Summer wind keeps blowing in from across the Hollywood landscape, and so does the news. It’s time for another round up!
Nichelle Nichols, who played Lieutenant Nyota Uhura in the Star Trek original series and the first six Star Trek movies, has passed away at 89, according to a post by her son on her Facebook page. Her role was one of unusual prominence for a Black actor in a TV series at the time. She also broke ground when her character kissed William Shatner as Captain Kirk, one of the first interracial kisses on television.
In current Star Trek news, Paramount+ will present a crossover between Star Trek: Strange New Worlds and animated series Star Trek: Lower Decks in a special Season 2 episode of Strange New Worlds, the streamer announced at San Diego Comic-Con. The crossover will be accomplished by a combination of live action and animation; Lower Decks characters Ensign Beckett Mariner, voiced by Tawny Newsome, and Ensign Brad Boimler, voiced by Jack Quaid will join the Enterprise in the episode, directed by Star Trek: Next Generation actor and director Jonathan Frakes.
AMC is developing a new Max Headroom series starring original star Matt Frewer as the artificial intelligence TV personality, according to Deadline. Christopher Cantwell, who co-created Halt and Catch Fire and has written numerous comics, is attached as showrunner and writer. The show, produced by BBC but airing on American network ABC in the 1980s, introduced cyberpunk science fiction to mainstream American TV audiences (see “’Max Headroom’ DVD“).
The cast of the upcoming The Boys spinoff announced the name of the new series on their Twitter account (see below). The spinoff will be titled Gen V, and will revolve around a college for superheroes that is run by the infamous Vought International corporation. It will star Lizzie Broadway, Chance Perdomo, Jaz Sinclair, Shelley Conn, Maddie Phillips, London Thor, Derek Luh, Asa Germann, Patrick Schwarzenegger, Sean Patrick Thomas and Marco Pigossi. Development of the new series was first unveiled in September 2020 (see “’The Boys’ Spinoff in Development“) and new cast was added in March 2021 (see “‘The Boys’ Spinoff Adds Stars“).
Adult Swim announced that Rick & Morty S6 will begin on September 4, 2022. The duo returns almost exactly a year after Season 5 premiered. Co-creator Justin Roiland has been fairly busy these days, splitting his time working on Rick & Morty with Hulu’s Solar Opposites, which just released its Season 3, and various comic book projects (see “‘Trover Saves the Universe’” and also, “‘Orcs in Space’ Comic“).
Heavy Metal announced Metalverse, a slate of live action and animated TV shows and films at San Diego Comic-Con with a sizzle reel (video below) including live action test footage of Taarna, plus clips promoting Cold Dead War, Dark Wing, Arena Mode, The Adventures of Adrienne James, Sun Eater, The Rise, and Savage Circus. An animated TV series tied to Moon Lake, an anthology title by actor and writer Dan Fogler, is also in development, co-produced by Heavy Metal, Fogler, Daniel Powell, and Bardel Entertainment (Rick and Morty).
Craig McCracken will reboot The Powerpuff Girls and Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends for Hanna-Barbera Europe, the studio announced. McCracken was the original creator of both series; The Powerpuff Girls originally ran for 78-episodes starting in 1998 and Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends ran for six seasons on Cartoon Network. A new pilot for The Powerpuff Girls was ordered by The CW back in 2021, but the network decided to delay it and rework the cast (see “‘Powerpuff Girls’“).Source: ICv2
