TV news roundup for Week 49 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 another bunch of trailers, a number of renewals and pick-ups, but no cancellations! Not even from Netflix!

Renewed

HBO has renewed My Brilliant Friend for a second season. The series is based on the novels by Elena Ferrante and tells the story of Italian girl Elena and her best friend Lila as the grow up together and beyond, as the novels cover 60 years. Filmed entirely in Italy, the second season will adapt the second novel in the series, The Story of a New Name.

Fork yeah! NBC has renewed heavenly comedy The Good Place for a fourth season! It’s to be expected that the Kirsten Bell (Veronica Mars, Assassin’s Creed) and Ted Danson (Cheers, CSI) will run for another 13 episodes.

Netflix has renewed the sequel/spin-off series Narcos: Mexico for a second season. The new series moves the action from Colombia and Pablo Escobar to Mexico and the rise of the Cali Cartel. The series stars Diego Luna (Rogue One) and Michael Peña (Ant-Man). No release date is set yet, but late 2019 is a good bet.

Picked up

While already renewed by the US cable channel Lifetime, the stalker drama You will have its second season of Netflix. Low ratings have been said to be the reason for the move. Here’s a trailer for Season 1.

Ben Mendelsohn (Rogue One, Ready Player One) will star in HBO’s adaption of Stephen King 2018 novel The Outsider. Mendo, as the Australians call him, will play a detective charged with a seemingly straightforward murder investigation. However, as the investigation progresses supernatural forces start to meddle with the case. What is also interesting is that the novel has a crossover with the Mr. Mercedes trilogy by the use of the character “Holly Gibney.” Currently those novels are also being adapted to TV, but at the moment we should not expect Justine Lupe to reprise her role in the HBO series.

Netflix seems to go all in on anime. Latest series coming to the streaming giant is Ghost in the Shell: SAC_2045 for 2020. Kenji Kamiyama (Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex) and Shinji Aramaki (Appleseed) will direct the series, which will be animated by Production I.G and SOLA DIGITAL ARTS in 3DCG, just like the new Ultraman series. The original manga tells the counter-cyberterrorist organization Public Security Section 9 and its leader Major Motoko Kusanagi in the distant future. The manga has been adapted into a 1995 anime movie, a 2004 anime series called Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, and the recent live action movie starring Scarlett Johansson.

Other developments

Jane the Virgin might be ending with its fifth season at US broadcaster The CW, but there is talk about a spin-off. The new series would be telenovela-inspired anthology series featuring a different book “written by” Jane every season. Jane star Gina Rodriguez would narrate the episodes. The first season would be “Tar & Roses.” A story set at the intersection of Napa Valley wine country and the San Francisco art scene.

American premium cable channel Starz has finally announced when American Gods returns for a second season. The series based on Neil Gaiman’s novel of the same name returns Sunday, March 10. Meanwhile, Dark Horse comics is also adapting the novel in the medium of comics.

MTV Studios revives its stop-motion series Celebrity Deathmatch which puts stars made of clay in the ring to rip each other’s throats out. The series originally ran for four series on MTV between 1998 and 2002 and then for another two on MTV2 between 2006 and 2007. In this third go-around, Ice Cube (21 Jump Street) will lend his voice and serve as executive producer, as does original creator Eric Fogel.

Law & Order and Chicago creator Dick Wolff is reviving one of his old series. Deadline knows that a reboot of New York Undercover is in the works at ABC. The police drama originally ran for four seasons on Fox, between 1994 and 1998. As the title implies the series follows undercover cops in New York. The original series was set in the same universe as Law & Order and the Chicago series, so if the new series will be a completely new take or maybe a revival will be interesting.

Deadline has also learned that US cable channel Syfy is working on a new version of Ron Serling’s anthology series Night Gallery. Jeff Davis, the creator of the Teen Wolf TV series, and Midnight, Texas executive producer David Janollari are behind the new series. Night Gallery originally ran for three seasons on NBC between 1969 to 1973. The series told tales about horror and the supernatural.

Apple’s upcoming streaming service has successfully courted Richard Gere (Pretty Woman, The Mothman Prophecies) to star in an American remake of Israeli series Nevelot. The eight-episode series will star Gere as one of two friends that are also Vietnam veterans whose lives are shaken when the woman they both loved 50 years ago dies in a car collision. Howard Gordon (Homeland, which is also based on an Israeli series) will write the series. No release date for this series or in fact Apple’s streaming service is known yet.

Trailers

Netflix has released two trailers for its fantasy/horror series and Archie Horror comics adaption Chilling Adventures of Sabrina. One is for the Christmas special, which is released on Friday, December 14. The other is for Season/Part 2 of the series, which will return on Friday, April 5.

Netflix also released a trailer for Season 3 of its time travel drama Travelers, about people from the future whose minds are put in people in the present to prevent a global catastrophe. Previous seasons were co-produced with Canadian broadcaster Showcase, but Netflix takes sole custody starting with Season 3.

Furthermore, Netflix revealed when they will have Season one of DC Comics series Titans, based upon the Teen Titans comics. The first season of 10 episodes will be available on Netflix starting Friday, January 11. In the US Titans streams on the DC Universe service.

And finally from Netflix a first teaser trailer for their upcoming adaption of the comic The Umbrella Academy. The Ellen Page (Super, X-Men: Days of Future Past), among others, starring series is based on the Dark Horse comic by Gerard Way (Cave Carson Has a Cybernetic Eye, Doom Patrol, and lead singer of My Chemical Romance) and Gabriel Bá (B.P.R.D.: 1947, the comic adaption of Neil Gaiman’s How To Talk To Girls At Parties). Season 1 will be released on Friday, February 15.

The BBC has released a trailer for its upcoming six part non-musical adaption of Victor Hugo’s 1862 novel Les Misérables. No start date has been revealed yet, but it should be soon.

American cable channel TBS has released a trailer for upcoming workplace comedy Miracle Workers. The seven-part series will star Daniel Radcliffe (Harry Potter) as an Angel and Steve Buscemi (Boardwalk Empire) as God. The first episode airs on Tuesday, February 12.

HBO has released a teaser for the eight and final season of fantasy epic Game Of Thrones, which reconfirms that the new season starts coming April.

US broadcast network NBC has released a trailer for the sixth season of crime thriller series The Blacklist, starring James Spader (Stargate, Boston Legal) as criminal mastermind Raymond Reddington.

Also from NBC a trailer for the sixth season of police comedy Brooklyn Nine-Nine! The series was cancelled by Fox last season, but it finds a new home on NBC starting Thursday, January 10.

Disney Channel has released a trailer for its live-action TV movie based on the Kim Possible cartoon series. The movie is set to air early in 2019 and retells the story of Kim Possible (Sadie Stanley), a high school student and cheerleader who together with her best friend Ron Stoppable (Sean Giambrone) fights against supervillain Doctor Drakken (Todd Stashwick) and former superhero Shego (Taylor Ortega).

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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