Sci Fi TV News Briefs: Quick hits keeping you updated on sci fi and fantasy television news.
Reboot Fever: Netflix has been going heavy on developing genre shows of late and made a rather big announcement yesterday that a live-action version of the beloved series Avatar: The Last Airbender is in the works. This will obviously make fans of the original series quite nervous, especially after M. Night Shyamalan’s live-action The Last Airbender was received poorly in theaters back in 2010. But Netflix has the creators of the animated series Bryan Konietzko and Michael DiMartino onboard for the project and they will be closely involved with the reboot. They made the following statement to allay the concerns of long-time fans and to give a general idea of how they will approach the series:
We can’t wait to realize Aang’s world as cinematically as we always imagined it to be, and with a culturally appropriate, non-whitewashed cast. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime chance to build upon everyone’s great work on the original animated series and go even deeper into the characters, story, action and world-building. Netflix is wholly dedicated to manifesting our vision for this retelling, and we’re incredibly grateful to be partnering with them.
The series will go into production next year and will likely target 2020 for its debut.
Still in Limbo: Delivering yet another blow to hopes for a second season of The Defenders, Netflix has rebranded the Facebook page that was previously dedicated to that show. It now has the header: “Multiple Universes One Home” and claims to be “the page where heroes—and princesses, monsters, and mechs—come together”. This is yet another indication that we won’t see a second season of The Defenders anytime soon, but we pretty much already know that. Kristen Ritter, star of Jessica Jones, said earlier this year about a second season: “I don’t think we are doing it again. It was never intentioned to do it again”. But she also said: “if I was given another opportunity, I would.” It could still happen at some point, but for now fans will have to settle for the solo series.
A Longer Run? The final season of Game of Thrones will hit HBO next year, but if George R.R. Martin had his way the show would have lasted longer. He had the following to say in an interview with Variety:
We could’ve gone 11, 12, 13 seasons. David [Benioff] and Dan [Weiss] have been saying for like five seasons that seven seasons is all they would go. We got them to go to eight but not any more than that. There was a period like five years ago when they were saying seven seasons and I was saying 10 seasons and they won, they’re the ones actually working on it.
Martin believe that the show could have explored stories that were left out from the book if it had more seasons. But the showrunners and HBO decided to stop at eight seasons. The final season will debut at some point around mid-2019.
The Fall season is upon us and will be bringing over forty new and returning sci fi and fantasy television shows. You can see our full preview of the coming season at this link. And be sure to stay tuned to this site and the Cancelled Sci Fi Twitter Site throughout the season for the latest ratings results and status updates for your favorite shows.
