ANTHONY HOPKINS IS EMPEROR VESPASIAN IN GLADIATOR EPIC SERIES THOSE ABOUT TO DIE! BBC & PBS ORDER MOONFLOWER MURDERS FOLLOW UP WITH LESLEY MANVILLE! CHRONICLES OF AMBER NEW EPIC ADAPTATION?

 ANTHONY HOPKINS IS EMPEROR 

IN THOSE ABOUT TO DIE SERIES

Well, if crowning the emperor isn't a good sign that this one is moving ahead I don't know what is: as Deadline reports, Roland Emmerich has cast Anthony Hopkins as emperor Vespasian in Peacocks' new epic TV series about gladiators THOSE ABOUT TO DIE! The large scale drama is set within the spectacular, complex and corrupt world of gladiatorial sports in Ancient Rome introducing diverse characters across the many layers of Roman society where sports, politics and business intersect and collide. Emperor Vespasian of Rome and head of the Flavian bloodline, is battle tested, a rural upstart who claimed his throne after victory in a bloody 10-year civil war. He is aging and is despised by the Patricians jockeying for position in the Empire and looking to supplant his heirs to the throne the first chance they get.

MOONFLOWER MURDERS SERIES

ORDERED AT BBC AND PBS

After the success of Magpie Murders, the series is getting a follow up in MOONFLOWER MURDERS over at PBS and BBC even though the first series was produced by Britbox. Lesley Manville returns as editor turned sleuth Susan Ryeland with Timothy McMullan returning as famous literary detective Atticus Pünd. It will be based on another book by Anthony Horovitz which takes place after the Magpie story and focuses on the disappearance of a hotel employee, with the plot also having a story-within-a-story. 

  CHRONICLES OF AMBER  

EPIC SERIES MOVING AHEAD?

Stephen Colbert will produce the series

Although many have tried to do an adaptation of Roger Zelazny's CHRONICLES OF AMBER famous epic fantasy saga, it seems the production might move ahead as Stephen Colbert has now decided to executive produce it. Sold in more than fifteen million copies around the world and translated in over 40 languages, the series follows the story of Corwin, who is said to awaken on Earth with no memory, but soon finds he is a prince of a royal family that has the ability to travel through different dimensions of reality (called ‘shadows’) and rules over the one true world, Amber. The saga has been published in ten books.

SEE MATTHIAS SCHOENAERTS AS DJANGO IN 1ST TRAILER FOR THE 1800S WILD WEST SET TV SERIES! TOM JONES PERIOD SET DRAMA TRAILER IS HERE WITH AIRING DATE ON PBS!

  FIRST DJANGO TRAILER  

FOR NEW SKY TV SERIES

It is here and it looks better than I expected: Sky has released first trailer for their ten part 1800s set Wild West series DJANGO which arrives to Sky streamers February 17th and will also air on Canal + in France starring Matthias Schoenaerts as famous gunslinger Django, alongside Nicholas

Django arrives this February

Pinnock as John Ellis, visionary founder of the town of New Babylon, Lisa Vicari as Django’s daughter Sarah, and Noomi Rapace as John’s powerful and ruthless enemy Elizabeth Thurman. The cast also includes Tom Austen as cowboy Eljiah Turner. 

THE STORY FOLLOWS 

 Django, a gunslinger in the Wild West who is searching for his daughter who he believes escaped the murder of his family eight years ago. In following his daughter’s trail, Django comes upon New Babylon, a town at the bottom of a crater, where all outcasts are welcome and where everyone is equal and free. Here, Django discovers that his daughter is alive and set to marry John Ellis, the founder of New Babylon. Sarah – who blames her father for the death of their family, massacred many years earlier while he was at war – wants Django to leave. But he refuses to give up and does everything in his power to get a second chance with her, becoming a valuable ally for Ellis, who must defend the town from Elizabeth Thurman’s attacks. Unbeknownst to them, Django, John, and Sarah are linked by a web of secrets and a dark past bound to resurface.

 

  TOM JONES TRAILER  

AND AIRING DATE REVEALED

Well, it looks worse than even I expected, but you will judge for yourself when you see this travesty of the first trailer for TOM JONES mini TV series that arrives to PBS Masterpiece April 30th! The adaptation of Henry

Tom Jones arrives this April to PBS

Fielding's beloved novel sees Hannah Waddingham portraying the seductive and vengeful Lady Bellaston, who comes between Tom (Solly McLeod) and Sophia (Sophie Wilde). The story follows Tom Jones, a foundling of uncertain parentage in 18th Century England who falls for an heiress, who is, of course, blackwashed in the series. James Fleet stars as Squire Allworthy, Tom’s warm-hearted adoptive father; Alun Armstrong as Allworthy’s hard drinking but loveable neighbor Squire Western, who is Sophia’s doting grandfather; Felicity Montagu as Allworthy’s reserved sister, Bridget; and James Wilbraham as her odious son, William Blifil, an unrelenting antagonist to Tom.

SEE HUGH BONNEVILLE, JACK LOWDEN, DOMINIC COOPER, TOM CULLEN IN 1ST THE GOLD BBC DRAMA PHOTOS! HEIST GOES WRONG FOR WILLEM DAFOE IN INSIDE MOVIE TRAILER

 1ST THE GOLD BBC DRAMA 

TRAILER WITH JACK LOWDEN, HUGH BONEVILLE, DOMINIC COOPER 

BBC has just released first trailer from their upcoming new drama series THE GOLD starring Hugh Bonneville, Jack Lowden, Dominic Cooper, Charlotte Spencer, Tom Cullen, Emun Elliott, Sean Harris, Ellora Torchia and Stefanie Martini! On the 26th November 1983, six armed men broke into the Brink’s-Mat security depot near London’s Heathrow Airport, and inadvertently stumbled across gold bullion worth £26m. What started as 'a typical Old Kent Road armed robbery' according to detectives at the time, became a seminal event in British criminal history, remarkable not only for the scale of the theft - at the time the biggest in global history - but for its wider legacy. The disposal of the bullion caused the birth of large-scale international money laundering, provided the dirty money that helped fuel the London Docklands property boom, united blue and white collar criminals and left controversy and murder in its wake. Daniel Ings, Adam Nagaitis, Sam Spruell, have also been added to the cast!

 

  INSIDE MOVIE TRAILER  

STARRING WILLEM DAFOE

The movie is out March 24th

It will air at Berlin Film Festival this year before hitting theatres next March, but we already have a poster and trailer for Willem Dafoe's new movie INSIDE coming from director Vasilis Katsoupis. In the film, which is a co production between United States, Switzerland, Germany, Belgium and Greece, Dafoe plays Nemo, a high-end art thief, who ends up trapped in a lavish New York penthouse after his heist doesn't go as planned. Locked inside with nothing but priceless works of art, he must use all his cunning and invention to survive. Check out the rather crazy and intense trailer below and tell us what you think:

THEO JAMES TO PLAY GEORGE MICHAEL IN A $100 MILLION BIOPIC ON SINGER'S LIFE AND CAREER?

  THEO JAMES TO LEAD  

GEORGE MICHAEL BIOPIC?

It seems that after The Queen and Elton John another major music legend is getting a biopic: Theo James is apparently the main choice for the lead role in a movie about George Michael. The super expensive movie will follow his Wham! days and also his successful career later on as a solo singer with numerous pop hits. His addiction to drugs and his sex life will also be covered in a film that allegedly has the support of his family as well. It is interesting that Theo is Greek just like George was.

PREMIUM SPOTLIGHT ON NEW FRENCH WW1 HISTORICAL SERIES WOMEN AT WAR WHICH ARRIVES TO NETFLIX NEXT WEEK

    WOMEN AT WAR  

NEW FRENCH TV SERIES

The French were relatively active last year in the historical genre, with Marie Antoinette and Diane de Poitiers and some other costume dramas, and they

The series hits Netflix next week

are launching 2023 with WOMEN AT WAR (Les Combattantes) as the first series of that genre coming to us this year from France. The eight part historical drama actually already aired in France and the French speaking countries last Autumn, but the audience around the world will be able to watch it from January 19th, which is next Thursday, when it starts streaming over at Netflix! Tcheky Karyo, Tom Leeb, Yannick Choirat, Vincent Rottiers also star in the series beside the female leads mentioned below who play four women during World War I: a nun, a feminist nurse, a prostitute, and a widow turned factory boss. As usual Netflix did not deem it fit to issue posters or a trailer for a foreign series, but I found you one with English subtitles below:

  STORY IS SET IN SEPTEMBER 1914
For several weeks, the fighting has been raging. In a small village in the east of France, a few kilometers from the German zone, four women find themselves thrown into the heart of the horror: Marguerite (Audrey Fleurot), a Parisian prostitute as mysterious as she is flamboyant who is suspected of being a spy ; Caroline (Sofia Essaïdi), wife of Victor Dewitt, owner of a car factory, went to the front. She sees herself propelled to the head of the family business, a colossal and unprecedented challenge for a woman at the beginning of the century; Agnès (Julie De Bona), mother superior of a convent requisitioned and transformed into a military hospital. Overwhelmed by the influx of wounded soldiers, Agnès is more tormented and questions her life choices; and Suzanne (Camille Lou), a young feminist nurse on the run since an abortion that went wrong... All their destinies intersect as German troops advance, men leave for the front lines, and they are forced to grapple with the devastating consequences of war at home.

JACK CUTMORE SCOTT TO PLAY FRASIER'S SON IN THE REVIVAL OF THE POPULAR SITCOM WITH KELSEY GRAMMER! SHARPER MOVIE TRAILER WITH SEBASTIAN STAN, JULIANNE MOORE, JOHN LITHGOW

  FRASIER SEQUEL CASTS  

JACK CUTMORE AS HIS SON

After casting Only Fools and Horses' Nicholas Lyndhurst as one of the regulars, FRASIER sequel comedy series at Paramount + has now cast Jack Cutmore Scott as Frasier's son. Kelsey Grammer is back as Frasier who is now off to a different city with new challenges to face, new relationships to forge, and an old dream or two to finally fulfill. While Lyndhurst will play a university professor who is an old college friend of Frasier’s, Cutmore will be Frasier’s son Freddy: charming and handsome,  he is a nuanced combination of his father and grandfather. Years ago, Freddy rejected following in his father’s footsteps, dropping out of college to become a fireman, and he’s never looked back until now, when recent troubles have left him with no one to turn to in his life. If they can overcome past differences, Freddy and Frasier might finally have a chance to repair old wounds. Frasier's brother Niles will not be a regular character in the revival.

   SHARPER TRAILER  

FOR NEW APPLE TV PLUS MOVIE

Sharper will stream February 17th

Apple TV Plus has released a trailer for their new thriller movie SHARPER with Julianne Moore, Sebastian Stan, John Lithgow, Justice Smith, and Briana Middleton who star in this psychological thriller which will play in select theaters February 10 and streaming February 17 on Apple TV+! No one is who they seem in SHARPER, a neo-noir thriller of secrets and lies, set amongst New York City's bedrooms, barrooms and boardrooms. Characters compete for riches and power in a high stakes game of ambition, greed, lust and jealousy that will keep audiences guessing until the final moment. In the film Sebastian Stan takes the lead role as a con artist who takes on Manhattan's billionaires. Benjamin Caron directed the movie.

HOTEL PORTOFINO OPENS ITS ITALIAN RIVIERA DOORS AGAIN IN THE SECOND SEASON TRAILER FOR THE PERIOD SET SERIES! NICHOLAS GALITZINE JOINS JULIANNE MOORE IN MARY & GEORGE PERIOD SET SERIES

 NICHOLAS GALITZINE JOINS 

JULIANNE MOORE IN MARY & GEORGE COSTUME DRAMA

After announcing Julianne Moore as the lead star of their new costume series MARY AND GEORGE, Sky and AMC have cast Nicholas Galitzine as her son George. In the eight part series she will play Mary Villiers, Countess of Buckingham, who in 17th century England molded her beautiful son, George (Galitzine), to seduce King James I and become his all-powerful lover. Through outrageous scheming, the pair rose from humble beginnings to become one of the richest, most titled and influential mother and sons England had ever seen. 

   HOTEL PORTOFINO   

SECOND SEASON TRAILER!

The second season returns this February

Well, it comes sooner than I expected, but Australian Foxtel has released today a trailer for the second season of HOTEL PORTOFINO period set drama which hits the streamer February 12th and will air on ITV February 3rd and later this year on PBS in USA. Set on the Italian Riviera in the 1920s, HOTEL PORTOFINO tells the story of the Ainsworth family that has relocated to Italy to set up a quintessentially British hotel in the beautiful town of Portofino. Amidst the rise of Fascism in Mussolini’s Italy, season two will see Ainsworth family relations reach breaking point and the future of the hotel threatened. Embracing themes of sexual and social liberation, season two will see Natascha McElhone reprise her role as owner of Hotel Portofino and family matriarch, Bella Ainsworth. Mark Umbers plays her charming but dangerous aristocratic husband, Cecil, Oliver Dench is their handsome son Lucian, Daniele Pecci as the dashing count Albani, and Lily Fraser will return as the hotel’s most famous guest singer-turned-movie star, Claudine Pascal. Roby Schinasi has joined the cast as the handsome Victor Michel.

Let the good times roll. #HotelPortofino Season 2 premieres February 12 on Foxtel. pic.twitter.com/pTllDpr4oE

— Foxtel (@Foxtel) January 12, 2023

ENJOY LOVE THIS VALENTINES WITH TRAILERS FOR ROMANTIC COMEDIES AT MIDNIGHT WITH DIEGO BONETTA, ANDERS HOLM & YOUR PLACE OR MINE WITH ASHTON KUTCHER, REESE WITHERSPOON

  AT MIDNIGHT TRAILER  

IT'S ONLY A MATTER OF TIME

At Midnight will stream on Paramount +

We are going romantic today, with new trailers for two romantic comedies coming soon to streamers, beginning with Jonah Feingold's AT MIDNIGHT which hits Paramount + February 10th ahead of the Valentines celebrations! Diego Bonetta, Monica Barbaro and crazy gorgeous Anders Holm star in this film about two people who do their best not to fall in love. It's centered on Alejandro, who lives a predictable life according to plan, and Sophie, a beautiful rising movie star with an unreliable celebrity boyfriend. During a visit to Mexico's beach to shoot scenes for her new movie, Super Society, Sophie falls in love with the hotel manager. Neither of them will be able to avoid falling in love and going against all odds.

 

 

 YOUR PLACE OR MINE TRAILER 

STARRING ASHTON KUTCHER AND REESE WITHERSPOON

Netflix will stream it February 10th

Netflix has released a trailer for their February 10th romantic comedy movie YOUR PLACE OR MINE starring Ashton Kutcher and Reese Witherspoon, as best friends and total opposites,  alongside Steve Zahn. She plays Debbie, who craves routine with her son in Los Angeles; he is Peter who thrives on change in New York. When they swap houses and lives for a week they discover what they think they want might not be what they really need. In other words, Peter starts to admit that their long-ago one-night-stand has left him with lingering romantic feelings. Debbie, on the other hand, meets sexy New Yorker Theo (Jesse Williams), and, well, complications ensue. 

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!

HARDACRE PERIOD SET SERIES FROM ALL CREATURES GREAT & SMALL PRODUCERS! NETFLIX NABS THEY BOTH DIE AT THE END TV SERIES! PARAMOUNT ORDERS DUNGEONS & DRAGONS LIVE ACTION TV SERIES

    CHANNEL 5 TO ADAPT  

HARDACRE INTO TV SERIES

Channel 5 is doing the adaptation

After scoring a massive success with All Creatures Great and Small, Channel 5 is, according to Deadline, turning HARDACRE bestseller into another ambitious series as well! Playground Entertainment, which is doing All Creatures, will also turn CL Skelton's international book hit into a sweeping rags-to-riches series set in Yorkshire! The six-part series will tell the story of generations of the Hardacre family from Victorian England to the 1950s. It centres on Sam Hardacre, a fish gutter who builds a lucrative business empire, and his wife Mary, who rises from being a street urchin to the mistress of a grand house in Yorkshire. 

  THEY BOTH DIE AT THE END 

NETFLIX NABS ADAPTATION

Netflix has nabbed the adaptation

In a very heated battle between streamers, Netflix has nabbed the series adaptation of Adam Silvera's mega hit book THEY BOTH DIE AT THE END. Chris Van Dusen will adapt the story about Mateo Torrez and Rufus Emeterio who find out that they’re going to die today. Mateo and Rufus are total strangers, but, for different reasons, they’re both looking to make a new friend on their End Day. The good news: There’s an app for that. It’s called the Last Friend, and through it, Rufus and Mateo are about to meet up for one last great adventure—to live a lifetime in a single day. The novel is a devastating yet uplifting story about two people whose lives change over the course of one unforgettable day. The book also got a prequel earlier this Autumn. 

 DUNGEONS & DRAGONS SERIES 

ORDERED AT PARAMOUNT PLUS

After ruining Halo, Paramount Plus has ordered another game small screen adaptation: DUNGEONS AND DRAGONS will be turned into a live action TV series by the hot hunkster Rawson Marshall Thurber. He will also direct the eight part series based on the fantasy role playing game in which players design characters that can range from humans to elves to dwarves and beyond and then select a class such as paladin, fighter, ranger, barbarian or several others. The series is not connected with the upcoming movie adaptation.