THE FLASH Promotes Brandon McKnight to Series Regular

The Flash

Having been introduced earlier in the show’s ongoing sixth season, Brandon McKnight is being bumped up to a series regular for the next season of The Flash.

Via Deadline, the actor has seemingly impressed show execs enough for his Chester P. Runk character to become a more permanent fixture of The Flash in Season Seven.

McKnight’s Chester turned up in The Flash in the Season Six premiere last year, and he was originally depicted as a live-streamer who tinkered with gadgets and experiments. Of course, one of said experiments went array and saw Runk open up a black hole that took half of his very consciousness. Since then, Barry Allen swooped in to save the day and Chester became a pseudo member of Team Flash.

Here in the UK, we’re currently waiting for The Flash to return for its mid-season premiere – which will be a part of the stunning Crisis on Infinite Earths crossover event.

ABC’s THE BRIDES Brings in Gina Torres

Gina Torres

With ABC having put in a pilot order for Rogerto Aguirre-Sacasa’s The Brides, now comes news that the small-screen offering has found its first cast member.

Courtesy of Deadline, Hannibal’s Gina Torres has landed the role of Cleo Phillips in this pilot outing.

The Brides will centre on the three Brides of Dracula, with Cleo deemed the de facto leader of the trio. A queen in her former life, Cleo is turned into a vampire by Dracula following the death of her husband.

Riverdale and The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina’s Aguirre-Sacasa penning said pilot, with American Horror Story’s Maggie Kiley already on board to direct this first episode.

As ever, expect more on The Brides as the show continues to develop.

Rochelle Aytes Joins THE LOST BOYS

Rochelle Aytes

With The CW’s The Lost Boys series having recently undergone a major reshuffle, now comes word on another new addition for the show.

If you remember, the series had amassed a full cast and shot a pilot episode before The CW decided to scrap all of that and completely return to the drawing board for the show. Since then, last week saw Branden Cook, Lincoln Younes, and Ruby Cruz land key roles in The Lost Boys, and now there’s news that Rochelle Aytes has boarded the project.

Deadline broke the news, with Aytes likely best known to genre fans for her role in Michael Dougherty’s fantastic Trick ‘r Treat. By all accounts, the actress is playing a version of Dianne Wiest’s Lucy Emerson from the original 1987 Lost Boys movie.

The early blurb on the new pilot for the Lost Boys TV offering reads:

When a mother, Jackie, and her Gen Z sons, Garrett and Levi, move to the seaside town where she grew up, they discover there’s a sinister reason the local cool kids sleep all day, party all night, never grow up and never get old. Family bonds are tested as the brothers find themselves on opposite sides of a mythological struggle.

As alluded to, Industry’s Branden Cook is playing eldest son Garrett, Grand Hotel’s Lincoln Younes is playing a spin of Kiefer Sutherland’s David, and Castle Rock’s Ruby Cruz is to play a version of Jamie Gertz’s Star.

This Lost Boys TV series has been spinning its wheels in some form of development for years now. The aforementioned pilot – which was put together last year and directed by Twilight’s Catherine Hardwicke – fell short in the eyes of CW execs, which is why the call was made to complete redo the project from scratch.

For this latest attempt at getting the series off the ground, The Vampire Diaries and Batwoman’s Marcos Siega has been tasked with helming this new pilot episode.

As ever, expect more on The Lost Boys as we get it.

Mark Ruffalo in Talks for SHE-HULK

Mark Ruffalo Hulk

With a She-Hulk series pegged to land on the Disney+ streaming service next year, now comes word that a certain Green Goliath could be joining the titular Jennifer Walters in her show.

Via The Hollywood Reporter, Mark Ruffalo is said to be in early talks to appear in She-Hulk. Ruffalo himself seemingly confirmed this story during his recent C2E2 appearance – where he stressed that these talks are in the preliminary stages right now.

Having the Hulk appear in She-Hulk is a no-brainer for several reasons. First up, there’s the small fact that She-Hulk’s origin is so tied to the Weapon of Mass Destruction. For those not familiar with the character, Jennifer Walters is a lawyer who’s the cousin of Bruce Banner. After Jennifer is in need of a blood transfusion to save her life, the only option turns out to be Bruce – and thus, Walters has Banner’s gamma-infused blood put into her system in a move that results in her becoming She-Hulk.

Likewise, having Hulk be a part of She-Hulk makes a whole load of sense purely from a business and marketing standpoint. Many more casual sorts may not be all that interested in a series based around a She-Hulk character who they’ve never really heard of. And so by including Mark Ruffalo’s Hulk in the show, that instantly serves as an ‘in’ for some people.

Rick and Morty’s Jessica Goa has already signed on to write She-Hulk, with rumblings and rumours suggesting GLOW’s Alison Brie as the perfect choice to play Jennifer Walters. At present, the plan is for She-Hulk to premiere on Disney+ in 2022.

Antonio Banderas Boards UNCHARTED

Antonio Banderas

With things finally seeming to be moving forward on Sony’s long, long-gestating Uncharted movie, now comes word that Antonio Banderas has joined the picture.

Courtesy of Variety, the Desperado star has signed on to play a to-be-revealed role in the Tom Holland-headlined picture. In addition to Holland, the only other name confirmed for Uncharted is Mark Wahlberg, who’ll be playing mentor figure Sully in the film.

Elsewhere, Zombieland and Venom’s Ruben Fleischer has now been officially announced to direct Uncharted. If you remember, last year saw the director in advanced talks to helm the movie. And now, that is indeed going to be the case.

Having spent years in development hell – and having gone through several different directors – the current plan is for production on Uncharted to being later this year ahead of a March 2021 release.

No Second Season for MARIANNE

Marianne

One of the horror highlights of last year was the utterly stunning Marianne, but today brings the sad news that the Netflix offering won’t be returning for a second season.

In case you missed Marianne, the eight-episode series was terrifying yet oddly heart-warming at times. Headlined by Victoire Du Bois, the show focussed on a horror author who is forced to return to her hometown to confront her past after she begins to be visited once more by a haunting figure who she last saw 15 years ago.

Show creator Samuel Bodin took to his Instagram page to confirm the news of Marianne’s cancellation.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

There won’t be a second season for MARIANNE. We are very sorry and sad about that. But we will see you in other stories…

A post shared by Samuel Bodin (@samuel.bodin) on

The one silver lining of this is that Marianne at least ended at a logical, complete point. Rather than leaving things on a cliffhanger, the first season of the show concluded its initial story while offering the suggestion that there could always be more to come from this series.

If you’ve yet to check out Marianne, we cannot recommend it enough. At present, the show is still housed on Netflix.

New PARANORMAL ACTIVITY Set for 2021

Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension

The horror genre has long had a history of final not actually being all that final. And now, there’s word that the totally-final, end-of-the-line Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension won’t be as final as we were led to believe.

That 2015 release was pegged as the conclusion of the Paranormal Activity franchise, yet today brings the news that a seventh Paranormal Activity picture is in development at Paramount Pictures and Blumhouse.

Speaking to The Evolution of Horror podcast, Blumhouse head honcho Jason Blum confirmed that Christopher Landon is currently writing a new Paranormal Activity offering which will hit the silver screen on March 19th, 2021.

Right now, that’s the only real concrete information that we have bar the fact that the film will not be titled Paranormal Activity 7.

As for Landon, he wrote Paranormal Activity 2, 3 and 4 before helming Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones. Away from the franchise, Landon is best known for writing and directing the two Happy Death Day 2U pictures and Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse.

Expect more on this seventh Paranormal Activity film as we get it.

Chris Bremner to Pen Paramount’s M.A.S.K.

M.A.S.K.

With Paramount having been at work on putting together a live-action M.A.S.K. movie over the past couple of years, the film has now found its writer.

Via The Hollywood Reporter, Bad Boys for Life’s Chris Bremner has been tasked with penning the long-gestating M.A.S.K. picture.

As a property, M.A.S.K. began life back in 1985 as an action figure line before being turned into a cartoon show. The titular Mobile Armored Strike Kommand group is an underground strike force fighting the good fight against the no-good V.E.N.O.M. terrorist organisation – and M.A.S.K. quickly became a staple of so many childhoods of the ‘80s.

Back in 2018, Straight Outta Compton’s F. Gary Gray was hired to direct M.A.S.K., and that still remains the case.

M.A.S.K. is just one of many Habro films that Paramount has in various stages of development, with plans afoot for Micronauts, Visionaries, and ROM to get their own movies – which comes in addition to the Transformers and G.I. Joe pictures.

Ben Schnetzer Boards FX’s Y: THE LAST MAN Series

Ben Schnetzer

Earlier this month came news that Barry Keoghan had departed FX’s long-gestating adaptation of Brian K. Vaughan and Pia Guerra’s Y: The Last Man, and many yet again feared the worst for a show that has been in development for a decade or so. But now, the series has moved quickly to find a replacement for Keoghan.

Courtesy of Variety, The Book Thief’s Ben Schnetzer has been brought in to replace Keoghan in the headline role of Yorick Brown.

Y: The Last Man centres on Yorick as the sole human male survivor after the planet has been hit by a strange event that killed off all mammals with a Y chromosome.

Eliza Clark is to serve as showrunner on Y, with Schentzer joining a cast that also features Diane Lane, Imogen Poots, Lashana Lynch, Marin Ireland, Amber Tamblyn, and Juliana Canfield.

The previous plan was for Y to premiere in 2020, although it now looks more like the series won’t surface until next year.

The CW’s LOST BOYS Show Finds its Three Leads

the lost boys

The CW’s reworked Lost Boys pilot has now found its three leads.

If you remember, the network’s previously-shot pilot offering for a Lost Boys TV series was completely scrapped and the project was sent back to the drawing board – complete with the entire cast being released.

Now, via Deadline, Industry’s Branden Cook, Grand Hotel’s Lincoln Younes, and Castle Rock’s Ruby Cruz have signed on to headline this latest incarnation of this long-gestating Lost Boys show.

In terms of who these three are playing, they’re all each playing a spin on characters from Joel Schumacher’s iconic 1987 movie.

– Branden Cook is to play Garrett, who is the older of two brothers who have recently moved to North Carolina and soon find themselves coming face-to-face with some goddamn, shit-sucking vampires. So basically, Garrett will be based on Jason Patrick’s Michael.

– Lincoln Younes will be playing Benjamin, the charismatic leader of these vamps. So basically, Benjamin will be based on Kiefer Sutherland’s David.

– Ruby Cruz is playing Elsie, who finds herself forging a bond with newcomer Garrett. So basically, Elsie will be based on Jamie Gertz’s Star.

As alluded to, this Lost Boys TV series has been spinning its wheels in some form of development for years now. The aforementioned pilot – which was put together last year and directed by Twilight’s Catherine Hardwicke – fell short in the eyes of CW execs, which is why the call was made to complete redo the project from scratch.

For this latest attempt at getting the series off the ground, The Vampire Diaries and Batwoman’s Marcos Siega has been tasked with helming this new pilot episode.

As ever, expect more on The Lost Boys as we get it.