TV news roundup for Week 45 of 2018

Welcome to the weekly TV news round-up where we go into the latest TV news regarding renewals, cancellations, and pick-ups. This week we have surprising Star Wars news!

Renewed

US cable network USA has renewed the TV branch of action/horror franchise The Purge for a second season. It’s currently unclear if the new season will be a continuation of the storylines of the first season or will be a completely new take on the “anything goes” night.

Cancelled

US cable network TNT has cancelled drama series Good Behaviour after two seasons. The series starred Michelle Dockery (Downton Abby) as a con woman who gets released early from prison for good behaviour and intents to regain custody of her son. However, she gets involved with a hitman. Executive producer Chad Hodge released a “Season 3 bonus scene” you can read in this Instagram post.

View this post on Instagram

With a heavy heart I have to let you know that Good Behavior will not return for a third season on TNT. I’ve always said I could write about Letty and Javier for 500 episodes. Their relationship and place in the world live on the edge of something unique and beautiful and I’m more proud of creating their story than anything in my TV career thus far. The experience of making Good Behavior was also the best of my career. Collaborating with Michelle Dockery, Juan Diego Botto and the entire cast… with pilot director Charlotte Sieling, producing director Mikkel Nørgaard, and all the episodic directors… with Blake Crouch and the writers… with my producing partners Marty Adelstein and Becky Clements… with our kick-ass creative team and crew… we were one family making this show and it was better because of every person who donated their creative lifeblood. You can see it on display in every episode currently streaming on Hulu. To our fans… our incredible fans around the world: THANK YOU. Thank you for loving what we made, for the letters and DMs and gifts, for the love. If I could keep writing the story of Letty and Javier for you I would. The last episode of S2 is not the ending. Actually I did write a bonus scene for you that would have been in Season 3… swipe left and you’ll see. So just know that Letty and Javier are out there somewhere… living their best lives (eh probably not lol). But they are alive. Their story continues. Though for now, as Letty would say… BYE. #GoodBehavior

A post shared by Chad Hodge (@chadhodge) on Nov 6, 2018 at 12:04pm PST

US broadcast network NBC has cancelled their Summer offering Reverie after one season. The series produced by Amblin Entertainment starred Sarah Shahi (Person of Interest) as an ex-hostage negotiator and human behaviouralist who saves people from a virtual reality world.

Picked up

Netflix has picked up a number of anime series.

• From Legendary Entertainment Netflix has ordered a Pacific Rim anime series. The series will follow two siblings who will pilot an abandoned Jaeger. Greg Johnson (Thor: Ragnarok, X-Men: Evolution) will serve as showrunner.
• Another anime pickup will be a spin-off from Netflix Original series Altered Carbon. Animation studio Anima will produce the series, with Dai Soto (Cowboy Bebop) and Tsukasa Kondo (Elevator in Nagano) writing it. Currently, there are no plot details, but this anime will not replace the live action series.
• The third anime is Cagaster of an Insect Cage. The series will follow two kids in a world 30 years after humanity was decimated by a disease that turned the infected into bloodthirsty insects. The series based on the manga of the same name will be produced by animation studio Gonzo. Koichi Chigira (Last Exile, Full Metal Panic!) will direct the series.
• The fourth anime is Yasuke. In a war-torn Japan with magic and mechs a retired Ronin is tasked with transporting a mysterious child hunted by dark forces. While that all sounds very sci-fi the series takes inspiration from Japanese historical figure Yasuke, a samurai of African origin in the 16th century. Yasuke also inspired Afro Samurai. Animation studio MAPPA will produce the series, with LeSean Thomas (The Boondocks) serving as creator, director, and executive producer. Lakeith Stanfield (Atlanta) will voice the titular character.
• And then finally we have Trese. Based upon the Philippine graphic novel of Budjette Tan and Kajo Baldissimo, the story will tell about mythical creatures from Philippine folklore hiding in Philippine capital Manila. The series will be produced by BASE Entertainment and will have Jay Oliva (Wonder Woman, Avatar: The Legend of Korra) as executive producer.

Other developments

Production of HBO’s Deadwood movie is now officially underway. Returning to the western are McShane (Al Swearengen), Timothy Olyphant (Seth Bullock), Molly Parker (Alma Ellsworth) and Paula Malcomson (Trixie). Also returning are John Hawkes (Sol Star), Anna Gunn (Martha Bullock), Dayton Callie (Charlie Utter) and Brad Dourif (Doc Cochran). No release date is known yet.

US streaming service DC Universe has found its lead actor in the upcoming Swamp Thing TV series. Andy Bean (Power) will play the role of Alec Holland/Swamp Thing. The series is expected to launch on DC Universe late May to early June. Internationally it is currently not known who will broadcast the series, but Netflix is a good guess as they will streaming Titans Season 1 soon.

Breaking Bad creator Vince Gilligan is working on a movie based on the Emmy award-winning AMC TV series. That is about what we know at the moment, but going with the plans AMC has for The Walking Dead it might be a movie for TV.

What’s that about AMC’s plans for The Walking Dead you ask? Well, AMC has the intent to produce a series of TV movies with big budgets based on The Walking Dead. When they will enter production or when they will air is currently unknown.

US broadcast network The CW has put into development a reboot of The 4400. The original sci-fi series produced by CBS Television Studios ran for four seasons of in total 44 episodes between 2004 and 2007 on cable network USA. The series is about a group of 4400 people who have been taken by a bright light from 1938 until their sudden reappearance by another bright light in the present, without having aged a day.

Actor Tyler Hoechlin has shared a first official photo of himself as Superman and Elizabeth Tulloch as Lois Lane in the upcoming DC TV crossover event on The CW.

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First look! Superman and his better half, Miss Lois Lane.. Catch them on the crossover event this December! @bitsietulloch #supergirl #superman #loislane

A post shared by Tyler Hoechlin (@tylerhoechlin) on Nov 9, 2018 at 10:08am PST

The CW is also developing a new DC Comics imprint Vertigo comic adaption with Warner Bros. TV. This new series is based on the comic Survivors’ Club by Lauren Beukes (Fairest), Dale Halverson (2000 AD’s 40th-anniversary special) and Ryan Kelly (Lucifer). The story is set in a world in which 1980s horror movies were real-life events. Examples are haunted houses, cursed video games, and killer imaginary friends. A group of six people, kids at the time, survived these events and meet each other 30 years later in Los Angeles to confront a terrible childhood nightmare that has returned. Jared Frieder (Sweet/Vicious) will write.

Comic writer Grant Morrison (Happy!, New X-Men) has signed a deal with Universal Cable Productions to develop and produce TV series based on Morrison’s work. Currently the holiday-themed story of a crooked cop who sees a cartoon unicorn, Happy!, is already airing on Syfy. In development are The Invisibles, about an elite cell of occult freedom fighters dedicated to creating a better world by any means necessary. Also in development with Amblin Television is an adaption by Morrison of Aldous Huxley’s 1931 novel Brave New World. The novel tells a story set in a dystopian world with genetically modified citizens and an intelligence-based social hierarchy.

Netflix may have announced the final season of Orange in the New Black, but it may not be the end of the female prison-based series. According to Lionsgate TV Group chairman Kevin Beggs the studio is in talks with Netflix about a potential sequel series. Currently, that’s all we know.

And then the biggest news of the week. Disney CEO Bob Iger as announced the official name of their upcoming streaming service as Disney+. Going with this preview site, Disney+ will be available outside the US too (click the link to see what it says for you). With the announcement of the streaming service’s name, also came the surprise announcement of a second live action Star Wars TV series! While The Mandalorian will take place a couple of years after Return of the Jedi, this second series will be a set before Rogue One and A New Hope and has Diego Luna returning as the character “Cassian Andor.”

Trailers

Syfy has released another trailer for their TV adaption of comic Deadly Class. The series with The Russo Brothers as executive producers will premiere in the US on Wednesday, January 16.

Netflix has released a teaser trailer for Our Planet, a nature documentary narrated by the one and only Sir David Attenborough. The series will be released on Friday, April 5.

Netflix also released a teaser for Asian Netflix Original series Kingdom, which will take a surprising take on the zombie horror subgenre. The series will be released on Friday, January 25.

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