Chris Hardwick's Blog, page 307

STAR TREK’S Alex Kurtzman Explains Why STARFLEET ACADEMY Is Set in the 32nd Century

The Star Trek: Starfleet Academy series is starting production soon, with Holly Hunter attached as the lead. The Paramount+ show will take place in the same timeframe as Star Trek: Discovery’s third through fifth season, in the 32nd century. This is some 900 years after the time of Picard, Seven of Nine, and other familiar characters from the franchise’s glory days. So why set Starfleet Academy in this time period, instead of one more familiar, and frankly, more popular? Here’s what Star Trek TV’s head honcho Alex Kurtzman had to say to Variety when asked about why this timeframe:

There’s a specific reason for that. As the father of a 17-year-old boy, I see what my son is feeling as he looks at the world and to his future. I see the uncertainty; I see all the things we took for granted as given are not certainties for him. I see him recognizing he’s inheriting an enormous mess to clean up and it’s going to be on his generation to figure out how to do that, and that’s a lot to ask of a kid.

My thinking was, if we set Starfleet Academy in the halcyon days of the Federation where everything was fine, it’s not going to speak to what kids are going through right now. It’ll be a nice fantasy, but it’s not really going to be authentic. What’ll be authentic is to set it in the timeline where this is the first class back after over 100 years, and they are coming into a world that is only beginning to recover from a cataclysm — which was the Burn, as established on Discovery, where the Federation was greatly diminished. So they’re the first who’ll inherit, who’ll re-inherit, the task of exploration as a primary goal.

Paramount Pictures

In Discovery, “The Burn” occurred in the 31st century, when warp capability was neutralized for a century for unknown reasons. The crew of Discovery solved the mystery, allowing the Federation and Starfleet to return to their glory days. Discovery established that Tilly (Mary Wiseman) was an instructor for this new Academy. So we imagine she’ll appear in the series at some point. Kurtzman also confirmed that the show would take place on Earth (in San Francisco) as well as in space. (Yes, this means the show is going to focus on space cadets). Kurtzman also confirmed that the primary set “is the biggest we’ve ever built.” Will the Academy grounds look very different from the days of Wesley Crusher on TNG? Hey, Cambridge University has some buildings built in 1290, so you never know.

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Warner Bros. Developing a 300 TV Series with Zack Snyder

The legend of the 300 Spartans is one of the most thrilling in all of Ancient Greece. A small army against a billion guys? How ’bout it! Several movies have featured the story, but the 2006 version from Zack Snyder is very probably the one that will live in people’s memories forever. The film—an adaptation of Frank Miller and Lynn Varley’s graphic novel—effectively put Snyder on the map and led to his long career of comic book adaptations. Makes perfect sense, then, that Warner Bros. Television would bring Snyder in for a television series adaptation.

Warner Bros.

According to Variety, Snyder and his producing partner (and life partner) Deborah Snyder will executive produce the project, with Zack taking on directing duties. Other info is sparse, and no writers or cast are on board. It’s likely an exciting prospect for fans of Snyder’s directing style, to get a full series of his speed-ramping action.

Kyle Anderson is the Senior Editor for Nerdist. He hosts the weekly pop culture deep-dive podcast Laser Focus. You can find his film and TV reviews here. Follow him on Instagram and Letterboxd.

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Here’s What STAR TREK: DISCOVERY Season 6 Would Have Been About

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The U.S.S. Discovery has made its final journey. The streaming series of the same name has come to an end after five seasons. With Star Trek: Discovery now over, showrunner Michelle Paradise and star Sonequa Martin-Green spoke with Variety about the series grand finale. The finale was originally not meant as a farewell at all. Most importantly, Paradise revealed how the series’ flash-forward coda with an older Michael Burnham, shot after the show wrapped, referenced what was to be the main plotline for season six. And it all ties into an episode of Short Treks called “Calypso,” which dropped back in 2018.

Paramount+

The second Short Trek episode, “Calypso” was co-written by novelist (and future Star Trek: Picard producer) Michael Chabon. It centered on a character named Craft, played by future Hawkman Aldis Hodge. Discovery rescues him after the ship sat in space vacant for 1,000 years, at the same fixed coordinates. “Calypso” never answered how Discovery got there. Season six was going to be a season-long build-up to getting the titular ship to that point. Michelle Paradise didn’t want to leave that plotline dangling, so she wrapped it up in a few minutes of screentime. She wrote an older Michael Burnham delivering the ship to the coordinates (now retrofitted to its original 23rd-century configuration) as her final mission.

Paradise said, “We always knew that we wanted to somehow tie that back. We never wanted ‘Calypso’ to be the dangling Chad.” If they had never tied up that particular dangling thread, we know Star Trek fans would have never stopped asking about it. Kudos to Michelle Paradise for remembering to bring it all back to an episode that wasn’t even a part of the main series, that came out nearly six years ago. Not only is that the sign of a good showrunner, but a true diehard Trekker.

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Pixar President Addresses Future of Disney+ Releases

Pixar was at one time the pinnacle of theatrical filmmaking, animation or otherwise. Hits like Finding Nemo, Wall-E, and Inside Out won awards and made tons of money. And while not every movie, especially once all the sequels started, was a masterpiece, they still proved a major success. Like so many things, the pandemic threw that into disarray. Starting with Onward in 2020, several feature-length Pixar projects went straight to Disney+. Once theaters began opening up again, Pixar movies returned to the big screen, but would end up on Disney+ very quickly. Pixar president Jim Morris recognizes this and isn’t happy with it.

Pixar

As reported by Bloomberg, which we saw at ComicBook.com, Morris recognizes the perceived downturn in box office of Pixar movies and shares that the Disney+ of it all has confused the marketplace. “I hope that we will not release another feature film on Disney+,” Morris said. “If we do more stuff for Disney+, it should be a series, and then that makes a clean demarcation between what we do for theaters and what we do for streaming.”

I think it’s incredibly important, in an age when streaming services just need as many movies as possible to bolster their catalogs, to give quality films their proper context. As Martin Scorsese once said, without that, they get lost amid garbage and risk being forgotten. Pixar shouldn’t just be an enticement method for Disney+ subscriptions. Series? Go for it.

Kyle Anderson is the Senior Editor for Nerdist. He hosts the weekly pop culture deep-dive podcast Laser Focus. You can find his film and TV reviews here. Follow him on Instagram and Letterboxd.

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Former X-MEN ’97 Showrunner Confirms Finale Has MAN OF STEEL Homage

We loved X-Men ’97 pretty much from beginning to end. It’s the best X-Men thing, maybe ever. The three-part finale offered some intense action for our band of merry mutants. One such memorable moment came when Rogue—still raging about Gambit, et al—begins pummelling villain Bastion and punches him through the side of Asteroid M and into outer space. If that seemed familiar, that’s not a coincidence. Former showrunner Beau DeMayo explained in a Twitter post that the moment was a subconscious homage to 2013’s Man of Steel.

I was likely subconsciously influenced by this when writing the #xmen97 finale beat of Rogue punching Bastion. That’s not Superman hammering Zod. It’s Clark, a son furiously defending the woman who raised and protected him. The action is driven by emotion not plot. #manofsteel pic.twitter.com/KiZSJcRXAZ

— Beau DeMayo (@BeauDemayo) May 29, 2024

“The action is driven by emotion not plot,” DeMayo shared along with a video of his television. On it plays the scene from about the midpoint of Henry Cavill’s first Superman movie. As Zod threatens Martha (something we know is very touchy to people in this universe), Clark flies in, picks up Zod, and carries him across the cornfield and through a silo. It’s an example of wanton superhero destruction in the movie, but it’s also a great encapsulation of the moment of Superman’s first strike, as it were.

We’ll have to wait a very long time, likely, for a second season of the show. At least we can rest assured we’ll probably get a bevy of behind-the-scenes tidbits between now and then. We’re never mad to revisit such a great series.

Marvel

Kyle Anderson is the Senior Editor for Nerdist. He hosts the weekly pop culture deep-dive podcast Laser Focus. You can find his film and TV reviews here. Follow him on Instagram and Letterboxd.

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Sam Reid and Jacob Anderson Talk Louis and Lestat in INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE Season 2

At the Interview with the Vampire season two New York premiere, Nerdist was excited to speak to the men of the hour, Sam Reid and Jacob Anderson. While Anderson only had a minute to spare, he was able to share a fascinating insight into Louis and his relationship with vampirism overall. Meanwhile, Reid went into a little bit more depth about the truth of Lestat’s backstory in Interview with the Vampire season two, carrying Louis around with him, and twisting the source material just a little bit.

AMC

Claudia introduces the notion of vampire pride to Louis in Interview with the Vampire season two. But does Jacob Anderson actually feel that Louis has vampire pride inside of him? Anderson shared, “I think that Louis is suppressing his vampire pride, and that’s a big part of this season. Part of his journey this season is discovering that and trying to, I don’t know, figure out who he is and what he is. But no, when she says it, I don’t think he has vampire pride.” Fascinating! But suppressing and not having are two entirely different things. It sounds like Louis may come out the other side of this season of Interview with the Vampire a bit more in tune with his vampirism.

AMC

Meanwhile, a character with no shortage of vampire pride is Reid’s Lestat. In fact, the way Armand tells it in Interview with the Vampire season two, episode three, Lestat is all too ready to put his vampirism on display. He’s breaking down outdated coven rules to embrace a life of lushness, opulence, and openness to a degree. However, Reid cautions not to take Armand’s version of events as the gospel truth. He notes of bringing scenes from The Vampire Lestat to life, “It was told by Armand, so it’s kind of adapted, a little bit. So, I may not necessarily believe it. But it was fun to do those scenes and go into that gear. There’s something interesting there.”

AMC

Reid does go on to say that in a potential season three of Interview with the Vampire, we’ll likely get to go deeper into Lestat’s vision of his story. He notes, “I would say that if we were to continue the story, we would continue the way we’re going, which is very faithful to the book. So the first two series have been Interview with the Vampire. And, well, it’s kind of stuck very closely to the plot in that book, and so if we were to continue, we would follow the books.”

AMC

But, of course, there is some space for deviation. In previous, Reid had noted there was a twist in the series that wasn’t from the original Interview with the Vampire source material. While he wouldn’t share more about that change and whether it impacted Lestat personally, he did note that the change is actually “for the people who really read the books, who really know.” “We have made a few little adjustments,” He adds with a charmingly devious giggle (in true Lestat fashion), “but it all worked out in the end. So I would just stick with it.”

AMC

Although we see Lestat in different iterations, flashbacks, visions, and the like, we have yet to really see Lestat himself this season. The Lestat in Louis’ mind is definitely not the real Lestat, Reid opines. He shares, “That’s note Lestat. It’s Louis. It’s a little bit like him, but, yeah. He serves a different purpose.”

AMC

But for all you lovers of Louis and Lestat’s relationship, fear not, wherever he is, Lestat has a version of Louis inside his mind too. When asked if Lestat is currently being haunted by a phantom Louis, Reid considers and shares, “I think so. Yeah. We have versions of the ones we love in our minds all the time.” Maybe one day soon we’ll see what ghost Louis is whispering in Lestat’s ear.

Interview with the Vampire season two is currently airing on AMC and AMC+.

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Luna Blaise Joins Cast of the New JURASSIC WORLD Movie

Universal isn’t waiting around to relaunch one of its signature franchises. The studio is already developing a seventh film Jurassic Park/World movie. And it won’t take long to arrive in theaters. Universal has already carved out a prime 2025 summer release date. Who will star in it? Who is making it? And what is it about?

For now, the cast of the new Jurassic World movie continues to grow. The latest addition to the film is Manifest‘s Luna Blaise.

Here’s everything we know about the new Jurassic World movie so far.

Title

As of now, the new Jurassic Park/Jurassic World movie remains untitled.

New Jurassic World Movie’s PlotUniversal

The untitled movie also lacks an official synopsis. What we do know is that it will explore a “new” Jurassic era and story, in what it being described as a franchise reboot. If history is any guide it will also launch another trilogy. (Jurassic Planet? Jurassic Universe?)

New Jurassic World CastMarvel Studios

The upcoming Jurassic World movie will feature an all-new cast headlined by original Avenger Scarlett Johansson. Rupert Friend (Obi-Wan Kenobi) is also getting in on the modern prehistoric mayhem. Other performers reportedly in discussion to join the film include Jonathan Bailey (Bridgerton), Manuel Garcia-Rulfo (The Lincoln Lawyer), Luna Blaise (Manifest), and two-time Oscar-winner Mahershala Ali.

Behind the ScenesUniversal

David Koepp, who wrote both Jurassic Park and its sequel The Lost World, is returning to pen the franchise’s seventh installment. Rogue One‘s Gareth Edwards will direct after The Fall Guy‘s David Leitch stepped down. Filming will begin this year and will have a quick post-production timeline.

Jurassic World trilogy producer Frank Marshall is returning for the series’ latest installment. Series alum Patrick Crowley is also back for dinosaur mayhem. And original franchise director Steven Spielberg is also serving as an executive producer via Amblin Entertainment.

New Jurassic World Movie’s Release Date

pic.twitter.com/GJhiqIgCJc

— Jurassic World (@JurassicWorld) February 6, 2024

We won’t have to wait long for Universal’s new Jurassic World movie. It will come to theaters on July 2, 2025.

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Nazanin Boniadi Will Reportedly Not Return as Bronwyn in THE RINGS OF POWER Season 2

According to a report by The Hollywood Reporter, one of the major actors from The Lord of the Ring: The Rings of Power will not return in season two of the show. Nazanin Boniadi, who played Bronwyn in The Rings of Power, will reportedly not appear in new episodes of The Lord of the Rings series, which is slated to return in August. The Hollywood Reporter notes, “Nazanin Boniadi, who played Bronwyn in the Prime Video show’s first season, won’t be in the upcoming episodes, a source close to the show exclusively confirmed.”

Ben Rothstein/Prime Video

Nazanin Boniadi’s Bronwyn was a human character on The Rings of Power. Boniadi played a healer engaged in a romance with the noble elf Arondir, who grew into her power as the show progressed. When we last saw Boniadi’s Bronwyn on The Rings of Power, she had become the leader of her people, the Southlanders, and was set to lead them to safety in Pelargir after the explosion of Mount Doom.

Prime Video

Of course, there is no official confirmation of this news yet. And no confirmation on whether Bronwyn was recast for season two of The Rings of Power or whether the door for her return remains open if this proves true. The Hollywood Reporter notes that the actress stepped away from acting in 2022 to focus on her activism work. In May, Boniadi shared, “I stepped away from acting in September 2022, to focus solely on the #WomanLifeFreedom uprising in Iran and to advocate for the people of my homeland who have been risking everything for freedom. Despite my passion for acting, I knew it would take a very special project to convince me to once again split my time between my day job and my calling as an activist. A Mosquito in the Ear is that project … a beautiful adventure that we can’t wait to share with you.”

We’d be sad if Nazanin Boniadi and Bronwyn never return to The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, but, of course, we deeply respect the actress’ passion for her cause.

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MAYFAIR WITCHES Shares Season 2 Teaser and Release Window

AMC is bringing back its Anne Rice Immortal Universe series in 2024, and has revealed new casting updates for its two flagship shows, Interview with the Vampire and Mayfair Witches. It’s possible a third series is coming, too. The news was announced at the TCA press tour, via The Hollywood Reporter.

Mayfair Witches Season 2 Shares First Teaser and Release Window

Mayfair Witches has now shared its first season two teaser. This is a very brief look at the new season, but it does confirm that Mayfair Witches season two will be heading our way in 2025. And it does bring the drama. Take a look below.

The legacy continues. #MayfairWitches returns to @AMC_TV and @AMCPlus in 2025. pic.twitter.com/PuxidK82lB

— Anne Rice's Interview with the Vampire (@Immortal_AMC) May 27, 2024

Mayfair Witches Season 2 Cast AdditionsAMC Networks

Mayfair Witches has already started production on an eight-episode second season in New Orleans, with the addition of Alyssa Jirrels as a series regular, playing Moira Mayfair. She’s lead character Rowan Fielding’s (Alexandra Daddario) cousin and a mind reader. She blames her family and the entity called Lasher (Jack Huston) for the death of her sister Tessa (Madison Wolfe). Ted Levine joins as recurring guest star Julien Mayfair, the father of Cortland Mayfair. Also coming on board is Thora Birch as Gifford Mayfair, a self-deprecating tarot card reader and bohemian.

Lights, camera, action. Production has begun on #MayfairWitches Season 2! pic.twitter.com/pNdRlLKTKu

— Anne Rice's Interview with the Vampire (@Immortal_AMC) February 6, 2024

In the original Witching Hour novel, Julien Mayfair is a major character in the Mayfair family tree. However, the description sounds like the series will reimagine him. Moira Mayfair might be a stand-in for Mona Mayfair, a major character introduced in Rice’s second Mayfair novel, Taltos. There is a Gifford Mayfair in the novels as well, but she’s barely referenced. This sounds like a totally new character with the same name.

Finally, Deadline reports that Ben Feldman has joined the cast of Mayfair Witches season two. Feldman will play Sam ‘Lark’ Larkin, a “successful CEO of a genetics startup and Rowan’s (Alexandra Daddario) former boyfriend, who has re-entered her life.”

Talamasca Nerdist

AMC has also started work on a series about the Talamasca. John Lee Hancock (The Blind Side) is currently writing a script for this potential third series. The Talamasca is an ancient psychic order who were chroniclers of all things supernatural. Anne Rice introduced them in her third vampire novel The Queen of the Damned. She later greatly expanded upon the order in her Lives of the Mayfair Witches series, and their origins were finally revealed in the 2014 novel Prince Lestat.

Originally published on February 6, 2024.

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Director Jon Turteltaub Says NATIONAL TREASURE 3 Script in Progress, Expects Cast to Return

Sometimes, the most exciting news is the kind dropped the most casually. Back in 2022 during a conversation with ComicBook.com about Top Gun Maverick, iconic producer Jerry Bruckheimer seemingly revealed a piece of information many fans have been eager for, for a long time. He said that National Treasure 3 movie was in the works with Nicolas Cage’s possible involvement. It sounded like they were in the early stages of the script and movie. We were hype about actually getting National Treasure 3 with Cage involved, but now that doesn’t seem to be the case.

UPDATE, 3/13/2024: In a 2024 interview with ScreenRant, Nicolas Cage said that there is no National Treasure 3 after all. His statement on this apparently nonexistent sequel is very direct, indeed. “Here we go!,” said Cage. “See, you’re the one that brings these things up and they go out and they eclipse everything else. No, there is no National Treasure 3. If you want to find treasure, don’t look at Disney, okay? It’s not there.”

UPDATE, 3/27/2024: Despite Cage’s comments, Jerry Bruckheimer shared that National Treasure 3 actually is in the works. He noted to MovieWeb, “Well, we hope there’s a National Treasure 3 . We’ve been working on it for quite a while. We have a brilliant writer working on it right now, so hopefully, if we get a script in a timely fashion, we’ll send it to Nic [Cage] and, if he likes it, we’ll make another one. We certainly would like to.”

UPDATE, 5/31/2024: The National Treasure 3 wildness continues. As reported by CBR, franchise director Jon Turteltaub spoke about the film on Comicbook.com’s National Treasure podcast, saying the script is “being written” now.

“That doesn’t mean it will be finished and be great, but if it’s being written it will definitely be momentous when we read it,” he explained. “We all know what’s in it. But there’s a very, very good writer writing it right now who tends to write really good movies. If the script comes out close to good and you can see the finish line from where you are, we’re making the movie.”

Riggghtttt. He also said that there’s a 100% chance of the original cast returning. Someone tell that to Nic Cage.

We need Benjamin Franklin Gates to get on this mystery, stat.

Disney

PREVIOUSLY: Jerry Bruckheimer notes that he’s “working on another National Treasure” as one of three big things on his plate right now. When asked if Nicolas Cage would return for National Treasure 3, he offers, “Let’s hope. We’re working on a script right now, hopefully, he likes it. But I think it’s really good, so hopefully, we’ll get it to him shortly.”

Meanwhile, Justin Bartha, who plays Riley Poole in the franchise, offered:

There is a script. That’s all I’ll say. There have been a few different scripts, actually, but the one thing that has to happen is for all the stars to align. I had seen something awhile ago, and it was solid, but the unsung hero of these movies that doesn’t get mentioned as much is Jon Turtletaub. Those movies really are an extension of his being. He is very smart and funny, and has a buoyancy to him that mirrors the tone of the movies. I think he has to feel really comfortable and feel like he can see the movie before it happens — and it is getting closer to that.

There’s been a lot of conversation around Nicolas Cage and National Treasure recently. Nicolas Cage, of course, starred in movies such as Pig and The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent. During the press tours for these movies, he talked a lot about his career. And, in all honesty, Cage’s interviews did not make it seem like National Treasure 3 was on the table. He even said that there would “probably not” be another movie.

Disney+

The National Treasure franchise, meanwhile, has yielded a Disney+ TV series. National Treasure: Edge of History released in December 2022, and it saw two actors from the original franchise return to the world. Harvey Keitel returned as Peter Sadusky, and the aforementioned Justin Bartha returned as Riley Poole. While the creators of this National Treasure series have indicated they would love for Nicolas Cage to come on board, he does not seem involved.

All this to say, people have hoped for a National Treasure 3 movie starring Nicolas Cage since National Treasure 2 aired. And while it seems like the movie has had many false starts before, maybe it is finally on its way. We hope Nicolas Cage likes what he sees when reads the National Treasure 3 script.

Originally published on August 19, 2022.

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