Sci Fi TV Top 5: Covering the top sci fi and fantasy TV stories of interest from the past week. You can keep up with the sci fi and fantasy TV news headlines at r/SciFiTV on Twitter and on Reddit.
It was a busy week for sci fi TV news, this time around we have Top 6 instead of the usual Top 5
1. One Game of Thrones Prequel Gets the Greenlight, Another Gets the Ax
The recently announced Game of Thrones prequel series House of Dragon has received a straight-to-series order from HBO. The show is based on George R.R. Martin’s book Fire & Blood and follows the rise and fall of House Targaryen. But with that series moving forward, the premium cable channel has passed on the prequel pilot helmed by Jane Goldman and which starred Naomi Watts. That series would have focused on the “Age of Heroes” and the first conflict between men and the White Walkers. There are still several more Game of Thrones in the works that could join House of Dragon in the coming at some point down the line.
2. HBO Max is Maxing on Outerspace with Green Lantern, Strange Adventures, and More
The HBO Max streaming service will launch in May 2020 and several new shows have been added to its slate of originals. Uber-producer Greg Berlanti is jumping onboard and will be working on a Green Lantern series as well as a Strange Adventures anthology featuring Adam Strange. Both are based on DC comics. The former series focuses on the cosmic superhero Green Lantern and the latter features the space hero Adam Strange and will offer “close-ended morality tales about the intersecting lives of mortals and super-humans”. In addition to these two shows, HBO Max is also working with Ridley Scott on the sci fi series Raising Wolves. That show will focus on two androids tasked with raising human children on a new planet who must deal with the conflicting human beliefs. The latter series was previously in development at TNT.
3. The CW Has a Superman Series and a Prequel to The 100 in the Works
The CW already has a whole stable of Arrow-verse shows on its schedule, but it is looking at one more plus a possible spin-off to its long-running sci fi series The 100. The network is developing Superman and Lois which will be part of the Arrow-verse and will spin directly out of Supergirl with Tyler Hoechlin and Elizabeth Tulloch carrying over from that latter series. Similar to the 90’s ABC series Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, the CW spin-off would focus on the personal lives of the title characters. Flash showrunner Todd Helbing is writing the script. In addition, a prequel to The 100 is in the works which will take place nearly one hundred years before the events of the parent series and will focus on a group that has survived the nuclear war that devastated the Earth. That will start off as an episode that will air as a back-door pilot in the upcoming final season of The 100. The network will be considering both shows for the 2020-21 season.
4. Trailer and Release Date for The Witcher
Netflix’s highly-anticipated epic fantasy series The Witcher, starring Henry Cavill, finally has a release date. It will debut on December 20th with all eight first-season episodes available for streaming that day. Following is the official tagline for the series:
The witcher Geralt, a mutated monster hunter, struggles to find his place in a world where people often prove more wicked than beasts.
The series is based on the fantasy books of the same name by Andrzej Sapkowski
5. Another Life, Creepshow, and Pennyworth All Get Second Season Renewals
It was a good week for freshman genre shows as three have received second season orders. Netflix’s space drama Another Life–which stars BSG’s Katee Sackhoff–has received a second season renewal despite the fact that the show has not been well-received by critics in its first year. Shudder’s horror anthology Creepshow has been renewed for a second season which comes as no surprise seeing as it has set viewership records for the streaming service. And EPIX’s Batman prequel series Pennyworth will be returning for a second year which is was to be expected seeing as it was a high-profile entry for the cable channel. Be sure to keep up with the ratings numbers and status updates for all the currently airing sci fi and fantasy shows each week with our Cancellation Watch Weekly Roundup post.
6. More Sci Fi TV Development: Dante’s Inferno, Heaven’s Forest and More
Freeform is working on an updating of Dante’s classic epic poem set in modern-day Los Angeles. Deadline Hollywood gives the following description for the project:
Dante’s Inferno follows Grace Dante, who thought her life sucked. Between parenting her drug addict mother and her troubled brother, our 20-something hero has had to give up all her dreams. Then one day everything changes and her dreams start magically coming true, school, career, love… but the godfather of all this good fortune is the Devil himself. And to outwit him, she’ll have to journey through Dante’s Inferno.
That show will be targetting a 2020 debut on the cable network. In addition to that, Netflix has placed an eight-episode order for the animated series Heaven’s Forests from Castlevania‘s Warren Ellis. That fantasy entry is inspired by the Indian mythology of the Ramayana and will debut on the streamer at some point in 2020. Also, Amazon is developing a series based on Naomi Alderman‘s sci-fi novel The Power. Following is the description the streamer has given for the project:
The world of The Power is our world, but for one twist of nature. Suddenly, and without warning, all teenage girls in the world develop the power to electrocute people at will. It’s hereditary, it’s inbuilt, and it can’t be taken away from them. Coming alive to the thrill of pure power: the ability to hurt or even kill by releasing electrical jolts from their fingertips, they rapidly learn they can awaken the Power in older women. Soon enough nearly every woman in the world can do it. And then everything is different.
THE SCHED: His Dark Materials Has Its Debut on HBO
The Fall premieres have slowed down, but this coming week brings yet one more new series. The joint BBC / HBO adaptation of His Dark Materials, based on the fantasy novels by Philip Pullman, has its debut on the premium cable channel on Monday at 9 PM EST. You can see the full schedule of sci fi and fantasy shows at this link and you can keep up with the weekly listings at this link.
More from CancelledSciFi.com
Keep up with the ratings developments and the status of all the currently airing sci fi and fantasy shows with our Weekly Roundup posts. And join the #CancelledSciFiArmy on Twitter to bolster our ranks and help us fight for the struggling and cancelled sci fi and fantasy shows.
Check out our Sci Fi TV Schedule for debut and season finale dates and follow our Weekly Listings for a rundown of the shows airing in the current week.
Check back each Saturday for Sci Fi TV Retrospectives: A look back at cancelled, classic, forgotten, and more genre shows from the past.
