AMC Renews THE WALKING DEAD for a Tenth Season

The Walking Dead Whisperers

It may kinda seem like a given, but AMC has moved to officially renew The Walking Dead for a tenth season.

Sure, it may have been on a downward spiral for what felt like an age, but we’re sure you’d agree that the ongoing Season 9 has made massive leaps forward in terms of quality as it sped towards its mid-season finale.

Part of the credit for this upturn in fortunes must lay at the door of showrunner Angela Kang, and it was Kang herself who took to Instagram to confirm this renewal.

 

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Season 10! #twd #thewalkingdead

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In case you’re not up to speed just yet, we won’t veer towards spoiler territory for Season 9. Let’s just say that the landscape of the show has most certainly changed.

The Walking Dead returns for the second half of Season 9 this Sunday, with UK audiences to get said mid-season premiere the following night on FOX (UK).

LOCKE & KEY Adds Two More Names

Locke & Key

As Netflix’s take on Locke & Key continues to flesh out its cast, the adaptation has now added two more names to its ranks.

Courtesy of Deadline, Laysla de Oliveira has joined the show in a series regular capacity as the demonic Dodge, while Kevin Alves will take on a less frequent role as Javi, the bestest bud of Connor Jessup’s Tyler Locke. Oliveira is likely best known for her appearances in The Gifted, Alves for Degrassi: The Next Generation.

The pair join a cast the currently features Connor Jessup, Emilia Jones, Jackson Robert Scott, Sherri Saum and Darby Stanchfield.

The early blurb on Netflix’s Locke & Key reads:

Locke & Key is a horror/fantasy series that revolves around three siblings who, after the gruesome murder of their father, move to their ancestral home in Massachusetts only to find the house has magical keys that give them a vast array of powers and abilities. Little do they know, a devious demon also wants the keys, and will stop at nothing to attain them.

The Good Wife’s Meredith Averill and Bates Motel’s Carlton Cuse will serve as showrunner on the series.

If you remember, Hulu had previously taken Locke & Key to the pilot stage before then deciding against putting in a series order for the show. Said pilot was completely scrapped, with Netflix swooping in to pick up the rights and start from scratch.

Idris Elba in Talks for Supernatural Thriller DEEPER

Idris Elba

There’s always something infinitely fascinating about the murky depths of the deep sea, and now Idris Elba is in talks to take a closer look at said murky depths.

Courtesy of Heat Vision, the Luther star is in negotiations to headline MGM’s Deeper. A supernatural sci-fi thriller, the film is to be directed by Everest and Adrift’s Baltasar Kormakur from a screenplay by Bright’s Max Landis.

The early blurb on Deeper reads:

Deeper is a supernatural thriller that centres on a disgraced astronaut who is on a deep-sea dive exploring a newly discovered trench but soon finds himself confronted by a sinister and dangerous force.

At this early stage, Deeper is being described as having a similar to The Martian and Gravity. Having been in development for a little while now, at one point Bradley Cooper and Gal Gadot were on board to star.

Expect more on Deeper as it continues to develop.

Denis Villeneuve’s DUNE Brings in Javier Bardem

Javier Bardem

As Denis Villeneuve continues to amass a hugely impressive ensemble for his take on Frank Herbert’s iconic Dune, now comes word of another top drawer addition for the film.

Via Variety, the brilliant Javier Bardem is the latest name to join Dune. Having mesmerised as Anton Chigurh in No Country for Old Men, the Spanish actor has since gone on to appear in Skyfall, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, Before Night Falls and Biutiful; the latter two of those films seeing him get Oscar nominations for Best Actor. This, of course, is in addition to Bardem taking home the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his chilling performance in the Coens’ No Country for Old Men.

In Dune, Bardem will be playing Stilgar, the leader of the Fremen tribe that lives on Arrakis. That character has a key role to play alongside the tale’s main character, Paul Atreides.

For Dune, Javier Bardem joins a cast that includes Timothée Chalamet as Paul Atreides, Rebecca Ferguson as Paul’s mother Lady Jessica, Charlotte Rampling as Reverend Mother Mohiam, Stellan Skarsgard as Baron Vladimir Harkonnen, and Dave Bautista as the sadistic nephew of Skarsgard’s Baron Harkonnen. Elsewhere, Oscar Isaac is currently in talks to play Duke Leto Atreide, the father of Paul, and Zendaya is in talks to play Chani, the love interest of Chalamet’s character.

Dune began life back in 1965, with Frank Herbert’s original novel tying for the 1966 Hugo Award and then winning the inaugural Nebula Award for Best Novel. Set in the distant future, the story centres on Paul Atreides as his family takes control of the desert planet known as Arrakis. With valuable resources key to the tale, what unravels is a plot that’s full of politics, betrayal, and man’s relationship with nature. A Kyle MacLachlan-starring, David Lynch-helmed movie followed in 1984, which went on to become a cult classic, and then Syfy developed a Dune TV series in 2000. As for written works, Herbert penned five sequels himself before Kevin J. Anderson and Brian Herbert expanded that written world even further.

At this stage, Villeneuve’s Dune has yet to be given a release date.

Leigh Whannell to Pen ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK Remake

Leigh Whannell

To say we’re not all that keen on the idea of remaking John Carpenter’s iconic Escape from New York would be an understatement, but this latest development certainly makes the project slightly more appealing.

Courtesy of The Hollywood Reporter, 20th Century Fox has brought in genre fave Leigh Whannell to write this upcoming new take on Escape from New York. At this juncture, Whannell is purely penning the redo… although the door is reportedly open for him to direct.

Having famously exploded on to the scene with Saw alongside James Wan, Whannell has since go on to write Saw II, Saw III, the four Insidious movies to date, Cooties, The Mule and Upgrade. In addition to that, the Australian made his directorial debut with Insidious: Chapter 3 and has since helmed the aforementioned (and might brilliant!) Upgrade.

In addition to this news, of course, it was recently confirmed that Leigh Whannell would also be writing and directing Universal’s new take on The Invisible Man.

For this new Escape from New York, the plan is to pull plenty from Carpenter’s 1981 effort while similarly serving up fresh ideas. In some encouraging news, it’s being reported that remakes such as Total Recall and RoboCop are being used as examples of how not to do a remake.

If for some reason you’re unfamiliar with the original Escape from New York, Kurt Russell played the ridiculously cool Snake Plissken in the far-off time of 1997. With the United States overflowing with crime, Manhattan Island is turned into a walled-off maximum security prison. After the President ends up being held hostage in Manhattan, Snake is deemed the best (and most expendable) man to go in and save the day. In addition to Russell putting in one of his most beloved performances to date, the rest of the brilliant cast is made up of the likes of Donald Pleasance, Lee Van Cleef, Isaac Hayes, Adrienne Barbeau, Ernest Borgnine and Harry Dean Stanton.

The Escape from New York remake has actually been in development for a little while now, with names such as Jon Bernthal and Dwayne Johnson suggested for the role of Snake Plissken.

As ever, expect more on all of this as it continues to develop.

Impressive Ensemble Assembles for Amazon’s INVINCIBLE Adaptation

Invincible

With Amazon adapting Robert Kirkman’s Invincible comic book as an animated series, the show has moved to confirm quite the impressive ensemble cast.

Via The Hollywood Reporter, Invincible will star Steven Yeun, J.K. Simmons, Mark Hamill, Sandra Oh, Zazie Beetz, Walton Goggins, Grey Griffin, Andrew Rannells, Gillian Jacobs, Jason Mantzoukas, Mae Whitman, Kevin Michael Richardson, Chris Diamantopoulos, Max Burkholder and Seth Rogen.

The Walking Dead’s Yeun will be headlining the show as Mark Grayson, aka the titular Invincible. Grayson just so happens to be the most powerful superhero on the planet, while his father is a member of an alien race intent on decimating any and all worlds that they find.

The current plan is for Invincible to premiere in 2020.

The CW Renews its DC Comics-Driven Shows

Elseworlds Arrowverse

It may have been completely and utterly expected, but, y’know, slow news day ‘n’ all that.

Yes, as the headline suggests, The CW has moved to renew all of its shared realm of Arrowverse shows. That means that Arrow will be taking aim for an eighth year, The Flash will be speeding towards a sixth season, and Supergirl and DC’s Legends of Tomorrow will both be returning for a sixth season.

Elsewhere, the network has renewed Black Lightning for a third season. That show isn’t technically a part of the Arrowverse, although it is again another series based on a superhero pulled directly from the pages of DC Comics. Of course, there’s also plans for a Batwoman series to premiere towards the end of 2019, too.

Here in the UK, Black Lightning can be found on Netflix, whilst the other four shows all have a home on Sky One.

FRANKENSTEIN Rising Again as a Cop Drama

Frankenstein

And we thought Frankenhooker was the most bonkers (but utterly brilliant!) thing you could do with the classic Frankenstein tale. In a case of “hold my beer”, CBS is going one better.

Courtesy of Entertainment Weekly, the network is putting a new twist on Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein by reimagining the story as a modern-day cop drama. As in, Frankenstein’s Monster will now be a homicide detective tasked with taking down no-good criminals.

In terms of what we know so far, the famed monster will be mysteriously brought back from the dead after being killed in the line of duty. The person behind his return from the grave? Why, that’d be a certain Victor Frankenstein. All is not as it seems upon this resurrection, however, for the cop-cum-monster and his wife begin to notice that something is not quite right.

Burn Notice’s Jason Tracey is penning the pilot, with his previous credits also including Elementary; CBS’s modern-day retelling of Sherlock Holmes.

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

WolfCop Director’s New Film Gets UK Premiere at STARBURST Film Fest

wolfcop starburst

The STARBURST International Film Festival keeps getting bigger. We’re delighted to announce that we’ll be hosting the UK Premiere of SuperGrid at the event.

Directed by WolfCop’s Lowell Dean, it’s a post-apocalyptic road movie in which a plague has ravished the world and two brothers are tasked with getting a mysterious package from Canada.

Check out the trailer here:

The STARBURST International Film Festival will take place at Social7 at the Landing in MediaCityUK on March 15th and 16th. Guests of Honour will be Lloyd Kaufman, President of Troma Entertainment and legendary director of films such as The Toxic Avenger, and Italian filmmaker Luigi Cozzi, who went from working with Dario Argento to directing the cult classics Starcrash and Contamination.

Tickets are available now from Skiddle but they are limited, so hurry! For more information, head over to www.starburstfilmfest.co.uk and keep watching for more announcements!

EVE Online Fan Events on Sale

eve event

We revealed last month that the EVE Online fan events will take place throughout 2019, and now tickets for EVEsterdam, EVE North, and EVE Down Under are on sale.

The unique and completely absorbing player-driven spaceship MMO game has a massive worldwide audience of players (and why not? It’s free, after all!), so it goes without saying that these events will sell out quick and be fantastic fun. Working in close partnership with its community, CCP Games will bring an assortment of tournaments, announcements, developer round tables, live streams, unique in-game rewards and stellar parties directly to fans, promising to bring EVE Online closer to its community than ever before.

The UK event – EVE London – takes place at the Indigo at the O2 Arena on November 23rd and tickets for that one will go on sale on August 23rd, so get that date down in your diary and don’t miss out.

In the meantime, check out the latest gameplay video released yesterday:

EVE Online can be downloaded for free by visiting www.eveonline.com.