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’s the week after Comic-Con, and sci-fi TV news is still rolling through which includes the breaking story that M-M-M-Max Headroom will be returning to television. A reboot/revival of the cult-favorite ’80s series is in the works at AMC networks and Matt Frewer will be returning to the double role of Edison Carter and the stuttering, sarcastic AI who wears shades Max Headroom. Not many details are available on the project at this point, but Christopher Cantwell (Halt and Catch Fire) will be writing and will act as showrunner, and this will likely arrive at some point in 2023.
Marvel shows and BBC America shows will be swapping stars it appears. Orphan Black‘s Tatiana Maslany is currently set to star in She-Hulk: Attorney at Law which premieres August 17th. (You can see all the sci fi TV premieres for August and beyond at this link.) And now Jessica Jones star Krysten Ritter will be taking the lead in the upcoming Orphan Black spin-off Echoes (which is not to be confused with the Marvel Hawkeye spin-off series Echo). That’s not necessarily great news for JJ fans, though, as this may preclude her from returning as the sarcastic superhero detective she played for three seasons in the Marvel series. But it is still possible that Ritter could show up as Jessica Jones again somewhere down the road.
In renewal announcements, Moonhaven has been given the greenlight for a second season. Never heard of Moonhaven? (Then you should be paying more attention to this site.) It is a new sci fi series on, not AMC, but AMC’s streaming service AMC+. Yep, sorry but you’re going to have to fork out a few more dollars each month to watch that one. The show is somewhat interesting (if a bit loopy), and apparently it is the top-rated exclusive series on that service. The first season will be wrapping up next week and the second will have its premiere at some point in 2023.
NBC’s Quantum Leap revival series has not had its debut yet, but the show is already running into some rough waters. Co-showrunners Steven Lilien and Bryan Wynbrandt will be stepping aside as Martin Gero (Dark Matter, Blindspot) will be taking over in that role. A reason has not been given for the change, and the two former showrunners will stay on as executive producers, but allegedly scripts were running late during production. And apparently the third episode produced will be the first one aired which is never a good sign when the network starts shuffling around the episode order. The series is set to premiere on September 19th.
In development news, a live-action Eragon TV series is in the works at Disney+ with the author of the books Christopher Paolini onboard as co-writer. That property was previously brought to the big screen in 2006 but did not fare well there. Also, at San Diego Comic-Con, fan-favorite Bruce Campbell indicated that an animated Ash vs. Evil Dead series could carry on where the live-action series left off. You can read more about both projects at this link.
In ratings news, The Umbrella Academy bumped Stranger Things from the Number 1 spot in the Nielsen Streaming Top 10 and posted an estimated 2.5 billion minutes of viewing for the week of its third season premiere. There has been no word on a fourth season of that show yet, but expect it to be back for at least one more year. The live-action Resident Evil series jumped up to the Number 2 slot in the Netflix Top 10 for the week of its premiere and it should be on track for a second season renewal even though it has been widely panned. More on the streaming and linear ratings for sci fi TV shows at CancelledSciFi.com.
Next week sees only one new show hitting the schedule, but it is a highly-anticipated genre entry. Netflix’s adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman arrives on Friday and all episodes will be available for viewing that day. Also next week, The Orville will be wrapping up its third season and Moonhaven will close out its first season. You can see all the premieres for August and beyond at this link plus you can see the Weekly Listings here.
Most of the trailer action this past week came out of Comic-Con and we already covered that at this link. Netflix did release a final trailer for Locke & Key Season 3, though, and you can see that here.
Did I miss anything? Probably because this scalding Texas heat continues to melt my brain (don’t tell me there’s no Global Warming), so let me know in the comments below.
Be sure to keep up with the news during the week with This Week in Sci Fi TV and r/SciFiTV.
SciFiTVSite.com: Follow our Sci Fi TV Schedule for all the currently airing and upcoming sci fi and fantasy television shows, and keep up with what is airing/streaming each week with our Weekly Listings.
CancelledSciFi.com: Keep up with the status updates of all the currently airing sci fi and fantasy shows with our Cancellation Watch posts. And be sure to follow the Cancelled Sci Fi Twitter Site for breaking news and updates.
