Star Trek: Lower Decks Full-Length Trailer Revealed
Times may be dark, but at least we have a new Star Trek show on the horizon. Star Trek: Lower Decks, a half-hour animated comedy series from Rick and Morty‘s Mike McMahan is set to premiere in less than a month and CBS just dropped our best look yet at it. As you can tell from the trailer, Lower Decks will focus not on the bridge crew of one of Starfleet’s most impressive ships, but rather the support crew of one of its least important ones. The action (or, you know, not) is set on the U.S.S. Cerritos in the year 2380. Our heroes (or, you know, not) are Ensigns Mariner, Boimler, Rutherford, and Tendi, who, according to the official synopsis “have to keep up with their duties and their social lives, often while the ship is being rocked by a multitude of sci-fi anomalies.”
‘The Batman’ TV Spinoff From Matt Reeves, Terence Winter Set at HBO Max
The untitled police drama will be set in the same universe as the forthcoming feature film starring Robert Pattinson. HBO Max and Matt Reeves, the filmmaker behind the new Batman movie, have teamed up to develop a police drama series set in the crime-infested streets of the Caped Crusader’s hometown Gotham City. Terence Winter, who created the Prohibition crime drama Boardwalk Empire and cut his teeth on The Sopranos, will write and executive produce the series, which is coming with a series commitment from HBO Max. Batman producer Dylan Clark and Warner Bros. Television are also involved. The series does not yet have a title, although some have been calling it Gotham Central, harkening back to the police procedural comic from writers Ed Brubaker and Greg Rucka, and GCPD. Either way, it would deal with police detectives working in the shadow of one very batlike vigilante.
Chilling Adventures of Sabrina cancelled by Netflix
Chilling Adventures of Sabrina has been cancelled by Netflix after three seasons. The original series, which stars Mad Men’s Kiernan Shipka as the titular teenage witch, will return for eight final episodes later this year before bowing out, it was announced on Wednesday (8 July) night. Showrunner Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa said: “Working on Chilling Adventures of Sabrina has been an incredible honour from day one. The cast, beginning with Kiernan as everyone’s favourite teen witch, has been an absolute joy. “I am beyond thankful to the crew, writers, editors, assistants, and everyone for pouring so much love into this dark dream of a show.” A gothic spin off of the Sabrina the Teenage Witch TV series, Chilling Adventures of Sabrina is based on the Archie comic-book series of the same name and also stars Ross Lynch, Michelle Gomez and Lucy Davis.
Ryan Gosling’s ‘Wolfman’ Gears Up at Universal as Director Decision Nears
Months after Universal successfully relaunched its monster universe with Elisabeth Moss’s “The Invisible Man,” the studio is pushing ahead for “Wolfman” — which is being developed as a starring vehicle for Ryan Gosling — to be the next movie based on its catalog of iconic creatures. Sources tell Variety that executives at Universal have been meeting with directors over the past month and could be making a decision soon on who will take the reins behind the camera. While there is no frontrunner at the time, Cory Finley, who recently received rave reviews for directing HBO’s drama “Bad Education” with Hugh Jackman and Allison Janney, is said to be in the mix for the job. Universal and CAA had no comment. It’s unknown what the new take on “Wolfman” will look like, though it is believed to be set in present times and in the vein of Jake Gyllenhaal’s thriller “Nightcrawler,” with an obvious supernatural twist.
Blumhouse, Ryan Murphy Team for Stephen King Adaptation ‘Mr. Harrigan’s Phone’ for Netflix
John Lee Hancock has been tapped to adapt the short story. Prolific producers Ryan Murphy and Jason Blum are teaming with Netflix for a feature adaptation of the Stephen King short story Mr. Harrigan’s Phone. The story comes from the New York Times best-selling collection If It Bleeds and follows a young boy who befriends an older billionaire who lives in his small-town neighborhood. They bond over the man’s first iPhone. But when the man dies, the boy discovers that not everything dead is gone and finds himself able to communicate with his friend from the grave by leaving voicemails on the iPhone that was buried with him. John Lee Hancock, the filmmaker behind The Blind Side and Saving Mr. Banks, has been tapped to write and direct. Carla Hacken will produce along with Murphy and Blum, with Blumhouse Television’s Marci Wiseman and Jeremy Gold exec producing.
Shudder Invokes Quarantine Spirits With Remotely Filmed Horror Film ‘Host’
Shudder is the latest to unveil its filmed-in-quarantine project with the horror feature Host, which is set to premiere on the streaming platform July 30. Directed by Rob Savage (Dawn of the Deaf), who wrote the script with Gemma Hurley and Jed Shepherd, Host was shot remotely in the actors’ homes during quarantine and adheres to social distancing rules with inventive ways to deliver the scares, stunts and surprises expected from a horror pic. Host follows six friends who hire a medium to hold a séance via Zoom during lockdown — but they get far more than they bargain for as things quickly go wrong. When an evil spirit starts invading their homes, they begin to realize they might not survive the night. The movie stars Haley Bishop (Deep State), Radina Drandova (Dawn of the Deaf), Edward Linard (The Rebels), Jemma Moore (Doom: Annihilation), Caroline Ward (Stalling It) and Emma Louise Webb (The Crown). All the actors operated their own cameras, pulled off their own practical effects and lit their own scenes while Savage directed them remotely.
