Christophe Waltz says he hasn’t heard anything about an Alita sequel. Patrick Stewart doesn’t want any virus allegories near Picard’s second season. Get another look at Pendleton Ward’s weird new Netflix show. Plus, Dark Harvest is coming next year, and what’s to come on the Pokémon anime. Spoilers go!
Dark Harvest
Deadline reports David Slade’s adaptation of the Halloween horror novel by Norman Partridge is now scheduled for a September 24, 2021 release date.
Untitled M. Night Shyamalan Thriller
Deadline also reports the untitled M. Night Shyamalan film scheduled for a 2021 release has now been removed from Universal’s schedule entirely.
Alita: Battle Angel 2
In conversation with Collider, Christophe Waltz stated he hasn’t “heard anything” about a sequel to Alita: Battle Angel.
But, you know, I’m as wise as you are. I haven’t heard anything and I’m a little disappointed and surprised that I haven’t heard a thing so far, because I know that it has followers. I know that people liked it and aside from what others said, I loved it and I liked working on it and I liked the result. You know, it was Fox and Fox doesn’t exist anymore. Now it’s Disney. Maybe it doesn’t fit into the Disneyfication, but I have no clue. I have no clue. Maybe they’re working on something and I wouldn’t be the first person to hear, but meanwhile, I haven’t heard anything.
The Jack in the Box
A body-contorting clown is released from a wind-up toy in the trailer for The Jack in the Box, coming to DVD and digital May 5.
Trolls: World Tour
Meanwhile, Branch and Poppy have no chemistry in a new clip from Trolls: World Tour.
Superman & Lois
Emmanuelle Chiriqui (The Passage, Tron: Uprising, Nickelodeon’s Snow Day) has been cast as Lana Lang in the CW’s upcoming Superman & Lois spinoff. Now named Lana Lang-Cushing, the character works as a “loan officer at Smallville Bank who stayed in Smallville when others left for something bigger and brighter. Lana re-establishes her friendship with her old friend, Clark Kent, during one of the most difficult periods in her life.” [Deadline]
Star Trek: Picard
Though it’s unclear how the current pandemic could be organically referenced in the series (the Vidiian Phage goes cross-species?), Patrick Stewart denied the second season of Star Trek: Picard would reference covid-19 in a recent interview with the CBC.
I would not encourage that. This is a disturbing and frightening and sad time for many thousands of people and I would feel uncomfortable if we were to make this a theme of the second season of Star Trek. It is too sensitive, too upsetting, too frightening, I think than some of the other issues that we have dealt with, which are much more of a political nature.
Well, Picard would have acted very much quicker than either the US government or the UK government did. There were good examples around the world of how best to handle this dangerous and difficult situation, and it wasn’t taken up, and I think that Picard would not have hesitated in finding, if not solutions, at least ways of minimizing the risk and the danger to individuals.
The Plot Against America
John Turturro’s Rabbi Lionel marries Winona Ryder’s Evelyn in the trailer for next week’s episode of The Plot Against America.
Pokemon: The Series
A trailer for the new season of Pokemon sees the return of Mega Evolutions—as well as Ash befriending a Sobble.
The Midnight Gospel
Finally, Netflix has released another effusively weird and occasionally sweary trailer for Pendleton Ward’s new adult animated series, The Midnight Gospel.
Banner art by Jim Cooke.