Emperor Palpatine wants in on the Star Wars TV show. Eli Roth is turning his fake Grindhouse trailer into a real horror film. Billy Crystal reveals the world of Pixar's Monsters University. Plus a casting update for Syfy's Defiance!
It's spoilers all the way down!
Top image from Falling Skies.
Divergent
With the Twilight franchise fast careening to its ignominious end, Summit Entertainment is on the lookout for a new young adult novel series to milk for all its worth. They are reportedly in talks with Limitless director Neil Burger to direct Veronica Roth's Divergent trilogy, which is about... well, I think I'm going to have to kick this one out to the official synopsis to explain just what the hell this thing is about:
In Beatrice Prior's dystopian Chicago world, society is divided into five factions, each dedicated to the cultivation of a particular virtue-Candor (the honest), Abnegation (the selfless), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), and Erudite (the intelligent). On an appointed day of every year, all sixteen-year-olds must select the faction to which they will devote the rest of their lives. For Beatrice, the decision is between staying with her family and being who she really is-she can't have both. So she makes a choice that surprises everyone, including herself.
During the highly competitive initiation that follows, Beatrice renames herself Tris and struggles alongside her fellow initiates to live out the choice they have made. Together they must undergo extreme physical tests of endurance and intense psychological simulations, some with devastating consequences. As initiation transforms them all, Tris must determine who her friends really are-and where, exactly, a romance with a sometimes fascinating, sometimes exasperating boy fits into the life she's chosen. But Tris also has a secret, one she's kept hidden from everyone because she's been warned it can mean death. And as she discovers unrest and growing conflict that threaten to unravel her seemingly perfect society, she also learns that her secret might help her save those she loves... or it might destroy her.
Yeah, this might be a film adaption where the words "From the people that brought you Twilight" is actually kind of a good thing. [Variety via First Showing]
Monsters University
Star Billy Crystal talks a little about the setup for Pixar's upcoming Monsters, Inc. prequel, which follows his character Mike and John Goodman's Sully back in their college days:
"[Mike and Sully] end up in the same fraternity where they have this scare competition - like Greek Games in college. They're 17 and 18 years old in the script. My guy has a retainer, even."
[EW]
Wreck-It Ralph
Star Wars: The TV Series
While the Star Wars live-action TV series remains little more than those much-discussed, possibly mythical fifty scripts just waiting for the technology to be invented to make them filmable, at least one actor from the movies has indicated he wants to be involved. Specifically, it's Emperor Palpatine Ian McDiarmid, who give or take the occasional bit about "Ultimate power!" was consistently one of the best parts of every Star Wars movie he was in. During a recent Q&A when asked if he would want to reprise his role for the still very much hypothetical TV show:
"Well… what do you think? Who knows if Palpatine would be in it? It could be like A New Hope. There could be a terrific representative — and by god, Peter Cushing was a terrific actor — doing the Emperor's bidding. If he happened to pop up in the script I would hate if it was to go live and someone else were to be in it."
Palpatine also mentioned the hints of backstory he shared with Anakin Skywalker in the opera scene in Revenge of the Sith as something he would like to explore further one of these days. [IGN]
Revolution
Falling Skies
Longtime House costar Robert Sean Leonard is reportedly joining the third season of Falling Skies for a five-episode arc. Here's how his character is described:
Roger Kadar, PhD, [is] an obsessive but gifted scientist who runs Charleston's power grid and lives underground with his pet rats. The children of New Charleston, intrigued by his cool science toys and unusual pets, eventually dub him "The Rat King."
Meanwhile, Gloria Reuben will reportedly reteam with her ER costar Noah Wyle as Estelle Lasher, an aide to Wyle's Tom Mason, who is describe as "extremely intelligent" and whose "political knowledge and experience could prove extremely helpful to Tom." [Deadline]
Hellboy's Doug Jones will reportedly once again be donning the prosthetics, this time to play the new alien introduced at the end of season two. [EW]
Defiance
All My Children actress Brittany Allen is reportedly joining Syfy's new post-apocalyptic series, which I'm always tempted to describe as "Deadwood with aliens" if not for the fact that I'm just not sure any show could live up to all that phrase promises. Anyway, here's the official description of her character:
Tirra [is] a troubled employee of the town madam, Kenya (Mia Kirshner). When she and Kenya are abducted as a result of Tirra's dangerous inclinations, the two build an unlikely bond as they are launched into a terrifying fight for survival in alien badlands.
And, in case you need the refresher, here's the synopsis for the show itself, which explains how this show is going to be integrated with an ongoing computer game:
Set in the near future, Defiance introduces an exotically transformed planet Earth, its landscapes permanently altered following the sudden – and tumultuous – arrival of seven unique alien races. In this somewhat unknown and unpredictable landscape, the richly diverse, newly-formed civilization of humans and aliens must learn to co-exist peacefully. Each week, viewers will follow an immersive character drama set in the boom-town of Defiance, which sits atop the ruins of St. Louis, MO, while in the game, players will adventure in the new frontier of the San Francisco Bay area. The dramatic tapestry of the series and the intense action of the game will exist in a single universe where their respective narratives will inform one another and evolve together into one overall story.
Beauty and the Beast
The fourth episode of Smallville star Kristin Kreuk's big return to The CW will reportedly be called "Saturn Returns." [SpoilerTV]
Twin Peaks actress Mädchen Amick will reportedly appear in episode three as Lois, a character rather wonderfully described as "a wealthy polo-club president named Lois who owns a therapeutic horse camp." Finally a show with the guts to tell the people the truth about therapeutic horse camps... whatever the hell those are. [TV Line]
Additional reporting by Rob H. Dawson and Charlie Jane Anders.