Sci Fi TV Week in Review: Johnny Jay’s irreverent, snarky, and caffeine-fueled look back at the past week in sci fi TV in five minutes or less.
It has been a busy week for sci fi TV news, so get your coffee and buckle in while I rundown the highlights.
James Gunn and Peter Safran have made an official announcement on the upcoming new DC Universe projects and that includes several superhero-related television shows, though several present rather odd twists on the genre. Among them is a Booster Gold series about a man using future technology to be a superhero in the modern day. That fan-favorite character has been mentioned before for his own series and now it will be happening. Also in the works is a Green Lantern series titled Lanterns that will focus on Hal Jordan and John Stewart of the GL Corps investigating a mystery and it is described as a True Detective-style series. If that seems like an odd direction to go with two cosmic heroes, I’m right there with you.
And yet another odd twist on a superhero tale is Paradise Lost which is described as a Game of Thrones-like prequel story following the Amazons on the island of Themyscira before the birth of Diana. And digging deep into the stable of DC characters, an animated Creature Commandos series is in the works, though it won’t have Frankenstein’s monster or vampires or werewolves like the comic. This one will see the return of Suicide Squad‘s Weasel and also bring on Rick Flag’s father and more.
And if you are wondering about the second season of Peacemaker, it is still happening. Just not real soon. See, James Gunn will be busy working on the next Superman movie (to be titled Superman’s Legacy) which won’t have the Superman we have been familiar with of late (Henry Cavill). He will also work on the new series Waller which will follow Amanda Waller from Suicide Squad and include Team Peacemaker. Sure seems like Peacemaker Season 2 would have made more sense, but Waller sounds interesting as well.
Meanwhile, four shows that got yanked from HBO Max have found a streaming home. Westworld, The Nevers, Raised by Wolves, and The Time Traveler’s Wife will be available on the free, ad-supported streaming services Tubi TV and The Roku Channel. They should arrive on the former sometime in February and the latter has indicated a Spring 2023 release. The six episodes of The Nevers which never aired will be included in the release.
The Doctor Who Universe will be expanding according to an interview that returning showrunner Russel T. Davies gave with GQ Magazine. Disney+ will now be distributing that property globally which will allow for larger budgets and multiple spin-offs. Davies indicated that he would like to expand on the universe of the show similar to what Paramount+ has done with the Star Trek franchise. He did not specify what spin-offs he had in mind, and you wonder how much leeway he will get with so many cutbacks among the streaming services these days. Stay tuned for further developments on this.
This week has brought three more cancellations (so far) with Hulu’s Kindred leading off the announcements. That time-bending series spent one week at the bottom rung of the Nielsen Streaming Rankings which was apparently not enough to get it a second season. Showtime’s Vampire drama Let the Right One In also got the ax and will not continue to a second season after almost no one tuned in during its first year. And shakeups continue among the DC-related shows as the Batman prequel series Pennyworth will not be continuing to a fourth season on HBO Max. The first two seasons of that one aired on EPIX before it switched over to the Warner Bros-owned streaming service.
But in addition to the cancellations, two renewals were announced this week. NBC has given an early third-season renewal to its prehistoric drama La Brea, possibly as a preemptive move in case a strike shuts down production later this year. This appears to be a final season announcement as the cast and crew will also be released from their contracts once production is completed. And for those sitting on the edges of their seats waiting for word on the fate of Hit-Monkey (which had its first-season premiere over a year ago in November 2021), Hulu has given that one the greenlight for a second season. Way to keep on top of things, guys!
In further cancellation news, FX has let go of the previously-announced clone drama Never Let Me Go based on the book of the same name Kazuo Ishiguro (it was previously adapted to film by Alex Garland in 2010). The property had received a series order, but production had not started on the show. There is no word at this point on whether it will be shopped around.
In ratings news, Syfy’s new space-based drama The Ark had its debut on Wednesday and pulled a 0.08 rating based on same-day viewing for the 18-49 demographic with 578K total viewers. Those are not terrible numbers for a basic cable series these days, but not great either. Considering that it received almost no promotion, I’m not sure what else Syfy expected from this one. Keep up with the renewal/cancellation status of all the current sci fi TV shows at CancelledSciFi.com.
Next week, The Flash returns on The CW for its ninth and final season on Wednesday at 8 PM EST. Leading out from that, Kung Fu resumes its third season. Amazon released a trailer this week for its upcoming sci fi series The Power which will be premiering on March 31st. You can see all the premieres for February 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.
