1. Premiering Soon: #AmericanGodsand #MST3K
Two shows that sci fi fans have been eagerly waiting for now have their premiere dates set on the schedule. Starz’s American Gods will kick-off its ten-episode first season on April 30th. That series adapts the Neil Gaiman novel of the same name about aging gods living in America, though they have lost much of their power because people no longer believe in them. It has Bryan Fuller attached as showrunner along with an impressive cast that includes Ricky Whittle, Ian McShane, Gillian Anderson, Crispen Glover, Cloris Leachman and more.
The eleventh season of cult favorite Z-Movie riffing series Mystery Science Theater 3000— funded by a kickstarter campaign launched by series creator Joel Hodgson–will bow on Netflix on April 14th. It will comprise fourteen episodes and will have Felicia Day and Patton Oswalt joining the cast along with new host Jonah Ray.
You can get a glimpse of all upcoming and returning sci fi and fantasy from April forward at this link.
2. #VoltronLegendaryDefender Gets Renewed for a Third Season with More on the Way
Netflix’s Voltron reboot has now streamed two seasons, receiving pretty good feedback from fans old and new, and apparently a third season of the show is on the way later this year. According to Den of Geek, a poster advertising the series at the Toy Fair indicates that the show’s third year and will arrive in September 2017. And apparently, Deamworks and Netflix have a commitment to produce 78 episodes of the show which means that we should expect at least six seasons total from the series if they stick to that. Voltron: Legendary Defender is a reboot of the Japanese Anime Best King GoLion with elements of the 80’s American adaption brought in as well. Among the voice actors on the show are genre favorites Steven Yeun (The Walking Dead) and Tyler Labine (Deadbeat, Reaper).
3. #TheExpanse Improves in the Ratings
On Wednesday, Syfy’s The Expanse improved from the series low it posted the prior week as it pulled a 0.2 rating based on the overnights for the 18-49 demographic with 530k total viewers. Those are decent numbers for a Syfy entry these day, but I am not certain if that is enough to keep this rather expense series afloat. I look at that in more detail here.
In other ratings news, The Walking Dead slipped to a 5.3 rating with eleven million total viewers on Sunday, but those are better than what the show was seeing late last Fall and perhaps the Walking Dexit has slowed for now. On Monday, NBC’s Timeless improved to a 0.9 rating with three million total viewers for its season finale. But those numbers are low for an expensive NBC entry and the show’s fate is definitely in doubt at this point. You can keep up with the ratings results of all your favorite sci fi and fantasy shows over at CancelledSciFi.com.
4. #MakingHistory Debuts Next Week
FOX’s new time travel comedy Making History has its debut next Sunday at 8:30 PM EST (taking up Son of Zorn’s timeslot which just wrapped up its first season). Also on that night, Once Upon A Time (ABC) and The Last Man on Earth (FOX) return from their Winter hiatus and another time travel series, ABC’s Time After Time, has its debut. You can keep up with the weekly schedule of sci fi and fantasy shows here.
5. #IntoTheBadlands is Prepared to Kick its Way Back on the Schedule
Also among the March premieres is AMC’s post-apocalyptic martial arts series Into the Badlands. That one has its Season 2 debut on Sunday March 19th at 10 PM EST. You can see the full mid-season schedule of sci fi and fantasy shows at this link.
6. #CastleRock is Coming from Stephen King and J.J. Abrams
Hulu announced this past week that it has given a ten episode order to Castle Rock, a horror anthology series from Stephen King and J.J. Abrams. According to Deadline Hollwood, the series
is based on short stories by King and in his signature horror genre. It is named after Castle Rock, the fictional area in King’s native Maine that serves as the setting for a number of his novels, novellas, and short stories.
The teaser above was released by Abrams and King on Twitter. The two previously collaborated on the Hulu mini-series 11/22/63 which adapted King’s novel of the same name about a man traveling to the past to stop the assassination of JFK.
