News Shotgun 10/26
- Disney developing Pirates of the Caribbean reboot: Disney is looking to possibly do a total reboot of the Pirates of the Caribbean series and have hired Chernobyl showrunner Craig Mazin to develop a story. Deadpool team Rhett Rees and Paul Wernick were developing a script previously but left the project.
- Cloak and Dagger canceled: Freeform has canceled their Marvel series Cloak and Dagger after two seasons. The cancellation seems to be part of all the current Marvel TV projects being ended as Jeph Loeb exits his role as head of Marvel TV and Kevin Feige takes over as Chief Creative Officer of all things Marvel and the push is toward Disney+.
- Taylor Kitsch starring in next Neill Blomkamp movie: After some interesting YouTube experiments and some non-starter projects like a new Robocop and Aliens, Neill Blomkamp seems to be moving forward with his next movie, Inferno, and Taylor Kitsch has signed on to star. Kitsch will star as a detective who investigates a murder in the New Mexico desert that turns out to be caused by an extraterrestrial beast.
- Batwoman and Nancy Drew get full seasons at The CW: The CW has given a “Back 9” to both Batwoman and Nancy Drew, giving both shows a full 22 episode first season. The shows are doing well, especially with delayed viewing and they are the first shows, along with the upcoming Riverdale spin-off Katy Keene, that come after The CW’s Netflix deal ended, letting the network have entire seasons on their app and website, as opposed to only the most recent 5 they had before.
- The Last of Us 2 delayed until Spring 2020: The Last of Us 2 has been bumped from it’s February release date to May 29th, 2020. Naughty Dog said they need more time to polish the game to get it to the quality level they expect from themselves.
- Pedro Pascal’s Wonder Woman 1984 role revealed: Director Patty Jenkins has confirmed what most fans have suspected about Pedro Pascal’s role in the upcoming Wonder Woman 1984; he will be playing Maxwell Lord. Lord is a wealthy industrialist who helped found Justice League International before he revealed his true intentions and murdered Ted Kord aka Blue Beetle and was also revealed to have mind control abilities. Peter Facinelli was the last actor to portray Maxwell Lord on the first season of Supergirl.
- Conan O’Brien is in Death Stranding: As if Death Stranding could not get any more insane and ridiculous, Conan O’Brien revealed on his show this week that he is in the game in a segment where he visited Hideo Kojima at his studio. Kojima confirmed the news on his Twitter, saying Conan is “The Wandering MC” and gives Norman Reedus’s Sam a “Sea Otter Cap” which allows him to swim better in rivers by mimicking an otter.
- Hocus Pocus 2 coming to Disney+: A sequel to the Halloween cult favorite Hocus Pocus is in development for Disney+. Disney is working on getting the original trio of Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Kathy Najimy back to portray the Sanderson Sisters, who will return to wreak havoc again in Salem, MA. A book sequel came out this past summer along with a novelization of the first movie. “Workaholics” writer and co-producer Jen D’Angelo is signed on to write the script.
- Adventure Time coming back on HBO Max: Adventure Time will return with four new hour-long specials that will stream on the upcoming HBO Max service. The first two specials will debut sometime next year.
- Evil renewed for a second season: Evil is the first new CBS series to get a second season renewal. The show features Mike Colter and Katja Herbers as they investigate crimes for the Catholic Church that may have demonic influence. Most of the other new CBS shows have gotten more episodes ordered but not a full renewal yet.
- Apple TV+ developing a Foundation series: Apple is developing an adaptation of the Issac Asimov classic Foundation for its Apple TV+ service. Lee Pace and Jared Harris have signed on to star and the show will be 10 episodes that follow The Foundation, a group of exiles who predict the end of the Galactic Empire and have to defy the will of the Emperor to try and save civilization.
- Bret McKenzie rebooting Emmet Otter: Flight of the Conchords and Muppets composer Bret McKenzie is writing and composing songs for a remake of the beloved cult classic Emmet Otter’s Jugband Christmas. The Jim Henson special originally aired in 1977 and followed a poor otter family who risks everything to try and win the local Christmas talent show.