Hayden Christensen to Appear in OBI-WAN KENOBI Series?

Hayden Christensen

Take this with a major pinch of salt, but we may be about to get the full return of Hayden Christensen to the Star Wars saga.

Christensen was actually one of the Force voices heard by Rey towards the close of The Rise of Skywalker, but a new story from LRM claims that the actor is in talks to be a part of Disney+’s Obi-Wan Kenobi series.

What would be interesting about this, of course, is that the timeline of this would see Christensen’s Anakin Skywalker fully in his Darth Vader guise. That’s down to Obi-Wan Kenobi being set after the events of Revenge of the Sith.

If indeed Hayden Christensen does end up a part of Obi-Wan Kenobi, chances are it’ll be either in a flashback or purely vocal way. Well, unless the call is made to have him inhabit the Vader suit.

Like so many other movie and TV projects, production is currently on hold for Obi-Wan Kenobi due to the very real situation dominating the globe right now. The series will consist of six hour-long episodes, with The Mandalorian’s Deborah Chow directing the show.

Neve Campbell in Talks for SCREAM Return

Neve Campbell

With a new Scream now in early development, it appears that it’s not out of the question for Neve Campbell to return to his beloved horror franchise.

That comes directly from Campbell herself, who has revealed that she’s already had tentative talks about appearing in this new Scream picture. As she revealing to YouTube’s Jake Hamilton, “They’ve come to me and we’re having conversations. It’s a little hard at the moment because of COVID to know when that’ll happen, and hopefully we can see eye to eye on all the elements that have to come into place for it to happen.”

Campbell also made mention of how she was initially a little uncertain over returning for a Scream film that won’t have the iconic Wes Craven steering the ship. “I originally had been really apprehensive about doing another Scream with Wes,” Neve explained, “because he was such a genius and he is the reason they are what they are, but the directors have come to me with such a great appreciation for Wes’ work and they really want to honour it, and that means a lot to me. Hopefully we’ll be able to do it.”

Previously, it had yet to be confirmed whether this fifth Scream movie would be a straight-up remake, a reimagination, or some sort of continuation of what we’ve seen from the four previous films so far. Given that there’s the potential for Neve Campbell’s return as franchise protagonist Sidney Prescott, we’d say it’s safe to presume that this new Scream will pick up where 2011’s Scream 4 left off.

This new Scream is being directed by Ready or Not duo Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett.

As ever, expect more on all of this as we get it.

Louis Leterrier in Talks to Helm BRIGHT 2

Bright

Despite receiving a hugely mixed response, Netflix is powering forward with a sequel to 2017’s Bright.

Courtesy of Deadline, the streaming service is in talks with Louis Leterrier to direct the picture. Leterrier is likely best known to genre fans for helming the Ed Norton-starring The Incredible Hulk and all ten episodes of the stunning The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance.

Bright was a most unique of movies for Netflix. While the 11 million households that viewed the film in its first three days of release helped to make it the most watched first-week movie in Netflix’s history, many of those same people slammed Bright for being terrible.

Still, the sheer number of eyes watching that picture always suggested that Netflix could be tempted to serve up a sequel offering. And now, that is indeed the case.

For those of you not familiar with Bright, that fantasy movie centred on Will Smith’s LAPD officer and his new orc partner, as played by Joel Edgerton.

Expect more on Bright 2 as it continues to develop.

THE MIDNIGHT CLUB is Heading to Netflix

The Midnight Club

In some fantastic news, The Midnight Club is heading to Netflix.

Courtesy of Variety, Mike Flanagan and Leah Fong are adapting Christopher Pike’s fan favourite 1994 novel. Flanagan, of course, is best known for The Haunting of Hill House and Doctor Sleep, while Fong will be familiar to audiences for Once Upon a Time.

The basic premise of The Midnight Club centres on Rotterdam Home. That hospice houses terminally ill teenagers who meet up at midnight to tell scary stories. Eventually, these teens decide to make a pact that whichever of them dies first will contact the others from the afterlife.

This will be yet another Netflix production for Mike Flanagan, with him currently at work on The Haunting of Bly Manor and Midnight Mass for the on-demand streaming juggernaut.

Cate Blanchett in Talks for Elli Roth’s BORDERLANDS

Cate Blanchett

With Eli Roth now signed on to direct a Borderlands movie, that film is eying up its first cast member.

Courtesy of Variety, Cate Blanchett is in talks to play Lilith in the Lionsgate production. That character is a major favourite amongst fans of the Borderlands video games, and Lilith is one of the six all-powerful Sirens in this world. As for Blanchett, this would see her reunite with Roth after the pair worked together on The House with a Clock in Its Walls.

For those not familiar with the Borderlands video game franchise, the official word reads:

Borderlands is set in the distant future, in which four ‘Vault Hunter’ travel to the distant planet Pandora to hunt down an alien vault, rumoured to contain advanced alien technology. The hunters find themselves battling the local wildlife and bandit population, but ultimately attempt to stop the head of a private corporation army from reaching the vault first.

As a video game series, Borderlands began back in 2009. Since then, there have been three follow-up games, several spin-off games, a comic book series, and several novels.

Given Roth’s penchant for intensity and humour, he could well be the perfect choice to oversee the oft-erratic and outright nuts world of the Borderlands games.

New G.I. JOE Movie in Development

G.I. Joe

With Snake Eyes getting his own solo movie later this year, now comes word that another G.I. Joe picture is being eyed.

Via The Hollywood Reporter, Paramount Pictures and Hasbro Studios have brought in Seberg writers Joe Shrapnel and Anna Waterhouse to write this offering. Not much is known about the film just yet, although it won’t be a direct sequel to Snake Eyes. That said, it seems like there could be a good chance that Snake Eyes’ Henry Golding, Samara Weaving, Andrew Koji, and Ursula Corbero could reprise their respective roles of Snake Eyes, Scarlett, Storm Shadow, and Baroness for the picture.

Speaking of Snake Eyes, that movie has officially been retitled as Snake Eyes: G.I. Joe Origins. A complete reboot, this film is currently booked in for October 23rd.

Rodriguez and Reed to Direct THE MANDALORIAN

With Disney+’s The Mandalorian long since confirmed for a second season, now comes an update on who’ll be in the director’s chair for the show’s second year.

Taking to Twitter, both Robert Rodriguez and Peyton Reed have confirmed that they’ll be helming episodes of The Mandalorian’s next season. Rodriguez and Reed join Rick Famuyiwa, Carl Weathers, and showrunner Dave Filoni on directing duties for Season 2.

Robert Rodriguez is best known for directing the likes of Desperado, From Dusk till Dawn, Sin City, Planet Terror, and Alita: Battle Angel, while Peyton Reed is a favourite of many a genre fan for his work helming Ant-Man and Ant-Man and the Wasp.

At present, The Mandalorian’s second season is due to land of Disney+ this October.

Sam Raimi and A QUIET PLACE Writers Teaming Up

Sam Raimi

Right now, there are few people in the entertainment business who have quite as many plates spinning as Sam Raimi. But that’s not stopped the filmmaker from another yet another new project to the multitude of things he has in various stages of development.

Via Deadline, Raimi is working on an untitled sci-fi thriller for Sony. Serving as a producer this time out, Sam will be teaming with the A Quiet Place writing duo of Scott Beck and Bryan Woods. And not just writing here, but Beck and Woods will also direct this mystery picture.

All that’s been said about this film so far is that it’s a crazy, wild movie with a twist ending.

Elsewhere, Sam Raimi is on directing duties for Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, The Kingkiller Chronicle, and World War 3, while also having his fingers in the likes of the Quibi’s 50 Days of Fright series, the much-anticipated Don’t Breathe 2, and thriller Shrine.

Upcoming BATTLESTAR GALACTICA Series Has a New Showrunner

Battlestar Galactica

With a new Battlestar Galactica series having been in development for a little while now, the series has moved to bring in a new showrunner.

Courtesy of Deadline, Michael Lesslie has been tasked to serve as the executive producer/showrunner on this latest lick of paint for the beloved sci-fi franchise. Lesslie has previously worked as showrunner on The Little Drummer Girl and was part of the writing team for 20th Century Fox’s Assassin’s Creed movie.

On this news, Lesslie enthused, “I am beyond excited to be taking on this iconic and inspirational show. As a lifelong devotee, I know that the possibilities of Battlestar Galactica’s world are infinite and that each iteration has raised the bar for epic and intelligent sci-fi storytelling.”

Mr. Robot’s Sam Esmail was the previous showrunner for the series, and he’ll still remain involved in the project despite Michael Lesslie now having showrunner duties.

The last we’d heard of this new Battlestar Galactica was that it will explore new stories rather than be an outright remake or reboot of what we’ve seen previously from the franchise.

As ever, expect more on all of this as we get it.

Silver Reel Developing an UNDER THE SKIN TV Series

Under the Skin

After previous rumblings that just such a TV series may be on the way, Silver Reel has managed to nab the rights to do an Under the Skin TV show.

Via Deadline, it’s finally been confirmed that Silver Reel were successful in picking up the TV rights for Under the Skin. This coming after a bidding war between Silver Reel and A24. For those not aware, Silver Reel was the original financier for the 2014 Scarlett Johansson-starring Under the Skin movie, while A24 was the studio distributor for the picture.

At this juncture we have zero idea on just what an Under the Skin TV series will look like, what creative team will be involved, or who will star in said show, but we do now know that Silver Reel will be behind this project.

As ever, expect more on this Under the Skin TV series as we get it.