News Shotgun 8/28/21
- Cobra Kai gets early renewal: Season 4 of Cobra Kai is hitting Netflix in December but the series has already been renewed for a fifth season. Production on the fifth season is expected to begin in the fall of this year and the fifth season will most likely arrive sometime in 2022.
- Jason Statham starring in The Bee Keeper: Jason Statham has signed on to a new project called The Bee Keeper. The only details are that the movie is, “a lightning-paced thriller deeply steeped in the mythology of Bee Keeping.” and the script was written by Kurt Wimmer, who previously wrote Salt and Equilibrium and directed Ultraviolet.
- FX on Hulu’s Under the Banner of Heaven adds cast members: The upcoming murder mystery thriller series Under the Banner of Heaven, which follows a detective investigating a brutal murder that might be connected to an esteemed Utah family’s turn to fundamental Mormonism. Andrew Garfield and Daisy Edgar-Jones were previously cast to star and Wyatt Russell, Sam Worthington, Denise Gough, and Rory Culkin were cast this week. David MacKenzie, who directed Hell or High Water, is directing the series and Dustin Lance Black, who wrote Milk, is writing the script.
- Amazon developing sci-fi crime series from Justin Lin: The Fast Saga’s Justin Lin is heading to Amazon for a new sci-fi series called Infinite Thread. The spec script was written by The Ramsay Brothers, who directed “The Current Occupant” entry of Blumhouse’s Into the Dark and also worked on The Purge and The Walking Dead, and they’ll showrun the series while Lin produces. The series blends true crime and sci-fi and is about a sheriff who investigates the abduction of twins that goes into unexplained and unknown places beyond space and time.
- Full cast for Wednesday revealed: Tim Burton’s upcoming Addams Family Netflix series has rounded out its cast this week. Jenny Ortega was previously cast as Wednesday Addams and Catherine Zeta-Jones and Luis Guzman were cast as Morticia and Gomez and Hunter Doohan, Thora Birch, Riki Lindhome, Georgie Farmer, Moosa Mustafa, Naomi J. Ogawa, Joy Sunday, Percy Hynes White and Jamie McShane will round out the cast. The show follows Wednesday as she leaves home to attend Nevermore Academy and gets involved in solving a supernatural mystery plaguing the town where the school is located.
- Werewolf by Night may be coming to Disney+: An obscure Marvel character may be heading to Disney+ for an MCU Halloween special as Marvel is apparently casting a “Latino Male in his mid-30s” for a Halloween special and sources say that it’s a Werewolf By Night project. Werewolf by Night first appeared in the 70s in the comics and the most prominent incarnation was Jack Russell, whose lycanthrope curse was tied to the Darkhold and he was a member of the darker Marvel teams like Midnight Sons and Legion of Monsters.
- The Old Guard 2 gets a director: The upcoming sequel to The Old Guard has found a director with Victoria Mahoney, who was the second-unit director on The Rise of Skywalker. The director of the first Old Guard, Gina Prince-Bythewood, will produce the sequel and Charlize Theron, KiKi Layne, Matthias Schoenaerts, Marwan Kenzari, Luca Marinelli, Veronica Ngo, and Chiwetel Ejiofor will all return for the sequel with Old Guard comic co-creator Greg Rucka writing the script.
- The Lion King prequel casts young Mufasa and Scar: Moonlight director Barry Jenkins is directing a prequel to Jon Favreau’s “live-action” reboot of The Lion King and he’s found his young Mufasa and Scar. Aaron Pierre will voice Mufasa and Kelvin Harrions Jr will voice Taka, who eventually takes on the moniker of Scar. The movie follows Mufasa’s origin to becoming king of the Pridelands and exploring further Lion King mythology.
- Jacob Anderson joins Interview With a Vampire series: Game of Thrones’ Jacob Anderson, who played Greyworm, has joined AMC’s new Interview with a Vampire series in the starring role of Louis. Brad Pitt played Louis in the movie version of the Anne Rice novel and is the subject of the titular interview, as he relates the story of his life and how he was turned into a vampire and then mentored by his fellow vampire, Lestat. Sam Reid is playing Lestat, who was played by Tom Cruise in the movie version.
- Matrix 4 title revealed: During a presentation at Cinemacon, Warner Bros revealed the title and first footage from The Matrix 4, now officially The Matrix: Resurrections. The footage is not online yet but apparently, it shows Neo (Keanu Reeves) back in his pre-Matrix identity of Thomas Anderson, seemingly with no knowledge of the prior trilogy but rediscovering his powers and destiny as The One. The movie, as of right now, has a December 22nd release in both theaters and HBO Max.
- Oblivion Song movie in development: Robert Kirkman’s Image comic Oblivion Song is getting turned into a movie with Jake Gyllenhaal set to star. The comic, and movie, follow Nathan Cole, who makes daily trips into the apocalyptic area known as Oblivion, where 300,000 citizens of Philadelphia disappeared. There’s currently no director attached to the project.
- Beverly Hills Cop 4 coming to Netflix: Almost 30 years since the last movie in the series, Axel Foley is returning for Beverly Hills Cop 4, which be on Netflix. Netflix bought the rights from Paramount almost two years ago but the project is finally getting underway. Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah, the team behind Bad Boys for Life, are directing the movie.
- Most Dangerous Game renewed at Roku: After acquiring all of Quibi’s content after they crashed and burned in 2020, Roku has been renewing some of them for new seasons/episodes. Reno 911! is getting more episodes along with Kevin Hart’s Die Hart and now this week Most Dangerous Game is getting a second season. The first season starred Liam Hemsworth and Christoph Waltz and brought the classic story to an urban setting with Hemsworth forced to try and survive for 24 hours against big-game hunters out to kill him. Daniel Castañeda, from The Umbrella Academy, will be the new player to attempt the game with Waltz returning as his role of Miles Sellers, CEO of the company behind the hunts.
- Manifest renewed for a fourth and final season on Netflix: The saga of Manifest has resolved with a positive result for fans of the sci-fi series as it will get a fourth and final season of 20 episodes on Netflix. Canceled before its story could be resolved by NBC, the show has been a constant hit on Netflix, and creator Jeff Rake will get this final season to resolve the mystery of Flight 828 and its passengers. Stars Josh Dallas and Melissa Roxburgh have closed deals to return and there are negotiations currently happening with the rest of the regular cast. After the cancelation, the cast was all released from their prior contracts, so new ones have to be worked out for this final season.