Sci Fi TV News Briefs: Quick hits keeping you updated on sci fi and fantasy television news.
One Ring to Rule Them All: Development continues on Amazon’s Lord of the Rings prequel series and a string of tweets on the show’s official Twitter account have included the map above (each with more detail) and have indicated that it will take place during the Second Age of Middle Earth. The series of tweets also included the infamous lines from the book:
Three Rings for the Elven-kings under the sky,
Seven for the Dwarf-lords in their halls of stone,
Nine for Mortal Men doomed to die,
One for the Dark Lord on his dark throne.
In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie.
One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them,
One Ring to bring them all, and in the darkness bind them,
In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie.
The second age is when Sauron created the rings of power and also seized control over the land. The final map image included the mythical land of Numenor from which the great men of Gondor are descended. SlashFilm.com goes into more detail on the implications of these recent tweets at this link. The series goes into production later this year and will likely debut late 2020 or early 2021.
Team Witch: Freeform has given a series order to the supernatural drama Fort Salem: Mortherland created by Eliot Laurence and executive produced by Will Ferrell, Adam McKay and Kevin Messick. Deadline Hollywood gives the following description for the series:
Set in an alternate America where witches ended their persecution 300 years ago by cutting a deal with the U.S. government to fight for their country, Motherland: Fort Salem follows three young women — two of them played by Taylor Hickson and Jessica Sutton — from basic training in combat magic into early deployment. In this world, the traditional roles of gender and power are flipped, with the more dominant women on the front lines fighting looming terrorist threats that are familiar to our world — but with supernatural tactics and weapons.
Amalia Holm and Demetria McKinney will co-star in the series. Freeform has placed and order for ten episodes and will likely be looking at getting this one on their schedule later this year or early 2020.
The Orville Voyages to Comics: FOX’s sci fi dramedy The Orville will be taking a new voyage this Summer as it heads to a comic book series to be published by Dark Horse. A four-issue mini-series is currently planned which will be written by series scribe David A. Goodman and drawn by David Cabeza. Hollywood Reporter gives the following description of the series:
The first of the two comic book storylines, “New Beginnings,” sees Ed and Gordon’s journey to a fleet conference interrupted by a distress call from what appears to be a Union ship that’s older than a century, while Kelly has to intercede in a domestic dispute on board the Orville itself as Bortus plans to enroll his child in school despite their young age. The second storyline, “The Word of Avis,” begins in The Orville No. 3, as the ship discovers what appears to be a Union ship headed toward Krill space — but the reality is something far more complicated and potentially deadly.
The first issue will hit the shelves on July 17th.
Critters Return: AMC’s streaming service Shudder, which focuses on horror and suspense, will be reviving the Critters franchise with the “short form” horror comedy series Critters: A New Binge. Following is the description of the show from the press release:
Pursued by intergalactic bounty hunters, the Critters return to Earth on a secret mission and encounter lovelorn high-schooler Christopher, his crush Dana, his best friend Charlie, and his mom Veronica, whose past will come back to bite them—literally.
Jordan Rubin, Jon Kaplan, and Al Kaplan are the writers and executive producers for the series. It stars Joey Morgan, Bzhaun Rhoden, Stephi Chin-Salvo, Kirsten Robek, and Gilbert Gottfried. It premieres on Shudder on March 21st.
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Viacom Heads to Pluto: Viacom has purchased the ad-supported streaming service Pluto TV. That streamer offers multiple live streaming channels, most of which appeal to a particular niche. The selection of programming has been somewhat limited, but the Viacom purchase could expand that. Viacom owns Paramount and AwesomenessTV as well as the TV networks MTV, VH1, Nickelodeon, Paramount Network (formerly Spike), and more. Pluto TV is available on Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, and more.
As we head into the final months of the regular season, expect more news as well as renewal and cancellation announcements. Be sure to stay tuned to this site and the Cancelled Sci Fi Twitter Site for breaking news as well as the latest ratings results.
