wan’s ‘Aquaman 2’

As director James Wan is preparing to shoot the sequel to the billion-dollar hit Aquaman starring Jason Momoa under the working title Necrus, there is a casting update.

A report from Deadline from yesterday states that Danish actor Pilou Asbæk is currently in talks to take a role. Pilou is likely best known for his villainous role in the latter seasons of HBO’s Game of Thrones and playing an evil Nazi in Bad Robot’s Overload. He also co-starred alongside Scarlett Johansson in DreamWorks’ live-action Ghost In The Shell movie playing Batou.

While his part in the DC Comics project wasn’t mentioned. The working title is likely a reference to the underwater city of Necrus aka The Black City that is ruled by King Mongo, it’s possible that could be Pilou’s role in Aquaman 2.

Black Adam is currently filming in Atlanta with upcoming productions The Flash and Shazam! Fury of The Gods in the United Kingdom.

Aquaman 2 is still set to be released by Warner Bros. on December 16, 2022.

AQUAMAN – Once home to the most advanced civilization on Earth, the city of Atlantis is now an underwater kingdom ruled by the power-hungry King Orm. With a vast army at his disposal, Orm plans to conquer the remaining oceanic people — and then the surface world. Standing in his way is Aquaman, Orm’s half-human, half-Atlantean brother and true heir to the throne. With help from royal counselor Vulko, Aquaman must retrieve the legendary Trident of Atlan and embrace his destiny as protector of the deep.

SOURCE: DEADLINE

Posted on in Television News

‘Game of Thrones’ Author George R.R. Martin Signs Five-Year Deal With HBO – Are We Looking At Endless Spinoff Series?

Author George R.R. Martin has been involved with a heap of series lately and most of them are connected to his string of fantasy novels that were adapted by HBO into the international hit Game of Thrones. There are currently at least five live-action spinoffs in the works that includes House of The Dragon, a prequel series based on the novel Fire & Blood that will debut in 2022.

There have been previous reports that Martin’s Knight of The Seven Kingdoms will be turned a series, titled Tales of Dunk & Egg, along with three other projects in development such as Sea Snake aka The 9 Voyages, Flea Bottom (slum in King’s Landing), and 10,000 Ships.

George R.R. Martin isn’t stopping there as The Hollywood Reporter has learned the author has signed a huge five-year deal with HBO, that means he’ll be working with them to develop a multitude of new shows and potentially films as well.

Sources say Martin’s contract spans five years and is worth mid-eight figures.

Outside of the Game of Thrones stuff, George R.R. Martin is also developing HBO series based on other people’s work such as Nnedi Okorafor’s post-apocalyptic novel Who Fears Death and Roger Zelazy’s sci-fi fantasy novel Roadmarks.

I’ll be curious to see if they’ll attempt to create some original concept as well.

A handful of other Game of Thrones spinoff shows had been in development before this recent wave that will never see the light of day and it’s possible some stuff that has been announced won’t get past the pilot stage like their White Walker origin series. The Long Night aka Bloodmoon starred Australian actress Naomi Watts but the project from writer Jane Goldman (X-Men: First Class, Kick-Ass) and the pilot was directed by S.J. Clarkson (Jessica Jones) didn’t earn a series order from HBO.

HBO isn’t the only place adapting George R.R. Martin’s work as Peacock is making a new series based on his Wild Cards franchise. Feature films are also on the table as well with Gore Verbinski directing a film version of Sandkings for Netflix and Paul W.S. Anderson directing a movie based on the fantasy short stories In The Lost Lands.

I’m not sure how he’s going to have the time to keep writing new books when he’s executive producing dozens of projects and potentially creating blueprints for them alongside showrunners.

SOURCE: THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

Posted on in Television News

‘The Witcher: Blood Origin’ Adds ‘Vikings’ & ‘Game of Thrones’ Actor Laurence O’Fuarain In The Lead Role of Fjall

It looks like Jodie Turner-Smith (Without Remorse) will have some company in Netflix’s prequel/spinoff series The Witcher: Blood Origin. A new casting report from Deadline states that Irish actor Laurence O’Fuarain has been placed in the leading role of Fjall.

They also provided a character breakdown.

Born into a clan of warriors sworn to protect a King, Fjall carries a deep scar within, the death of a loved one who fell in battle trying to save him. A scar that won’t let him settle, or make peace with himself or the world around him. In his quest for redemption, Fjall will find himself fighting beside the most unlikely of allies as he carves a path of vengeance across a continent in turmoil.

The main series is currently in it’s second season and is led by Henry Cavill as the iconic Witcher character Geralt of Rivia. Blood Origin has six episodes and takes place 1,200 years in the past.

Set 1,200 years before the world of The Witcher, Blood Origin will tell the story of the creation of the first prototype Witcher, and the events that lead to the pivotal ‘conjunction of the spheres’, when the worlds of monsters, men, and elves merged to become one.

SOURCE: DEADLINE

Posted on in Television News

Alexander Siddig Joins Charlie Hunnam In Apple’s Gangster Series ‘Shantaram’ – From ‘Punisher’ Showrunner Steven Lightfoot

Apple is developing a series adaption of the novel Stantaram by author Gregory David Roberts, the story focuses on escaped Australian prison now living in India and getting himself embedded into the criminal underworld.

The series is being written and showrun by Steven Lightfoot, likely best known for his work on the two seasons of the Netflix series The Punisher starring Jon Bernthal as the Marvel Comics vigilante Frank Castle. British actor Charlie Hunnam is set to play the show’s protagonist, Lin, the escape convict.

A new casting report from Deadline has revealed that Star Trek and Game of Thrones alum Alexander Siddig will be playing Lin’s father figure and Bombay underworld kingpin, Khader Khan.

Shot across two continents, Shantaram tells the story of Lin (Hunnam), a man on the run from an Australian prison looking to get lost in the teeming city of Bombay. Cut off from family and friends by distance and fate, he finds a new life in the slums, bars and underworld of India.

Hunnam’s more recent acting credits include Guy Ritchie’s The Gentlemen and the Netflix thriller Triple Frontier.

SOURCE: DEADLINE

Posted on in Television News

‘Game of Thrones’: HBO Developing Three More Spinoff Series Including ‘Sea Snake’

HBO has been pushing forward with a large expansion of their Game of Thrones franchise with a string of spinoffs going into development. One was a White Walker prequel, titled Bloodmoon aka The Long Night, the pilot starring Naomi Watts (The Ring, King Kong) didn’t get picked-up for a series order. Another handful of potential spinoff series got nixed in development phases but the next wave was announced.

Recently, HBO has instead pivoted to another prequel series that is an adaptation of George R.R. Martin’s House of The Dragon, that one is shooting soon in Belfast and will start airing in 2022. There are reports they are also looking to make a series based on Martin’s Knight of The Seven Kingdoms (collection of novellas about a Westeros knight and his squire) called The Tales of Dunk & Egg.

There are even more shows on the horizon according to Deadline. They’ve learned that HBO is developing another three Game of Thrones projects including Sea Snake aka The 9 Voyages, Flea Bottom (slum in King’s Landing), and 10,000 Ships. Martin is working with Bruno Heller (Rome, Gotham, The Mentalist) on Sea Snake and is said to be the furthest in development stage out of the three projects.

Here is a rundown of two of the shows from Deadline, which sound like they’ll be more prequels taking place many years before the events of the original series.

The 9 Voyages series refers to the great voyages at sea made by Corlys Velaryon aboard the Sea Snake ship. Velaryon journeyed to places including Pentos, Dragonstone and around the bottom of Westeros as well as to Lys, Tyrosh and Myr. He reached the fabled lands of Yi Ti and Leng, whose wealth doubled that of the House Velaryon, and him and the Ice Wolf headed north searching for passage around the top of Westeros, only to find frozen seas and icebergs as big as mountains.

Lastly, there is a show based around the 10,000 Ships, a reference to the journey made by warrior queen Princess Nymeria and the surviving members of the Rhoynars, who travelled from Essos to Dorne following their defeat by the Valyrian Freehold in the Second Spice War. This migration took place around 1,000 years before the events depicted in the A Song of Ice and Fire novels. Arya Stark, played by Maisie Williams, named her direwolf after Nymeria.

Details are scarce concerning Flea Bottom and if they’ll attempt to explore established characters from the slum or just using the setting to explore new adventures.

Considering that George R.R. Martin is working with and breaking the show ideas with these showrunners/writers, I think they’ll be super faithful to the fantastic fantasy world he created but might be upsetting to fans that see this as more distractions leading to longer delays for The Winds of Winter.

SOURCE: DEADLINE

Posted on in Film News

Jason Momoa Wanted Gail Simone To Write A Treatment For A ‘Conan’ & ‘Red Sonja’ Crossover Movie

Comic book writer Gail Simone (Red Sonja, Deadpool, Birds of Prey, Wonder Woman, Domino) has taken to Twitter to reveal that Conan The Barbarian actor Jason Momoa (Aquaman, Game of Thrones) once wanted her to write a treatment for a potential crossover film featuring Jason’s Conan and Rose McGowan’s Red Sonja. The project never actually written but seemed kind of interesting since there were plans for a new Red Sonja film before the Conan reboot was released.

The film rights to both Conan and Red Sonja had been acquired by the same production company Millennium Films (formerly known as Nu Image) around this time, in theory, a crossover could have happened.

At the time, Rose was attached to the Red Sonja reboot with Robert Rodriguez set produce, the project had been promoted at San Diego Comic-Con 2008 with mock-up posters/teaser images. She had recently worked with Robert on the his Grindhouse installment Planet Terror playing the film’s leading heroine Cherry Darling. It played in theaters as a double-feature with Quentin Tarantino’s Death Proof, which also featured Rose in the small supporting role of Pam. McGowan ended up with a role in 2011’s Conan The Barbarian playing a witch villain named Marique in heavy special effects makeup.

SIMONE: “Jason Momoa wanted me to write a Conan/Red Sonja treatment for a movie crossover featuring him as Conan and Rose McGowan as Sonja. Nothing came of it, but it would have been a blast to do. He pitched me the whole idea while we were in a van through a city in New Zealand (can’t remember which). He’s just a very enthusiastic, lovely guy and I liked him immediately.”

Conan The Barbarian didn’t connect with audiences, so there was never sequel made and Jason Momoa eventually landed his supporting part as Khal Drogo in HBO’s hit fantasy series Game of Thrones. That success on television led to him landing the Aquaman role in Warner Bros’ DC Comics franchise. More recently, Netflix has acquired the rights to Robert E. Howard’s Conan allowing them to make films, television shows, and animated projects.

Robert Rodriguez’s incarnation of Red Sonja never actually came together as the filmmaker instead pivoted to producing 20th Century Fox’s Predators and other subsequent things like taking over directing duties on James Cameron’s Alita: Battle Angel. A newer version of Red Sonja had Millennium Films hire disgraced X-Men franchise director Bryan Singer before he was ultimately replaced with Transparent’s Jill Soloway in the summer of 2019. However, it’s been a couple of years since Jill’s announcement and unclear if it will ever get made.

SOURCE: GAIL SIMONE