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 throughout the week at r/SciFiTV on Twitter and on Reddit.
1. Star Trek: Picard Boldly Begins Its Run on CBS All Access
Star Trek: Picard had its debut on the CBS All Access streaming service on January 23rd and it already counts as a hit. The streamer has set a record for subscriber sign-ups in January 2020, and the new Trek series is one of the main driving forces. The show has also pulled more viewers early in its run than Star Trek: Discovery which is heading into its third season. Star Trek: Picard catches up with Jean-Luc Picard, former captain of the USS Enterprise, later in his life and brings on some familiar faces from Star Trek: TNG. The first season will run for ten episodes and it has already been renewed for a second year.
2. Netflix Moving Forward with Live-Action One Piece Adaptation
Netflix has placed a ten-episode first season order for a live-action version on the classic Anime One Piece. That long-running franchise started as a Manga in 1997 and has also produced an Anime TV series (which has run for twenty seasons so far) and fourteen animated feature films. It focuses on a young man named Monkey D. Luffy who sets off on an adventure to find the famed “One Piece” treasure and to establish himself as the king of pirates. Steven Maeda (The X-Files, Lost) will be onboard as writer, showrunner, and executive producer, and Matt Owens (Luke Cage, Agents of SHIELD) will write and executive produce. The streaming service will likely be looking to add this to its slate of originals later this year or early 2021.
3. Production Is Set to Begin on She-Hulk Series
Marvel Television Studios may be cancelling many of the projects that started up under Jeff Loeb, but the shows with closer ties to the MCU movies planned for the Disney+ streaming service are still moving forward. The live-action She-Hulk series began casting late last year and production will reportedly begin in July of this year. There have been no casting announcements yet, but expect those to start circulating soon. In the comics, She-Hulk focuses on Jennifer Susan Walters who gets a blood transfusion from her cousin Bruce Banner and ends up inheriting some of his Hulk powers. Whether Mark Ruffalo makes an appearance on the show as Banner has not been determined yet. Other Disney+ Marvel shows expected to start production soon are Ms. Marvel and Moon-Knight.
4. Under the Skin Could Be Headed to Television
The 2013 feature film Under the skin, which starred Scarlett Johansson, may be getting a television adaptation. The company that originally produced the film is going under, and that has sparked a bidding war for the rights to the property. Director Jonathan Glazer and producer James Wilson had previously shown an interest in doing a television show, but other projects kept them from moving forward with that. Now that the rights may be purchased by another production company, the series could become a reality. The movie focused on Johansson who played an alien that preyed upon men in Scotland. It is unlikely that she would star in the television series should it move forward, but she may be involved on the production end. Stay tuned for further developments on this story.
5. NBC Orders Pilot for a Robert Langon Series
The Peacock network is considering bringing a little Da Vinci Code to its schedule and has picked up a pilot based on the Robert Langdon character from the Dan Brown novels. Hollywood Reporter gives the following description for the television adaptation:
The project, which counts the author as an executive producer, revolves around the early adventures of the famed Harvard symbologist who must solve a series of deadly puzzles to save his kidnapped mentor and thwart a global conspiracy.
Tom Hanks portrayed the character on the big screen, but will almost certainly not be involved with the television production. Dan Dworkin and Jay Beattie (Revenge, The Event) will write the pilot and executive produce. The network will be considering this show for its Fall 2020 schedule.
THE SCHED: Locke and Key Has Its Premiere on Netflix
Mid-Season continues to roll along and two shows will be joining the schedule this coming week. On Friday, the long-awaited Locke and Key, based on the Joe Hill / Gabriel Rodríguez comics, has its debut on Netflix. All episodes will be available for streaming that day. Also on Friday, MacGyver returns for its fourth season on CBS. Returning from hiatus will be The CW’s The Flash which will resume airing new episodes in its normal Tuesday 8 PM EST timeslot. 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
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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.
