Weekly rundown of the latest sci fi and fantasy television news. See a list of prior week columns at this link.

Showtime Acquires The Kingkiller Chronicle

Showtime has picked up the television adaptation of Patrick Rothfuss’ fantasy book series The Kingkiller Chronicle. Development on that series began over a year ago and the premium cable network has decided to add it to their line-up of original scripted shows with John Rogers attached as showrunner. Following is the description from the press release:

Set in the world of the wildly popular fantasy series by Rothfuss, THE KINGKILLER CHRONICLE will follow a pair of wandering performers on their adventures through the unique and startling world of Temerant, immersing audiences in a universe of unexpected heroes, mystical places, and terrifying dark forces. It is a world that has delighted readers and critics alike, selling more than 10 million copies in 35 languages across the globe.

Two books have been released in this series so far with a third on the way. Showtime will certainly be looking to tap into the audience of HBO’s Game of Thrones with this property as that one will be wrapping up with its eighth season. They will likely try to get The Kingkiller Chronicle on their schedule at some point in 2018.

John Carpenter To Direct Tales For a Halloween Night TV Pilot

The previously announced horror anthology series Tales For a Halloween Night is moving forward at Syfy, and John Carpenter will be coming out of retirement to direct the pilot for the show. Other horror directors will be invited onboard to helm additional episodes of the show. The series is based on Carpenter’s comic book anthology of the same name:

From John Carpenter, the man who brought you the cult classic horror film Halloween and all of the scares beyond comes the ultimate graphic novel anthology of tales to warm your toes by on a dark and stormy October night! Carpenter brings together storytellers from the worlds of movies, novels and comics for a collection of tales featuring graveyards, sunken ships, creepy crawlers and ghosts to haunt your dreams at night!

Syfy will be looking to add this show to their schedule at some point in 2018.

Preacher Renewed By AMC For A Third Season

Season 3!!!! #Preacher pic.twitter.com/Pdd9RBdkrQ
— Seth Rogen (@Sethrogen) October 26, 2017

Word broke yesterday afternoon that AMC’s supernatural series Preacher, based on DC Vertigo comic created by Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon, has been renewed for a third season. The announcement came in the form of the short tweet above from showrunner Seth Rogen. The renewal does not come as a huge surprise, though Preacher‘s numbers were down 36% from its first season this past Summer. But it is still doing okay for a cable show these days and it did see decent gains from delayed viewing (more important to the cable channels than the broadcast nets), and it has also stirred up some activity on the social networks. In addition, the show has been pretty well received across its two seasons so far. There are no specifics on the show’s return at this point beyond the fact that it will be back at some point in 2018.

ABC Developing Middle Eastern Superhero Comedy Series

Superhero shows are apparently still considered a viable genre on television, and ABC has a new one in the works with no connection to sister company Marvel. The yet to be named series will focus on a Middle Eastern family and it will be planned as a comedy. CBR.com gives the following description:

The series will focus on the Sharif family, an ordinary Middle Eastern-American family with two superhero parents at a time when it’s illegal to be a superhero, so they are forced to save the world in secret. The show, which is still in development, is set to highlight some of the issues that immigrant families are forced to endure.

The network will likely be considering this show as an addition to its 2018-19 line-up.

Sci-Fi TV Status Report: The Orville Improves, Kevin (Probably) Saves The World Drops

On Thursday, FOX’s The Orville returned with a new episode after airing a repeat last week and posted a 1.2 rating based on the overnights for the 18-49 demographic and 4.2 million total viewers (according to the preliminaries). If those numbers hold when the finals come in, they will be the best ratings the show has seen on Thursdays, and FOX should definitely consider keeping this one around for another season. Over on The CW, Arrow slipped to a series low 0.5 rating with 1.4 million total viewers, but don’t expect the fifth place network to be cancelling that one anytime soon.

On Wednesday, Spike’s The Shannara Chronicles slipped to a 0.09 rating with 225K total viewers, and it certainly seems like the quest will be ending for that one sooner rather than later. On USA, Mr. Robot slipped to a 0.18 rating with 542K total viewers, but I expect that Emmy winner to stick around at least one more season. On Tuesday, Kevin (Probably) Saves the World slipped to a 0.7 rating with 2.9 million total viewers and I am moving that one to Bubble status.

Be sure to follow my weekly Sci-Fi TV Status Report column on Tuesdays here at CancelledSciFi.com which tracks the ratings results and renewal/cancellation prospects of the currently airing sci fi and fantasy shows. And you can get the latest ratings results at the Cancelled Sci Fi Twitter Site.

Hulu Releases New Runaways Trailer

Hulu has released the most complete trailer yet for its upcoming series Runaways based on the Marvel comic book series. This shows the young protagonists discovering the sinister truth about their parents and deciding that they must take action. The series will debut on Hulu on November 21st. You can see the full Fall schedule of sci fi and fantasy shows here.

Japanese Trailer Shows More Of What To Expect From Godzilla: Planet Of The Monsters

The first of three anime Godzilla movies will be hitting Netflix later this year and it will get its theatrical release in Japan on November 17th. The Japanese language trailer has been released and gives us our best look yet at the animated film. Following is the official synopsis for Godzilla: Planet Of The Monsters:

The animated movie takes the franchise into uncharted territory — a harsh world of the future in which Godzilla has dominated the Earth for the past 20,000 years, and a fateful final confrontation with mankind looms. Prepare for the earth-shattering roar of a brand new GODZILLA, unlike anything heard or seen before.

Expect the film to be available on Netflix likely in December of this year.

News Bites: Stephen King Expects The Dark Tower TV Series To Be A Reboot And More

Stephen King said in a recent interview with Vulture that if the television version of The Dark Tower happens, it would likely be a complete reboot and have little or no connection to the poorly received film.

Aiden Gillen (Littlefinger from Game of Thrones) has been cast as UFO investigator J. Allen Hynek in the upcoming Robert Zemeckis scripted series Blue Book which will air on the History Channel.

The BBC has cast the three “friends” who will be joining the 13th Doctor when that show returns for its eleventh season (which is currently scheduled to air in Fall 2018).