News Analysis India

Tag: series

  • Duffer Brothers announce ‘Stranger Things’ spin-off

    By PTI

    LOS ANGELES:  “Stranger Things” creators Matt and Ross Duffer have announced a spin-off show to their blockbuster sci-fi series.

    The filmmaker duo, popularly known as The Duffer Brothers, have launched their production company Upside Down Pictures, a press release stated. The company’s title is inspired by the alternate world of “Strange Things” called The Upside Down. They are set to work on five projects with Netflix as part of their overall deal with the streaming service.

    The live-action “Stranger Things” spin-off series is based on an original idea by The Duffer Brothers, with Upside Down and Shawn Levy’s 21 Laps as the producers.

    The four other projects include a stage play, set within the world and mythology of “Stranger Things”. It will be directed by filmmaker Stephen Daldry, who will also produce alongside Sonia Friedman and Netflix.

    The Duffer Brothers are also working on a live-action TV version of the Japanese manga and anime series “Death Note”, which was previously adapted into a live-action film in 2017.

    Besides, they are set to develop a series adaptation of Stephen King and Peter Straub’s novel “The Talisman” alongside Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Entertainment and Paramount Television, with Curtis Gwinn adapting the book for the screen.

    Finally, the duo are producing an original series from Jeffrey Addiss and Will Matthews, the creators of the Netflix series “Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance”.

    To be headed by Hilary Leavitt, the Upside Down banner will “aim to create the kind of stories that inspired the Duffers growing up – stories that take place at that beautiful crossroads where the ordinary meets the extraordinary, where big spectacle co-exists with intimate character work, where heart wins out over cynicism”.

    “It didn’t take long into our first meeting with Hilary, where we bonded over films like Jaws, Home Alone, and Speed, to know we had found a kindred spirit.

    Hilary’s passion for storytelling is perhaps matched only by her passion for the storytellers themselves, for whom she is fiercely protective.

    “No wonder so many writers and directors are drawn to working with her. She is a rare talent indeed, and we feel extremely grateful to have her at our side as we build Upside Down Pictures,” they said in a statement.

    Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos hailed Matt and Ross Duffer as exceptionally unique talents with “a vision so crisp and clear”.

    “They are all about the details” it’s no accident that ‘Stranger Things’ has pierced the zeitgeist to become the epic pop culture phenomenon it is today. We’re excited to continue telling new stories with them as they grow Upside Down Pictures and to welcome Hilary as a creative partner,” he added.

    Matt and Ross Duffer most recently came out with the fourth season of “Stranger Things”, which became the second Netflix series ever to cross the 1 billion hours viewed mark.

  • Downton Abbey film, with series’ characters, set to release in June 

    By Express News Service

    The release date of the hit television series turned movie franchise — Downton Abbey: A New Era — was announced on May 26, Thursday. The central plotline of the film revolves around the mystery of  Dowager Countess’ newly inherited villa. Speaking about the release of this film, director Simon Curtis said, “I’ve been very lucky in that some of the things I’d made in television, like David Copperfield and Cranford, meant I’d had experience working with a big ensemble cast. 

    What’s intimidating about directing Downton, (which I’m sure all the previous directors have also felt), is that there’s no such thing as an easy scene in Downton.”He explained, “There might be as many as four mini-scenes within one bigger scene and four different clusters of conversations that all require coverage from different angles and that all takes time.

    In this film, we had the usual ensemble of actors, then added in the crew and actors for the film within the film, plus our own crew and that amounted to over 50 setups for one particular dinner scene across three days. It was a relief to get to the end of that scene.”

    The returning characters in Downton Abbey: A New Era include the Crawley sisters, Lady Mary Talbot (Michelle Dockery), and Edith Pelham, now Marchioness of Hexham (Laura Carmichael), and marks the return of Lady Violet, played by Maggie Smith.

  • ‘Squid Game’ director Hwang Dong-hyuk sets ‘Killing Old People Club’ as his next film

    By PTI

    LOS ANGELES: Director Hwang Dong-hyuk, who shot to global fame with hit Korean language series “Squid Game”, says he is working on a feature film project “Killing Old People Club”.

    The new movie, whose working title is “KO Club”, is inspired by a novel penned by Umberto Eco, the late Italian author and philosopher.

    Hwang was speaking during a session at MipTV Cannes trade fair along with his producer Jun-Young Jang at February Films, reported Variety.

    The director, also known for Korean films like “Silenced” and “Miss Granny”, teased the forthcoming film will be “more violent” than “Squid Game”.

    The survival drama “Squid Game”, which was released in September 2021 on Netflix, revolves around hundreds of cash-strapped contestants who accept an invitation to compete in a series of Korean children’s games for a tempting prize, but the stakes are deadly.

    Also created by Hwang, the show saw a group of masked staff in pink jumpsuits arrive and explain tasks to the players in green tracksuits who would be given 45.6 billion won (USD 38.3 million) in prize money if they can win six games over six days.

    The director has now shared that he has already penned a 25-page treatment about the project which is bound to be “another controversial” project, he added. “It will be more violent than ‘Squid Game’,” teased Hwang, adding that he might have to hide from old people after the film comes out.

    The director further said he will now return to native South Korea to write the second season of “Squid Game” and hopes to have the show stream by the end of 2024.

    According to Netflix, the runaway success of the first season made the show the streamer’s “biggest series launch” with 111 million views since its debut last September.

    “Squid Game” has also received numerous accolades, including the Golden Globe Award for best supporting actor — series, miniseries or television film for O Yeong-su and the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Award for outstanding performance by a male actor in a drama series and outstanding performance by a female actor in a drama series for Lee Jung-jae and HoYeon Jung, respectively, with all three making history as the first Korean actors to win in those categories.

    At the SAG Awards, the show also bagged the trophy in the outstanding performance by a stunt ensemble in a television series category.

  • Jason Momoa to lead ‘Chief of War’ series for Apple TV+ 

    By PTI

    LOS ANGELES: “Aquaman” star Jason Momoa is set to headline “Chief of War”, a limited series that has been greenlit by the streamer Apple TV+.

    The streaming platform has given a straight-to-series order to the show, which Momoa has also penned making it his writing debut for television.

    According to Deadline, “Chief of War” follows the epic and unprecedented telling of the unification and colonisation of Hawaii from an indigenous point of view.

    Momoa, whose father is of Native Hawaiian ancestry, has also created and executive produced the eight-episode series with Thomas Pa’a Sibbett.

    Justin Chon, known for co-directing the currently on-air Apple series “Pachinko” with Kogonada, is in negotiations to helm the first two episodes of “Chief of War”.

    Executive producers on the series also include Francis Lawrence, Peter Chernin, Jenno Topping, Erik Holmberg and Doug Jung, who serves as showrunner too.

    The show comes from Endeavor Content and Chernin Entertainment.

    Momoa’s previous writing credits include films that he also directed, such as “Brown Bag Diaries: Ridin’ the Blinds in B Minor”, a short, and “Road To Paloma”.

    The “Game of Thrones” alum is also credited as co-story writer on the upcoming “Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom”, which will see him reprise the role of Arthur Curry/ Aquaman.

    Momoa currently stars in Apple’s post-apocalyptic drama series “See”, which has been renewed for a third season.

  • Geena Davis to headline mother-son legal drama

    By Express News Service

    Actor Geena Davis is all set to headline a yet-untitled mother-son legal drama. The series hails from writer and executive producer Scott Prendergast.

    The story follows a talented but directionless private investigator who agrees to work as the in-house investigator for his overbearing mother (Davis), a successful attorney reeling from the recent dissolution of her marriage.

    Davis will play Joan, a razor-sharp attorney who puts herself through law school to support her children after her first husband died. Very controlling and always aware of appearances, Joan must rely on Todd, her least reliable child, when her 2nd marriage mysteriously unravels. And while she can’t condone Todd’s less than legal tactics, she’s impressed by his ability to sleuth out information. Is hiring Todd to work in her office a serious gamble?

    The pilot is executive produced by Dr Phil McGraw, Jay McGraw, and Julia Eisenman for Stage 29 Productions. The drama is produced by CBS Studios. Davis is known for titles like Family Ties, Commander and Chief, Coma, Grey’s Anatomy and GLOW. 

  • Giancarlo Esposito to headline AMC drama series The Driver

    By Express News Service

    Breaking Bad-actor Giancarlo Esposito is all set to star in AMC’s upcoming drama series titled The Driver.

    The six-episode series is an American adaptation of a UK miniseries of the same name. Aired on BBC in 2014, the original series was created by Danny Brocklehurst and Jim Poyser.

    The new series is created by Sunu Gonera in collaboration with Brocklehurst, with Gonera directing the pilot and Theo Travers serving as showrunner.

    Esposito will star as a taxi driver whose life takes an unexpected turn when he is hired to chauffeur a notorious gangster. The Driver will be produced by AMC Studios in association with A+E Studios and Thruline Entertainment. Esposito, Gonera, Brocklehurst, and Travers also serve as executive producers.

  • Pete Davidson to play himself in new comedy series 

    By PTI

    LOS ANGELES: Actor-comedian Pete Davidson is set to play a fictionalised version of himself in an upcoming comedy series.

    The show hails from “Saturday Night Live” showrunner Lorne Michaels’s Broadway Video and Universal Television, reported Deadline.

    The series is tentatively titled “Bupkis” and Davidson will write it along with his frequent collaborator David Sirus and Judah Miller.

    Said to be in the same vein as Larry David’s “Curb Your Enthusiasm”, “Bupkis” is described as a raw, unflinching and fictionalised version of Pete Davidson’s real life.

    It will include a mixture of grounded storytelling with absurd elements depicting an unfiltered view through Davidson’s eyes.

    Davidson, Sirus and Miller will serve as executive producers along with Michaels, Andrew Singer and Erin David.

    The actor is currently on leave from “Saturday Night Live” to film Miramax’s horror thriller “The Home”.

    He also stars in “Bodies Bodies Bodies”, which is set to have its world premiere at the South By SouthWest Festival, as well as “Good Mourning with a U” with Machine Gun Kelly and Megan Fox, and “Meet Cute”, co-starring Kaley Cuoco.

  • Milo Ventimiglia to headline con-artist drama

    By Express News Service

    This US-fame Milo Ventimiglia is all set to headline a con-artist drama series titled The Company You Keep. Based on a Korean series called My Fellow Citizens, the series hails from writer Julia Cohen.

    The official logline of the series reads: A night of passion leads to love between con-man Charlie (Ventimiglia) and undercover CIA officer Emma. Both of them are unknowingly on a collision course professionally. While Charlie ramps up the ‘family business’ so he can get out for good, Emma’s closing in on the vengeful criminal who holds Charlie’s family debts in hand — forcing them to reckon with the lies they’ve told so they can save themselves and their families from disastrous consequences.

    Cohen and Ventimiglia also executive produce the show alongside Ventimiglia’s DiVide Pictures partner Russ Cundiff. Filmmaker Jon M Chu will also executive produce the project alongside Todd Harthan, Caitlin Foitom, and Lindsay Goffman. DiVide’s Deanna Harris is producing the show.

    Ventimiglia rose to fame after his role as Jess in Gilmore Girls. He is popularly known for his role as Jack Pearson in This Is Us. He is currently set to reunite with Gilmore Girls’ creator Sherman-Palladino on the upcoming season of Amazon Prime’s The Marvelous Mrs Maisel. 

  • Ariel Winter to headline NBC comedy series ‘Hungry’

    By PTI

    LOS ANGELES: “Modern Family” star Ariel Winter has been tapped to replace singer-actor Demi Lovato as the lead of NBC’s comedy series “Hungry”.

    Lovato, who is executive producing the show along with her manager Scooter Braun, stepped down from acting duties last week citing scheduling conflict.

    According to Deadline, the show will get into production coming week.

    Written by Suzanne Martin, “Hungry” follows a group of friends who belong to a food-issues group helping one another as they look for love, success and the perfect thing in the fridge that’s going to make it all better.

    James Burrows is attached to direct the multi-camera comedy.

    Actors Valerie Bertinelli, Gabriel Fluffy Iglesias, Ryan McPartlin, Alex Brightman and Ashley D Kelley round out the cast.

    The show is produced by Sean Hayes and Todd Milliner’s Hazy Mills, SB Projects and Universal Television.

  • Olivia Munn, Danny Ramirez join cast of AMC’s series ‘Tales of the Walking Dead’ 

    By PTI

    LOS ANGELES: Actors Olivia Munn and Danny Ramirez have joined the cast of AMC’s upcoming anthology series set in the world of its popular show “The Walking Dead”.

    Titled “Tales of the Walking Dead”, the new show will have six one-hour episodes, featuring both new and existing characters, the American network had announced back in October 2021.

    “The Boys” star Jessie T Usher has also boarded the cast along with Loan Chabanol, Embeth Davidtz and Gage Munroe, as per Deadline.

    Channing Powell, who worked as a writer and producer on both “The Walking Dead” and its spin-off “Fear the Walking Dead”, will serve as the showrunner.

    He will work alongside Scott M Gimple, the chief content officer of “The Walking Dead” universe.

    “Tales of the Walking Dead” will start production later this year.

    It will later premiere on AMC and its streaming service AMC Plus.