MGM+ TO TURN STEPHEN BAXTER'S ARK AND GEORGE R. STEWART'S EARTH ABIDES SF BOOKS INTO APOCALYPTIC TV SHOWS! PLUS SAS ROGUE HEROES, BILLY THE KID 2ND SEASONS ORDERED

 MGM PLUS SF SERIES SLATE 

EARTH ABIDES AND ARK

MGM +,  which launches January 15th as a premium linear and streaming channel, under the new name (previously known as Epix) has ordered SAS: Rogue

Ark will be based on Stephen Baxter's book

Heroes and Billy The Kid second seasons and added two new apocalyptic shows as well. Based on the novel by George R. Stewart, EARTH ABIDES is set after a plague of unprecedented virulence sweeps the globe, and the human race is all but wiped out. In the aftermath, as the great machine of civilization slowly and inexorably breaks down, only a few shattered survivors remain to struggle against the slide into barbarism … or extinction. Based on the books by Stephen Baxter, ARK will be set in 2030, when the oceans have risen rapidly, and soon, the entire planet will be submerged. But the discovery of another life-sustaining planet light-years away gives hope to those who remain alive. Only a few will be able to make the generations-long journey, and those who don’t make the cut face a watery death. MGM + also has Domina Ancient Rome set series second season coming up soon and A Spy Among Friends debuting March 12th with Damian Lewis and Guy Pearce. They are also shooting Kevin Kline half hour comedy American Classic!

PREMIUM SPOTLIGHT ON SAS ROGUE HEROES HISTORICAL SERIES STARTING TONIGHT! MEET CHARACTERS THAT CONNOR SWINDELLS, JACK O'CONNELL, ALFIE ALLEN, DOMINIC WEST ARE PLAYING

  SAS ROGUE HEROES  

 ARRIVES TONIGHT TO BBC

Officially the last series of October, together with Marie Antoinette which starts tomorrow in France,  is period set series SAS ROGUE HEROES coming from Steven Knight. The six-part series, which starts

The series starts October 30th on BBC

tonight on BBC One and will later on air on Epix in USA as well, stars Connor Swindells, Jack O'Connell, Alfie Allen, Sofia Boutella, and Dominic West, in a dramatised account of how the SAS was formed under extraordinary circumstances in the darkest days of World War Two. Cairo, 1941. David Stirling (Swindells), an eccentric young officer, hospitalised after a training exercise went wrong, is bored. Convinced that traditional commando units don’t work, he creates a radical plan that flies in the face of all accepted rules of modern warfare. He fights for permission to recruit the toughest, boldest and brightest soldiers for a small undercover unit that will create mayhem behind enemy lines. More rebels than soldiers, Stirling’s team are every bit as complicated, flawed and reckless as they are astonishingly brave and heroic. On Epix it starts November 13th, on Canal Plus in France December 1st.

 

MEET DAVID STIRLING

Connor Swindells is David Stirling in the series,  the real-life founder of the SAS, who when we first meet him in the series is an eccentric young officer serving with 8 Commando. He is frustrated with the military authorities and their handling of strategy. This is Connor's first series lead.

MEET PADDY MAYNE

Jack O'Connell is Paddy Mayne in the series, he was a real-life British army officer and a founding member of the SAS. He is portrayed in the series as something of a live-wire, who is won round by Stirling. O'Connell led The North Water series last year.

MEET JOCK LEWES

Alfie Allen plays Jock Lewes in the new series. Lewes was the real-life founding principal training officer of the SAS, who at the start of the series shares with Stirling his idea of parachuting units of men into the desert to attack by surprise! Alfie starred in Game of Thrones.

MEET MIKE SADLER

Tom Glynn Carney, who currently can be seen in House of the Dragon as Prince Aegon Targaryen, portrays Mike Sadler in the new series based on a book by Ben Macintyre and will air till a week before Christmas. He was also a real-life figure and one of the first officers to join the SAS.

MEET BILL FRASER

Stunningly handsome blond hunk Stuart Campbell  will portray Bill Fraser in the new series which was shot during the hellish summer heat of over 50*C down in Morocco where the crew experienced the same climate as the real SAS soldiers!  Bill was a real-life member of the SAS in the Second World War.

MEET EOIN MCGONIGAL

Dashing Donal Finn, who previously had small roles in other epic shows such as The Wheel of Time and The Witcher, will portray Eoin McGonigal in this new series from BBC and Epix. Like the others, Eoin McGonigal was also a real-life member of the SAS in World War II. 

EPIX ORDERS BELGRAVIA: THE NEW CHAPTER UNDER NEW MGM+ NAME! NETFLIX ORDERS SUPERSEX TV SERIES ABOUT THE LIFE OF FAMOUS PORN LEGEND ROCCO SIFFREDI!

   EPIX ORDERS BELGRAVIA  

SEQUEL UNDER MGM+ NAME

Epix, which will be rebranded as MGM+ from January next week, but will still be available on cable and Prime Video, has ordered a sequel to Julian Fellowes

Belgravia aired on ITV and Epix

flop BELGRAVIA. Titled  BELGRAVIA: THE NEXT CHAPTER, it will pick up in 1865, 25 years after the events depicted in the 2020 mini series and will now follow the love story of Frederick Trenchard, who has grown up as the third Lord Glanville, and his new love interest, Clara Dunn, who is a newcomer to London society. Unaware that his birth was the product of an affair between his mother Susan and the scoundrel John Bellasis, a troubled childhood has left Frederick deeply insecure, which challenges his courtship of and marriage to Clara. In similar news, rival Starz will soon become Lionsgate + outside USA and Canada.

 ROCCO SIFFREDI SUPERSEX 

SERIES ORDERED BY NETFLIX

Europe's favourite 80's porn superstar, the mighty gifted Rocco Siffredi is getting a biopic in the form of a seven episode TV series SUPERSEX at Netflix and

First look at Alessandro Borghi as Siffredi

today we have the first photos with Alessandro Borghi in the lead role. At the center of the story are unpublished aspects of the pornstar, a profound story that runs through his life since childhood. His family, his origins, his relationship with love, the starting point and the context that led him to embark on his path in pornography! The series also stars Jasmine Trinca, Adriano Giannini and Saul Nanni in the role of Rocco as a young man. SUPERSEX is the story of a man who takes seven episodes and 350 minutes to say ‘I love you,’ to accept that the demon in his body is compatible with love. To do this, he must expose the only part of him that we have never seen: his soul. You have watched gorgeous Borghi in Sky's Devils series and will see him in their The Hanging Sun.

ANCIENT ROME SET DOMINA EPIC TV SERIES 2ND SEASON TO SHOOT THIS SPRING! VISIT ISTANBUL IN NEW NETFLIX HISTORICAL ADVENTURE SERIES MIDNIGHT AT THE PERA PALACE

  DOMINA SEASON TWO  

STARTS SHOOTING THIS SPRING

Second season will shoot this spring

Earlier this winter I informed you that Epix has greenlit the second season of their DOMINA epic TV series and now we have a confirmation that it will start shooting this spring in Rome and will, beside Epix, also again air on Sky in Europe next year. The series that sees Kasia Smutniak playing Livia Drusilla, Caesar's (Matthew McNulty) wife, chronicles the struggle for control of the Roman Empire, and of Rome’s Imperial Family from a rare female perspective. In its first season, Livia Drusilla, the golden girl of the prominent Claudii family returned to Rome after ten years in exile, determined to regain everything that was stolen

The first season had great ratings both for Epix and Sky

from her. Now, atop a fractious empire, and a dysfunctional dynasty, she must fight to preserve her marriage to Gaius and find a way to seat one of her sons

Kasia Smutniak will again lead the series as Livia Drusilla

on the throne as new and old rivals jockey for position in a world where it’s impossible to know who to trust. The first season was the most watched in 2021 among the new shows at Epix. Hopefully we will have new casting addition announcements soon.

 MIDNIGHT AT THE PERA PALACE 

NOW STREAMING ON NETFLIX

I kept forgetting to inform you about this one and now it is already streaming over at Netflix. MIDNIGHT AT THE PERA PALACE is a new eight episode historical comedy adventure series based on a Charles King

The Midnight at the Pera Palace is already streaming at Netflix

novel, focusing on the rise of modern-day Turkey! Esra (Hazal Kaya) is a journalist looking for her next big story. She sets off to visit the Pera Palace, an esteemed hotel in Istanbul known for both its intriguing history and its

Hazal Kaya takes the female lead in the series

mysterious supernatural happenings. One fateful night, Esra is suddenly sent back to the past, finding herself in 1919. There, she meets all sorts of key figures from the past, including Mr. Halit (Selahattin Pasali), who isn’t just

The series airs in eight hourlong episodes

the key to Esra returning to the present but is also the key to ensuring the election of Turkey’s first president, Mustafa Kemal, comes to pass. How will Esra keep the past the same to prevent the future from changing? 

UPCOMING NEW TV SHOWS: HORROR COMEDY SHINING VALE WITH COURTENEY COX, GREG KINNEAR, MIRA SORVINO, SHERYLIN FENN, SUPER NATURAL HORROR FROM AT EPIX WITH EION BAILEY, CATALINA SANDINO MORENO

  SHINING VALE SERIES  

ARRIVES TO STARZ THIS MARCH

Shining Vale starts March 6th on Starz

Imagine if you had a ghost to help you write books. That is what happens to Courteney Cox in SHINING VALE horror comedy series starting at Starz March 6th and on Starz Play internationally next day. Greg Kinnear, Mira Sorvino, Rob Morrow and Sherilyn Fenn also star! 

 

A dysfunctional family moves from the city to a small town after Patricia "Pat" Phelps, a former "wild child" who became famous through writing raunchy female empowerment novels, is caught cheating on her husband. The house the family had moved into is a place where in the past, terrible atrocities have taken place. Nobody seems to suspect anything odd except for Pat who's

The comedy horror will air on Starz in eight episodes

convinced she's either depressed or possessed. Pat has been sober for 17 years, but begins to feel very unfulfilled in life – she still hasn't written her second novel, she can't remember the last time she had sex with her husband, and her

Greg Kinnear and Courteney Cox lead the cast of the series

teenage kids have grown up to the point they don't want their mother in their lives. But soon, the demons haunting the family's new home begin to appear much more real. 

 FROM FANTASY TV SERIES 

STARTS ON EPIX FEBRUARY

From arrives on Epix this month

Over on Epix they will have a horror of another kind in their super natural series FROM which starts February 20th starring Eion Bailey, Harold Perrineau, Catalina Sandino Moreno! Ten part super natural mystery thriller series is set in a nightmarish town in middle America that traps everyone who enters, unwilling residents fight to stay alive and keep a sense of normalcy while searching for a way out. But they are plagued by the threats of the surrounding forest including terrifying nocturnal creatures that come out when the sun goes down. Eion Bailey and Catalina Sandino Moreno play parents who got trapped in the town while driving through it with their kids. John Griffin is the show's creator. 

EPIX GIVES ANCIENT ROME SET DOMINA SERIES SECOND SEASON! 1ST PEACOCK'S VAMPIRE ACADEMY SERIES LOOK! BILLY THE KID EPIC SERIES GETS AIR DATE AND NEW TRAILER

 DOMINA EPIC TV SERIES  

RENEWED FOR SEASON 2

We continue with great news from the epic genre today as well as Epix has officially renewed their Ancient Rome set DOMINA TV series for a second season! Adam Brody's period set horror Chapelwaite is also returning with a

Domina was a success for Epix last year

new season. It is not known whether DOMINA, which followed Livia Drussila (Kasia Smutniak) and her husband Gaius' (Matthew McNulty) efforts to secure power over Rome, will also return to Sky in Europe. Season 2 will

The series also aired on Sky in Europe

follow Livia Drusilla of the prominent Claudii as she fights to preserve her marriage to Caesar Augustus and find a way to seat one of her sons on the throne.

 

 PEACOCK'S VAMPIRE ACADEMY 

TV SERIES FIRST LOOK

Peacock has unveiled a first look at their new VAMPIRE ACADEMY series set at St. Vladimir's Academy which isn't just any boarding school – it's

Vampire Academy is based on the popular set of books

a hidden place where vampire royals are educated and half-human teens train to protect them from the savage 'Strigoi' vampires who would like to see them destroyed. Cast is led by Sisi Stringer, Daniela Nieves, Kieron Moore,

Vampire Academy will air sometime this year on Peacock

André Dae Kim, J. August Richards, Anita-Joy Uwajeh, Mia Mckenna-Bruce, Rhian Blundell, Jonetta Kaiser and Andrew Liner!

 BILLY THE KID SERIES 

TO ARRIVE THIS APRIL

Speaking of Epix, they have set April 24th start for their new series BILLY THE KID an eight episode show that tells the story of Billy the Kid (Tom Blyth) from his humble Irish roots, to his early days as a cowboy and

Billy the Kid will arrive April 24th at Epix

gunslinger in the American frontier, to his pivotal role in the Lincoln County War and beyond. Viewers will also meet Jesse Evans (Daniel Webber),

Billy the Kid comes from Tudors and Vikings Michael Hirst

another famous outlaw and leader of the Seven Rivers Gang. When they meet, Jesse has already embraced a life of crime: robbing stores and cattle rustling.

Tom Blythe takes the lead role of Billy the Kid

Billy is attracted to his wild and reckless character and becomes Billy’s doppelganger of sorts — his shadow self, forever inviting him over to the dark side of life.

CATE BLANCHETT, MARK STRONG TO LEAD TAR MOVIE ABOUT A FEMALE CONDUCTOR! SEE FROM SUPERNATURAL EPIX SERIES TRAILER ABOUT A TOWN THAT TRAPS EVERYONE WHO ENTERS

   CATE BLANCHETT   

Blanchett will lead the fictional story

TO CONDUCT AN ORCHESTRA IN TAR MOVIE

As Deadline reports, it will arrive next October and beside Cate Blanchett in the lead role,  TAR will also star Nina Hoss, Noémie Merlant, Sophie Kauer, Julian Glover, Mark Strong, Allan Corduner, and Sylvia Flote. In the film the two time Oscar winner Blanchett will be playing fictional character Lydia Tár, an orchestra conductor widely considered one of the greatest at her craft, and the first ever female chief conductor of a major German orchestra! It is the story of world renowned musician Lydia Tár who is just days away from recording the symphony that will take her to the very heights of her already formidable career. Todd Field wrote the script and is also directing over in Berlin. You remember him for previously directing other Kate - Winslet in the most amazing drama Little Children.

 FROM SUPERNATURAL SERIES 

EPIX RELEASES FIRST TRAILER

Epix has released trailer for their new supernatural horror series FROM which arrives February 20th next year. The story of the ten episode show will unravel the mystery of a nightmarish town in middle America that traps all

Harold Perineau leads the cast as the sheriff of the town

those who enter. As the unwilling residents fight to keep a sense of normalcy and search for a way out, they must also survive the threats of the surrounding forest – including the terrifying creatures that come out when the sun goes

Eoin Bailey plays the father of the trapped family

down. The cast includes Catalina Sandino Moreno and Eion Bailey as married couple Jim and Tabitha Matthews, who are struggling in the aftermath of a personal tragedy and suddenly find their family trapped in the

The ten episode series arrives to Epix next February

town. Together they must find a way to keep their children safe, struggling to come to terms with this new reality even as they desperately search for a way back home! Harold Perrineau leads the cast as the sheriff of the little town.

BREAKING NEWS: 1ST TRAILER & AIRING DATE FOR NEW JULIAN FELLOWES PERIOD SET SAGA THE GILDED AGE SET IN 19TH CENTURY NEW YORK! 1ST LOOK AT TOM BLYTH AS BILLY THE KID IN NEW EPIX TV SERIES

 THE GILDED AGE SERIES 

TRAILER & AIRTIME REVEALED

HBO and Sky have unveiled the trailer and airing time for new Julian Fellowes period set series THE GILDED AGE which will arrive to Sky January 25th and to HBO a day before. Fellowes has both written and produced the opulent nine part series.

  THE GILDED AGE IN THE 1880S
New York City was a period of immense social upheaval, of huge fortunes made and lost, and of palaces that spanned the length of Fifth Avenue. In the series, Marian Brook (Louisa Jacobson) is the wide-eyed young scion of a

Louisa Jacobson is actually the youngest daughter of Meryl Streep

conservative family who will embark on infiltrating the wealthy neighboring family dominated by ruthless railroad tycoon George Russell (Morgan Spector), his rakish and available son Larry, and his ambitious wife Bertha (Carrie Coon), whose "new money" is a barrier to acceptance by the Astor

Carrie Coon and Morgan Spector are the Russells

and Vanderbilt set. Marian is about to experience a whole new world springing up right outside her front door. Christine Baranski and Cynthia Nixon are Marian's wealthy aunts, with Taissa Farmiga, Nathan Lane, Blake Ritson, Simon Jones, Harry Richardson, Thomas Cocquerel, Jack Gilpin also in the massive cast.

 

 BILLY THE KID SERIES  

FIRST LOOK FROM EPIX 

Epix has released first teaser and photos revealing Tom Blyth as BILLY THE KID in the new historical series coming from Tudors and Vikings creator Michael Hirst. He, coincidentally, also stars in the above mentioned Gilded Age. The eight episode series is an epic romantic adventure based on

The series will have eight episodes and will arrive next year

the life of famous American outlaw Billy the Kid, also known as William H. Bonney — from his humble Irish roots, to his early days as a cowboy and gunslinger in the American frontier, to his pivotal role in the Lincoln County War and beyond. Daniel Webber plays Jesse Evans, another famous outlaw

Young Tom Blyth takes the lead role of Billy the Kid

and leader of the Seven Rivers Gang. When they meet, Jesse has already embraced a life of crime: robbing stores and cattle rustling. Billy is attracted to his wild and reckless character and becomes Billy’s doppelganger of sorts — his shadow self, forever inviting him over to the dark side of life.

 

PREMIUM SPOTLIGHT ON ADRIEN BRODY'S 19TH CENTURY SET GOTHIC TV SERIES CHAPELWAITE BASED ON STEPHEN KING'S JERUSALEM'S LOT!

   CHAPELWAITE TV SERIES   

READY 2 SCARE U THIS MONTH

Adrien Brody is leading Chapelwaite

Let us face it, people, ever since I've been spying I don't remember that we've ever had such a nasty and bland summer as this one was, even the previous one which hit us in the middle of a deadly disease outbreak had tons of great series and this one has next to none: beside North Water that is airing on AMC and Nine Perfect Strangers that starts at the end of the month, the only other new show we can look forward to is period set horror series CHAPELWAITE which will arrive August 22nd based on Stephen King's Jerusalem's Lot. It has been shot, with certain difficulties, last summer, and is finally getting to the small screens.

THE STORY OF CHAPELWAITE

Set in the 1850s, it follows Captain Charles Boone (Adrien Brody), who relocates his family of three children to his ancestral home in the small, seemingly sleepy town of Preacher’s Corners, Maine after his wife dies at sea.

Adrien Brody leads the cast of the new historical horror

However, Charles will soon have to confront the secrets of his family’s sordid history, and fight to end the darkness that has plagued the Boones for generations. Emily Hampshire is Rebecca Morgan, an ambitious young

Chapelwaite will air in eight episodes from August 22nd

woman who left Preacher’s Corners to attend Mount Holyoke College, and has returned home with an advance to write a story for the new and prestigious Atlantic Magazine. Her writer’s block lifts when Boone arrives in town with his

Emily Hampshire takes the female lead in the series

children, and despite her mother’sprotests, Rebecca applies to be governess of the infamous Chapelwaite manor and the Boone family in order to write about them. In doing so, Rebecca will not only craft the next great gothic novel, she’ll

The series is based on a Stephen King novella.

unravel a mystery that has plagued her own family for years. Trina Corkum, Gord Rand and Allegra Fulton also star in the ten episode historical horror series. The latest trailer below looks about ten times more bizarre than the previous ones, so be warned! I screamed, I screamed a lot!

CHAPELWAITE GOTHIC MYSTERY SERIES TEASER IS HERE WITH ADRIEN BRODY AND AIRING DATE BASED ON STEPHEN KING'S HORROR STORY!

 CHAPELWAITE TEASER TRAILER

FOR ADRIAN BRODY PERIOD SET GOTHIC THRILLER TV SERIES

I gotta admit I am still worried we won't have anything to watch this summer, but if it is any consolation Epix is promising us this:

Chapelwaite arrives this August to Epix

CHAPELWAITE series based on Stephen King's famous story Jerusalem's Lot (prequel to his Salem's Lot) which will air this August in ten episodes with Adrien Brody in the lead role of a man from the 1850s who relocates his family to his ancestral home in Maine, but the question is - does the house really want new guests ?

      CHAPEL WAITE 

 is set in the 1850s. It follows Captain Charles Boone (Adrien Brody), who relocates his family of three children to his ancestral home in the small, seemingly sleepy town of Preacher’s Corners, Maine after his wife dies at sea. However, Charles will soon have to confront the secrets of his family’s sordid history, and fight to

Adrien Brody is leading the ten part horror series

end the darkness that has plagued the Boones for generations. Emily Hampshire plays Rebecca Morgan, an ambitious young woman who left Preacher’s Corners to attend Mount Holyoke College, and has returned home

Emily Hampshire takes the female lead as the governess

with an advance to write a story for the new and prestigious Atlantic Magazine. Her writer’s block lifts when Boone arrives in town with his children, and despite her mother’s protests, Rebecca applies to be governess of

The series is based on a story by Stephen King

the infamous Chapelwaite manor and the Boone family in order to write about them. In doing so, Rebecca will not only craft the next great gothic novel, she’ll unravel a mystery that has plagued her own family for years.

FANTASY WEEKEND: AZTECH FORGOTTEN GODS TO BECOME A SF ADVENTURE MOVIE! EION BAILEY, HAROLD PERRINEAU TO LEAD EPIX' SF HORROR SERIES FROM ABOUT TOWN THAT TRAPS ALL WHO ENTER

  AZTECH FORGOTTEN GODS  

TO MOVE TO THE BIG SCREENS

A bit of fantasy today, starting with the movie adaptation of upcoming Aztech Forgotten Gods video game simply titled AZTECH. In this revisionist historical telling of Aztec history, European powers never arrived on the

Aztech will be turned into a sf movie

shores of ancient Mesoamerica. The story takes place in a future where the Aztec empire was never conquered, and flourished into a hyper advanced, cutting edge civilization. The Aztec Empire’s capital, Tenochtitlan, has thrived for centuries as a stone metropolis, techno- logically elevated yet heavily rooted in the ways of those indigenous to the land. That is, until supernatural beings suddenly start to converge on the ancient city, duping those who live there by masking themselves as ancient Aztec gods like the Feathered Serpent deity Quetzalcoatl

The video game itself will be launched later this summer

or Mictlantecuhtli the Lord of the Underworld. Their goal is to enslave the inhabitants. Seeing through their ruse is an unlikely twenty something heroine named Achtli, whose arm has been replaced with a powerful gauntlet-like ancient stone weapon. She leads the opposition and uncovers the mystery behind these beings.

 EPIX' HORROR SF SERIES FROM 

ADS EION BAILEY AND HAROLD PERRINEAU AS LEADS

Epix has, meanwhile, set their leads for new sf series simply titled FROM which unravels the mystery of a nightmarish town in middle America that

Eion Bailey will take the lead role in From

traps all those who enter. As the unwilling residents fight to keep a sense of normalcy and search for a way out, they must also survive the threats of the surrounding forest – including the terrifying creatures that come out when the sun goes down. Eion Bailey will play Jim Matthews, who, along with his wife, is struggling in the aftermath of a personal tragedy and suddenly finds himself and his family trapped in the town. Harold Perrineau will be Boyd Stevens, the sheriff whose Draconian rules have held the fragile town together, even as he searches for a way to escape this seemingly inescapable nightmare. Stay tuned for additional casting.