News, updates, and (mostly viable) rumors relating to development of science fiction / fantasy television productions. If you have tips or more info on these or other productions, please pass them along in the comments.
Here is a roundup of the end of year development announcements that have been coming in over the past few weeks.
Metropolis
Network: No Network Attached
Production Team: Sam Esmail (Executive Producer), Universal Cable Productions (Production Company)
Status: Early Development
About: “The small-screen adaptation of Metropolis will take place in a future society where wealthy industrialists rule the vast city from high-rise tower complexes, while a lower class of underground-dwelling workers toil constantly to operate the machines that provide its power. Risking everything they know, two star-crossed lovers from opposite sides of the divide must find a way to bring down the whole system.” Source: THR
Comments: This is currently targeted as a mini-series and it will be a year or more before its starts to move forward as Sam Esmail is quite busy with Mr. Robot on USA.
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Glare
Network: HBO
Production Team: J.J. Abrams (Executive Producer), Ben Stephenson (Executive Producer), Javier Gullón (Executive Producer)
Status: Early Development
About: The only information Variety has on this on at this point is that it will be an “hourlong drama series exploring the colonization of another planet”. Source: Variety
Comments: This one is in the very early stages at this point and it will likely be late 2017 or beyond before it starts to come together considering everything else the Abrams is involved with at the moment.
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Familiar
Network: FOX
Production Team: Heather Regnier (Creator / Executive Producer), Temple Hill Entertainment (Production Company), 20th Century Fox TV (Studio)
Status: In Development
About: “Familiar is set in 2029, the year A.I. Robotics will go the path of the personal computer – or so is the hope of the Wiercinskis, the family behind Luminary, the first mainstream consumer-oriented robotics company. The project follows the powerful and dysfunctional family as they navigate their own personal and familial relationships in an ever-changing world that they had a significant (if sometimes unethical) hand in shaping.” Source: Deadline Hollywood
Comments: This series comes from Sleepy Hollow alum Regnier and it follows the recent A.I./Robot theme we have seen from several sci fi shows of late. This will likely be one of the shows that FOX will consider during Pilot Season for its 2017-18 schedule.
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The Kingkiller Chronicles
Network: No Network Attached
Production Team: John Rogers (Writer / Executive Producer), Lionsgate (Studio)
Status: In Development
About: “Lionsgate is simultaneously developing feature film and television projects based on the popular Kingkiller Chronicle brand. As previously announced, the feature film will be based on the trilogy of best-sellers, while the television series will expand on the world outside of the books.” Source: Deadline Hollywood
Comments: Rogers (who created The Librarians for TNT) is working on the television part of this deal and TNT will certainly be interested in the series. But this will likely not hit the small screen until 2018 at the earliest.
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Somewhere Between
Network: ABC
Production Team: Stephen Tolkin (Writer / Executive Producer), Ivan Fecan (Executive Producer), Joseph Broido (Executive Producer), Thunderbird Entertainment (Studio)
Status: In Production
About: “Somewhere Between follows Laura Price — she’s not crazy, but she knows that her daughter Serena is going to be murdered. She doesn’t know who the murderer is, or why she’s killed, but she knows exactly when it will happen, where and how. Despite this, all of her attempts to keep her daughter safe fail and Serena’s fixed, unmovable, terrifying fate keeps her directly in the path of her killer.” Source: Variety
Comments: This is based on a Korean series and ABC has ordered ten episodes with plans of airing it during Summer 2017. They will certainly approach this as a “limited run” series, but if it turns into a surprise hit, they will likely find a way to extend it beyond one year.
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Superstition
Network: Syfy
Production Team: Mario Van Peebles (Executive Producer), Barry Gordon (Executive Producer) Joel Anderson Thompson (Showrunner / Executive Producer)
Status: In Development
About: “The series centers on the Mosley family, owners of the only funeral home in a fictitious town on the outskirts of New Orleans where they’re also keepers of the town’s dark secrets and history. Known for its haunted houses, elevated graveyards, odd townsfolk and rich history of unusual phenomena, the town is also a “landing patch” for the world’s darkest manifestations of fear, guided into the world by an ancient, mysterious malefactor named The Dredge.” Source: Deadline Hollywood
Comments: Syfy has placed a 13-episode direct-to-series order for this show and will likely look at getting it on their schedule late 2017 or early 2018. Mario Van Peebles may play a recurring roll in the series along with his EP duties.
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Vampire Chronicles
Network: No Network Attached
Production Team: Anne Rice (Creator / Executive Producer), Christopher Rice (Creator / Executive Producer)
Status: Early Development
About: This will be a television adaptation of Anne Rice’s well-known Vampire Chronicles books. Following is her comments to the fans about the series: “Over the years you all have told me how much you want to see a Game of Thrones style faithful rendering of this material, and how much you want for the series to remain in my control. Well, I have heard you. I have always heard you. What you want is what I want.” Source: THR
Comments: This is very early in the development stage with no network attached at the moment, though I am sure there will be plenty of interest once it starts to move forward.
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Hellmart
Network: The CW
Production Team: Ben Newmark (Creator / Executive Producer), Dan Newmark (Creator / Executive Producer)
Status: In Development
About: “Hellmart follows a group of characters who live and work at Hellmart, a department store in hell’s waiting room (a purgatory-like realm here on Earth). Each week, our group helps a recently deceased person fix their failures from life in the hope of getting sent to heaven.” Source: Deadline Hollywood
Comments: The CW will be looking at this hour-long dramedy during the upcoming pilot season to consider adding it to their 2017-18 schedule.
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Final Space
Network: TBS
Production Team: Olan Rogers (Creator / Executive Producer), David Sacks (Executive Producer), Conan O’Brien (Executive Producer)
Status: In Development
About: “Final Space is a serialized intergalactic space saga about an astronaut named Gary and his adorable, planet-destroying friend, Mooncake. The series will follow their adventures as they embark on a quest to unlock the mystery of “Final Space,” the place where the entire universe ends.” Source: Deadline Hollywood
Comments: TBS has given a greenlight to this animated series and is looking at early 2018 for it to debut on the network’s schedule.
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The Woods
Network: Syfy
Production Team: Michael Armbruster (Writer / Executive Producer), Brad Peyton (Director / Executive Producer)
Status: In Development
About: “It is set in Wisconsin where an entire high school campus — including the 300 students, teachers, parents and workers who happened to be there at the time – vanishes without a trace and reappears in the middle of the thick woods on the moon of a distant planet. Now their normal lives have suddenly and dramatically changed as they must survive the eerie and dangerous environment while desperately trying to find a way to get back home.” Source: Deadline Hollywood
Comments: This is based on the Boom! Studios comic book of the same name and Syfy will be targeting late 2017 or early 2018 to get this on their schedule.
