San Diego Comic-Con: Television Report
Here are the details regarding the world of television’s news and announcements that played out during San Diego Comic-Con last week. Check them out! And be sure to take a look at our comics report and movie report, along with the comic book movie report.
TOY STORY
Pixar’s Toy Story that Time Forgot has announced an air date! At SDCC, Pixar decided to announce that the special will air on ABC on December 2nd this year. At the Con, voice actors Kevin McKidd, who voices Reptillus Maximus, Kristen Schall, the voice of Trixie the dinosaur, director Steve Purcell, executive producer Galyn Susman, and Derek Thompson, the head of story, all took the stage and moderated a panel.
GAME OF THRONES
Fanatic viewers of Game of Thrones were in for a great surprise last week at San Diego Comic-Con, when HBO announced that Season 5 will be packed with new and returning faces. The new cast includes Whale Rider’s Keisha Castle-Hughes as Oberyn’s daughter Obara Sand. and “The Fifth Estate’s” Alexander Siddig as his brother, Doran Martell. The new cast also includesJonathan Pryce as High Sparrow, who might be the only actual King’s Landing do-gooder. Nell Tiger Free also replaces Aimee Richardson as Cersei Lannister’s daughter Myrcella Baratheon.
George R.R. Martin has been so devoted lately (and will continue to be) into writing Winds of Winter that he has admitted at this year’s SDCC that he will not be doing any script writing for Season 5 of Game of Thrones. In fact, he even confessed that he will not even so much as step into the sets during production of this next season. This has some fans worried, given the fact that some of the shows’ best episodes were written by the very own George R.R. Martin. Not only that, but the episodes written by Weiss and Benioff have sometimes fallen far below audience standards, particularly female audiences.
SUPERNATURAL
Supernatural opened their segment in Hall H on the final day of San Diego Comic-Con by talking about their Ninth Season’s Finale, and how that will play a part of the following season. They mostly touched on how the series will play along with the dual-personality that Dean has, now that he has been possessed by a demon. Not only will this be a highly interesting way to open the season, but it will also give creators a chance to explore the ways in which the element of possession can play out in the series as a whole.
OUTCAST
Robert Kirkman was really happy to Tweet during SDCC that the pilot episode for his new show Outcast, which deals with a guy that has been possessed since childhood and must learn how to overcome it, that it was picked up by Cinemax for airing.
ORPHAN BLACK
BBC America’s Orphan Black show, which deals with Tatiana Maslany discovering how many clones of her are in this world, left audiences in tears, especially after Maslany was given an award for her humanity skills.
TEEN WOLF
MTV announced at SDCC that Teen Wolf is being renewed for a fifth season. Executive Producer Jeff Davis announced that the show has been green lit for a two-part 20 episode season. In addition, Dylan Sprayberry, who joined the previews season, has now been promoted to a season regular beginning this next season.
EVIL DEAD
Known for producing the video game The Last of Us filmmaker Sam Raimi surprised audiences at SDCC by announcing that he is co-writing a TV show titled Evil Dead. However, no more details on the subject matter were rendered.
ONCE UPON A TIME
ABC’s Once Upon a Time is delighting viewers by having the main characters from Disney’s Frozen appear in this next season. ABC previewed the first episode of the season at Con and it received approving applauses from the audience.
PENNY DREADFUL
The creators of Penny Dreadful decided to announce who the new villain for season 2 will be – Madam Kali, who plays Helen McCrory’s spiritualist.
UNDER THE DOME
CBS’s Under the Dome is about to get much meaner to its characters in season 2. According to a SDCC panel led by Vogel, this season needs to start killing off some of the characters. They also made a comment about how there are “no set rules” in terms of how many, how often, and who can die in this season. They also added that some of the deceased characters from the previews season may, just may, be able to come back.
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Prior to San Diego Comic-Con 2014, The Television Critics’ Association held their convention in Beverly Hills, CA. Here is what we found out from them:
PETER PAN
Peter Pan, a musical being broadcasted live by NBC, announced that the role of Captain Hook is being filled by Christopher Walken, who is currently known for tap dancing in Broadway hit Jersey Boys.
BBC
Orphan Black has announced a third season from BBC America, with currently 10 episodes lined up. In addition to that, BBC America has also announced the release of a new season for their current show Broadchurch, Two new drama series were also announced as heading into production: the historical drama The Last Kingdom, and Tatau, from the makers of Being Human and set in the Cook Islands, a paradise in the middle of the Pacific. Eight episodes were ordered for both.
OUTLANDER
Starz has announced that for the release of the series premier, Outlander, it will air to the general public, that is, free of charge, on August 2nd, in anticipation to the season premiere on August 9th. On August 9th, the show will premiere on multiple platforms, both on the air and online, nationwide. They also announced how this first season will be delivered: It is split in two parts. The first one will consist of 8 episodes airing on eight consecutive Saturdays through September 27th, and the second half of the season will take place in early 2015.
