A relatively quiet weekend was kicked off with the announcement of a new HBO Max series, a temporary pause on production on a popular television show and a few other tidbits.
We’ll begin with the story about production halting on CBS‘ popular series, Young Sheldon, produced by Chuck Lorre Productions and Warner Bros. TV. The halt was just for one day after an asymptomatic production member returned a positive COVID-19 test on Friday. The show began production on its fourth season on September 22 in Los Angeles, and it was just about to film the new season’s third episode. The positive test was discovered during regular testing for all production employees and the person was put into isolation while production was paused, scheduled to resume again today.
HBO Max announced Friday it has greenlit a new 10-episode series based on the DC Comics character Green Lantern that will be co-written and exec. produced by Seth Grahame-Smith (Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter) and Marc Guggenheim (Arrow, Legends of Tomorrow), the former also acting as showrunner. The series will cover a wide array of the Green Lantern Corps, including Guy Gardner, Jessica Cruz, Simon Baz, Alan Scott and Kilowog, which might make this a successor to the long-planned Green Lantern Corps features. This continues the shift of WarnerMedia from feature films to television for HBO Max with upcoming films like The Batman, The Suicide Squad and Dune spawning spin-off television series for the relatively new streaming division of the cable network. Matt Reeves and Terrance Winter have already received series commitment to create a Gotham PD series from Reeves’ upcoming Batman movie, while The Suicide Squad director James Gunn is developing the Peacemaker series that will star former wrestler John Cena.
In a surprising turn, Netflix decided not to move forward on a new series based on Mark Millar‘s comic The Magic Order, although pre-production had already begun in Prague with plans to start shooting in 2021. Scripts had been written but no one had been cast when the decision was made. What’s odd is that Netflix outright bought Millar’s Millarworld in late 2017 with the plans for Millar to develop properties for the streamer. The Magic Order was one of those properties which led to a popular Image Comics comic series drawn by Olivier Coipel. Netflix has recently cancelled a number of popular series which had previously been greenlit, including GLOW. The Magic Order series was executive produced by James Wan (The Conjuring) and Lindsey Beer but their vision didn’t match Netflix’s own, although the streamer hopes to revisit the property in the future. Director André Ovredal was going to direct the pilot after Wan had to pull out to finish a show that had been delayed due to COVID production shutdowns. In fact, there has been a record number of new reported COVID-19 in the Czech Republic as the virus has begun to re-spread in Europe with one member of The Magic Order team being infected. Netflix’s other Millarworld series Jupiter’s Legacy continues to be on track for a 2021 launch, as other projects, both series and feature films, continue to be developed.
Variety‘s Jazz Tancay spoke to Eric Branco, the cinematographer for Radha Blank‘s black and white film, The 40- Year-Old Version, which premiered on Netflix this past Friday. Branco, who also shot last year’s Clemency, talks about experimenting with film stock and lighting to create the film’s distinctive look. You can read that interview here.
We leave you with the second trailer for Focus Features‘ Promising Young Woman, a thriller starring Carey Mulligan that wowed audiences at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year. It was announced on Friday that the movie will open in theaters on Christmas Day opposite Wonder Woman 1984.
