Foundations TV Series in the Works at Apple
Apple continues to pull in high profile TV series to compete with Netflix, Amazon, and Hulu, and has announced that they will develop a series based on Isaac Asimov’s Foundation books. There have been multiple attempts to adapt that book series, both to the big screen and television, and most recently it was at HBO with Jonathan Nolan trying to get it up and running. Skydance, which has produced Altered Carbon for Netflix, acquired the rights last year and now Apple will give a shot at developing the epic, galaxy-spanning saga. David S. Goyer (FlashForward, Krypton) and Josh Friedman (Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles) are currently attached to the production. Whether they will be able to make this work for Apple or if it ends up going to yet another company remains to be seen.
Sci Fi TV Development: AMC Orders Joe Hill’s NOS4A2, USA Picks Up Pilot for Tim Kring’s Treadstone and More
Sci fi and fantasy TV development keeps moving full steam ahead with several additional announcements this week. AMC has had a television adapation of Joe Hill’s NOS4A2 (pronounced Nosferatu) in the works for a while and has now officially placed an order for the series. Variety gives the following description of the story:
The show follows Vic McQueen, a young, working class artist who discovers she has a supernatural ability to track the seemingly immortal Charlie Manx. Manx feeds off the souls of children, then deposits what remains of them into Christmasland, a twisted Christmas Village of Manx’s imagination where every day is Christmas day and unhappiness is against the law. Vic must strive to defeat Manx and rescue his victims without losing her mind or falling victim to him herself.
The network will be looking to add this to their schedule late 2018 or early 2019. USA has given a pilot order to Tim Kring’s Treadstone. Deadline Hollywood gives the following description of the project:
Treadstone explores the origin story and present-day actions of a CIA black ops program known as Treadstone — a covert operation that uses behavior modification protocol to turn its agents into nearly unstoppable superhuman assassins. The series follows sleeper agents across the globe as they’re mysteriously “awakened” to resume their deadly missions.
If this one is picked up, the network will likely target it for Fall 2018. Universal Cable productions is working on a television adaptation of the Warren Ellis comic Injection. Hollywood Reporter gives the following description of the project:
[The show] revolves around a group of five highly specialized individuals who are brought together by the British government to hypothesize about the future of human culture. After discovering the results, the group decides to act on it by creating an unusual artificial intelligence using a combination of technology and shamanistic magic, which makes its way into our world.
No network is attached at this point, but consider Syfy a likely landing point since it is owned by NBC/Universal.
Sci Fi TV Status Report: Netflix Renews Jessica Jones for Third Season
Netflix announced this week that its Marvel Universe series Jessica Jones will be returning for a third season. The news does not come as a huge surprise because this series has been fairly popular and has been getting good buzz from critics and fans. Netflix does not share its viewership numbers, but all of the Defenders series (including Daredevil, Luke Cage, Iron Fist, and the team-up series) have done well for the streaming service. The second season of the show debuted this past March, and there is no word on when the third season will debut yet. Fans will certainly be hoping that they will not be subjected again to a two-plus year wait for the return of their favorite heroine.
In ratings news, ABC’s new series The Crossing and FX’s sophomore entry Legion are both down in the ratings and looking at uncertain fates. The former series debuted with only a 0.9 rating based on same day viewing for the 18-49 demographic and slipped to a 0.8 rating in its second week. I currently have that show firmly On the Bubble. Legion returned down notably from its first season run and slipped further this past Tuesday. That one will be moving to Bubble status as well if it does not rebound. You can keep up with the ratings results and renewal / cancellation status of your favorite sci fi and fantasy shows at CancelledSciFi.com and the Cancelled Sci Fi Twitter Site.
Sci Fi TV Schedule: Westworld and Into the Badlands Return Next Week
This coming week brings us three more Spring premieres of sci fi and fantasy shows. On Sunday April 25th, HBO’s Westworld returns for its long-awaited second season and AMC’s Into the Badlands is back for its third year run. Earlier in the week, The CW’s The Originals returns for its fifth and final season on Wednesday. And Supergirl is back with new episodes on Monday after having been on a second hiatus since January while Legends of Tomorrow finished up its third season in the Monday 8 PM EST timeslot. Wrapping up this week is The CW’s Black Lightning, and that makes way for the return of The 100 on Tuesdays the following week. You can see the full Spring schedule of sci fi and fantasy shows at this link and you can keep up with the weekly listings at this link.
More Sci Fi TV News
Game of Thrones has wrapped up its epic 55 day shoot for its eighth and final season. But it still has to go through post-production and is currently scheduled for a 2019 bow.
ABC has set May 18th as the finale date for Agents of SHIELD and Once Upon A Time. For the latter show, it will be the series finale. For AoS, we have not heard word yet on whether it will be back for a sixth season.
NBC has set May 30th as the premiere date for its new series Reverie. That one was originally scheduled for mid-season but was pushed to Summer.
The long-awaited second season of Cinemax’s Outcast (based on the Robert Kirkman comic of the same name) finally has a premiere date of July 20th. That one has already aired internationally.
