Mark Wahlberg has an update on his Six Million Dollar Man adaptation. Newt Scamander has sibling issues in a new Crimes of Grindelwald clip. The BBC and Netflix lift the lid on their new Watership Down adaptation. Plus, Doctor Who might not get a Christmas special this year but still air a special episode. Spoilers, away!
Persephone
Brianna Hildebrand will join Mary-Louise Parker, Emile Hirsch, Lance Reddick, and Malcolm McDowell in the cast of Persephone, an upcoming space exploration film concerning a ship of colonists barraged by deadly solar flares. According to Deadline, Hildebrand will play a shuttle pilot named Darcy who goes “head-to-head” with Mary-Louise Parker’s character after learning “they may not be alone on the seemingly lifeless world” of Persephone.
Genesis
Kate Bosworth has signed on to star in and produce the upcoming sci-fi thriller Genesis from writer Brian Michael Scully and director Mike Le Han. The story concerns a mother (Bosworth) “searching for her daughter in a post-apocalyptic world.”
[Deadline]
The Six-Billion Dollar Man
Mark Wahlberg offered Screen Rant an elliptical update on his planned film adaptation of the Six-Million Dollar Man, adjusted for inflation:
There was just a big meeting. It’s a matter of finding the right director. We’ve been close many times. … It’s very reminiscent of The Fighter. It’s one of those things where you have to keep pushing, you have to keep plugging away, and eventually, it’ll come together, and hopefully, we’ll be in a situation where I find myself making the best possible version of the movie.
Alien Nation
In conversation with /Film, director Jeff Nichols stated his remake of Alien Nation will be “epic” yet also will “take place in Arkansas.”
It’s epic. I mean, it’s the biggest canvas I’ve ever painted on, but it 100 per cent feels like a Jeff Nichols film, which I’m sure there are gonna be some Alien Nation fans out there that are like, “What the fuck?” But my hope is if they … If people come to it just ready for a new story, that they’ll like it. And I put my heart and soul into it. To be the project that’s supposed to be me being a sell out, it is like the least … I’m not saying that to save face or be cool. I put so much of myself into it, it takes place in Arkansas. There’s so much of me in it.
Aquaman
Production has officially wrapped on Aquaman, according to James Wan on Instagram.
Charlie’s Angels
A new Instagram photo from Elizabeth Banks teases the film’s international Townsend Agency.
Bumblebee
Hailee Steinfeld has released a song from the Bumblebee soundtrack titled “Back to Life.”
Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald
Newt battles his brother Theseus in the latest clip.
Asher
Ron Perlman plays an ageing hitman in the first trailer for Asher, co-starring Famke Janssen, Richard Dreyfuss, and Jacqueline Bisset.
Marvel Streaming Shows
Speaking with THR, Kevin Feige compared Marvel’s new Avengers-focused programming for Disney Play to longform “campfire” stories that wouldn’t necessarily work on the big screen.
Well, it’s not a hundred per cent complete yet, so there’s only so much I’m allowed to say, or so much they even tell me. But Paul [Greengrass] mentioned the streaming service, and I think that is something that we’re going to be adding content to, which is exciting. I love your analogy with the campfire, right? As many people as you can get around the campfire and tell stories. Campfires can be different: We are going to tell stories for the streaming service that we wouldn’t be able to tell in a theatrical experience—a longer-form narrative, that’s what comics are, it’s about as longform a narrative as exists. But also maintaining that theatrical experience, which is our bread and butter, and the lines around the block, if you’re lucky.
Elseworlds
TV Line reports Bob Fraser will guest-star in this year’s Arrowverse crossover as Arkham inmate Roger Hayden, the emotion-manipulating supervillain better known as Psycho-Pirate.
A Discovery of Witches
Good news! Sky has renewed A Discovery of Witches for both a second and third season. [Spoiler TV]
Stargirl
CBR reports Anjelika Washington (Runaways) has been cast in an undisclosed role Geoff Johns promises will be “familiar to DC Comics fans.”
Watership Down
The BBC (via Screen Rant) has released the full cast list for the upcoming Watership Down animated miniseries it is developing with Netflix. In addition to John Boyega as Bigwig, Ben Kingsley as General Woundwort and Gemma Arterton as Clover, the ensemble includes Daniel Kaluuya as Bluebell, Rosamund Pike as The Black Rabbit of Inlé, Peter Capaldi as the seagull Kehaar, Taron Egerton as El-Ahrairah, Gemma Chan as Dewdrop, Mackenzie Crook as Hawkbit, Jason Watkins as Captain Orchis, Rory Kinnear as Cowslip, Craig Parkinson as Sainfoin, Henry Goodman as Blackavar, Tom Wilkinson as Threarah, Lee Ingleby as Captain Campion, Charlotte Spencer as Nettle, and Daniel Rigby as Dandelion.
Screen Rant also has the first official images from the BBC. Head over there to see the rest.
Doctor Who
British tabloid The Mirror claims that there will be no Doctor Who Christmas special this year. Instead, a non-Christmas oriented eleventh episode will air in its stead around New Years Day.
The Doctor lands in during the partition of India in 1947 in the trailer for next week’s episode, “The Demons of Punjab.”
Supergirl
Finally, Supergirl takes on The Parasite in a clip from next week’s episode, “Parasite Lost.”
Banner art by Jim Cooke.