Agents of SHIELD's adding another comic book character, played by Bill Paxton! Amazing Spider-Man 2 will answer many of your lingering questions in the first 5 minutes. The stars explain why Sandman and Warcraft are different than your usual huge tentpole movies. Plus promos for LEGO Movie and Penny Dreadful. Spoilers now!
Top image: Agents of SHIELD
Amazing Spider-Man 2
In the latest issue of Entertainment Weekly, director Marc Webb says, "In the first five minutes [of this movie], a lot of your questions about [Peter Parker's] parents will be answered." [EW]
Sandman
Joseph Gordon-Levitt explained why he's so attracted to the idea of a Sandman movie:
Well, I love just the basic concept of it – just the concept of personifying Dream, along with all of his brothers and sisters, the seven Endless personifying Death, personifying Destruction and Delirium and Destiny and Desire and Despair. I mean, that's just a fascinating and, I think, a really cinematic concept. You look at the art of Sandman, and it just looks spectacular. I love big, spectacular movies, but oftentimes big, spectacular movies sort of get stuck in a rut. They go down certain paths that end in big explosions or whatever. Sandman has so much opportunity to do something that's on a grand, grand scale, but really unlike your average big, grand-scale, spectacular movie. I guess that's the tip of the iceberg.
[Slashfilm]
Warcraft
Dominic Cooper's promising a very human story at the center of the Warcraft film that he's set to star in:
There's a very human story at the heart of it because there's a few of us that are humans in it that are up against tribes and problematic issues that exist in the world that we exist in. It's happening all over the world at the moment and you see it happening all over. People have savaged their own lands and their own environment and they're having to find a new environment in which to move into through the hostility of others. If there's something as poignant as that that we can relate to and that we see unfolding in everyday life, then it will make it a worthwhile story.
[Coming Soon]
Painkillers
Revolution's Colm Feore has been cast as Dr. Troutman in this independent science fiction movie. Painkillers follows a group of soldiers with the barest of memories of the mission-gone-wrong in Afghanistan, that's gotten them sent to a remote hospital. The cast also includes Tahmoh Penikett and Erica Durance. Here's what producer Andrew Ferns had to say about the film's tone:
We are definitely blending genres, but it has its feet very much in a science-fiction, psychological thriller. It's a very claustrophobic and disorienting tone and theme with our visuals and shooting style. At root, being ... a mercenary, he's a man just trying to get home to his family and feels very disconnected in the world.
[Calgary Herald]
The LEGO Movie
Here's a new trailer. [Coming Soon]
Orphan Black
Michelle Forbes (Star Trek: The Next Generation, Battlestar Galactica) will be guest-starring in season 2. She'll be playing Marion Bowles, and here's the description of the character given on SPACE's Facebook page:
Marian Bowles is a powerful new player at the Dyad Institute with a birds-eye view on the war between Sarah and Rachel.
[Facebook via Enstarz]
Critics saw the opening scene of the premiere over the weekend, and it takes place right after Sarah discovers that her daughter is missing. She calls Paul and Felix, but only gets voicemail. And when it looks like Paul's calling back, it's Rachel telling Sarah to turn herself in. She hangs up, and two henchmen offer to take her to Kira.
Meanwhile, star Tatiana Maslany spoke about her "favorite" Cosima:
Cosima to me has always been the one who's the most fascinated with life, so it's interesting for her to be facing her mortality and that's really what we start to explore in Season 2. It's hard because she's my favorite clone. We're putting her in this really heartbreaking position, and yet she's almost as brave as Sarah in a lot of ways. Narratively, examining her illness and looking into her own science is part of our mystery. She performs a really great story function in the second season as well, trying to get to the root of her own illness.
And Jordan Gavaris described a bit about Felix's arc for season 2:
In Season 1 Felix was very much an integral cog in the mystery... and now I think what Season 2 helps to do is establish him outside of the clones as an individual with his own identity. He has gone along and been that person who picks up the phone at 3 in the morning and I think it's safe to say that the relationship with Sarah comes to a head and there's a tough decision that's going to be made — many tough decisions that are going to be made — and it's not going to be easy.
[Zap2It]
Agents of SHIELD
Bill Paxton's going to be playing John Garrett in four episodes, staring in late February/early March. Executive Producer Jed Whedon explained the reason for bringing Garrett into the show:
We wanted to bring in a rough-and-tumble former cohort of Agent Coulson with a little bit of attitude and cigar-smoking swagger.
. . . when Garrett got his promotion to Level 7, he refused to sit behind a desk and doesn't like the formalities of S.H.I.E.L.D. He's going to help Coulson solve some mysteries and is not afraid to rig an explosive or two.
Maurissa Tancharoen said that he'll appear in a "surprising" way. No word on whether the show's version of Garrett will be a cyborg like his comics counterpart. See a photo of Paxton in his SHIELD duds below. [TV Guide]
Arrow
According to Stephen Amell, we should be going back and making note of every single thing that's been hinted at this season in order to prepare for the finale:
We don't say a character's name unless that character is going to factor in. We don't hint at something unless we're going to pay it off. So I know that at the end of episode 14, we end in a spot where we get our first glimpse on where we are going to end after 23 episodes. That's what I'm most excited about because I want people to see it.
. . . What we are building towards in the second season is very much one giant group on one side and one giant group on the other side and just, "Toosh," like that, coming head‑to‑head. So we are populating our world in the second season for a very specific reason, and I can't wait to see the results.
[TV Equals]
Once Upon a Time
When the Wicked Witch shows up on March 9th, she'll have "ties" to two other characters. As the season continues, viewers will both learn why she's green and meet the wizard. Plus, executive producer Eddy Kitsis promises that they're gearing up for a Wicked Witch-vs.-Evil Queen showdown.
Other, non-Wicked Witch, things to look forward to when the show returns include Snow White's pregnancy (it'll be Charming's, and no baby switch), the connection between the Charming's child and Sleeping Beauty's baby, Emma encountering Chris Gorham's still-secret character in New York, Charming coming to the rescue of Rapunzel, and the introduction of Lumiere.
Plus, filming on Intelligence has wrapped, so the hope is that Meghan Ory will be able to make an appearance as Red. Plus, the finale's going to be a huge wedding. Between who? Not yet confirmed, but TV Guide offered Belle and Rumple, Emma and Hook, and Regina and Robin Hood as possibilities. [TV Guide]
Supernatural
Richard Speight Jr. says that the return of Gabriel is always a possibility:
The idea of bringing Gabriel back has been on the table since I left. The idea of me coming back, either as Gabriel or the Trickster of a combination of both, has been on the table since [my last episode]. Honestly, because I happen to know several of the guys who are writers from other worlds, they tell me all the time that the character will be up on the board, there will be something that is being bandied about, something they're very serious about and for whatever reason it doesn't come to fruition.
[TV Equals]
Bitten
Star Laura Vandervoort explained that the show's fight scenes will be based on the techniques used by actual wolves:
Preparing the fight scenes, we'd watch what wolves do in the wild with their alphas or animals that were inferior to them, or if they were trying to kill, like circling a prey or holding eye contact. Then we'd try to incorporate that in our fights.
[Times Colonist]
Tomorrow People
Robbie Amell says that when the show got picked up for nine more episodes, executive producer Danny Cannon asked him what he wanted to see. This is what he answered:
I said I want to see Stephen step up and start to make the right decisions and stop getting his ass kicked so much, because in the first ten episodes that's what happens. And I understand why he couldn't come into this world having just developed these powers, be amazing with them. You have to see him fumble with them and stumble through this world and really learn how to use these powers. Otherwise, I feel like you would have missed a piece of the process. But with everything that happens in [episode] 8 and in 9, you see that he really needs to start deciding who he can trust, who he should be helping, and who he should be fighting against. And he's getting to a point where he's strong enough to stand up for himself and the people that he should be standing up for. And the nice thing is in the back nine, he really does make that decision. And it becomes a battle against some very specific people. It's no longer trying to decide whose team you're on. It's now, "Okay. How do we end this? How do we get to the next level?"
As to crossovers with any other CW shows, he doubts Arrow's a possibility because they've got there own DC universe to work with. But he thinks Supernatural, The Originals, and The Carrie Diaries could work:
I think "Supernatural" could work, just because of the superpower elements. But it's really tough because with a crossover, you're really combining these two worlds that you've created. You've done so much to make them feel real, and to cross them over, I think, can kind of pull you out of that sometimes, especially if you're a fan of one and you don't watch the other one. Or, even worse, if you watch both, you've separated the two. And to bring them together, as much fun as it would be to do, I think it might suck some of the grounding it in real life out of it.
Yeah, drop the Tomorrow People into the "Carrie Diaries," see what happens. Just throw them in "The Originals" and see how the vampires do against somebody who can stop time or teleport.
[TV Equals]
Here's a photo from Alexa Vega's appearance as Hillary Cole, an agent-in-training who goes up against Stephen. And if you think Stephen wins, Robbie Amell will set you straight:
She beats the crap out of me. She messes Stephen up. She's conniving. She's doing anything she can for herself. She does not care about the people around her.
[TV Guide via SpoilerTV]
Sleepy Hollow
According to Fox's Kevin Reilly, the second season is currently set for 13 episodes, with the option for more. [SpoilerTV]
The Vampire Diaries
Go here for more photos from episode 5.12, "The Devil Inside." [SpoilerTV]
Penny Dreadful
Here's a nicely creepy promo for Penny Dreadful. [Coming Soon]
Salem
Go here for more promotional photos for Salem, where things do not look good for some people. [SpoilerTV]
Additional reporting by Charlie Jane Anders and Emily Stamm
onlinecollegedegreee.blogspot.com A science fiction favorite joins the cast of Orphan Black!