Check out the first look at Quicksilver in the new X-Men movie! Plus find out why Guardians of the Galaxy won't look like anything you've seen lately. M. Night Shyamalan wants his show Wayward Pines to follow in Twin Peaks' footsteps, and Ron Moore says Outlander is building on Game of Thrones. Spoilers right now!
X-Men: Days of Future Past
There are four new stills, and one of them has the first look at Evan Peters' Quicksilver (and a walking Xavier). There's also Omar Sy as Bishop, what looks like Beast and Wolverine squaring off in the Xavier estate, and Jennifer Lawrence's Mystique in a fight against some soldiers. [Coming Soon]
The Amazing Spider-Man 2
Speaking with Digital Spy, Dane DeHaan previewed, very generally, what Harry Osborne's up to in the sequel:
When you first meet Harry he's just graduated from high school, and he has to come back to New York to help deal with Oscorp, and its legacy, and his father [Norman Osborn, played by Chris Cooper]. He also sees Peter Parker for the first time in a long time; they were childhood friends. So it's really about Harry having a friendship with Peter and an allegiance to Peter, but also being the heir apparent to Oscorp, and having to deal with that.
It's becoming very obvious that all of these villains are originating from within Oscorp, in one way or the other. There are things that Harry feels he owes Peter, and things he needs from Peter, there are things he feels he needs from Spider-Man, and then there's his responsibility to Oscorp. It's a very complicated storyline, really cool and dynamic.
The trailer seems to show Norman bedridden and Harry as the Green Goblin, so DeHaan's comments about Oscorp, its legacy, and his father probably relate to those events. [Coming Soon]
Guardians of the Galaxy
Talking to SFX magazine, Kevin Feige says he's not nervous about whether audiences will be interested in these somewhat lesser-known cosmic heroes, because "we believe in them," and because Marvel's been there before:
There's definitely a comparison to be made between Iron Man & Guardians of the Galaxy because it's easy to forget that Iron Man was not well known when that first film came out. Back then I had to spend a lot time explaining to people that Iron Man is not a robot and he's actually a person and a scientist, who builds this suit. He doesn't fly like Superman, he has to obey the laws of physics. Likewise with Guardians of the Galaxy; it's based on a comic that has a certain following but nobody should feel bad if they've never heard of it because we're expecting that most people haven't.... Guardians is unique because while the hero Star-Lord is human and from Earth, hopefully the audience can relate to the adventures that he goes on as they see it through his eyes.
And associate producer Jonathan Schwartz says that this movie will have a unique, "pulpy" sensibility:
When James Gunn came aboard he brought a completely unique visual sensibility to it, harkening back to pulpy '50s science fiction... One of the things that he mentioned in his original pitch was that science fiction as we understand it has become greyer and sleeker and blacker and darker, this kind of Blade Runner world. We all love Blade Runner but that's not all that science fiction can be, so the world that you're going to see in Guardians of the Galaxy is colorful and bright and pulpy, but it's also lived-in and grounded. And finding the balance between those two things is what's driving a lot of this universe.
[Comic Book Movie]
Divergent
Here's a new still, taken from the trailer.
Wayward Pines
The Fox miniseries revolving around Special Agent Ethan Burke (Matt Dillon) finding himself in the seemingly-bucolic-but-actually-strange town of Wayward Pines has its first episode directed by executive producer M. Night Shyamalan. Now, if you think the premise sounds like Twin Peaks, Shyamalan agrees with you and thinks it's a selling point:
When I read Chad's [Hodge] script I immediately thought: Gosh, I know how to do this. It struck me as having a Twin Peaks-y vibe. David Lynch's achievement with that show — especially in the pilot — was some super audacious filming. It's the kind of thing where you have these quirky over-the-top performances that are still resonant. He balanced that line in a way only he could to. So when I read Wayward Pines, I found that same mix of humor I've been dying to do.
More at the link. [Entertainment Weekly]
Helix
Even though he thought viruses "weren't his thing," Ronald D. Moore explained what grabbed him about Helix:
I do respond to isolating a group of characters in a particular situation and seeing how they react. There's something intriguing to me about taking people out of their normal world and then presenting them with a fantastical situation but not having the ability to call for help.
In that situation, you can really examine character and take people apart in a different way. There's a natural tension that comes from that.
[The Kansas City Star]
Showrunner Steve Maeda also discussed the isolation and the effect on the characters:
And what works for us really well is that it lends itself to a very claustrophobic environment because you can go outside but only for brief periods of time. It's really dangerous. The weather is horrible, as I'm sure people who are in the Midwest and the East Coast right now can relate to.
And what it does is it forces you to be inside most of the time and that's how we really saw this. That's how Cameron, who wrote the pilot script, really envisioned the thing to begin with, which was a contained environment, someplace, you know, it's almost like being set on a spaceship where you're trapped inside with, you know, unseen horrors and then there're all sorts of human problems as well that develop from that. So it really lends itself to the series as a whole.
Kyra Zagorsky, who plays Dr. Julia Walker, elaborated on the kinds of problems the characters will face in the isolation:
I think that because we are trapped in this isolated environment with a deadly virus, what's really interesting is that everyone's darkness comes out because we've got these life and death stakes going on and then there're these interesting relationships going on but we can't quite deal with the relationship right now because we've got something better to do, which is survive.
But it takes some of the characters to some very dark places and they start doing things that they might not do if they were in regular circumstances. And so their true humanity comes out, the good and the bad. And I think that's what's so interesting about the show and for me, the unique part of it, the psychological side of it.
Additionally, Maeda laid out why the virus in Helix isn't creating zombies, but something else:
I don't mind that, but we're really trying to not make it a zombie show. I would say the main difference about our vectors, as we call them, is that they are not kind of mindless sort of eating machines.
And that's something that you'll see in later episodes. They're very scary and they're human and they look horrible. But our team will discover teams into and around the virus and also what we're going to find out about the vectors is that they're incredibly smart and so they retain a lot of their intelligence, if not their humanity, which I think makes them very different from zombies.
And you know what? The comparisons will come and that's okay. But we're really trying to do something that feels different than the typical zombie show.
[TV Guide]
Finally, here are the titles and short descriptions of the first five episodes:
Episode 1.01 - Pilot
CDC pathologist Dr. Alan Farragut and his team come face-to-face with unimaginable horrors when they arrive at the Arctic Biosystems base to investigate a strange retrovirus.Episode 1.02 - Vector
Dr. Farragut's team tries to deal with the infected victims of Peter's attack and contain the virus.Episode 1.03 - 274
The team thinks they've got the virus contained, but deadly secrets and intrigue fester and spread as quickly as the virus.Episode 1.04 - Single Strand
As the crisis heightens and Walker tries to survive on Level R, suspicions grow as the team keeps secrets from each other.
[SpoilerTV]
Outlander
Turning now to Ronald D. Moore's other show, he says there's been some intensive research to get the past part of this time-travel show right:
The reference material is not always there. We have found doing research on that project that there's a lot of paintings of aristocrats of the period but there are not a lot of paints of normal people. Even the tartans are not what we think they are. We think of them being those strong colors and every clan had their own tartan. But, that's not particularly true in this era.
[The Kansas City Star]
Moore also revealed that the show is planning to do one season per book, and talked about how doing a fantasy cable show is influenced by Game of Thrones:
It's definitely opened that door and showed that fantasy and genre material has a strong audience on premium cable. They also showed you can take an existing readership and turn it into an audience and then broaden that audience. We don't think of ourselves as their competition because they won that corner of the world and they do what they do amazingly well. We want to find our own different space.
Below is the first photo from the 1945 era of the show. Go to the link to read more from Moore. [TV Guide]
Doctor Who
Steven Moffat's revealed that he's looking to make Peter Capaldi's Doctor more in the Tom Baker/Christopher Eccleston "mad and dangerous and difficult" mold, rather than the Matt Smith/David Tennant "quirky young man" one. He elaborated on what's going to be going on with the Doctor and Clara when the show returns:
Now we're going to give her a Doctor who's not like that at all [The Eleventh Doctor], who's a much older, fiercer, madder, less reliable Doctor, who leads her a merry dance. And she's trying to keep him a secret and she's now working in a school...
He's also contemplating a return for River Song, saying:
I'm slightly tempted, because I imagine Peter Capaldi and Alex Kingston would be absolutely hilarious together...
[Blogtor Who]
Agents of SHIELD
According to Clark Gregg, the reveal of Skye's background is more shocking than his own character's resurrection, and he says it'll force Coulson to confront some interesting questions:
Coulson's dilemma is, how much can you decide what people get to know about their own basic truths, and if you do that, how are you different than the people that you're fighting?
[TV Guide]
American Horror Story
Ryan Murphy confirmed that Stevie Nicks will return, and he went on to say that she'll be in the entirety of the finale's cold open. Queenie will be in next week's episode, which is a Kathy Bates-intensive episode. Says Murphy:
Next week is Kathy's heaviest episode that we've ever done with her on the show. It's a great episode for her. It's really upsetting because a lot of it is about the origin story for Madame LaLaurie. We read a lot about her and the question I always had is How does this woman who's a cultured socialite and someone educated become such a brutal serial killer monster? Where does that come from? What was the first moment where she did what she did? We see that, we explore that. It's a great Kathy Bates gets her revenge moment.
. . . That's next week's episode which is called "Protect the Coven" so all the stories in that are about different people having their own agendas about having to protect that sect of witchdom. There's a great, great scene that is a big stand-off that we do in there that I give Jessica Lange complete credit for.
More at the link. [Entertainment Weekly]
Here's a description of episode 12, "Protect the Coven":
A dying Fiona becomes even more desperate to find and destroy the new Supreme... but also wonders if she should give it up and just enjoy her final days. As the time approaches for the new Supreme to demonstrate the Seven Wonders, a dangerous ritual proving the Supreme's ability to master seven magical powers, more than one of the remaining girls begin to manifest multiple new powers. But it's Papa Legba who Queenie demonstrates her newest power to: the power to descend into Hell, and to return. Cordelia has a nightmarish vision that puts the Coven's future in question, while another vision leads her to confront the Axeman with a hard truth. Meanwhile, Queenie confronts Madame LaLaurie, who has found a new sense of ghoulish purpose, and Zoe returns to claim her destiny. And more than one person must face the consequences their actions when multiple acts of bloody vengeance are carried out... one of which may bring about the rise of the new Supreme at last.
[SpoilerTV]
Arrow
It looks like, following Barry's accident, Felicity's going to be leaving Starling City for a bit. As Oliver needs her there, this'll lead to giant fight between the two. [TV Guide]
And here's an extended promo for the midseason premiere, "Blast Radius." [Coming Soon]
Sleepy Hollow
When asked if Ichabod's son is really dead, executive producer Roberto Orci left the door open for the character's return:
You know, when you're dealing with God and the devil and that kind of thing, anything's possible.
[TV Line]
Extant
CBS' upcoming has cast a new regular: Camryn Manheim. She'll play Sam Barton, the best friend of Halle Berry's recently returned astronaut. [SpoilerTV]
Being Human
Here's a video interview with Sam Witwer, where he discusses how this season will address Aidan's choice between the vampire world and the human one:
Here's one with Meaghan Rath on how powerful Sally is and her journey back:
Finally, Sam Huntington on the return of Josh. [BuddyTV]
Bitten
Star Laura Vandervoort explains that what sets Bitten's werewolves apart is how much like real wolves they are:
Our werewolves are actually more down to earth. They're life-sized to any other wolf. It's not a fantasy show. It's as realistic as we can be with the situation at hand.
And the wolves have the actor's eyes and the same coloring - their fur is the same coloring as the hair. So it's, you know, obviously we are dealing with a mythical idea of werewolves, but we're trying to make it as true to life as we can. And that's making sure the werewolves aren't any different to a typical wolf.
She also described how her character, Elena, and her pack's relationship will evolve over the course of the show:
It's complicated. She grew up in a foster care system - so never really had much of a family dynamic. So once she's Bitten into the pack it's conflicted because she is the trade. They didn't - it wasn't at her, you know, it wasn't by her own will.
They bit her. And she had to survive it on her own. But at the same time she finally has a family that she's always wanted and people who will look out for her.
So she's torn between, you know, what she's always wanted and how she got it - and then the life that she should be living in Toronto. But eventually within the season you realize that she is very close with the pack and she is their best tracker and she does love them all equally in different ways. And wants to help them and help the family.
Revolution
After some intense old-school medicine is deployed to Miles, Sebastian's search for his son will see him travel to Mexico. There, we'll see that someone has prospered there. And, given TV Guide's hint that "the manzana doesn't fall far from the arbol," it sounds like it's someone's child. [TV Guide]
And here's a promo for episode 2.11, "Mis Dos Padres." [via SpoilerTV]
Under the Dome
Then show's adding three new characters. The first is Sam, known to the locals as "the crazy drunk who lives alone in the woods," and who is related to a familiar character. The second is Rebecca, a teacher in her 30s who is being asked to restart the school by Big Jim, who has another agenda. The third is a "new girl" in town, who takes an interest in Joe and Norrie. [TV Line]
The Vampire Diaries
Episode 5.12 will be titled "The Devil Inside" and episode 5.13 will be "Total Eclipse of the Heart." [SpoilerTV]
Tomorrow People
Episode 1.12 will be called "Sitting Ducks" and the following episode will be called "Things Fall Apart." [SpoilerTV]
Additional reporting by Charlie Jane Anders and Emily Stamm
onlinecollegedegreee.blogspot.com Could Doctor Who soon be seeing the return of River Song?