TV news roundup for Week 36 of 2018

Welcome to the weekly TV news round-up where we go into the latest TV news regarding renewals, cancellations, and pick-ups.

Netflix has released another trailer for its upcoming new animated series The Dragon Prince, from Aaron Ehasz (showrunner of Avatar: The Last Airbender) and Justin Richmond (director of Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception). The series will be released Friday 14 September.

Also coming to Netflix, the Chinese epic series The Rise of the Phoenixes. Which also received a trailer, and will be with us also on Friday 14 September.

The upcoming Netflix adaption of Andrzej Sapkowski’s fantasy novel series The Witcher has cast Henry Cavill (Man of Steel, Mission: Impossible – Fallout) as lead Geralt of Rivia. For those who do not know, Geralt is a Witcher, a member of an order of monster hunters in a medieval fantasy local inspired by Eastern Europe. Next to the novel series you might also have heard of the trilogy of video games by CD Projekt Red, which chronologically come after the events of the novels.

Netflix has released a trailer for Season 5 of animated comedy Bojack Horseman. The new season of the adventures of the talking horseman actor will be released on Friday 14 September.

Alan Tudyk is up for another DC TV gig after the short-lived workplace comedy Powerless, as he joins DC Universe’s Doom Patrol as Eric Morden/Mr. Nobody. As we have learned from Deadline. Mr. Nobody in the comics is a villainous character who was transformed by Nazi experiment into a living shadow that drains the sanity of others.
Also joining the series is Timothy Dalton (Hot Fuzz, Penny Dreadful)! He is cast as Dr. Niles “The Chief” Caulder, the wheelchair bound leader of the Doom Patrol.

Deadline can tell us that DC Universe’s other upcoming series Swamp Thing has found its first cast member. Crystal Reed (Gotham, Teen Wolf) will play Abby Arcane, a CDC researcher who comes to Swamp Thing’s Louisiana swamp in research of a deadly swamp-borne virus. In the comics the character is the love interest for Swamp Thing Alec Holland and has been a character in 1990 live action and 1991 animated TV series as well as the 1982 movie.

NBC has ordered yet another Law & Order spinoff by Dick Wolff: Law & Order: Hate Crimes. The NYPD Hate Crime Task Force, which is based on the real life one, will have an introduction episode in the upcoming 20th season of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. It is expected that the first season of 13 episodes will then start in US broadcast season 2019-2020. The series will join Law & Order: SVU, Chicago Fire, Chicago P.D., and Chicago Med in the same universe, all airing on NBC.

A first real trailer has been released for FX’s American Horror Story Season 8 subtitled Apocalypse. This season will cross over the storylines of haunted house Season 1 Murder House and witch centric Season 3 Coven.

The BBC has announced that Doctor Who Series 11 introducing Jodie Whittaker (Attack the Block, Broadchurch) as the 13th Doctor will premiere on Sunday 7 October with the episode “The Woman Who Fell to Earth.” The 10 episode Series 11 will air on BBC One in the UK and on BBC America in the US. There will also be a Christmas Special after Series 11 has finished.

Netflix has released a teaser for the sixth and final season of House of Cards, which is quite a spoiler. So be warned! The series will return and finish on Friday 2 November.

Comedy series Younger will move from TV Land to the Paramount Network (formerly Spike) for Season 6 in the US. The series based on the 2005 novel of the same name by Pamela Redmond Satran follows a divorced mother (Sutton Foster) who has been left with her former spouse’s debt and has to find a job. To make this easier she tries to pass as a 26-year-old. The series also stars Hillary Duff as her daughter.

The Paramount Network has also picked up Emily in Paris. A comedic drama by Darren Star (Younger) which we assume follows the character of Emily who gets relocated by her job to Paris and has to deal with her new home city. The first season of 10 episodes will commence production in Paris early 2019 for a premiere in Summer.

Amongst all those pick-ups the Paramount Network has cancelled American Woman after one season. The comedic drama series starred Alicia Silverstone as a single Beverly Hills mom of two who dives into the job and dating market of the 1970s.

Syfy has announced that vampire horror series Van Helsing will return for a Season 3…

… and Season 5 of zombie apocalypse series Z Nation on Friday 5 October in the US.

This close to the start of the 2018-2019 US broadcast season there is still a renewal miracle! Netflix has picked up Designated Survivor for a third season of 10 episodes after ABC cancelled the series. The series stars Kiefer Sutherland as the last government man standing after an attack on the US and therefore President of the United States. We can expect the surprise new season in 2019.

HBO has renewed Emmy nominated comedic drama Insecure, following the lives of best friends Issa and Molly, for a fourth season. Also, renewed for a fifth season is Dwayne Johnson starring American football comedic drama Ballers.

More news has come out of upcoming streaming service Disney Play’s High School Musical series. The series with a first season of 10 episodes will be called High School Musical: The Musical and will follow a group of high school students setting up a musical. The twist however is that all this will be presented in a The Office-like documentary style. We would also like to note that this project stands alone from the still in development High School Musical 4 movie.

The BBC has announced that their thriller series Bodyguard will have an extended sixth and currently final episode. The normally 60 minute runtime will be extended to 75 minutes and will air on Sunday 23 September in the UK.

More good news for fans of police comedy Brooklyn Nine-Nine! After the cancellation at Fox, the series was picked up by NBC (who also produce the series) for a 13 episode Season 6. Now it’s revealed that Season 6 will have five additional episodes, bringing the total to 18! The new season is expected to start early 2019 in the US on NBC.

That’s it for this week, but join us next week when we round-up the TV news of that week.

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