Lego Batman gets a butler. Tim Miller discusses which mutants could have been part of Deadpool. Andrew Kreisberg teases Cyborg Superman on Supergirl. Greg Nicotero thinks it’s unlikely a certain Walking Dead character will ever lose a limb. Plus, details on Rob Thomas’ new sci-fi show on The CW. Spoilers Now!
Deadpool
Director Tim Miller discusses the limitations put on the movie, in terms of what mutants it could include as part of the X-Men universe:
It becomes a little bit of a quagmire sometimes. We did get approval for Colossus. But with Negasonic Teenage Warhead, Tim actually gave us a pre-approved list, he’s like, ‘You can use any of these names’ and we looked down the list and there were names like Bizarre, Tar Baby was a character, like, ‘I don’t think we’ll be using Tar Baby.’
[CBR]
Lego Batman
Ralph Fiennes has joined the movie, lending his voice to the role of Bruce Wayne’s butler, Alfred. [Coming Soon]
Hotel Transylvania 3
Sony have announced that the film—which won’t be directed by Genndy Tartakovsky—will release on September 22, 2018. [Coming Soon]
Alice Through The Looking Glass
The Red Queen appears in this brief teaser ahead of the release of the film’s full trailer.
Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them
The movie now has a new, suitably beasty logo. [/Film]
Krampus
The festive comedy-horror movie has a new poster. [Coming Soon]
The X-Files
TV Line are reporting that the upcoming 6-part revival of the show could be a backdoor pilot to introduce a new spinoff series—starring Robbie Amell and Lauren Ambrose, who will play Agents Miller and Einstein respectively in the show.
Fox were allegedly looking into producing the series as a way to keep X-Files going without having to rely on the presence of Gillian Anderson and David Duchovny, but have apparently shelved the plans for now. At the same time, the idea is still an option in the future.
Speaking to the site at New York Comic Con, showrunner Chris Carter denied that either Ambrose or Amell’s contracts were negotiated with the potential for leading roles in a spinoff series—nothing beyond the current six episodes was—so for now, it’s best to treat this with a healthy dose of Scully-branded skepticism.
Supergirl
Executive producer Andrew Kreisberg discusses the latest episode’s teasing of Hank Henshaw’s comic book role as the villainous Cyborg Superman:
We don’t want to say too much about it, because I think we had a lot of success with the way we doled out information about Tom Cavanagh’s character last year on ‘Flash’. For us, it’s so exciting to walk into every scene with him and not know is he there to help you? Or is he possibly there to harm you? That dichotomy and how it plays out is one of the most exciting, unexpected parts of the show. It was something we were actually going to do in the pilot, but we decided to wait.
[EW]
The Walking Dead
Greg Nicotero discusses the likeliness of Rick Grimes ever losing a hand, as he did in the comic:
You know, it’s so funny... The whole Rick losing his hand conversation, [Andrew Lincoln] has told me a thousand times, “Listen, let’s just chop it off. I don’t know why he has a hand. I think it would be great.” I don’t think there was ever a time where we didn’t do it because we didn’t think it wouldn’t be great for his character but unlike Hershel’s leg where we were able to shoot long dialogue scenes between Hershel and Glenn and we didn’t have to worry about the visual effects of digitally removing his foot in every shot. With Merle, I designed this cool arm specifically to hide his stump. What we ended up doing was we did one shot where he took it off and showed the stump to Andrea and then he slid it back on. I think it would be very challenging indeed to try to deal with removing Rick’s hand from a technical standpoint.
Star Trek
CBS CEO Leslie Moonves discusses why the new series will air on the company’s streaming service before heading to Television:
We’re looking to do original content on All Access and build up that platform. Netflix is our friend [and] a competitor. They compete with [CBS Corp.’s] Showtime. All Access will put out original content and knowing the loyalty of Star Trek fans, this will boost it… There’s about a billion channels out there and because of Star Trek, people will know what All Access is about.
All the series have done well in terms of streaming. Added in to that, Star Trek is a huge international franchise. Our international distribution guy is going crazy; he can’t wait to get out to the marketplace and sell that. Right away, we’re more than halfway home on the cost of the show from international alone. The risk is small in seeing the track record.
[THR]
Tempest
iZombie and Veronica Mars creator Rob Thomas is working on a new sci-fi series for the CW, alongside writers Graham Norris and Deirdre Mangan. The show will follow a young woman who lives on an idyllic space ship, only to discover that the ship’s ideal habitats are secretly powered by slave laborers looking to stage a revolution. [Deadline]
Game of Thrones
Some minor casting updates: Margaret Jackman has been cast as an Old Lady for a minor speaking role in either episode 7 or 8 of the sixth season, while Diogo Sales will play a Dothraki Bloodrider. [Watchers on the Wall]
Luke Roberts, believed to be filming scenes at the Castillo de Zafra (widely-speculated to be filming flashback sequences for the Tower of Joy, where Ned Stark’s sister Lyanna was held captive by the Targaryens before the events of the books—and maybe even gave birth to Jon Snow there), has updated his CV to include a name for his character: Rowland Selwyn.
No characters in the books have used that name—Selwyn Tarth is Brienne’s mentioned but unseen father, and Rowland is at least similar enough to Howland Reed, who was present at the Tower of Joy alongside Ned Stark. The show hasn’t obscured casting calls with fake names in the past, so this could be a first—or it’s the actual name of the character, and there’s been some changes for the show. [Watchers on the Wall]
Once Upon A Time
Greg Germann has been cast in an undisclosed demonic role on the show, a character referred to as “The Distinguished Gentleman”. According to TV Line, the character is “a mysterious figure with god-like powers who is always clad in a perfectly tailored suit”.
Van Helsing
A synopsis and poster for the female-led Syfy monster hunting series has been released:
Season one of the show will follow Van Helsing as she leads the Resistance across the Wasteland, in the former America, in search of the hole in the sky in Colorado.
First, they will have to find the scientist Klaus, who is the key to the mission, as it’s his device and knowhow which can harness the sun’s power.
With Klaus, they will head to Colorado and hope the rumors are true, that the sun is as strong as a vampire’s bite. They will come across human fortresses and vampire strongholds- some friendly, most not. They will help those humans when they can, and they will kill whatever gets in their way. It will be violent and vicious, but Van Helsing is a warrior who is up to the task.
Doctor Who
The BBC have released a brief synopsis for the 10th episode of season 9, “Face the Raven”:
The Doctor and Clara, with their old friend Rigsy, find themselves in a magical alien world, hidden on a street in the heart of London.
Sheltered within are some of the most fearsome creatures of the universe… and Ashildr (Maisie Williams)! With a death sentence hanging over their heads, not all of the intruders will get out alive.
Wynnona Earp
Finally, here’s a poster for Syfy’s comic book adaptation. [Spoiler TV]
Additional reporting by Gordon Jackson and Charlie Jane Anders. Image: The X-Files.