Hey All,
Here are the news items for today:
TELEVISION
FOX has cancelled the freshman drama Almost Human. (Alex Stedman at Variety)
Actor Kenneth Mitchell (Jericho) has joined the ABC period drama The Astronaut Wives Club that will follow a group of women who support their star-bound husbands during the 1960s space race. Mitchell will play Wisconsin farm boy and WWII flyer Deke Slayton, one of the original Mercury Seven astronauts. When a medical condition prevents him from going into space, he becomes a powerful voice in the space program. The cast of this 2015 series JoAnna Garcia Swisher (Once Upon a Time), Odette Annable (House) and Desmond Harrington (Dexter) [among others]. (Michael Ausiello at TV Line)
Syfy has announced their new slate of programming, which includes:
Killjoys, a 10-episode adventure drama series (from Michelle Lovretta, the creator of Lost Girl) that follows a fun-loving, hard-living trio of interplanetary bounty hunters sworn to remain impartial as they chase deadly warrants throughout the Quad, a distant system on the brink of a bloody, multi-planetary class war.
Clone, an adaptation of the graphic novel, will follow a retired soldier drawn into a vast conspiracy after he finds his home burglarized by his own clone;
Ronin, another adaptation of the DC Comics series of the same name, which will be done as a mini-series;
Letter 44, based on the Oni Press comic series, that involves a newly minted POTUS’ discovery of a NASA-supervised alien construction project in outer space;
Pax Romana, a mini-series based on the graphic novel by Jonathan Hickman, is about a Special Forces team that travels back in time to Ancient Rome on the eve of World War III to “fix” the future by altering the past.
The Magicians, based on the popular fantasy novels by Lev Grossman, will be a drama series that follows a group of 20-somethings in New York who study magic and discover that the magical fantasy world they read about as children is real and poses a grave danger to Earth; and,
Ascension – This six-hour event series will star Tricia Helfer (Battlestar Galactica) as Viondra Denniger. The series will follow what happened in 1963 when the U.S. government launched a covert space mission sending hundreds of men, women and children on a century-long voyage aboard the starship Ascension to populate a new world. Nearly 50 years into the journey, as they approach the point of no return, the mysterious murder of a young woman causes the ship’s population to question the true nature of their mission. (Matt Mitovich at TV Line, The Wrap, The Hollywood Reporter, Nellie Andreeva at Deadline and James Hibberd at Entertainment Weekly)
TV TRAILER
First Trailer: The New CBS Summer Drama Extant
BOX OFFICE NEWS
Actor Andy Garcia has joined the cast of the upcoming box office film Max Steel, the live-action film based on the Mattel toy line that will center on teenager Max McGrath and his alien companion Steel, who combine special turbo-energy powers to become the superhero Max Steel. Garcia will play Dr. Miles Edwards, a brilliant and mysterious scientist. (The Deadline Team)
Actor Rob Lowe has joined the cast of the upcoming live-action/animation hybrid feature film called Monster Trucks that already includes Danny Glover, Jane Levy, Amy Ryan, Lucas Till, Holt McCallany, Thomas Lennon, and Barry Pepper in its cast. Plot details about the film, though, are being kept under wraps. (Jen Yamato at Deadline)
Actor Ioan Gruffudd (Ringer and The Fantastic Four franchise) will join actor Dwayne Johnson and actress Carla Gugino in the box office film San Andreas that will star Johnson as a former Special Ops firefighter scouring a post-quake California for his ex-wife and daughter. Gruffudd will play Daniel Reddick, a wealthy real estate developer who’s engaged to Johnson’s ex-wife (Gugino). (Jen Yamato at Deadline)
Q&A SECTION (with Natalie Abrams at TV Guide)
Question: What’s up with Chloe’s look on 24: Live Another Day? — Jessica
Natalie: Isn’t that what all computer hackers look like? In all seriousness, it’s not just Chloe’s work with a WikiLeaks-like organization called Red Sect that causes the personal transformation. “She’s also suffered a personal tragedy,” Mary Lynn Rajskub teases. “She’s in a lot of pain and [is] angry, and that’s reflected in her look.” But Chloe has also undergone an emotional makeover. In other words, she might not be so eager to be Jack Bauer’s right-hand girl. “When she realizes what he wants from her, she’s very angry,” Rajskub says. “They don’t see eye-to-eye. She’s questioning him more than she has, and for the first time, she has words with him.”
Question: I need some Blacklist scoop! — Mark
Natalie: As the promos tease, Berlin is not a place, but the person who has been targeting Red all along. The good news: Red will finally learn Berlin’s identity when he literally falls from the sky. The bad news: Berlin also has a connection to Tom, who unfortunately has orders to kill Liz. We know Tom and Liz’s marriage was all a sham, but will he actually be able to pull the trigger?
Question: I’m excited for Michael Huisman to be on Orphan Black. Do you know what he’ll be doing? — Clark
Natalie: He plays a rough outdoorsman named Cal whose spotty history with Sarah will be revealed when he’s forced to help Sarah, Felix and Kira while they’re on the run. Needless to say, Cal’s none too happy to have Sarah back in his life — especially when she drops some life-changing news on him.
Question: Anything Arrow, but preferably about Roy. — Rosaline, via Twitter
Natalie: Unfortunately, Roy will remain in a venom-induced coma for several episodes as Team Arrow attempts to track down the cure. “The cure is not only the means to salvage Roy, but it’s also the means to stop Slade,” executive producer Andrew Kreisberg says. Although Roy will be awake by the finale, the team will grapple with whether or not to reveal that Roy killed someone during his Mirakuru rage — a decision that I hear will come back to haunt them in Season 3.
Question: Any Covert Affairs scoop? — Carl
Natalie: There’s a new figure in Arthur and Joan’s lives — and we’re not talking about baby MacKenzie! Arthur will get a gig working for Ryan McQuaid (new regular Nicholas Bishop), a Navy SEAL-turned-private contractor billionaire, and his right-hand woman Caitlyn Cooper (Perrey Reeves from Entourage) will be quite, uh, welcoming toward Arthur. I mean, who wouldn’t invite your new colleague to discuss mission strategies over wine?
That’s it. Enjoy!
PS: I will be on a mini-vacation starting tomorrow and the entertainment updates for the next few days will be grouped either on Friday or Monday.
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