Rights, options, casting, and trailers dominate the latest geek TV update.
Disney is trying to buy some more rights, this time the TV rights to the Star Wars movies so the entertainment behemoth can offer them on its new over-the-top streaming service. Turner Broadcasting currently has the rights to show the films on its networks, which include TNT and TBS, and online. Those rights don’t expire until 2024. Disney sold the rights in 2016, before finalizing the plans for their service, and the company's inquiries about regaining them are reportedly meeting with resistance from Turner, according to Bloomberg. The development of the OTT service has meant Disney is moving many of its properties away from other platforms (see “Disney's Post-Fox Streaming Strategy”), and the company would certainly benefit from having the Star Wars films in the fold. Disney recently acquired most of Fox’s movie and television assets (see “Media Merger Update”). Skybound Entertainment has optioned Zack Kaplan and Giovanni Timpano’s Eclipse for development as a TV series. Skybound’s Robert Kirkman inked a deal with Amazon Studios last year (see “Robert Kirkman Leaves AMC”) that has him focusing on genre programming, and Eclipse fits the bill. In the world of the series, which was published by Top Cow, humanity has been driven underground by a solar flare. David Baxter is a worker sent to the surface to monitor daytime conditions, but he discovers the scorched body of someone left on the surface to die and sets out to solve the murder. Further details on the potential show are pending.Timothy Hutton (American Crime) has joined the cast of FX’s Y: The Last Man adaptation, reports Deadline. Hutton will play the U.S. president in the pilot, which likely means we won’t see a lot of him in the regular series since the comic by Brian K. Vaughan and Pia Guerra is about a near future in which all mammals possessing a male chromosome have died except for one man and his pet monkey. Hutton joins previously cast Diane Lane, Barry Keoghan, Imogen Poots, Lashana Lynch, Juliana Canfield, and Marin Ireland (see “'Y: The Last Man' Cast, New Series From 'Last Airbender' Writer, 'Sabrina' Poster, 'Game of Thrones' Prequel Shooting Scheduled, 'Titans' Pics, Shane Back for 'Walking Dead' Season 9”)
John Constantine is returning to the small screen, this time in an animated R-rated feature film. Constantine: City of Demons will be available October 9 on Blu-Ray and digital streaming. The film was initially released as a series five of shorts on CW Seed (see “'Constantine' Animated for CW Seed”). The shorts have been combined with more than an hour of never-before-seen content. Constantine: City of Demons finds John Constantine working to wake Chas’s daughter Trish from a supernatural coma. Matt Ryan, who played the titular character in the short-lived live-action series (see “’Constantine’ Rescue Efforts Fail”) and who is now a series regular on season 4 of Legends of Tomorrow, voices John.Netflix has dropped a new teaser for Marvel’s Iron Fist Season 2. In the trailer, Danny Rand is haunted by memories of his past, including one featuring Iron Fist’s signature head gear from the comics. Season 2 hits the airwaves on September 7 (see “'The Normals,' Morlocks In 'The Gifted' Season 2 (Plus Trailer), 'Kim Possible' First Look, 'Disenchantment' Trailer, 'Wynnona Earp' Renewed, 'Iron Fist' Sets Date”).
Edgar Ramirez (American Crime Story) is in negotiations to star in the Netflix adaptation of Rick Remender and Greg Tocchini’s The Last Days of American Crime, according to The Hollywood Reporter. If cast, Ramirez would play Graham Bricke, a career criminal caught up in a scheme to commit the heist of the century before the U.S. government turns on a signal that would make it impossible for anyone to unknowingly commit a criminal act. The film is being directed by Olivier Megaton (Columbiana, Taken 2-3). Radical Studios published the original comic series, which was previously optioned with Sam Worthington attached to star (see “'Avatar' Star in the 'Last Days Of American Crime'”).