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.
Another reboot is in the works as Showtime has put into development a television series adaptation of the 1997 film Gattaca. It takes place in a future world where eugenics is used to assure that children have the best traits of their parents and they are labeled “valids” as opposed to the “in-valids” who were born through natural selection. Homeland creators Howard Gordon and Alex Gansa (who both previously worked on The X-Files and 1988’s Beauty and the Beast) will be executive producing the series. No casting has been announced yet and there is no word on whether the film’s creator Andrew Niccol will be involved in the project.
Disney+ has announced the cancellation of its fantasy series Willow after one season. That show, which acted as a sequel to the 1988 George Lucas film, did not receive much promotion and it did not make it into the Nielsen Streaming Rankings during its first season run. Disney+ is currently going through cost-cutting, as are many of the streamers, and this show was apparently deemed expendable.
The upcoming Blade Runner 2099 series that is in the works at Amazon has landed Jeremy Podeswa as the director of the pilot. He is known for his work on Game of Thrones and is expected to establish the look and feel of the Blade Runner series which will act as a continuation of the films. Silka Luisa (Shining Girls, Halo) will be writing and executive producing the series and Ridley Scott is executive producing and may direct as well. The show is likely looking at an early 2024 release.
In ratings news, the new CW series Gotham Knights had its debut on Tuesday and posted a 0.11 rating based on same-day viewing for the 18-49 demographic with 609K total viewers. Those are good numbers for that network, but the show will have to sustain that viewership if it wants to stick around for a second season. The CW has new owners and they have indicated that they will not bring over many shows that originated under the prior regime into the 2023-24 season. But if Gotham Knights manages to maintain good ratings, they may keep it going or it could shift to HBO Max. Keep up with the renewal/cancellation status of all the current sci fi TV shows at CancelledSciFi.com.
In scheduling news, Netflix has announced April 27th as the premiere date for the second season of its fantasy series Sweet Tooth. A trailer for that has not been released yet. Next week brings one premiere as the Paramount+ thriller series Rabbit Hole kicks off on Friday. That show will be releasing one episode per week. You can see all the premieres for March 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.
