The cost-cutting measures continue under the Paramount umbrella as the plans for a Gattaca television series at Showtime have been nixed. That premium cable service is rolling into Paramount+ on the streaming side and other cancellations have occurred during the consolidation including Star Trek: Prodigy (more on that in last week’s post). Deadline gives the following description of the project:

The series, takes place a generation after the events of the film, when science and humanity have evolved to the point where we can direct our own evolution. Genetic engineering has created a world in which parents can determine the future of their children before they are born (the Valids), which by default has created a new underclass, no longer determined by social status or the color of one’s skin (the Invalids).

Set in the near future where corporations screen their employees based on their genetic makeup, the series centers on a man with a congenital heart condition who tries to assume the identity of a former athlete with perfect genes in order to fulfill his dream of traveling in space.

It comes from Homeland co-creators Howard Gordon and Alex Gansa, and the word is that the project will get shopped around to other venues.

Warrior Nun‘s creator Simon Barry announced this week that the show has been saved, and that has been confirmed by other sources.  It will return for a movie or a shortened third season to give it the chance to wrap up its storylines.  It will not be returning to Netflix, though, and the new venue has not been announced yet.  But this is yet another example of fans stepping up to save a show cancelled too soon and offers hope to those trying to save other genre entries like Raised by Wolves, Lockwood & Co., The Winchesters, and more.

The master of disaster is back and he will be kicking off a new sci fi franchise. Roland Emmerich is best known for end-of-the-world epics like Independence Day, 2012, and the recent Moonfall, but now he is turning his attention to more straightforward sci fi. He is teaming up with the World of Warcraft people to start up a new property named Space Nation which will launch as an MMORPG and then a television series and animated shorts will follow. The specifics of the story have not been revealed yet other than it will be a space opera, likely on a pretty grand scale considering that Emmerich usually goes big with his productions. The online game is targeting August 2023 for an Alpha Test and will then get an official release in 2024. The television series will follow sometime after that. No network or streamer is attached at this point, but the property should draw considerable interest.

In renewal news, MGM+ has officially given the greenlight to a third season of its sci fi/horror series From.  If you follow this site and CancelledSciFi.com, you already knew that, though, because we passed on the news that Production Weekly showed that the third year of the show in production in early May.  The writers’ strike started up right about then, though, so there will likely be a delay on this one returning to the air.

In the streaming ratings, Netflix’s Black Mirror moved to Number 1 in that streamer’s chart the week after its Season 6 premiere.  It had 60 million hours viewed across 11.6 million accounts.  There has been no word on a seventh season yet, but I consider it a strong candidate for renewal.  You can keep up with the renewal/cancellation status of all the current sci fi TV shows at CancelledSciFi.com.

In schedule announcements, the second season of Apple TV+’s Invasion has received an August 23rd premiere date.  Next week will bring no premieres for sci fi and fantasy shows, but things should ramp up later in the month. You can see all of the premieres for July and beyond at this link and you can keep up with the current schedule at this link.

Be sure to keep up with the news during the week at r/SciFiTV.

SciFiTVSite.com: Follow our Sci Fi TV Schedule for all the currently airing and upcoming sci fi and fantasy television shows, and you can see the premieres for all the upcoming genre entries at this link.

CancelledSciFi.com: Keep up with the status updates on all the airing, returning, and upcoming sci fi and fantasy shows for the current season with our Cancellation Watch posts. And be sure to follow the Cancelled Sci Fi Twitter Site  for breaking news and updates.

The post Sci Fi TV Week in Review: Gattaca Series Will Not Go Forward at Showtime, Roland Emmerich Is Working on a Space Opera Series, and More appeared first on Sci Fi TV Site.

Star Trek: Prodigy has been cancelled by Paramount+ and will be removed from streaming as the dreaded write-downs rear their ugly head again.  We saw a similar thing happen at Max with Westworld and The Nevers and at AMC with Pantheon and Moonhaven, and now it has made its way to Paramount’s streaming service (three other non-genre shows were among the cancellations and write-downs by Paramount+).  Prodigy had already been renewed for a second season which was in the works, and word is that will be completed and the show will be shopped around to other venues.  The younger-skewing series previously aired on Nickelodeon after streaming and it is possible that it could land there.

This news comes as Paramount+ is in the process of merging with Showtime, but some analysts believe that the streaming service should be shut down.  The high spending for originals is catching up to the company (as well as many other streaming services), and Paramount+ may not be viable much longer which puts the future of the Star Trek franchise on television in doubt.    Netflix was one of the companies that has showed an interest in acquiring Paramount and/or its streaming service (the thought of Netflix in charge of the Trek franchise is chilling, though), but has not made any official move in that direction.  At this point, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is still on track for a third season, Star Trek: Lower Decks will be returning for a fourth season and has been renewed for a fifth, Star Trek: Discovery has a fifth and final season on the way, and new series Starfleet Academy is in the works.  Beyond that, the future of the Trek franchise is unclear with Paramount going through its current struggles.

Falling victim to the writers’ strike, the Metropolis series that was in the works at Apple TV+ will not be going forward.  Mr. Robot‘s Sam Esmail was helming that project, but production has been shut down with a studio rep blaming “uncertainty related to the ongoing strike”.  Whether it will still happen once the strike ends or possibly get shopped around to other venues is unclear.  It was a high-dollar production, so it is possible that the streaming service shied away from it due to the costs.  But Esmail had already written the eight-episode first season and has been working the series for years, so he will likely try to find it a new home.

In renewal news, Genndy Tartakovsky’s animated series Primal has received a third season nod from Adult Swim.  That show wrapped up its second season in Fall 2022 and there had been no word on its fate.  But the show has now officially been renewed and will move in a new direction based on the way the second season wrapped up.  You can keep up with the renewal/cancellation status of all the current sci fi TV shows at CancelledSciFi.com.

The fourth season of the animated Harley Quinn series has received a premiere date of July 27th on Max.  Next week brings the Season 3 premiere of The Witcher on Netflix.  The first half of the season will drop on Thursday with the second half held until late July.  You can see all of the premieres for June and beyond at this link and you can keep up with the current schedule at this link.

Be sure to keep up with the news during the week at r/SciFiTV.

SciFiTVSite.com: Follow our Sci Fi TV Schedule for all the currently airing and upcoming sci fi and fantasy television shows, and you can see the premieres for all the upcoming genre entries at this link.

CancelledSciFi.com: Keep up with the status updates on all the airing, returning, and upcoming sci fi and fantasy shows for the current season with our Cancellation Watch posts. And be sure to follow the Cancelled Sci Fi Twitter Site  for breaking news and updates.

The post Sci Fi TV Week in Review: Star Trek Prodigy Cancelled as Changes Could Be Coming to Paramount+ appeared first on Sci Fi TV Site.

The fan-favorite series The Librarians–which was a spin-off from The Librarian films–was cancelled by TNT back in 2018 causing the show to end without any resolution. But now there may be a chance to revisit some unfinished storylines as a sequel series is in the works at The CW. Deadline gives the following description of the project:

The Librarians: The Next Chapter is a spinoff of the original TV series The Librarians, which followed the adventures of the custodians of a magical repository of the world’s most powerful and dangerous supernatural artifacts. The new series centers on a “Librarian” from the past, who time traveled to the present and now finds himself stuck here. When he returns to his castle, which is now a museum, he inadvertently releases magic across the continent.

Dean Devlin, who created the original series, will be onboard as showrunner and executive producer, but there is no word at this point if any of the actors from the 2014 series will be reprising their roles. The show will likely not make it to the schedule until mid-season at best seeing as production cannot start until that pesky writers’ strike is resolved.

And while that series did get the greenlight, several projects that had been in development at the network will not be going forward.  The live-action reboot of The Power Puff Girls had already been passed over by the prior regime once, but it was held over for possible future development until the new owners decided to pass as well.  And the slight chance that the Arrow-verse could continue with the John Diggle-led Justice U has ended as they have passed on that one as well.  There is no word at this point on the Babylon 5 reboot that was in the works, but it seems unlikely that will happen at The CW as it does not fit into the network’s low-cost, older-skewing model for programming.

Most of the broadcast networks have unveiled their Fall 2023 schedules (only FOX is holding out at this point), but there is very little of interest to sci fi and fantasy fans.  Quantum Leap will be back for a second season on NBC, but it is unclear how many episodes were completed before the writers’ strike halted production.  The supernatural comedy Ghosts is scheduled to be back on CBS, but it could be subjected to delay due to the strike.  And that is pretty much it at the moment (FOX did not have any genre entries in development, so nothing is expected when it announces its schedule).  The third (and likely last) season of NBC’s La Brea and the second season of ABC’s Not Dead Yet have been pushed to mid-season, and The CW’s The Librarians: The Next Chapter is likely a mid-season entry as well.  Superman & Lois and Gotham Knights are still awaiting word on their fates, but if one or both are picked up, they won’t be ready before mid-season.  This continues a trend of less and less sci fi and fantasy on the linear networks, and I expect that to be business as usual going forward.

Disney+ and Hulu will be going through a purge of their catalog for alleged “cost-cutting” reasons, and as usual several genre entries will be impacted.  Among the shows that will be pulled as of May 26th are Willow, Y: The Last Man, Little Demon, and The Mysterious Benedict Society. These will likely get moved to one of the FAST (Free Ad-supported Streaming TV) channel spaces at some point, but nothing has been confirmed on that.  This is a disturbing trend among the streaming services as sometimes the FAST channels only have the shows available for live-streaming as is the case with HBO’s abandoned The Nevers.  But hopefully, these will eventually be made available VOD or on DVD/Blu-ray so that they are at least somewhat accessible.

And speaking of shows that are not available, Disney apparently has a ten-episode Alien vs. Predator anime series sitting in its vault with no plans to release it.  It was produced prior to when the Mouse House bought 20th Century Fox and it was intended as a direct-to-DVD release.  But nothing has been done with it and there are no current plans for a release.  Perhaps it could see the light of day at some point, but these companies seem to be burying stuff more often these days, so who knows?

In the streaming ratings, the Apple TV+ sci fi series Silo debuted as the number one drama in the history of that streamer according to Deadline.  The numbers from the Nielsen Streaming Rankings are not available yet, but the early viewership has been strong and has apparently increased in subsequent weeks.  A second season of that show is already in the works. You can keep up with the viewership numbers and the renewal/cancellation status of all the current sci fi TV shows at CancelledSciFi.com.

In scheduling news, several premiere dates for genre shows were announced this past week.  Hulu’s highly-anticipated revival of Futurama (which brings back the original cast) will premiere on July 24th.  The first ten episodes of the eighth season will start streaming on that date with the second half of the season held for a later release.  There were rumors that the second season of Disney+’s Loki would not arrive until 2024, but that show has now received a release date of October 6th.  And the Hawkeye spin-off series Echo will have its premiere on November 29th.  In a change of pace for that streamer, all episodes will be available on the premiere dates.  You can see the premieres for May and beyond at this link and you can keep up with the current schedule at this link.

Be sure to keep up with the news during the week at r/SciFiTV.

SciFiTVSite.com: Follow our Sci Fi TV Schedule for all the currently airing and upcoming sci fi and fantasy television shows, and you can see the premieres for all the upcoming genre entries at this link.

CancelledSciFi.com: Keep up with the status updates on all the airing, returning, and upcoming sci fi and fantasy shows for the current season with our Cancellation Watch posts. And be sure to follow the Cancelled Sci Fi Twitter Site  for breaking news and updates.

The post Sci Fi TV Week in Review: Sequel Series for The Librarians Is in the Works, the Fall 2023 Schedule Has Few Genre Entries, and More appeared first on Sci Fi TV Site.

Four sci fi/fantasy shows were cancelled this past week and it is very likely that more could get the ax this weekend as the networks and streamers are cleaning house. Next week brings the Upfronts when the broadcast networks unveil their schedules to the sponsors, and that includes several of the streaming services they partner with as well as Netflix. So these venues all want to shore up their lineups and cast off the shows that will not be carrying over. Among the genre entries that fell this week were Fantasy Island (cancelled by FOX after two seasons), Lockwood & Co. (cancelled by Netflix after one season), The Winchesters (cancelled by The CW after one season), and Kung Fu (cancelled by The CW after three seasons). Still on the chopping block are Superman & Lois (CW), Gotham Knights (CW), Not Dead Yet (ABC), She-Hulk (Disney+), Tales of the Walking Dead (AMC), and more. You can read about all the shows waiting for word on their fate at this link, and be sure to follow CancelledSciFi.com over the next few days for breaking news and updates. Next week I will be putting up the early schedule for Fall 2023, but (Spoiler Alert) there will not be many sci fi shows on the linear channels.

In early Fall schedule announcements, NBC will be shifting Quantum Leap to Tuesdays at 10 PM EST. It will still have a lead-in from The Voice, but that has been a tough hour for all of the broadcast networks and it is not a good landing spot for the show. La Brea has been pushed to mid-season for its third (and likely last) season.

Last week, J. Michael Straczynski announced that an animated Babylon 5 movie is on the way that would take place in the original universe of the series (and that is not related to the possible reboot). This week, some more details about the movie were unveiled including the synopsis:

Travel across the galaxy with John Sheridan as he unexpectedly finds himself transported through multiple timelines and alternate realities in a quest to find his way back home. Along the way he reunites with some familiar faces, while discovering cosmic new revelations about the history, purpose, and meaning of the Universe.

Original cast members Bruce Boxleitner, Claudia Christian, Peter Jurasik, Bill Mumy, Tracy Scoggins, Patricia Tallman, and Paul Guyet will be returning to voice the characters they played in the live-action series. New voice cast members include Anthony Hansen as Michael Garibaldi, Phil LaMarr as Dr. Stephen Franklin, Andrew Morgado as G’Kar, and Rebecca Riedy as Delenn. Paul Guyet will also provide the voice for Jeffery Sinclair. Sadly, the actors who originally played the last group of characters have all passed away. The movie will be released this Summer, and according to a tweet from JMS, the final update including the trailer and where the film will be available will come in mid-June.

In the streaming ratings, Netflix’s Sweet Tooth held at the Number 2 slot in that streamer’s Top 10 for the week of May 1st through 7th. It pulled in over sixty million hours of viewing and it has been renewed for a third and final season. You can keep up with the viewership numbers and the renewal/cancellation status of all the current sci fi TV shows at CancelledSciFi.com.

Next week brings no premieres of sci fi and fantasy shows and really not much in the way of new episodes. Mrs. Davis will have its season finale on Peacock on Thursday, and there are a few shows airing on the linear channels.  But options among genre shows are pretty slim at the moment, and it could be that way for a while with the writers’ strike still going on. You can see the premieres for May and beyond at this link and you can keep up with the current schedule at this link.

Be sure to keep up with the news during the week at r/SciFiTV.

SciFiTVSite.com: Follow our Sci Fi TV Schedule for all the currently airing and upcoming sci fi and fantasy television shows, and you can see the premieres for all the upcoming genre entries at this link.

CancelledSciFi.com: Keep up with the status updates on all the airing, returning, and upcoming sci fi and fantasy shows for the current season with our Cancellation Watch posts. And be sure to follow the Cancelled Sci Fi Twitter Site  for breaking news and updates.

The post Sci Fi TV Week in Review: Four Shows Cancelled This Week (So Far), Babylon 5 Movie Gets an Update, and More appeared first on Sci Fi TV Site.

Babylon 5 fans may not be too thrilled about the potential reboot of the series in the works, but they have to be happy about the announcement made by J. Michael Straczynski this past week on Twitter.  An animated B5 movie is on the way, likely to be streaming on HBO Max (soon to be just Max):

BABYLON 5 ANIMATED MOVIE coming from Warner Bros. Animation & WB Home Entertainment! Classic B5: raucous, heartfelt, nonstop, a ton of fun through time and space & a love letter to the fans. Movie title, release date and other details coming one week from today. #B5AnimatedMovie pic.twitter.com/5ylImI65mm

— J. Michael Straczynski (@straczynski) May 3, 2023

He went on to say that the film is “already finished and in the can” and it is “coming out very soon”.  This will take place in the universe of the original series and is not related to the reboot.  Further details on the movie will be released this coming week, so stay tuned for more info.  As for the reboot, there have been no updates so it is unclear where that stands.

The Writer’s Guild of America voted to go on strike this past week and that has brought production of film and television to a halt.  Any production needing completed scripts or rewrites will not be able to move forward while the strike is going on.  Shows like House of the Dragon Season 2 were already in production with completed scripts, but they could run into a stoppage if rewrites and revisions are required.  And if this turns into an extended strike like in 2007-08 (that ran for 100 days) it will definitely impact the start of the Fall 2023 season.  You can read more about the strike and how it will impact sci fi TV over at CancelledSciFi.com.

Netflix decided to announce a renewal for a change as it has given the third-season nod to its post-apocalyptic fantasy series Sweet Tooth, though that will be its final season.  The streamer apparently had already given the greenlight for production to start on the third year (likely to get ahead of the strike) as most of the filming has been completed.  The first season performed well in viewership and the second season (which debuted last week) started out at Number 2 in the streamer’s Top 10.  A three-year run with the third season announced in advance as the last used to be common at Netflix, but that streamer has been quick to pull the plug on its shows of late.  The third season of Sweet Tooth could see a quick turnaround and premiere in late 2023 or early 2024.

In casting news Sydney Chandler has been cast in one of the lead roles in the upcoming Alien series that is in the works at FX.  Not much is known about the series at this point, but creator Noah Hawley has revealed the following:

It’s the first story in the Alien franchise that takes place on Earth. It takes place on our planet, near the end of this century we’re currently in — 70-odd years from now.

The show has been on a long development oath since 2020, and the current writers’ strike will obviously slow things down further.

In the streaming ratings, Netflix’s Shadow and Bone held on for a fourth week in the Nielsen Top 10 for original shows, repeating at the Number 6 slot with an estimated 389 million minutes viewed.  That show already had a five-week run in the Netflix Top 10 and could be on track for a third-season renewal.  You can keep up with the viewership numbers and the renewal/cancellation status of all the current sci fi TV shows at CancelledSciFi.com.

Next week brings the premiere of the third and final season of Netflix’s animated Ultraman reboot on Thursday as well as the premiere of the Korean post-apocalyptic series Black Knights on Friday.  Then on Sunday the eighth and final season of Fear the Walking Dead has its two-hour premiere on Sunday.  Next week will also bring season finales for Fantasy Island (FOX, Monday), Ghosts (CBS, Thursday), Titans (HBO Max, Thursday), Citadel (Prime Video, Friday), and The Power (Prime Video, Friday).  You can see the premieres for May and beyond at this link and you can keep up with the current schedule at this link.

Be sure to keep up with the news during the week at r/SciFiTV.

SciFiTVSite.com: Follow our Sci Fi TV Schedule for all the currently airing and upcoming sci fi and fantasy television shows, and you can see the premieres for all the upcoming genre entries at this link.

CancelledSciFi.com: Keep up with the status updates on all the airing, returning, and upcoming sci fi and fantasy shows for the current season with our Cancellation Watch posts. And be sure to follow the Cancelled Sci Fi Twitter Site  for breaking news and updates.

The post Sci Fi TV Week in Review: New Babylon 5 Movie Is on the Way, Writers’ Strike Halts Television Production, and More appeared first on Sci Fi TV Site.

Last week I covered several development announcements but missed one that did not get a lot of attention from the entertainment media.  Lionsgate TV is apparently in the early stages of development on a television series based on the Stephanie Meyers Twilight books.  It is unclear at this point if this would be a reboot like the Harry Potter series headed to HBO Max or if it would be a further exploration of the property like the Lord of the Rings series on Prime Video.  No network or streaming service is attached at this point, but there will certainly be plenty of interest as the name recognition for the franchise would certainly bring in a significant number of viewers/subscribers with it.

In other development news, an animated series is in the works based on the Vampire Survivors video game.  Following is the official description of that game:

There lived an evil person named Bisconte Draculó, whose many evil magics created a bad world filled with famine and suffering. It’s now up to the members of the Belpaese Family to end his reign of terror and return good food to the table.  There’s no place to hide -all you can do is try to survive a cursed night and get as much gold as possible for the next survivor- before Death inevitably puts an end to your struggles. Mow down thousands of night creatures and survive until dawn!

This is a first-person shooter game where the player kills wave after waver of oncoming monsters, so it is unclear what the series itself would be about.  No writer or showrunner has been attached at this point nor has a network or streaming service been identified.  But the property should draw some interest.

For those waiting for the second season of the Apple TV+ corporate dystopia Severance, you will be waiting a while longer.  That show premiered in February 2022 to much acclaim, but apparently there was behind-the-scenes turmoil in the first season that has carried over to the second.  There has been friction between showrunners Dan Erickson and Mark Friedman and Beau Willimon (House of Cards, Andor) has been brought in to help out.  Apparently, the streamer is considering a renewal for a third season and possibly beyond, but will need to get that second season completed first.  It is moving forward at least, and it will perhaps debut at some point in late Summer or in Fall.

The long-awaited sixth season of Black Mirror finally has a premiere window on Netflix and the guest cast has been announced.  Among the names on the list are Aaron Paul, Kate Mara, Michael Cera and Salma Hayek Pinault.  A teaser has been released, and the Season 6 premiere is set for a June release.

In ratings news, Gotham Knights rebounded from the season low it pulled in its last new episode two weeks ago to a 0.11 score based on same-day viewing for the 18-49 demographic with 431K total viewers.  It remains one of the highest-rated shows on that network this Spring, though its status is uncertain due to the change of ownership at The CW.  If that network does not keep it going, there is a chance it could shift to HBO Max.  You can keep up with the viewership numbers and the renewal/cancellation status of all the current sci fi TV shows at CancelledSciFi.com.

Next week brings the second-season premiere of the animated Star Wars: Visions on Disney+ on Thursday.  And then on Friday, the dystopian series Silo will have its bow on Apple TV+.  The premieres will slow down after that with only three more on the schedule in May, but they will pick up again in Summer.  You can see all the premieres for May and beyond at this link and you can keep up with the current schedule at this link.

Be sure to keep up with the news during the week at r/SciFiTV.

SciFiTVSite.com: Follow our Sci Fi TV Schedule for all the currently airing and upcoming sci fi and fantasy television shows, and you can see the premieres for all the upcoming genre entries at this link.

CancelledSciFi.com: Keep up with the status updates on all the airing, returning, and upcoming sci fi and fantasy shows for the current season with our Cancellation Watch posts. And be sure to follow the Cancelled Sci Fi Twitter Site  for breaking news and updates.

The post Sci Fi TV Week in Review: A Twilight TV Series Is in the Works, Severance Runs Into Delays, and More appeared first on Sci Fi TV Site.

There were quite a number of new production announcements this last week, so this will be the special sci fi TV development edition of this column. Last week, I mentioned that new Stargate and Robocop TV shows are in the works at Amazon while HBO has given the greenlight to a Game of Thrones spin-off based on the Dunk and Egg novels (with the rather wordy title of A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms: The Hedge Knight).  The prior week it was announced that another GoT spin-off is on the way that will focus on focus on Aegon I Targaryen and also that a reboot of the Harry Potter books is heading to HBO Max (soon to be retitled Max).  This week brings four more development announcements.

Never give up, never surrender because the Galaxy Quest TV series will happen eventually.  The project has been put back into development, this time at Paramount+, though there are not many details at this point.  There have been multiple attempts to produce a series based on the property, most recently in 2015 when Paramount partnered with Amazon Studios.  That would have brought back most of the original cast, but when Alan Rickman passed away in 2016 the project was put on hold.  The new version has the film’s producer Mark Johnson attached, but there is no word yet on whether any of the original cast members will be onboard or what the show will be about.

Netflix has given the greenlight to the new supernatural mystery The Boroughs which is created by Jeffrey Addiss and Will Matthews (The Dark Crystal: The Age of Resistance) and executive produced by Stranger Things creators Matt and Ross Duffer.  Deadline gives the following description for the project:

The eight-episode drama is set in a seemingly picturesque retirement community in the New Mexico desert, where a group of unlikely heroes must band together to stop an otherworldly threat from stealing the one thing they don’t have: time.

It is unclear at this point if the show is intended as a mini-series or if it could run multiple seasons (assuming Netflix does not cancel it after one).

Michelle Yeoh will be returning to Section 31 as promised, but it will be a Paramount+ exclusive movie instead of a television series.  This will be part of what is referred to as Phase 2 for the Star Trek franchise and will involve a new movie every two years.  Yeoh recently won an Oscar for her performance in Everything Everywhere All at Once and Alex Kurtzman realized her time would be limited with more movie offers coming in.  So the Section 31 movie fulfills the prior plans but will require less of a time commitment from the actor.

AMC will be expanding its Anne Rice Universe with a new series that will focus on the Talamasca.  Following is the description provided by Variety:

[The series] is set in the world of the Talamasca, a secretive organization featured in a number of Rice’s iconic novels that is devoted to studying the supernatural world and keeping mortals safe from its darkest elements.

John Lee Hancock (Snow White and the Huntsman) will be the lead writer and showrunner for the series.  Interview with the Vampire and The Mayfair Witches have performed well for the network, but is it possible the new series could saturate the franchise that just got started in Fall 2022?  We will have to see how that plays out when the new entry arrives in late 2023 or early 2024.

In the streaming ratings, Netflix’s Shadow and Bone spent a second week at Number 2 in the Nielsen Top 10 for originals and again pulled in over one billion minutes of viewing.  The show has also had a solid run in the Netflix charts as well, so it should be on track for a third-season renewal, but nothing is guaranteed with that streamer.  You can keep up with the viewership numbers and the renewal/cancellation status of all the current sci fi TV shows at CancelledSciFi.com.

Next week brings two premieres as Netflix’s fantasy series Sweet Tooth returns for its second season on Thursday, and Amazon’s new spy fi series Citadel has its premiere on Friday.  After that, it looks like premieres will slow down for a while as there are currently only four genre entries set to make their bows next month.  You can see the premieres for May and beyond at this link and you can keep up with the current schedule at this link.

Be sure to keep up with the news during the week at r/SciFiTV.

SciFiTVSite.com: Follow our Sci Fi TV Schedule for all the currently airing and upcoming sci fi and fantasy television shows, and you can see the premieres for all the upcoming genre entries at this link.

CancelledSciFi.com: Keep up with the status updates on all the airing, returning, and upcoming sci fi and fantasy shows for the current season with our Cancellation Watch posts. And be sure to follow the Cancelled Sci Fi Twitter Site  for breaking news and updates.

The post Sci Fi TV Week in Review: Galaxy Quest, The Burroughs, Section 31, and More in the Works appeared first on Sci Fi TV Site.

There have been rumblings for a while that a new Stargate series is in the works at Amazon, and former franchise executive producer Joseph Mallozzi just recently polled fans on what they would like to see in a revival.  But apparently Amazon is digging into the MGM vaults (it purchased that studio last year) for other IPs that it can relaunch as well.  Among those is Robocop which they are considering for a TV series and film reboot.  And another franchise that has been mentioned is Poltergeist.  Nothing is officially set on these at this time, but all are under serious consideration for a revival on Prime Video with Stargate most likely leading the way.  This story is still developing, so stay tuned for further updates.

HBO Max is officially changing its title to just Max and it is looking to max out the content from the streaming service.  (As opposed to this past year when it was minimizing its content with multiple cancellations.)  The previously announced Harry Potter reboot TV series has received a ten-year commitment and it will cover each of the books in detail with an all-new cast playing the well-known characters.  J.K. Rowling will be directly involved with that, though that has sparked some controversy due to her anti-trans views.  In addition, yet another Game of Thrones spin-off has been announced which will air on HBO but also on Max.  The new series has the rather maxed-out title of A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms: The Hedge Knight and it will be based on George R.R. Martin’s Dunk and Egg novellas.  Both shows will be moving into production this year and will likely be targeting 2024 premieres.  Expect more development to follow as Warner Bros. Discovery tries to get the maximum number of subscribers to sign up for its service.

In casting news, The Expanse‘s Wes Chatham will be joining the upcoming Disney+ series Ahsoka.  The role he will be playing has not been announced yet.  And speaking of The Expanse, the BOOM! Studios comic book series The Expanse: Dragon’s Tooth, which picks up the story after the sixth season of the show, will release its first issue next week on April 19th.

Three renewals were announced this last week with Star Wars: The Bad Batch and Tales of the Jedi both getting extensions at the Star Wars Celebration.  The upcoming third season of Bad Batch will be its last.  Also, Syfy has handed out a second season renewal to its freshman series The Ark.  The show has pulled only mediocre ratings and has not received glowing reviews from critics and viewers, but the network is apparently giving it a chance to see if it can improve in its second year.

In the streaming ratings, Star Trek: Picard entered the Nielsen Rankings for the week of March 13th to 19th which was the fifth week of its third season.  Nielsen has only just recently started tracking that streamer, so this is the show’s first week on the charts.  It was at the Number 9 slot with an estimated 310 million minutes of viewing.  Also entering the charts that week was Netflix’s Shadow and Bone which opened at Number 2 with 1.1 billion minutes of viewing.  You can keep up with the viewership numbers and the renewal/cancellation status of all the current sci fi TV shows at CancelledSciFi.com.

Next week brings the premieres of Mrs. Davis on Peacock on Thursday and the second season of From on MGM+ on Sunday.  Several shows will have their season finales next week as well including Star Trek: Picard, The Mandalorian, and The Ark.  You can see the premieres for April and beyond at this link and you can keep up with the current schedule at this link.

Be sure to keep up with the news during the week at r/SciFiTV.

SciFiTVSite.com: Follow our Sci Fi TV Schedule for all the currently airing and upcoming sci fi and fantasy television shows, and you can see the premieres for all the upcoming genre entries at this link.

CancelledSciFi.com: Keep up with the status updates on all the airing, returning, and upcoming sci fi and fantasy shows for the current season with our Cancellation Watch posts. And be sure to follow the Cancelled Sci Fi Twitter Site  for breaking news and updates.

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In reboots that no one asked for, HBO Max is working on a television adaptation of the Harry Potter books.  This will not be a continuation from the movies, but a complete reboot with a new cast, and each season will cover one of the books.  The Harry Potter movies are part of a beloved franchise enjoyed by younger and older viewers alike since they first started in 2001, and it is unclear what a television reboot would bring to the property.  Most likely this is just a cash grab on the part of Warner Bros. Discovery and an attempt to drive up subscriptions for the streaming service.  J.K. Rowling will be involved and will certainly be getting a nice paycheck from this, but the television series seems likely to dilute the franchise.

And speaking of diluting franchises, yet another Game of Thrones prequel series could be on the way at HBO.  This one would focus on Aegon I Targaryen and Variety gives the following description:

The show would tell the story of how Aegon and his sister-wives, Visenya and Rhaenys, used their army and their three dragons to conquer six of the seven kingdoms on Westeros with the exception of Dorne. In doing so, Aegon I became the first king of Westeros, the first to sit on the Iron Throne, and the founder of the Targaryen Dynasty. Those events took place approximately 300 years prior to the events of Game of Thrones.

The show has not officially received the greenlight yet, but active discussions are currently underway.

At the Star Wars Celebration, a teaser was released for the live-action Ahsoka series which is set to premiere in August of this year. It was also announced that David Tennant will be voicing the droid Huyang (reprising his role from Clone Wars) and Lars Mikkelsen will be playing Admiral Thrown (reprising his role from Star Wars: Rebels).  Shooting on Andor Season 2 should wrap up around August and that one should make it to Disney+ in Summer 2024.  The Acolyte should also arrive sometime next year despite originally having a 2023 release window. There were also two renewal announcements with the animated anthology Tales of the Jedi getting the greenlight for a second season, and Star Wars: The Bad Batch getting a third and final season.

In ratings news, Syfy’s The Ark improved to a 0.07 rating based on same-day viewing for the 18-49 demographic with 357K total viewers on Wednesday.  The numbers for that show had been trending down, but if they hold here as it wraps up its first season the show may still have a chance for renewal.  More on that at this link, and you can keep up with the renewal/cancellation status of all the current sci fi TV shows at CancelledSciFi.com.

In trailers this past week, we got a look at Silo (Apple TV+), Citadel (Prime Video), Secret Invasion (Disney+), and Stephen Amell’s return as Oliver Queen in the next episode of The Flash.  You can see all of those at this link.

In scheduling announcements, Netflix has announced June 2nd as the release date for the final ten episodes of Manifest.  This coming week will bring the premiere of the final episodes of HBO Max’s Titans on Thursday.  You can see the premieres for April and beyond at this link and you can keep up with the current schedule at this link.

Be sure to keep up with the news during the week at r/SciFiTV.

SciFiTVSite.com: Follow our Sci Fi TV Schedule for all the currently airing and upcoming sci fi and fantasy television shows, and you can see the premieres for all the upcoming genre entries at this link.

CancelledSciFi.com: Keep up with the status updates on all the airing, returning, and upcoming sci fi and fantasy shows for the current season with our Cancellation Watch posts. And be sure to follow the Cancelled Sci Fi Twitter Site  for breaking news and updates.

The post Sci Fi TV Week in Review: A Harry Potter TV Reboot Is on the Way, Star Wars Celebration Announcements, and More appeared first on Sci Fi TV Site.

With Star Trek: Discovery and Picard coming to an end, there have been rumors of franchise fatigue and that Paramount+ possibly cutting back on its Trek shows. But hold that thought because the announcements from this past week suggest the streamer is going the other way. The greenlight has been given to the long-gestating Starfleet Academy series which will follow a new class of cadets (age sixteen and up) as they work their way through the rigorous training at the academy. The show will skew to a young adult audience (it would have been a perfect fit at The CW back in the days when CBS co-owned the network with The WB) with Alex Kurtzman and Noga Landau acting as showrunners. No casting has been announced at this time and it will likely be early 2024 before it premieres on the streaming service.

In addition to that, early renewals have been handed out to two of the current shows in the franchise at Paramount+.  Star Trek: Strange New Worlds has received a third-season renewal ahead of its second-year premiere, and the animated Lower Decks has been extended to a fifth season.  The second season of Strange New Worlds will premiere June 15th, and Lower Decks is set to return for its fourth year later in the Summer.  So for now, the voyages of Starfleet appear to be full steam ahead!

Another sci fi franchise that could be getting an extension is The X-Files.  Black Panther‘s Ryan Coogler is currently working on a revival of the alien investigation series with a diverse cast.  It is unclear at this point if this will be considered a “Next Generation” type show (the best direction for a revival) or if it will be a reboot (a bad idea).  It is also unclear where it would land since 20th Century Fox is now owned by Disney.  This project is very early in the development stages, so keep an eye out for updates.

In additional news relating to that franchise, the planned animated series X-Files: Albuquerque will not be moving forward.  According to TVLine, that show “would have centered on an office full of misfit agents who investigate X-Files cases too wacky, ridiculous or downright dopey for Mulder and Scully to bother with” and Chris Carter would have been onboard to produce.  It was originally announced in August 2020 as in development at FOX, but the project has been cancelled at that network.

In other cancellation announcements, the British historical fantasy Britannia will not be continuing to a fourth season.  That Game of Thrones-in-Celtic-garb series did not get as much attention in the U.S. (where it streamed on Amazon and EPIX), but it proved popular across the pond.  It was an expensive show to produce, though, and Sky decided not to give it a fourth season, leaving it as yet another Peak TV entry that will end without resolving its story.  There is no word yet on whether it will be shopped around.

Season 2 of HBO’s House of the Dragon has been trimmed back to eight episodes from the originally planned ten.  But that appears to be a cost-cutting measure (it is one of the most expensive shows in production these days) and does not appear to jeopardize its future.  According to Deadline, this all part of the plan for getting it ready for a third season renewal.

In the streaming ratings, Disney+ series The Mandalorian entered the Nielsen Streaming Rankings at Number 3 with the premiere of its third season, pulling in an estimated 823 million minutes of viewing.  There were some early reports that the viewership was down for the show this year, but these numbers suggest otherwise.  Keep up with the renewal/cancellation status of all the current sci fi TV shows at CancelledSciFi.com.

In scheduling announcements, as mentioned above Star Trek: Strange New Worlds will have its second season premiere on June 15th.  Also, Disney+ has given a date of June 21st for the arrival of its Secret Invasion mini-series.  This coming week brings no new premieres, but NBC’s Quantum Leap will be wrapping up its first season on Monday.  You can see the premieres for April and beyond at this link and you can keep up with the current schedule at this link.

Be sure to keep up with the news during the week at r/SciFiTV.

SciFiTVSite.com: Follow our Sci Fi TV Schedule for all the currently airing and upcoming sci fi and fantasy television shows, and you can see the premieres for all the upcoming genre entries at this link.

CancelledSciFi.com: Keep up with the status updates on all the airing, returning, and upcoming sci fi and fantasy shows for the current season with our Cancellation Watch posts. And be sure to follow the Cancelled Sci Fi Twitter Site  for breaking news and updates.

The post Sci Fi TV Week in Review: A Starfleet Academy Series Is in the Works, An X-Files Revival Could Be on the Way, and More appeared first on Sci Fi TV Site.