Oh, sing me a sad song, spylings, the spring landscapes on the small screens have been such a tragic wasteland so far! Out of new epic shows we only had Leonardo which started this Friday and then the only next one is arriving next week: SHADOW AND BONE series, based on the Grishaverse novels by Leigh Bardugo hits Netflix April 23rd. As Bardugo described herself - the series takes place in a very different kind of fantasy world. Think Imperial Russia, not Medieval
Lead character Alina Starkov reveals she has special powers
England, repeating rifles instead of broadswords. Of course with the cast that looks as bland as the one from Twilight, and female lead charismatic as much as a lukewarm mash potato, don't raise your hopes too high!
SHADOW AND BONE SEASON ONE
will see the story adapting two overlapping
series in Leigh Bardugo’s Grishaverse: Shadow and Bone and Six of Crows.
The eight episode series will, however, differ massively from those two
sagas as they had to somehow
Judging by the photos the only plus in the series are the costumes
connect the characters in them within one
TV show. The story is set in a world that is split in two by a massive
barrier of perpetual darkness, where unnatural creatures feast on human flesh.
The protagonist is Alina Starkov, a young
The series will consist of eight hourlong episodes in the first season
soldier and a citizen of the
Russia inspired Kingdom of Ravka. She unexpectedly uncovers a power that
might save her best friend and finally unite her country. As she starts
to hone it, dangerous forces unite against her
Ben Barnes is General Kirigan the head of kingdom's magical elite army
and only General Kirigan
seems to be willing to help. Thugs, thieves, assassins, and saints are
at war now, and it will take more than magic to survive.
WHO IS IN THE CAST?
With Eric Heisserer
as the showrunner, the cast of the series, which managed to wrap its
production over in Hungary back in February before the general lockdown,
includes (it is strange that the producers have not find it
The series is based on Leigh Bardugo's Grishaverse novels
convenient to put Russian actors in the cast but they did put Asian and black actors in a Russia inspired story):
Jessie Mei Li as Alina Starkov,
Ben
Our dear Luke Pasqualino will be the eye candy of the show
Barnes as General Kirigan aka The Darkling,
Freddy Carter as Kaz Brekker aka Dirtyhands,
Archie Renaux as Malyen Oretsev,
Kit Young as Jesper
A lethal heartrender and spy Nina Zenik and witch hunter Matthias Helvar
Fahey,
Calahan Skogman as Matthias Helvar,
Danielle Galligan as Nina Zenik,
Amita Suman as Inej Ghafa,
Sujaya Dasgupta as Zoya Nazyalensky,
Costumes in the series are inspired by Imperial Russia
Daisy Head as Genya Safin, Julian Kostov as Fedyor Kaminsky,
ZoëWanamaker as Baghra,
Kevin Eldon as The Apparat,
Luke Pasqualino as David Kostyk,
Jasmine Blackborow as Marie,
Gabrielle Brooks as Nadia Zhabin.
If you don't know what to watch next week, here is something coming to Netflix April 22nd (Prime Video in Canada) STOWAWAY is a science fiction thriller written
The movie streams April 22nd on Netflix
and directed by Joe Penna and starring Toni Collette as the ship commander, Daniel Dae Kim as the ship's biologist, Anna Kendrick as medical researcher and Shamier Anderson as the stowaway and a ship launch engineer. On a mission headed to Mars, an unintended stowaway accidentally causes severe damage to the spaceship’s life support systems. Facing dwindling resources and a potentially fatal outcome, the crew is forced to make an impossible decision. Too far from Earth to turn back and with resources quickly dwindling, the ship's medical researcher emerges as the only dissenting voice against the group consensus that has already decided in favor of a grim outcome!
We haven't seen any films on them, methinks, but the grandson of THE LAST QUEEN OF ITALY, prince Emanuele Filiberto di Savoia will team up with
Marie Jose of Belgium was the last queen of Italy
Chinese director Yi Zhou in producing a TV series and then also a film on his grandmother Queen Marie Jose known as ‘The May Queen’, as she reigned for just 35 days. She was known as a radical royal who helped try to topple Italy’s fascist leader Mussolini and pleaded with Hitler to help the Belgian people (her father was king of Belgium). She lived in exile for years and died in 2001 aged 94. The Royal House of Savoy TV series, set to shoot in Fall 2022, will depict the beginnings of Marie-José, the young maverick princess as she grows into an independent woman, then dutifully fulfills her destiny of wedding a handsome prince. After that, in 2023, the plan is to shoot a movie as well.
DEZZY'S HISTORY LESSON
Following Italy's defection to the Allied side in the war, her
discredited father-in-law, King Victor Emmanuel III, who supported the
Nazis, withdrew from government. Her husband became acting monarch and
Marie-José became
Marie Jose and Crown Prince Umberto of Italy at their wedding
Queen consort of Italy, and remained such until the
monarchy was abolished by plebiscite, on 2 June 1946. During the war, as
she did not agree with her father in law's politics, and she
sympathised with the partisans, she was sent to Switzerland, but from
there she smuggled weapons, money and food for Partisans.
Well, they haven't had any historical series so far, methinks, but Disney + will change that with their new British order: Gentleman Jack's Sally Wainwright will produce for them THE BALLAD OF RENEGADE NELL eight part series, a stylish, witty and surprising romp set in the 18th century! When she’s framed for murder, Nell Jackson is forced into a life of highway robbery, along with her two orphaned sisters Roxanne and George. Aided by a plucky little spirit called Billy Blind, Nell realizes that fate has put her on the wrong side of the law for a reason, a reason much bigger than she could’ve ever imagined, a reason that goes right up to Queen Anne and beyond, to the struggle for power raging across the battlefields of Europe.
First trailer is here for a new fantasy series coming from our dear Beta Film WILD REPUBLIC which premieres tomorrow on Magenta TV in Germany.
Series premieres tomorrow on Magenta TV
This eight episode series tells the thrilling story of nine juvenile outsiders.
In the midst of the impassable landscape at the foot of the Alps, a young group of serious offenders is undergoing an experiential educational program intended to rehabilitate them. All of a sudden, a member of the program dies a violent death. Nobody knows exactly what happened, and the youths face a difficult decision. Should they wait for the authorities to recover the body and investigate the crime? Or, escape and take their fate into their own hands? The group doesn't have much in common with each other, though one thing unites them; all of them have had really bad
Magenta TV is a Deutche Telecom streamer if I got it right
experiences with the authorities and don‘t expect to be treated fairly. Since they don't know who the perpetrator is, they only have one option: to run. Up the mountains, up the highest peaks of the Alps. It seems hopeless until they
The series had a budget of almost $16 million!
stumble onto a complex cave system where they can find shelter from wind, weather, and their pursuers. In their fight against the forces of nature, they form their own society, according to their own rules: the Wild Republic.
As Variety reports, Germany’s Goodfriends Filmproduktion and Austria’s Satel Film will produce a six episode TV series on MOZART to be directed by Andreas Prochaska. Set in the absolutist 18th century, it will
The series will shoot in authentic locations
tell a modern story of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, not just the story of one of the most important musicians of mankind, but of a rebel and revolutionary who risked his life by openly opposing the nobility and the Emperor, Joseph II. Mozart was deeply affected by the ideas of the Enlightenment as they spread through Europe, climaxing in the French Revolution! In Austria, Joseph II initiated reforms in 1780, such as the abolition of serfdom, but these fell far short, with the nobility, after a furious push back against reform, retaining full ownership of land. In such a context, there was only one man who could stand up to the nobility and the Emperor, given he was so loved in Austria: Mozart. Satel Film, who recently had a hit with Freud series, will spend 19 million euro on this one.
SENDS REBECCA ROMIJN AND JERRY O'CONNELL TO AFRICA
And it is so lovely to see the married couple together even if it is in a nasty pickle: ENDANGERED SPECIES starring Rebecca Romijn and her husband
The movie is out at the end of May
Jerry O'Connell next to Philip Winchester and Michael Johnston.
ENDANGERED SPECIES is an intense, action packed survival adventure about a wealthy American family who travel to the vast African wilderness of Kenya hoping for a dream vacation filled with excitement, bonding and a chance to fix the growing rifts within their family. But when their safari vehicle is attacked by a rhino protecting her calf, the family is left stranded miles from help and their dream vacation turns into a nightmarish struggle for survival in a world where they are the bottom of the food chain.
The movie is out at the end of May, directed and written by M.J. Bassett.
I announced this one back in January when I did our planetary famous spotlight on all the epic series we can expect this year, but ADVENTURES
Voltaire aired at France 2 back in February
OF YOUNG VOLTAIRE (Les aventures du jeune Voltaire) have aired in France in the meantime, back in late February, so here is the trailer for you to see what you missed. Thomas Soliveres plays famous philosopher and writer in his younger days while Bernard Le Coq plays the older version. Most of the four episode series was shot in Château de Chantilly!
The story of young Voltaire
How does one become Voltaire? The giant of Thought, the master of
Blasphemy, whose battles will give birth to the French Revolution? This
is the subject of this mini-series. People of France know a lot about
the venerable philosopher, a
The series had to stop shooting during corona outbreak
refugee in Ferney, but they don't know much
about the young man he was. Commoner, the future Voltaire will shake up
all the social and religious conventions of his time. Put in Bastille
twice, exiled in England,
Thomas Soliveres plays the famous philosopher in his youth
historiographer of Louis XV, hated by the
Court of France, millionaire at 40 thanks to speculation. Voltaire wants
everything: glory, women and money!
In a new untitled TV series which would mark his return to Apple TV after the critically acclaimed Palmer movie. As Deadline reports, the series will be based on Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, a 1984 memoir in which Barris made suspect claims that being the zany Gong Show host and creator of game shows like The Dating Game and The Newlywed Game was cover for his real job: CIA assassin who took out enemies of the state in the 1960s and 1970s! The book was already adapted into a movie a few years ago under George Clooney's helm, but now it will become an hour long television series.
NEW DOMINA TRAILER
FOR ROME SET EPIC SERIES
Sky Italia has released a new longer trailer for eight episode saga DOMINA which will air this May in Italy and June in Germany with UK date still not yet
Domina will probably arrive next month
announced but possibly also coming in May. The series will see Kasia Smutniak play the lead role in the story following the life and the extraordinary rise of Livia Drusilla, the mother of the emperor Tiberius, who overcame adversity to become the most powerful woman in the world! Matthew McNulty as future emperor of Rome Gaius, Ben Batt as Agrippa, Lex Schrapnel, Liam Cunningham, Claire Forlani and Isabella Rossellini also star in the new saga! It follows Livia’s journey from a naïve young girl whose world crumbles in the wake of Julius Caesar’s assassination, to Rome’s most powerful and influential Empress, driven by a deep desire to avenge her father and secure power for her sons.
Matthew McNulty is future emperor Gaius of Rome
Livia and her peers navigate their way through a brutal society by means of strategy, conspiracy, seduction and murder. Check out the longer Italian trailer below.
SAM WORTHINGTON, SULLIVAN STAPLETON, RICHARD ROXBURGH
It will really be an all star Australian cast: their broadcaster ABC and Tony Ayres, who created Cate Blanchett's Stateless series, are preparing a new six part series FIRES inspired by extraordinary accounts from people who survived the catastrophic fire season in Australia of late 2019 and early 2020! Sam Worthington, Richard Roxburgh, Sullivan Stapleton,
Sam Worthington, Sullivan Stapleton, Richard Roxburgh, Miranda Otto
Miranda Otto, Hunter Page Lochard, Anna Torv, Kate Box, Helana Sawires, Daniel Henshall and Noni Hazlehurst will all star together with Eliza Scanlen! Fires is a series about ordinary people, caught in the unimaginable, and the ways they came together in the face of a devastating natural disaster.Each episode is based around a different community and drawn from reports of ordinary people and the difficult choices they were forced to make.
WOMAN IN THE WINDOW
TRAILER WITH AMY ADAMS
The movie is finally out May 14th!
If you think you will be in the mood for some spooky thrillers this May, WOMAN IN THE WINDOW will stream over at Netflix May 14th with Amy Adams, Julianne Moore, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Gary Oldman, Anthony Mackee in the Joe Wright directed movie based on an A.J. Finn's novel. Anna Fox (Amy Adams) feels safest when she’s watching the world from behind her window. Until the Russell family moves in across the street, and she witnesses something unimaginable. The question is...what really happened? Check out the trailer below and tell us what you think!
