Star Trek co-writer Damon Lindelof reveals which iconic villain definitely won't appear in the sequel, and that one classic bad guy dominated their discussions more than any other. But do we even know the villain will be a bad guy?
Plus a bunch more set photos from The Dark Knight Rises and filming plans for Man of Steel.
Alice Eve addresses the script problems for Men in Black 3 and the challenges of imitating Emma Thompson.
The Doctor Who executive producers preview what's ahead on the rest of the series, while John Barrowman discusses a possible return for Captain Jack Harkness.
All that, plus HBO's plans for Game of Thrones and American Gods!
Spoilers from here on out...
Top image from The Dark Knight Rises.
The Dark Knight Rises
Yesterday we posted some set photos showing Batman and Bane at the Pittsburgh set, and here are a bunch more. Including Gary Oldman and Marion Cotillard, plus a shot of Batman and Bane standing side by side. You can see even more photos at the links. [ComingSoon.net, /Film, and Matt Maranowski's Razzi via Latino Review]
Man of Steel
The movie will reportedly only film in Chicago from August 7 to 17, which is reduced what was initially expected. This is reportedly because more of the Metropolis exteriors will be portrayed using digital effects and Vancouver as a stand-in than was originally planned. In any event, the updated filming plans include "an industrial park next to DuPage County Airport", and possibly an IHOP restaurant in Aurora, Illinois. [Chicago Business]
X-Men: First Class Sequel
Rose Byrne discusses the possibility of returning as Moira MacTaggert:
Yeah, we all had to sign on for three, I believe. Well, I did anyway. But as of right now I have no idea if they're planning on doing another one. But that was the idea depending on how it all went, I suppose. We'll see though. I loved working on it and loved working with the cast. I loved Matthew Vaughn. I also loved the style. The era and the fashion. And it was kind of kitsch-y and funny. It was a really fun and sophisticated superhero movie. I'm very proud of the film.
[IGN]
Star Trek 2
Co-writer Damon Lindelof confirms, in general terms, what they've decided about the sequel. He won't confirm anything concrete - even the gender of the movie's villain - but he does say one iconic Trek villain is definitely out:
"We know what the movie's about, we know what the key relationships are, what the stakes are, who the bad guy is...or girl...or Borg. No Borg. No Borg. We can rule out Borg."
He also address the question of whether Khan will be the villain. While he doesn't say anything definitive one way or the other, he does confirm that Khan was the first villain considered:
"To Khan or not to Khan was the jumping off question and we actually put a big list up on the board: pros and Khans, because it's a pun, and sort of weighed it all out and had a big debate and came to a decision, and once we came to that decision we stuck to our guns."
Finally, Lindelof touches on the relationship between Kirk and Spock, as well as other character pairings:
"The first movie was designed as a buddy cop movie, they're Riggs and Murtaugh. So the idea that pure emotion and instinct can actually pair quite nicely with a logical brain as long as in that Venn diagram they find the same traits in each other. That's definitely a huge theme of Trek and one that you cannot abandon, it has to keep moving forwards, it'll certainly be a big part of [the sequel], but I think the sequel is also going to want to explore other relationships in the movie and certainly characters who were more in the background get to shine a little bit brighter in the second movie."
The Mighty
Paramount has reportedly hired Iron Man 3 cowriter Drew Pearce to adapt the DC Comics limited series. Here's a description from the trade paperback:
"Alpha One - America's first and only Super Hero - is supported by Section Omega, an entire police force devoted to assisting him in his quest for justice. Lt. Gabriel Cole has worked his way up the ranks of Section Omega and his connection to Alpha One reaches back to his own tragic childhood and an accident nobody could have survived. But when murder strikes at the top of the organization, the case falls into his lap, and he'll begin to learn what being a hero is really all about!"
[IGN]
Men in Black 3
Costar Alice Eve puts as positive an outlook as she can on the reported script problems in her 1960s-set portion of the movie:
"There was a lot of controversy about the script changing a lot in 'Men in Black 3,' and I have to say if [it's like] you do a play and you rehearse something and you find the moments in things, but your story and your plot and trajectory stay the same, it was very much the same. Because it's such an expensive production, you're allowed the luxury of rehearsal and exploration. So, yes, within that, your pages are printed according to maybe an improvisation you did the day before and they changed them. But really the story stayed the same."
She also explained the lengths she went to in order to make her performance match that of her older, present-day counterpart Emma Thompson:
"I obsessed about her [Laughs]. I watched all her films, to the point where I can't watch them now. I obsessed about her, I met with her, I stared at her when I met with her. I looked at the way she moved her mouth. I had some special teeth made for my bottom teeth that were more like her shape. She kind of uses her forehead a lot and she enunciates at the end of sentence. So I did that a bit."
For the record, pretty much every actor could stand to be more like Emma Thompson. That just seems sensible. [MTV Splash Page]
Doctor Who
Steven Moffat says there are still more twists and reveals about River Song coming up. And fellow executive producers Piers Wenger and Beth Willis note that we'll also see the emotional impact of the big reveal - including the fact that both mother and daughter Ponds have kissed the Doctor. Moffat also suggests that the Doctor will have to deal with the fact that "the dark side of a man who could have caused the end of the universe is considerable", and that the opening episode "Let's Kill Hitler" is "where everything changes" - though how everything can change even more than it already has is anybody's guess. [TV Line]
John Barrowman discusses a possible return by Captain Jack:
Yes, I want to come back! The beautiful thing about Doctor Who is, it's time travel. Matt's Doctor could go back before Jack met his Doctor. Or Matt's Doctor could meet a darker Jack...? That's fine too. There are ways to do it. When he's in Doctor Who, Jack is very different to the Jack that's in Torchwood. Everybody knows my love of Doctor Who, and I would do it at the drop of a hat.
I kind of doubt that Barrowman is actually referring to this, but there is that two years of Jack's missing memories that Steven Moffat put into "The Empty Child"/"The Doctor Dances" that has never been followed up on. So that gives you a darker, pre-Doctor Jack right there. [Doctor Who News Page]
Torchwood: Miracle Day
Lauren Ambrose calls her character Jilly Kitzinger "vicious and ambitious" - perhaps indicating those brief flashes of something resembling conscience in the last episode were strictly temporary - and discusses some of the upcoming action she gets to take part in:
"There are things blowing up. I get to do stunts in the show, and get in fights - but I don't know how much I'm allowed to say. I get to run out of - well, I can't say what! But I get to do cool stuff I had never done before. And wear superfancy couture clothing and have my nails done." [Laughs]
Fringe
Here's another teaser for season four. [Fringe Television]
Game of Thrones
HBO executive Michael Lombardo explains the show's long-term outlook:
"I don't know where the show will end, as opposed to the books. It would be fantastic to be able to say this show will go on for 10 years, and do every aspect of the books. I don't know that will be the case. We'll see, but we are doing this without any predetermined idea of the number of seasons.
True Blood
Here are descriptions for the last two episodes of the season:
Episode 4.11: ‘Soul of Fire' – As the Wiccan-vampire standoff reaches a critical juncture, Sookie summons her faerie powers to prevent Marnie from bewitching Bill, Eric and Pam into a suicide march, while Jesus casts a secret spell designed to un-bind Antonia and break the witch's deadly defenses. Sam settles a score with Marcus; Alcide confronts Debbie about her allegiances; Andy finds unexpected passion in the forest; Lafayette is consumed by the past.
Episode 4.12: ‘And When I Die' – Season Finale. – It's Samhain, Wicca's greatest holy day, and spirits of the dead surface in Bon Temps, giving Sookie some valuable allies to combat Marnie's newest incarnation. Lafayette's latest medium encounter imperils his relationship with Jesus; Jason finds confession good for the soul, but not the body; Alcide makes a heartfelt appeal to the woman he loves; Terry receives an unexpected visitor at Merlotte's; Sam and Luna envision a storybook ending, for once; Nan wears out her welcome with Bill and Eric. As Season Four comes to a shattering conclusion, Debbie confronts Sookie and Tara with deadly consequences, and the denizens of Bon Temps brace for a new crisis with a familiar face.
Alan Ball answers some questions about the rest of the season:
What will we see in the war between witches and vampires?
It will go places that surprise you. It's not linear.Because Jason (Ryan Kwanten) drank Jessica's (Deborah Ann Woll) blood, will his sex dreams continue?
He's had her blood and he's already a very sexual person, but he's going to be attracted to her.What is the season building up to?
The fate of vampires as a whole.
[TV Guide]
American Gods
HBO heads Michael Lombardo and Richard Plepler clarify what's going on with the adaptation of Neil Gaiman's book series:
Are you committed to the development of American Gods, with the talk of it being picked up for six seasons?
Plepler: No, no, no, no, no.
Lombardo: It's very early development. It hasn't gotten to the place to even talk about that yet.
Plepler: What happens is that things like that get announced as development projects, and then somebody writes about it, as if there's a 10-year commitment, and we haven't even seen a script yet. That happens frequently. It's in early development.
[Collider]
Chuck
The Matrix's Carrie-Anne Moss is reportedly set to appear in multiple episodes as Gertrude Verbanski, "a former spy who now runs Verbanski Corp, the chief rival of Chuck's new spy company. She's ruthless and deadly, yet she also has a weak spot for one John Casey - her old rival." This might well be the Casey love interest that was mooted at Comic-Con. [EW]
Person of Interest
Episode three is reportedly called "Mission Creep" and "involves a team doing high-stake armed robberies." [SpoilerTV]
Once Upon a Time
Alias and The Vampire Diaries villain David Anders has been cast as a doctor who goes on a date with Ginnifer Goodwin's Mary Margaret/Snow White, and it's possible he will do so with villainous intentions of some sort. The character will first appear in episode three. [TV Guide]
Supernatural
Executive producer Ben Edlund reveals that he's writing the second episode, it's called "Hello, Cruel World", and it along with the season premiere are a direct continuation of what happened in the previous season:
And, you know, I considered the end of season 6 into season 7 to be one of our most fluid... It really is, like, the show that just keeps going, you know, so at the end of season 6 obviously you have the angry, deranged god. Big problem. So the first and second episodes, there's a lot of continuity going there that we just want to be first-the-best with, you know? [Episode] 2 ... unfolds the creatures ... the nightmare that they'll have to deal with this season.
[BuddyTV]
Falling Skies
Here are descriptions for the two-part finale, which airs next week:
"Mutiny" - August 7, 2011
Growing tension divides the 2nd Massachusetts just as their ambitious assault on an alien base draws near. Meanwhile, Tom has trouble coming to grips with Annie's profound discovery and its implications."Eight Hours" - August 7, 2011
In the season finale, the resistance fighters launch a bold attack against the aliens as Tom remains at the camp to protect the civilians. Twisting developments lead Tom to a close encounter of the harrowing kind, and mysteries about the aliens' motives might finally be answered.
[KSiteTV]
Caprica co-creator and Stargate Universe executive producer Remi Aubuchon has reportedly been brought on as executive producer and showrunner for the second season. [Deadline]
Haven
Here are some promo photos for episode four, "Sparks and Recreation", which I can only assume will be followed up by similarly titled episodes like "Scommunity", "The Soffice", and "S30 Rock." [SpoilerTV]
The Secret Circle
Here's a preview for the CW's upcoming teen witch show. [KSiteTV]
Here are some cast photos. [Daemon's TV and SpoilerTV]
Executive producer Richard Hatem has reportedly been let go for creative differences. [Deadline]
Additional reporting by Katharine Trendacosta and Charlie Jane Anders.