TV News Roundup for Week 51 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 a bunch of renewals, cancellations, and trailers.
Renewed
US streaming service CBS All Access has renewed its fairy tale based drama Tell Me A Story for a second season. Season 1 used Little Red Riding Hood, The Three Little Pigs and Hansel and Gretel as a basis. Season 2 is said to explore a new set of fairy tales and characters.
Netflix has renewed Archie Horror comic adaption Chilling Adventures of Sabrina for a second season of 16 episodes, which will be split into “Part 3” and “Part 4.” Currently, the 10-episode “Part 1” has been released, as is the Christmas special “Midwinter’s Tale.” “Part 2” will be released on Friday, April 5 and will have nine episodes.
Syfy has renewed vampire horror series Van Helsing for a fifth season. Based on the Zenoscope comic it tells the near future set story of a female descendant of Professor Abraham van Helsing, Vanessa.
American premium cable network Showtime has renewed Ray Donovan for a seventh season. The Liev Schreiber (Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse) starring crime drama will start production coming Spring in New York City, with presumably an airdate at the end of 2019.
Cancelled
American broadcaster CBS has announced that the upcoming seventh season of Sherlock Holmes series Elementary will be its last. The series had been the lowest rated CBS series for some time (which would be still good numbers for other networks), and has become a Summer offering starting with Season 6. The seventh and now final season will air around the Summer.
US broadcast network NBC has cancelled sitcom Marlon. Named after and starring Marlon Wayans (Scary Movie) the family comedy series ran for two seasons.
Also cancelled by NBC is fantasy series Midnight, Texas. Originally a Summer series, NBC promoted the second season to the normal broadcast season, but the apparent gamble did not pay off and they have now cancelled the series. Sad as it may be there is still the trilogy of novels written by Charlaine Harris (True Blood) on which the series was based.
US cable network Syfy has cancelled zombie horror series Z Nation after five seasons. While this is sad news, it is not unexpected. Syfy rarely orders a sixth season of any of their series. This is not the end, though. Past Summer Netflix ordered a prequel series called Black Summer. The first season will have eight episodes. Next to that, there is a six-issue comic by Dynamite you can pick up.
#ZNation https://t.co/UfKAQlkkn5
— David Michael Latt (@DavidMLatt) December 22, 2018
In The Hollywood Reporter’s “Award Chatter” podcast Sacha Baron Cohen said that there will not be another season of his provocative real-life comedy Showtime series Who is America? He says the makeup process took to long for him, calling it “gruelling” and himself “too lazy for it.” Contrary to this Showtime network head David Nevins said in August he was “dying to bring it back.” We speculate, but maybe the cancellation is a smokescreen to keep people unaware they may be speaking to Sacha Baron Cohen under a layer of makeup?
Oprah Winfrey’s cable network OWN has cancelled Love Is… This is five months after the relationship drama was renewed for a second season. The change of heart is caused by abuse lawsuit executive producer Salim Akil is facing.
Other developments
Netflix and The Jim Hanson Company have announced a whopper of a cast of The Dark Crystal’s upcoming prequel series The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance. Taron Egerton (Kingsman), Anya Taylor-Joy (The Witch), and Nathalie Emmanuel (Game of Thrones) will voice the trio of Gelfling protagonists. Others providing their voice talents are Helena Bonham-Carter (Harry Potter), Eddie Izzard (Victoria & Abdul), Toby Jones (Captain America: The First Avenger), Mark Strong (Kick-Ass), Alicia Vikander (Ex Machina), Jason Isaacs (Star Trek: Discovery), Keegan-Michael Key (The Lion King (2019)), Simon Pegg (Hot Fuzz), Andy Samberg (Brooklyn Nine-Nine) and Mark Hamill (Star Wars, Batman: The Animated Series) among others. No release date has been announced yet, and the series was announced as “coming soon” since early 2017, so who knows?
George Takei (Star Trek) has joined the cast of the second season of AMC’s The Terror as a former fishing captain and community elder. The horror series becomes an anthology series starting with the new season, which moves the drama from the two ice locked British naval ships to a Japanese-American internment camp during World War II. Next to an acting role, Takei will also serve as a consultant. As a child, Takei was imprisoned in two of such camps during WWII.
US cable network Bravo is looking into a reboot of Queer As Folk, Variety reports. Originally a short-lived, 10-part UK drama about gay men in Manchester between 1999 and 200. The Russel T. Davies (Doctor Who, Sherlock) written series got an American remake on premium cable channel Showtime, moving the drama to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. There it proved to be one of those rare American remakes of a British series to actually succeed! Lasting for five seasons between 2000 and 2005. Stephen Dunn is going to write for the new series, but beyond that, not much is known.
Deadline reports that Netflix has cast three of the main cast members of upcoming horror comic adaption Locke & Key. And from the looks of it, they made an excellent choice! Connor Jessup (American Crime, Falling Skies) has been cast as Tyler Locke, the oldest of the three Locke children, who are the protagonists of the story. Emilia Jones (Utopia) has been cast as Kinsey Locke. Meanwhile, Jackson Robert Scott (It) will play the youngest of the three, Bode Locke. Read more about this excellent comic in our Halloween comic article.
Trailers
US premium channel Showtime has released a teaser trailer for Billions. The Damian Lewis (Band of Brothers, Homeland) starring drama returns on Sunday, March 17.
Titans might have finished its first season on American streaming service DC Universe, but its spin-off is ready to go! A seasonal trailer has been released for Doom Patrol’s first season. It features a couple of new characters, most notably Cyborg. Its US starting date is given as Friday, February 15. No word yet who will air the series internationally, but it would be a bit weird if Netflix does not pick it up, as they already have Titans.
More DC Comics trailers, as a trailer for the fifth and final season of Gotham, has been released. The Fox series returns on Thursday, January 3. The trailer contains spoilers for those not caught up with the series.
Comedy Central has released a trailer for their sixth season of Drunk History. The madcap comedy series returns on Tuesday, January 15.
Netflix release another trailer for its Asian drama Kingdom, which puts an interesting spin on the zombie horror genre. Season 1 is released on Friday, January 25.
That’s it for this week (maybe this year, we will see), but join us next time when we round-up the TV news of that week. Merry Christmas, happy holidays, and a happy New Year!
