Did You Hear? is a weekly examination of headlines in the entertainment industry and a take on what they could mean for the future of the industry and (often), the little geeky bubble that we occupy.
CW Greenlights Batwoman, Katy Kane & More
We know since last year that The CW had ordered a Batwoman pilot. In fact, we knew that before we even met their version of Batwoman in the Elseworlds crossover. With the news of Arrow ending with its eighth season many people saw the writing on the wall. Arrow is the CW’s version of Batman, so it only makes sense to replace its corner of the DCTV with a member of the Batfamily itself.
This week Variety confirmed Batwoman would be going to full series order and in the same breath they also announced the previously in-development Jane the Virgin spinoff would no longer be in active development.
Along with Batwoman The CW will continue its deep dive into genre properties and they greenlit a Katy Keene spinoff as well as a Nancy Drew series. For those who are less familiar, Katy Keene will star Lucy Hale (star of the previous CW show Life Sentence), and spin directly out of Riverdale with Josie appearing. Katy Keene is a classic Archie Comics character and fashion designer.
I feel confident most readers know who Nancy Drew is and what she is all about. Personally, this, of all the announcements, is the series I’m most thrilled for. I love Nancy Drew and have since my childhood. Earlier this year there was a Nancy Drew film that, sadly much like the Kim Possible, came and went. However, crime and procedurals always do well on television. The idea of a CSI or Law & Order-style Nancy Drew show starring Nancy and her two closest friends/associates could open up a really interesting new avenue for the CW in the same vein as Arrow and Riverdale before it.
More Star Wars? More Avatar? Yay?
Avatar sequels have been shot and in the works for a long, long time. We’ve been in a bit of a holding pattern about when the series start dropping again and Variety is reporting that Avatar 2 has been pushed back a year and will now be released on December 18, 2020 with Avatar 3 moved to December 22nd, 2023, Avatar 4 to December 19, 2025, and Avatar 5 December 17, 2027. For me, I think this is way too much Avatar to begin with.
The reason, per Variety:
The news comes as part of a larger shift in release dates unveiled by Walt Disney Studios. The company is moving around the debuts of various movies it inherited after buying the bulk of 21st Century Fox’s film and television assets in a $71.3 billion mega-merger.
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker – Teaser
Every generation has a legend. Watch the brand-new teaser for Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.
Star Wars has also been caught up as part of this shakeup. Despite a previous announcement of Disney taking a break between Star Wars installments, a formerly unannounced set of movies were shuffled around as well.
There will be two other follow-ups that will premiere in the Christmas corridor on Dec. 20, 2024 and Dec. 18, 2026. The news means that Disney is poised to dominate the busy holiday movie-going season for the foreseeable future, as it alternates between “Avatar” and “Star Wars” films. Moviegoers will be treated to new Na’vi and Jedi adventures each year between 2021 and 2027.
The discourse which has surrounded Disney and its progressive march toward monopolizing the Hollywood movie industry feels more prescient than ever when you take a step back and look at the calendar.
What We Do In the Shadows Renewed
What We Do in the Shadows is currently enjoying and interesting reputation in the pop culture landscape: a television show which is as good as the cult movie that spawned it. This week’s episode (replete with vampire cameos I will not spoil for you, but highly encourage you to seek out for yourself – or better yet, what the episode!), skyrocketed it to viral status online and seems to have cemented its place in the present landscape of genre television.
The announcement per Variety that FX renewed What We Do in the Shadows for a second season is unsurprising, but that doesn’t mean it’s not exciting!
Said FX’s President of Original Programming, Nick Grad:
Jemaine Clement, Taika Waititi and Paul Simms have more than delivered on the high expectations of ‘Shadows’ fans by adapting the cult classic for television and building a passionate base of new and returning fans. We also want to thank the rest of the creative team, including Scott Rudin, Garrett Basch and Eli Bush, and the incredible cast and crew for delivering such a fun and original series, and we look forward to working with them all on season two.
Part of the charm of the first season could be attributed to Jemaine Clements’ continual involvement with the project. Not only did he develop and star in the original movie, but he created the television series and serves as Executive Producer alongside: Taika Waititi, Paul Simms, Scott Rudin, Garret Basch, and Eli Bush.
And Cobra Kai Renewed for Season 3
Following the April 24th, 2019 release of the second season, Youtube Premium announce that their Karate Kid spinoff original series, Cobra Kai, has been renewed for a third season. The show explores a modern reopening of the Cobra Kai dojo and what its students and teachers look like post the events of the original set of movies.
While Youtube’s original content remains behind a paywall, therefore not widely available compared to much of the service’s content, it has been previously announced that Youtube Premium content would be made available to the public to watch (with ads, of course), at an unspecified date “later this year”.
No news yet on what Cobra Kai season 3 will look like, but given how quickly this was made public following the drop of the second season one can only assume the audience is there to support the continued content.
Via Variety.
Goyer Goes from The Dark Knight to Hellraiser
Spyglass Media Group (The Sixth Sense, Memoirs of a Geisha), is reported to be developing a Hellraiser adaptation helmed by The Dark Knight scribe David S. Goyer, according to Variety.
Owner Gary Barber describes this new Hellraiser as:
loyal, yet evolved reimagining”
Clive and I go back more than 30 years together. For generations, his brilliantly twisted and imaginative ‘Hellraiser’ haunted the minds of moviegoers with its searing imagery of Pinhead. David is the perfect storyteller to continue Clive’s vision for a new theatrical version of ‘Hellraiser.’
With Goyer adding:
I’ve been a fan of Clive’s work since the original Books of Blood paperbacks and ‘The Hellbound Heart’ novella. Having the chance to reimagine Pinhead and the Cenobites for a new audience is a nightmare-come-true. Gary is a true fan as well and we’re committed to making something dark and visceral.
Before Batman Begins and The Dark Knight, Goyer worked on the Blade trilogy of films – experience which could very well speak to his affinity and skill in the horror genre. While Marvel fans have been scrabbling for a Blade remake for years, there’s a very real chance Hellraiser could scratch that same itch for them.
Last year Netflix released The Haunting of Hill House – the end in a line of several remakes of the original source material – to critical acclaim proving that one more turn around the block for a tried and true (some may say “tired”), franchise can prove to be a good thing.