Sci Fi TV News Briefs: An Obi-Wan Kenobi Series Could Be Headed to Disney+, Showtime Picks Up Gormenghast, and More

Sci Fi TV News Briefs: Quick hits keeping you updated on sci fi and fantasy television news.

The Return of Obi-Wan: Ewan McGregor is currently in talks with Disney about returning to the role of Ob-Wan Kenobi for a television series centered on the character that would stream on Disney+. No details about the project are currently available, but previously there were plans to do an Obi-Wan movie before the Han Solo film did poorly at the Box Office. That has been put on hold, but the series may pick up with that story and expand upon it. This is still in the early stages of planning, so stay tuned for updates.

Trekking Back: CBS and Viacom have merged, bringing together two companies that split and went separate directions back in 2005. This could have a significant impact on the Star Trek franchise as explained by Variety:

CBS ultimately owns the rights to Star Trek (including its lucrative merchandising deals) and licenses the brand to Paramount. That naturally has caused some friction over the years. Meanwhile, the TV series and films are now on different timelines, as J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek movies are considered to be on a different path (nicknamed the “Kelvin timeline”). The merger might allow for timeline split to be resolved, while any other conflicts between the two companies would seemingly go away under one custodian.

There is no word on how this will impact Star Trek: Discovery and the other Trek properties currently in development, but stay tuned for updates.

Showtime Picks Up Gormenghast: The television adaptation of the Gormenghast fantasy book series by Mervyn Peake that Neil Gaiman and Toby Whitehouse have been working on has been picked up by Showtime. Deadline Hollywood gives the following description of the project:

The books follow the inhabitants of Castle Gormenghast, a sprawling, decaying, gothic-like structure with a raft of characters including Titus, the heir to the throne of the House of Groan, scheming kitchen boy Steerpike and twin sisters Cora and Clarice.

The first two books were previously adapted by the BBC in 2000 with Jonathan Rhys Meyers and Christopher Lee in starring roles. Expect this one to be targeting a late-2020 or early 2021 debut.

Zombie Fallout on TV: Yet another zombie-pocalypse series is headed to television as Buffalo 8 is in the process of adapting Mark Tufo’s Zombie Fallout book series. Deadline Hollywood gives the following description for the project:

The dark comedy follows a community of heroes, monsters, cowards, and misfits struggling against a world dominated by zombies. The adventure is about a family that is hunted by zombies as well as a 500-year-old vampire named Eliza.

No network is attached to this one at the moment.

The Heat Is On: Netflix is working on the television series Pyros which is based on the Thomas Pierce short story “Tardy Man”. Variety gives the following description for the project:

[The story centers on] people who are fitted with indestructible fire suits fused to their spines. They are employed by a corporation that recovers objects for wealthy people when their houses are burning — but are only allowed to help people who have policies with the corporation.

Pierce will be writing the series and Reese Witherspoon will star and also executive produce. Expect this one to arrive at some point in 2020.

Production News: Madeleine Madden, Marcus Rutherford, Barney Harris, Zoë Robins and Josha Stradowski have been cast in Amazon’s upcoming adaptation of Robert Jordan’s The Wheel of Time. The upcoming third Walking Dead series–still untitled–has cast The Punisher’s Joe Holt in a recurring role. Kiran Sonia Sawar, Elizabeth Berrington, Ella Smith, Viola Prettejohn, Anna Devlin, Martyn Ford have been cast in Joss Whedon’s upcoming HBO sci fi series The Nevers.