Sci Fi TV Status Report: Renewal, Cancellation, and Series Pickup Announcements are Coming In as We Head to Season End
The regular season is about to wrap up and the broadcast networks will be unveiling their schedules for the the coming year next week. That means that plenty of renewal and cancellation announcements are expected over the next few days. Cancellations handed out as of Friday morning are for Syfy’s The Expanse and FOX’s The Last Man on Earth (go to this link for my Call to Action to save The Expanse). Renewals have come in for The CW’s The 100, TBS’ Final Space, and Netflix’s Santa Clarita Diet (plus Starz has picked up Outlander through its sixth season). Plenty more shows are awaiting word on their fates including Agents of SHIELD, Lucifer, Timeless, and iZombie. CancelledSciFi.com is bringing you the latest announcements with its Cancellation Watch Tracker. Go there for the news rundown and more information on the cancellations and renewals mentioned above. As far as new show pickups, so far we have seen greenlights for the reverse-Lost series Manifest (NBC), the supernatural drama The InBetween (NBC), the vampire series The Passage (FOX), and the horror drama Light as a Feather (Hulu). I will be giving a rundown of all the new show pickups at this site later next week.
Bryan Fuller is No Longer Working With Anne Rice on the Vampire Chronicles TV Series
Well-regarded television creator / producer Bryan Fuller is having a hard time holding down a regular gig these days as it appears that he is no longer involved on the television adaptation of The Vampire Chronicles. It was announced earlier this year that Fuller had come onboard that production to assist Anne Rice and her son Christopher in developing the series. But Anne Rice has said that Fuller “chose to move on” and is no longer associated with the show. A script for the pilot has been written by Christopher and that show is moving forward, though no network is attached at this point. As for Fuller, over the past year and more he has departed from Star Trek: Discovery during the production phase, from American Gods after its first season, and from Apple’s upcoming Amazing Stories reboot which he developed. The last show Fuller was on for more than a season was NBC’s acclaimed Hannibal which was cancelled after three years. Fuller is known as an auteur and likely has some troubles dealing with the demands of network execs, but hopefully he will find a project that he can bring his full talent to at some point in the near future.
A Look at Syfy’s Tremors Pilot
Syfy chose not to go forward with the Tremors reboot series it was working on with original star Kevin Bacon, but the trailer for the show gives us an idea of what it would have been like. Apparently, the new series would ignore most if not all the sequels as well as the short-lived TV series from 2003. Also, there is no sign of Fred Ward in the film even though IMDb suggested he might make an appearance (perhaps he just has a cameo). And Burt Gummer is nowhere to be seen, despite the fact that Michael Gross’ survivalist character has become the face of the franchise across its five sequels and the earlier TV series. Still, the trailer shows promise and hopefully the pilot will show up as some point so that we can see Val McKee hunting down Graboids one more time.
Sci Fi TV Schedule: Syfy Announces Summer Premiere Dates, Next Week Brings Plenty of Season Finales plus HBO’s Fahrenheit 451
Syfy has announced the summer start dates for three of its returning shows as well as the sixth and (allegedly) final Sharknado film. 12 Monkeys will return for its fourth and final season on Friday June 15th. That one will air three episodes each Friday then wrap up with a two-hour finale on July 6th. Killjoys and Wynonna Earp will be back a little later in the Summer with their fourth and third seasons respectively, both hitting the schedule on Friday July 20th. And Sharknado 6 will debut on August 12th. As for next week’s schedule, that will bring plenty of finales as the current season winds down to a close. Shows that will be wrapping up include Lucifer (season finale on Monday), Shadowhunters (mid-season finale on Tuesday), Gotham (season finale on Thursday), Once Upon A Time (series finale on Friday), and Agents of SHIELD (season finale on Friday). Over on HBO, their TV movie adaptation of Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 will have its bow on Saturday. 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
Netflix’s sequel to its urban fantasy film Bright continues to move forward and Evan Spiliotopoulos (Beauty and the Beast, The Huntsman: Winter’s War) will be taking over the writing duties from Max Landis. Original director David Ayers along with stars Will Smith and Joel Edgerton will be returning for the second movie.
Netflix plans to adapt the Stephen King / Joe Hill short story “In the Tall Grass” to a TV movie. Vincenzo Natali (Cube, Splice) will direct and James Marsden (Westworld) is in talks for a staring role.
HBO’s upcoming Watchmen series has received the working title Brooklyn. The show will apparently not be a direct adaptation of the Alan Moore comic book.
The upcoming Star Wars live-action show that will be helmed by Jon Favreau will take place between the events of Return of the Jedi and The Force Awakens and will introduce new characters.
