Brian Tyree Henry Joins GODZILLA VS. KONG

Brian Tyree Henry

As Godzilla vs. Kong continues to flesh out its cast, Brian Tyree Henry has joined the hotly anticipated crossover picture.

Courtesy of Variety, the Atlanta and This Is Us actor has been brought in to play what’s being labelled a significant role in the film. Henry joins a cast that currently features Millie Bobby Brown and Julian Dennison, and Danai Gurira has also been in talks.

To be directed by Adam Wingard, the May 2020 Godzilla vs. Kong effort will follow on from Godzilla, Kong: Skull Island, and next May’s Godzilla: King of the Monsters.

Dave Bautista in Talks for FANTASY ISLAND

Dave Bautista

With his reputation consistently growing, it looks as if Dave Bautista could well be heading to Fantasy Island.

Via The Hollywood Reporter, the Guardians of the Galaxy star is in talks to join the upcoming Fantasy Island movie, with him pegged to play a former guest who has been trapped on the island against his will.

Fantasy Island debuted back in 1977, running through until 1984. Ricardo Montalban headlined the series as Mr. Roarke, the man who ran a mysterious island in the Pacific Ocean where any and all fantasies can be realised for the right price. Of course, nothing is ever quite that simple or straightforward.

Already on board as Roarke is Michael Pena, with Truth or Dare’s Jeff Wadlow on directing duties for Blumhouse.

ALIEN TV Show in the Works?

Alien

Take this as purely a rumour for now, but an Alien TV series could be getting set to be announced.

Courtesy of YouTube channel Mr. H Reviews, an inside source has leaked out word that an Alien show is definitely happening and has already found a streaming service to house the effort. We’d heard earlier this year that 20th Century Fox was weighing up taking the Alien franchise to the small screen, and this new report suggests that is indeed the case.

As it happens, Sir Ridley Scott’s 1979 Alien is getting set to celebrate its 40th next September, so this could well be great timing to launch something new for the franchise. Of course, this could all merely be simply online rumour and fan speculation, so, as we mentioned, take all of this with a pinch of salt for now.

Given the so-so response to the last two entries in the Alien saga – Prometheus and Alien: Covenant – it appears that the appetite for a big-screen Alien effort is not what it once was, and so a move to the realm of TV may be a sensible option, especially with the budget afforded to TV these days.

Expect more on all of this if and when it develops further.

Paz Vega Joins RAMBO: LAST BLOOD

Paz Vega

With the new Rambo movie now in production, we’ve got news on the title of the effort and a new addition for the film.

Courtesy of The Hollywood Reporter, Sex and Lucia and Kill the Messenger’s Paz Vega will join Sylvester Stallone in what is now titled Rambo: Last Blood. Vega will play a character called Carmen Delgado, a reporter who teams up with John Rambo to tackle a drug cartel after her half-sister is kidnapped.

The early blurb on the film reads:

In the fifth episode of the franchise, when the daughter of one of his friends is kidnapped, Rambo, who has been working on a ranch, cross the US-Mexican border and quickly finds himself up against the full might of one of Mexico’s most violent cartels.

To be directed by Adrian Grunberg, Rambo: Last Blood is expected to hit the big screen at some point next year.

James Gunn to Direct SUICIDE SQUAD 2?

James Gunn

Well, this is certainly an interesting one. Yes, as the headline suggests, James Gunn could well be getting set to tackle the Suicide Squad.

Via io9, the Guardians of the Galaxy helmer is in talks to write and possibly direct Warner Brothers’ Suicide Squad 2. The current plan is for this film to be a different take on Task Force X; one that will not be a direct follow-up to David Ayer’s 2016 picture.

If you remember, Warrior’s Gavin O’Connor was on board to write and direct Suicide Squad 2, beating out competition from Jaume Collet-Sera and Mel Gibson. Following the seemingly constant wobbling of The WB’s DC Extended Universe, the latest word is that the post-Justice League fallout has Warners again looking to reassess the movies that they have in development.

Earlier this year, Gunn was fired by Disney after controversial old social media posts resurfaced. Gunn was in the middle of putting together Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 for a 2020 release, but that picture is now in limbo while the House of Mouse frantically find a replacement for Gunn. The Guardians cast have directly appealed to Disney to reinstate Gunn, but the company is standing firm in their stance. Guardians 3 was to be the final outing for the Guardians line-up as we know it, with the film meant to fully kick off the Marvel Cosmic Universe of movies that will delve deeper in to the stars – hence why this is a major picture and a major decision for Disney and Marvel Studios.

Switching our attention back to the DCEU, while a ridiculous amount of projects have been announced, it appears that the majority are now lingering in developmental hell. The only confirmed DCEU releases at this stage are Aquaman, Shazam!, Wonder Woman 1984, Birds of Prey, and The Batman. Even then, The Batman is reportedly looking at replacing Ben Affleck in the cape ‘n’ cowl, while Henry Cavill’s time as Superman is seemingly at an end. Other movies such as Green Lantern Corps., Nightwing, Cyborg, Batgirl, Lobo, Man of Steel 2, Justice League 2, the Harley Quinn and Joker effort, and even The Flash all have major questions over them right now. Elsewhere, of course, the Joaquin Phoenix-headlined Joker is launching Warner Brothers’ DC Dark/DC Black banner of more adult-driven content.

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

First Look at Ruby Rose as BATWOMAN

Batwoman Ruby Rose

With Ruby Rose now confirmed to be playing Batwoman in The CW’s Arrowverse, we’ve been given our first glimpse at the Orange is the New Black star in the cape ‘n’ cowl.

Click on the image below for a closer look:

Ruby Rose Batwoman

Rose’s Batwoman will debut in this December’s Arrowverse crossover, joining the likes of Stephen Amell’s Green Arrow, Grant Gustin’s Flash, Melissa Benoist’s Supergirl, and Tyler Hoechlin’s Superman in a plot that will seemingly see our heroes battling the Monitor in Gotham City. The multiverse-spanning rogue will be played by Designated Survivor’s LaMonica Garett, and Lost’s Jeremy Davies is also on board to play insane Arkham doc, John Neegan.

From there, the current plan is for Rose to headline her own Batwoman series once the crossover effort is done and dusted.

For those not familiar with Batwoman, she’s a character who’s found herself back in the spotlight again in more recent years, although her origins actually date back to a 1956 debut as Kathy Kane in Detective Comics #233. The Kathy Kane character was a creation of Edmond Hamilton and Sheldon Moldoff, and soon became synonymous with the Silver Age expansion of Batman’s supporting cast of players.

In more recent years, Batwoman was given a spruce up as part of DC Comics’ New 52 reinvention. Now while The New 52 as a concept was largely flawed and found wanting for a number of reasons, the change to Batwoman was one of the more positive moves to come from the rejig. After seemingly dropping off the face of the Earth, Batwoman was brought back into the fold in that 2006 refresh, reimagined as Kate Kane, a Jewish lesbian with bucket-loads of cash behind her. Inspired by Batman, she decided to use her hefty resources to don the cape and cowl and become one of Gotham City’s protectors.

Ridley Scott Directing RAISED BY WOLVES for TNT

Ridley Scott

It was over a year ago that we first heard that Sir Ridley Scott was developing new sci-fi content for the TNT network, and now comes word on a Scott-driven series called Raised by Wolves.

Courtesy of The Hollywood Reporter, Scott is on executive producer and director duties for the show, with Aaron Guzikowski having penned the series. The brief early word on Raised by Wolves has it pegged as a sci-fi drama that centres on androids raising human children in a space colony.

On this news, Scott enthused, “I’m always searching for new frontiers in the sci-fi genre and have found a true original in Raised by Wolves – a wholly distinct and imaginative world, full of characters struggling with existential questions. What makes us human? What constitutes a family? And what if we could start over again and erase the mess we’ve made of our planet? Would we survive? Would we do better? Given TNT’s impressive run of bold, quality programming, this feels like exactly the right home for this kind of ambitious television.”

Expect more on Raised by Wolves as it continues to develop.

WHAT WE DO IN THE SHADOWS TV Series in Development

What We Do in the Shadows

With one What We Do in the Shadows TV series having already aired in New Zealand, how about a second one? Sounds great to us.

To bring you up to speed, Wellington Paranormal – a six-episode effort focussed on Officer Minogue and Officer O’Leary – hit NZ screens this summer, and now Taika Waititi and Jemaine Clement have revealed that a second such show is now in development.

As revealed by the duo at New York Comic-Con (courtesy of Rotten Tomatoes), this new show will be called simply What We Do in the Shadows and will focus on a group of vampire roommates who live in Staten Island.

This series will feature Matt Berry as Lazlo, Natasia Demetriou as Nadja, and Kayvan Novak as Nandor. All three have lived together for centuries, with Nadja and Nandor a married couple. Another involved in the action is Mark Proksch’s Colin Robinson, an energy vampire who sucks the energy out of people with his awful jokes and boring conversation.

The What We Do in the Shadows show will get a ten-episode season on FX next year, while a second season of Wellington Paranormal is also on the way.

GOTHAM’s Final Season to Feature Batman

Batman: The Animated Series

With Gotham getting set to enter its fifth and final season, it’s now been revealed that the Caped Crusader will make an appearance by the time all is said and done.

Fresh from New York Comic-Con, it’s been confirmed that the show’s final episode will jump forward ten years and see Bruce Wayne finally donning the iconic cape and cowl.

In addition to this, Shane West’s role in the new season will be that of Bane. Previously, it was believed that the Nikita actor was playing Eduardo Dorrance, an old pal of Jim Gordon’s. Instead, West will be playing the man who broke the Bat. In a new spin on one of the most famed stories in Bat-lore, Gotham will see West’s Bane break the back of Alfred.

Gotham will return in the first half of next year, and in the meantime be sure to check out the latest trailer for this the genre favourite’s upcoming final season:

 

Robert Kirkman’s Skybound to Complete THE WALKING DEAD: THE FINAL SEASON

The Walking Dead

In some great news for video game fans, Telltale’s The Walking Dead is indeed going to get a proper send-off.

To give some background here, Telltale Games has had to cut a large percentage of their staff, in turn scrapping any projects that were in development – such as The Wolf Among Us 2 and the conclusion of The Walking Dead: The Final Season. But now, Robert Kirkman has stepped in to save the day.

Courtesy of Variety, Kirkman’s Skybound Games will take over The Final Season for the concluding two episodes of the season and, in turn, the game itself. Speaking at New York Comic-Con, Kirkman enthused, “We’ve successfully negotiated with Telltale Games for our company Skybound to come in and see Season 4 of the Telltale game to completion. We can’t lose Andrew Lincoln and Clementine in the same year.”

Lincoln, of course, is due to depart AMC’s The Walking Dead during its upcoming new season, while Clementine is the focal point – and a hugely popular character – of the video game series.

Expect more on the last two episodes of The Walking Dead: The Final Season as it continues to develop.