Development/Pre-Production (Television)

[Jamison]

Bad Robot Turning Stephen King's 11/22/63 Into TV Series

J.J. Abrams' Bad Robot is in negotiations to turn Stephen King's 2011 novel "11/22/63" into a TV series. The book is described as follows:

Jake Epping is a thirty-five-year-old high school English teacher in Lisbon Falls, Maine, who makes extra money teaching adults in the GED program. He receives an essay from one of the students—a gruesome, harrowing first person story about the night 50 years ago when Harry Dunning’s father came home and killed his mother, his sister, and his brother with a hammer. Harry escaped with a smashed leg, as evidenced by his crooked walk.

Not much later, Jake’s friend Al, who runs the local diner, divulges a secret: his storeroom is a portal to 1958. He enlists Jake on an insane—and insanely possible—mission to try to prevent the Kennedy assassination. So begins Jake’s new life as George Amberson and his new world of Elvis and JFK, of big American cars and sock hops, of a troubled loner named Lee Harvey Oswald and a beautiful high school librarian named Sadie Dunhill, who becomes the love of Jake’s life—a life that transgresses all the normal rules of time."

Bad Robot would be teaming up with Warner Bros. TV for the project. The project was originally set up to become a movie that was to be directed by Jonathan Demme.

[Jamison]

TNT has greenlit the suspenseful spy drama "Legends," starring Sean Bean ("Game of Thrones," "The Lord of the Rings"). TNT has ordered 10 episodes of the series, which is being produced by Fox 21. Howard Gordon ("Homeland," "24"), Alexander Cary ("Homeland," "Lie to Me") and Jonathan Levin ("Charmed") serve as executive producers, along with showrunners Ethan Reiff and Cyrus Voris, the creators of Sleeper Cell. Jeffrey Nachmanoff (Traitor, The Day After Tomorrow) and Mark Bomback (Live Free or Die Hard) serve as consulting producers. The pilot was directed and executive-produced David Semel (Heroes, Person of Interest) and written by Nachmanoff, who developed the story with Gordon and Bomback.

Set to premiere on TNT in 2014, "Legends" is based on the award-winning book by master spy novelist Robert Littell, whose CIA novel "The Company" served as the basis for TNT's acclaimed 2007 miniseries. In "Legends," Bean stars as Martin Odum, an undercover agent working for the FBI's Deep Cover Operations (D.C.O.) division. Martin has the uncanny ability to transform himself into a completely different person for each job. But he begins to question his own identity when a mysterious stranger suggests that Martin isn’t the man he believes himself to be.

"Legends" also stars Ali Larter ("Heroes") as Crystal Quest, a fellow operative who has a history with Martin and is uneasy about his return to D.C.O.; Rob Mayes (The Client List, John Dies at the End) as Troy Quinn, a former Special Ops agent with a single-minded mission-first mentality; Tina Majorino ("Grey's Anatomy," "True Blood") as Maggie Harris, the newest member of the DCO team; Steve Harris ("The Practice," "Awake") as Nelson Gates, the director of the DCO Task Force; and Amber Valletta ("Revenge") as Sonya Odum, Martin's ex-wife; and Lux Haney Jardine (Abraham Lincon: Vampire Hunter) as Martin's pre-teen son, Aiden.

"'Legends' has everything you want in a good spy drama: intriguing characters, multi-layered plots, a terrific cast and lots of action and suspense," said Michael Wright, president, head of programming for TNT, TBS and Turner Classic Movies (TCM). "At the center of it all is Sean Bean, giving an outstanding performance in an extremely complex and difficult role. We are very excited to work with Howard Gordon and his fellow executive producers, who have put together a truly extraordinary drama."

[Jamison]

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Heads to Television

In an unexpected announcement, The Hollywood Reporter says that popular Alan Moore comic series The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen will be making its way to television on Fox. In conjunction with 20th Century Fox's TV studio, a "put pilot" has been ordered from the series meaning that it will likely air even if a series isn't ordered. Michael Green (Green Lantern, "Heroes," "Smallville") will serve as the writer and executive producer on the project, and showrunner if the pilot is picked up to series.

Originally created by Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neill, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen stars a group of Victiorian literature characters including Allan Quatermain, Captain Nemo, the Invisible Man, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and Mina Harker of Dracula. The team is put together by the British government to foil a plot that would see the fall of the entire kingdom.

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen was previously adapted into a film in 2003 starring Sean Connery (his last film role). It featured signifcant changes from the source material and famously began creator Alan Moore's antagonistic relationship with Hollywood.

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I would actually be really excited for this, if the project wasn't for FOX. Why do people even shop their stuff out to Fox. It's like their asking to have their time and money wasted for a year, then get canceled when the network doesn't advertise their sh-t correctly. I swear, FOX is the worst network ever. I don't even know why it exists.

[Brady Brown]

The CW Developing The Flash as a Spinoff of Arrow

At the TCA (Television Critics Association) press tour today, CW president Mark Pedowitz confirmed The Flash is being developed and will first be introduced on Arrow. Said Pedowitz, “We plan to introduce a recurring character [on Arrow] and an origin story for Dr. Barry Allen, who you know as The Flash." Pedowitz added, "We’ll see how it goes. Hopefully it will go well. We do want to expand upon the DC universe. We think that there are rich characters that we can use and we thought this was a very organic way to get there.”

As for how Flash came to be at CW, Pedowitz revealed, “I actually called [DC Entertainment president] Diane Nelson up I think about November or early December and I said, ‘Did you guys ever think about developing The Flash?’ And Diane said, ‘Have you spoken to [Warner Bros. Television president] Peter Roth?’ I said, ‘No, not yet,’ and it turned out that Peter and Greg and Diane and [DC Comics’ CCO] Geoff Johns -- it was Geoff Johns’ favorite character – and I came to the same point, saying, ‘This would be a great character to do.’ And they felt that the best way to launch this character is to have an origin story on Arrow.”

I asked Pedowitz about the fact that Arrow has, so far, not included any superpowered characters and whether we should assume that will change with Barry Allen. He told me, “Well there’s a big DC universe of super-powered characters who do intersect and don’t intersect. But most importantly, remember, it’s an origin story! So he may not come in with super powers.”

As for who will play Barry Allen, Pedowitz said, “We’re just beginning to cast. I’m from the old school. TV creates stars. If we get a name great, if we don’t get a name, they’ll become a name.”

As for when we’ll see Barry on Arrow, Pedowitz said, “I think he’ll appear sometime this fall and then onward into next year.”

Click here to see what Pedowitz had to say about the status of the Wonder Woman project, Amazon, and the potential for the DC TV series crossing over with the DC films.

Original story follows.

More DC heroes look to be coming to The CW, as the network is developing The Flash -- simply titled "Flash" it seems -- as a spinoff of Arrow. Deadline reported the news, revealing Arrow’s Greg Berlanti and Andrew Kreisberg and director David Nutter are working on the project, along with DC’s Geoff Johns. The current plan is to introduce Flash on Arrow this coming season to set up the spinoff series. Berlanti and Kreisberg would run the series with Nutter – whose many pilots include Smallville and Arrow -- directing the pilot, written by Berlanti, Kreisberg and Johns. Berlanti and Kreisberg’s fellow Arrow EP Marc Guggenheim will not be involved in Flash, staying focused on Arrow.

This past year, The CW was developing a Wonder Woman series, Amazon. While that project didn’t turn into a pilot this spring, the network said in May they were still developing it. However, Deadline says the network “has hit the pause button” on Amazon, yet another frustrating delay for Wonder Woman fans hoping to see a new live-action version of that character.

However, with Arrow a hit for The CW, the network – co-owned by Warner Bros. – clearly wants to get more DC Comics adaptations on the air, as the network’s overall lineup turns increasingly to genre projects.

It will be interesting to see how Flash is incorporated into Arrow’s world, which so far has had no characters with superpowers appear. Many of us hoping to see DC build a bigger cinematic/live-action universe have wondered if they could tie Arrow into Man of Steel, indicating Arrow takes place in the same world as that film and opening the door to super-powered characters existing.

It’s still unclear if that will occur, but Flash’s introduction certainly would be interesting and raise questions about whether we’re meeting members of a potential Justice League movie cast on TV as well as film, as the Batman vs. Superman movie nears in 2015.

Source: IGN

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Personally, I'm pretty stoked for this! It's going to be interesting to see what they do with Barry Allen, and if they can incorporate all of this into the MoS universe, I WILL BE THRILLED.

[David]

Yes, yes, a million times yes! The Flash is, hands down, my favorite superhero in the entire universe. I'd hope this can work out. I did like the 1990's version of the character and felt that it didn't get a proper viewing base. I hope this works out, and soon

[Jamison]

NBC Plans Outbreak Series

A television series based on Wolfgang Petersen's 1995 thriller Outbreak is in development at NBC from "E.R." executive producers Jack Orman and John Wells, Deadline reports. Both men are scripting a pilot with aspirations to have the project become an ongoing hourlong show.

The film, which stars Dustin Hoffman, Morgan Freeman, Cuba Gooding Jr., Rene Russo, Kevin Spacey and Donald Sutherland, follows the spread of a viral epidemic that threatens to wipe out all human life.

Gail Katz, who produced the Petersen film, is also attached to produce the series with Andrew Stearn also listed as an executive producer.

[Jamison]

Fox Nabs Gotham City Origin Drama About Commissioner Gordon From Bruno Heller & Warner Bros. TV With Series Commitment

In one of the biggest drama deals this season, after a bidding war, Fox has landed Gotham, from Warner Bros. TV and The Mentalist creator Bruno Heller, with a series commitment.

For Gotham, Warner Bros TV is mining one of DC Comics‘ most popular character universes, Batman. It explores the origin stories of Commissioner James Gordon and the villains that made Gotham famous. In Gotham, Gordon is still a detective with the Gotham City Police Department and is yet to meet Batman who will not be part of the series.

The Gordon character was introduced in 1939 in the very first Batman comic. Created by Bill Finger and Bob Kane, Commissioner Gordon has appeared in comic books as well as Batman films and series, including in Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy where he was played by Gary Oldman.

Along with the Superman franchise, the Batman universe is probably the most prized DC property. While Superman spawned the long-running series Smallville, this is the first series featuring a character from the world of Batman in a very long time as WBTV had been exploring a Gotham City-set show for more than a year. It is the second high-profile WBTV/DC drama in the works for next season, along with Flash at the CW.

[Jamison]

Ben McKenzie Takes the Lead in FOX's Gotham Series

Ben McKenzie ("Southland," "The O.C.") has officially taken the lead role of Detective James Gordon in FOX and Warner Bros. Television’s "Gotham," which has a series commitment at the network. Based upon characters published by DC Comics, "Gotham" is a drama exploring the origin stories of Commissioner James Gordon and the villains that made Gotham famous.

Bruno Heller ("The Mentalist," "Rome") wrote the pilot script and will serve as executive producer. Danny Cannon ("CSI," "Nikita") will direct and executive produce the pilot.

(I'm actually very okay with this)

[Jamison]

FOX has released the official logo design for their upcoming DC Comics-inspired series, "Gotham," along with a detailed description of the series' storyline and cast of characters.

Check out the newly-released synopsis below:

Everyone knows the name Commissioner Gordon. He is one of the crime world's greatest foes, a man whose reputation is synonymous with law and order. But what is known of Gordon's story and his rise from rookie detective to Police Commissioner? What did it take to navigate the multiple layers of corruption that secretly ruled Gotham City, the spawning ground of the world's most iconic villains? And what circumstances created them – the larger-than-life personas who would become Catwoman, The Penguin, The Riddler, Two-Face and The Joker?

"Gotham" is an origin story of the great DC Comics super villains and vigilantes, revealing an entirely new chapter that has never been told. From executive producer/writer Bruno Heller (“The Mentalist,” “Rome”), "Gotham" follows one cop's rise through a dangerously corrupt city teetering on the edge of evil and chronicles the birth of one of the most popular super heroes of our time.

Growing up in Gotham City's surrounding suburbs, James Gordon (Ben McKenzie, “Southland,” “The O.C.”) romanticized the city as a glamorous and exciting metropolis where his late father once served as a successful district attorney. Now, two weeks into his new job as a Gotham City detective and engaged to his beloved fiancée, Barbara Kean (Erin Richards, Open Grave, “Breaking In”), Gordon is living his dream – even as he hopes to restore the city back to the pure version he remembers it was as a kid.

Brave, honest and ready to prove himself, the newly-minted detective is partnered with the brash, but shrewd police legend Harvey Bullock (Donal Logue, “Sons of Anarchy,” “Terriers,” “Vikings,” “Copper”), as the two stumble upon the city's highest-profile case ever: the murder of local billionaires Thomas and Martha Wayne. At the scene of the crime, Gordon meets the sole survivor: the Waynes' hauntingly intense 12-year-old son, Bruce (David Mazouz, “Touch”), toward whom the young detective feels an inexplicable kinship. Moved by the boy's profound loss, Gordon vows to catch the killer.

As he navigates the often-underhanded politics of Gotham's criminal justice system, Gordon will confront imposing gang boss Fish Mooney (Jada Pinkett Smith, The Matrix films, “HawthoRNe,” Collateral), and many of the characters who will become some of fiction's most renowned, enduring villains, including a teenaged Selina Kyle/the future Catwoman (acting newcomer Camren Bicondova) and Oswald Cobblepot/The Penguin (Robin Lord Taylor, “The Walking Dead,” Another Earth).

Although the crime drama will follow Gordon's turbulent and singular rise through the Gotham City police department, led by Police Captain Sarah Essen (Zabryna Guevara, “Burn Notice”), it also will focus on the unlikely friendship Gordon forms with the young heir to the Wayne fortune, who is being raised by his unflappable butler, Alfred (Sean Pertwee, "Camelot," “Elementary”). It is a friendship that will last them all of their lives, playing a crucial role in helping the young boy eventually become the crusader he's destined to be.

"Gotham" is based upon characters published by DC Comics and is produced by Warner Bros. Television. Heller wrote the pilot, which will be directed and executive-produced by Emmy Award nominee Danny Cannon (the “CSI” series, “Nikita”).

[Alex Matthews]

okay, I'll admit, that sounds KEWL!!!!

[Jon Van Pelt]

So, anyone here excited about the new Star Trek TV-series that’s going to start next year at CBS All Access?

I sure am ! They’ve already attracted Kurzman (ST09 en STID), Fuller (DS9/VOY) and Meyer (TWOK/TUC) to run the show, which is great news.
Wonder though which direction they’ll take this new series. Place it in the new Abramsverse, a new reboot, a continuation of the oldverse… So many directions this could go!