Warner Brothers shuts down iconic studio Monolith Productions

Iconic American video game development studio Monolith Productions is shutting down after thirty-one years in the business, producing classic video games including SHOGO: Mobile Armor Division, No One Lives Forever, F.E.A.R. and Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor. Parent company Warner Brothers made the decision to shutter the company due to financial uncertainty and a series of recent misfires from other studios.

Monolith was founded in October 1994 with a view to making first-person and third-person action games using a propriety 3D engine, LithTech (which, remarkably, powered all of their games from first to last, with heavy development and iteration). The engine had been developed for use by Microsoft as a possible inhouse 3D engine, but Microsoft eventually rejected it.

Monolith made a splash with their first game, Blood (1997), a very solid first-person shooter. They followed that up with a direct sequel, but also a different game called Shogo: Mobile Armor Division (both 1998). This game featured the player as the pilot of a large-sized mech, with different-scaled levels depending on if you were piloting the mech or engaging in direct combat inside buildings as the pilot. It was basically Titanfall long before Titanfall was actually a thing.

Monolith launched their third major game series with The Operative: No One Lives Forever (2000), a first-person shooter with a female protagonist, a spy setting and a colourful, comedic tone, all of which were very unusual for a time. The game warranted a sequel, No One Lives Forever 2: A Spy in H.A.R.M.'s War (2002), but repeated attempts to launch a third game were thwarted, although a spin-off, Contract J.A.C.K., was released in 2003.

Monolith also developed tie-in works for other IP, including Aliens versus Predator 2 (2001), Tron 2.0 (2003) and The Matrix Online (2005), a co-production with Sony.

In 2004 the company was acquired by Warner Brothers Interactive Entertainment (later Warner Brothers Games), giving them access to the various Warner Brothers-owned IP. Despite this, their first two games out of the game under the new owners were actually new IP: F.E.A.R. and Condemned: Criminal Origins (both 2005), both quite successful and resulting in sequels, with Condemned 2 launching in 2008 and F.E.A.R. 2 in 2009 (other developers worked on expansions and F.E.A.R. 3, released in 2011). F.E.A.R. was particularly feted for its graphical developments, physics, real-world locations and its mix of first-person action and South Korean-influenced horror.

After these, the company switched to working on WB IP, first on the downloadable-only multiplayer games Gotham City and Guardians of Middle-earth (both 2012), and then the Lord of the Rings licence. This resulted in the incredibly well-received and well-reviewed Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor (2014), which was famed for its Nemesis System, where enemies would remember you for defeating them and develop grudges, becoming more powerful and returning for revenge. Warner Brothers were so impressed by this system they copyrighted it, but only used it again in the sequel, Middle-earth: Shadow of War (2017).

With the second game concluding the story, Warner Brothers decided to move the developers onto working on a Wonder Woman game, which was announced in 2021. Bloomberg had recently reported that the Wonder Woman game's development had been held up by unspecified development issues, spooking Warner Brothers who had been battered by a series of indifferent or poorly-performing video games based on their DC IP, with both Gotham Knights (2022) and Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League (2024) underperforming.

Monolith being shuttered is a massive shame. An inventive, interesting developer, their hit ratio was frankly ridiculous, with the Blood, No One Lives Forever, F.E.A.R. and Middle-earth: Shadow franchises all being extremely well-regarded. But under Warner Brothers' recent management, its questionable if they could have reached those creative heights again.

Warner Brothers releases trailer for LORD OF THE RINGS: WAR OF THE ROHIRRM

Warner Brothers have released the trailer for their animated film, The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim, set in the same continuity as Peter Jackson's live-action movie trilogy.

The film takes place about 250 years before the events of The Lord of the Rings and is the story of Helm Hammerhand, the ninth King of Rohan, at a time when his kingdom faced serious threats from within and without.

The film is directed by Kenji Kamiyama (Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex), from a script by Phoebe Gittins and Arty Papageorgiou. Philippa Boyens, who was a writer-producer on the Lord of the Rings live-action trilogy, is a producer on this project. Peter Jackson is loosely affiliated as a producer/consultant.

The film stars Brian Cox as Helm Hammerhand, Gaia Wise as Hèra, Luke Pasqualino as Wulf, Laurence Ubong Williams as Fréaláf Hildeson and Shaun Dooley as Freca. Miranda Otto reprises her film role as Éowyn, serving as the film's narrator.

The film will hit cinemas on 11 December this year.

The time Ronald D. Moore almost adapted Anne McCaffrey's DRAGONRIDERS OF PERN for television

Whilst flicking through Mark A. Altman and Edward Gross's splendid 2018 book So Say We All: The Complete, Uncensored, Unauthorized Oral History of Battlestar Galactica, I rediscovered the interesting story of writer Ronald D. Moore's work on a TV version of Anne McCaffrey's seminal science fantasy series, The Dragonriders of Pern, in the early 2000s.

The Dragonriders of Pern is a very long-running science fantasy series that began with Dragonflight, published in 1967. Twenty-four novels and two story collections in the setting were published before Anne McCaffrey passed away in 2011; some of the later books were co-written by her son Todd. The series is a rationalised fantasy, with the backstory being that the planet Pern has been colonised by humans from a far future Earth, but they lost their technology and were plunged into dark age by the onset of "Thread," a spore that consumes all organic material. The human colonists were able to genetically engineer a creature similar to the dragons of Earth legend to deal with Thread, destroying it in the air before it could touch the ground. Human dragonriders form telepathic bonds with these creatures to control them. After many centuries, a new, more medieval fantasy-ish society emerges.

Ronald D. Moore was a fan of the book series. He achieved his initial success in television by working as a writer on Star Trek: The Next Generation. His first script, The Bonding, was acclaimed as a character-focused study. However, he also became valued on the writing team for both his encyclopaedic knowledge of the franchise, his fascination with the Klingons (developing much of the lore behind the species) and his strong sense of story. Moore worked on The Next Generation from its third through seventh seasons (1989-94), co-writing the series finale All Good Things... with his writing partner Brannon Braga. The two writers joined forces to write the seventh and eighth Star Trek movies, Generations (1994) and the very well-received First Contact (1996). Subsequent to this he moved over to Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and worked on that show from its third through seventh seasons (1994-99), amongst other things developing the USS Defiant and continuing to serve as "the Klingon guy," whilst penning many of the show's strongest episodes.

With Deep Space Nine wrapping up in 1999, Moore decided to move to work on Star Trek: Voyager, then in its sixth and penultimate season, which his former writing partner Braga was working on as effective showrunner. Moore was dissatisfied with the direction Voyager had taken, feeling that the writers had not taken the premise seriously enough. He wanted to have the ship damaged and stay damaged from episode to episode, whilst the crew would be more morally compromised by their journey to get home. Braga and franchise overseer Rick Berman both felt it was too late to make such changes, and Moore, disappointed, decided to leave the franchise altogether. 

Moore briefly worked as a consulting producer on Good vs. Evil before joining Roswell in its second season. He developed the background mythology for the show's alien race and wrote some of the show's most popular episodes. After it terminated in 2002, he was offered the opportunity to develop Dragonriders of Pern.

The rights to the property had been circulating for many years, with Irish company Zyntopo Teoranta picking them up in 1996. They partnered with Canadian company Alliance Atlantis to develop the extensive CGI that would be required to depict the dragons and other fantastical elements in the story. They then consulted with Moore to develop the project further.

Moore's by-then long list of credentials had led to doors opening at other companies, and New Regency and Warner Brothers were receptive to the idea: a high concept, a proven scriptwriter with his own fanbase, a very popular book series with a huge number of readers, and fantasy being absolutely huge with the success of the Lord of the Rings trilogy (still incomplete at that time). They greenlit a pilot episode, hired experienced TV director Felix Enriquez Alcala to direct, and began building sets and casting. They also engaged in concept art and further CG experimenting, developing an "in-the-moment" documentary style for the CG, to make the audience feel they were really on the back of a dragon.

Alcala and Moore were scouting locations in Santa Fe, New Mexico when word came in that the studio was sending them a revised version of the script. For Moore, who'd written the script, this was news, as the script had already been greenlit and they were moving into pre-production. For the studio to request rewrites on a script after it had been completed and drafted was unusual; for them to revise it themselves without informing the showrunner was unheard of. The revised script completely changed the story, which no longer bore any resemblance to Anne McCaffrey's novel. In Moore's words, the studio had "done a WB on it all right, it had become a teenage idiotfest." Moore asked the studio for an explanation and even offered to rewrite his script to incorporate some of the elements they'd wanted added. They replied that their script would be the only one that was going to be shot. The studio agreed to a telephone call the next day.

By pure chance, Moore was due to attend a panel at the Museum of Television and Radio in Beverly Hills that night. Also on the panel was Babylon 5 creator J. Michael Straczynski, who'd had his own confrontation with an intransigent, interfering network over his show Crusade, and well-known Star Trek writer and SFF author Harlan Ellison, a well-known fighter for the rights of the writer. Ellison's advice to the audience of aspiring writers was to "stand up and have some principles. Don't whore your talent out to anybody, show some balls in this business. Be about something. What does it really mean to be a writer if you can't protect your talent?"

During the telephone call the next day, Moore reiterated he was not going to make the script that had been sent from the studio: he was happy to rewrite the script to their specifications himself, but not just shoot someone else's crappier version. When the studio exec presented Moore with an ultimatum that they could all just call it a day there and then, they were flabbergasted when Moore agreed. The project collapsed and was cancelled, apparently after almost $2 million had been spent on pre-production and development work.

Moore was glad he'd stuck to his principles but was concerned if this move would make him unemployable; fortunately, it was only a couple of weeks before producer David Eick, whom Moore had met on Good vs. Evil, got in touch. He'd been talking to Universal, who'd been working on a new iteration of Battlestar Galactica with director Bryan Singer. They'd gotten quite far into planning a new take on the franchise, even test-building some props and sets, but Singer had abruptly taken off to work with Fox on X-Men 2 after a substantial amount of money had been offered to him. This had left the BSG project hanging. Eick asked Moore if he'd like to redevelop it with him, and Moore said yes, and the rest there is, as they say, history.

As for Dragonriders of Pern, the series rights were picked up by Copperheart Entertainment in 2006, with David Hayter (yes, Solid Snake) producing. Warner Brothers later took up a new option in 2014. So far, the series has not been made.

Thank you for reading The Wertzone. To help me provide better content, please consider contributing to my Patreon page and other funding methods.

Dune: Part Two

House Harkonnen, aided in secret by the Emperor and his elite Sardaukar terror troops, has destroyed House Atreides and taken back control of the desert world of Arrakis, source of the spice melange, the most valuable substance in the universe and the cornerstone of the galactic economy. Unbeknown to the Harkonnens, Paul Atreides has survived and struck an alliance with the Fremen, aided by a prophecy deliberately seeded millennia earlier by the Bene Gesserit. Paul and the Fremen strike at spice production, threatening to throw the galaxy into chaos. The Emperor has no choice but to personally intervene.

Two and a half years ago Denis Villeneuve delivered his first take on Frank Herbert's Dune, the most popular science fiction novel of all time (if only just, with The Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy always sniffing at its heels). Two prior adaptations of Herbert's 1965 novel had been arguable failures, stymied by a lack of run-time (David Lynch's 1984 movie) or a lack of budget (John Harrison's 2000 mini-series).

Villeneuve's effort was undeniably superior, with a visual eye that made almost every frame a work of art and the time to allow the story to breathe. However, Villeneuve made the curious choice to eschew his superior run-time's allowance for greater worldbuilding and characterisation in favour of epic imagery and mood shots. This meant greater emphasis on shots of the sandworms destroying harvesters or Zendaya walking on sand dunes, but also meaning that vital character arcs - like Dr. Yueh's betrayal of the Atreides - are given short or no shrift.

This successor - less of a sequel than a direct continuation of the first film, picking up minutes later - does try to course-correct. The latter part of Frank Herbert's novel, focusing on Paul amongst the Fremen and his unifying of them into a huge army, is curiously underwritten, giving Villeneuve a tremendous amount of leeway in telling this part of the story in more depth. He refocuses the story tightly on four protagonists: Paul as he struggles with the need to unify the Fremen into a fighting force to destroy the Harkonnens, but desperate to avoid becoming a religious figure who will abuse them; Chani, as Paul's love who believes in his leadership but despises the idea of him becoming a religious figure; Stilgar, as Paul's greatest believer and first apostle; and Jessica, Paul's mother who becomes a Reverend Mother of the Fremen and fanatical in her manipulations of raising the Fremen in the name of her son. The interaction and intersection of these character arcs gives the film a lot of tension: Paul's internal debate, externalised in the debates and arguments between Chani and Stilgar, is very well-played, if different from the novel (where Chani harbours relatively few, if any, doubts about Paul's path).

Villeneuve also skirts the weirdness of the book which Lynch jumped into with enthusiasm. Dune is in an incredibly internalised book where the major, game-changing moments happen inside characters' heads whilst they look vaguely constipated, staring into the middle distance whilst coming to mental realisations about how to proceed. Lynch addressed this issue by allowing us to hear characters' thoughts, a somewhat cheesy device that feels outdated in 2024. Villeneuve has to externalise these debates through dialogue, although he does hit on an interesting halfway house by having Jessica debate strategy with her unborn daughter (Alia, although perhaps better known as "Sir Not-Appearing-in-this-Film," for the most part).

Dune: Part Two remains visually powerful, with some outrageously fantastic imagery like the gladiatorial fight on the bleached black-and-white surface of Giedi Prime. Like the first film, there's lot of fantastic imagery, and Hans Zimmer's score is somewhat less intrusive than in the first movie meaning you can enjoy the film without worrying about your skull bursting like that THX gag in The Simpsons. Also like the first film, there's a lot of excellent actors giving superb performances. Timothee Chalamet gives great Paul Atreides, and Zendaya excels in having to pick up a larger amount of the plot as Chani then in the novel. Jessica Ferguson gives 150% as Jessica, and Josh Brolin's world-weariness as Gurney Halleck remains compelling. Léa Seydoux gives a superb performance and steals the scenes she's in (possibly channelling her "weird WTF" energy from Death Stranding) despite only being in the film for five minutes. Austin Butler is the stand-out of the newcomers, with an outrageously charismatic, evil energy as Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen. Florence Pugh is also great as Princess Irulan, despite having not a lot to do.

Javier Bardem has some of the film's best moments as true believer Stilgar, and is responsible for the majority of the film's surprisingly not-non-existent humour, although I worry that he and Villeneuve go too far and make Stilger a little bit too much of an avuncular comedy figure, something he very definitely is not in the books. Stellan Skarsgård remains imposing as the Baron, but doesn't have much to do, and in the finale he feels too much like a chump (to be fair, a problem of the book and the Lynch movie as well). Also, casting an actor of Christopher Walken's stature as the Emperor only for him to have maybe four lines and just look imperious feels a little like a waste. Also, those looking forwards to seeing Thufir Hawat again will be profoundly disappointed.

The first half of the movie is excellent, with some great character beats and action sequences. A scene where Paul and Chani team up to take down a Harkonnen harvester under fire from a sniper in an ornithopter is outstanding. But the film's epic finale feels rushed, bordering on the implausible. A bit more explanation of why Paul's plan works would not go amiss. A lot of these problems have obvious causes: the total absence of the Spacing Guild from the second movie when their machinations drive a lot of the background events causes way more problems than simply including them. The absence of Alia also causes story issues, even if the reasoning is sound (i.e. having a two-year-old wandering around killing people and talking weirdly looked deranged in the Lynch movie).

Part of the problem I think is Villeneuve skirting around the edges of Dune's fundamental weirdness but not fully engaging with it, and the rest is the realisation in the making of Part Two that he'll probably adapt Dune Messiah, so either punts off some elements to that story or even engages in a lot of setup work for that story that feels incongruous here.

As a result, Part Two feels a little bit undercooked from a character and thematic angle. But, as sheer cinematic spectacle, it is preposterously impressive. Huge (and real!) desert landscapes, crazy gladiatorial arenas, vast sandworms, immense Fremen hideouts and a massive (and not unnecessarily-drawn-out) concluding battle all combine to mount a sustained assault on the senses. Dune: Part Two (****) is worth seeing on the biggest screen possible and enjoying the sheer wonder of it. But the weaker elements are irritating, and make a persuasive argument that, despite Villeneuve's successes, we have still to see the definitive version of Dune in live action. Fourth time lucky?

Thank you for reading The Wertzone. To help me provide better content, please consider contributing to my Patreon page and other funding methods.

BABYLON 5 reboot still in development, streaming services showing interest

Confirming what was rumoured last year, the Babylon 5 reboot project is officially dead at the CW. The CW has focused its attention away from drama towards cheaper television fare. As also expected, Warner Brothers has not junked the project entirely but, after regaining the rights, is now shopping the project to streaming services, with at least two apparently showing interest. Original Babylon 5 creator, showrunner and head writer J. Michael Straczynski remains attached to the project.

Which streaming services are interested is as yet unknown. The most logical option, HBO Max (recently retitled just Max), is seemingly out of the question because they have their own budget and development issues in the wake of their recent Discovery merger (one of the few shows to survive the merger process, Our Flag Means Death, was cancelled last week). HBO proper do not seem interested, despite the presence of self-confessed Babylon 5 fan George R.R. Martin in the development process there.

Warner Brothers has excellent relations with Netflix, and is currently producing the Sandman live-action show for them. Sandman showrunner-producer Neil Gaiman is a good friend of Straczynski's, and wrote an episode for the original Babylon 5 way back in 1998. One of Babylon 5's myriad alien races, the Gaim, is named for him. Straczynski himself has a relationship with Netflix, having co-produced the first two seasons of Sense8 for them almost a decade ago. Netflix also lacks a high-profile, ongoing, live-action space opera at the moment.

Amazon are also a possibility, as they currently lack a space opera show after the cancellation of The Expanse a couple of years ago.

Other streamers seem to be well set-up for space opera: Disney+ has multiple Star Wars shows in development and recently added The Orville to its streaming lineup, whilst Paramount+ is veritably drowning in Star Trek content, not to mention Halo. Apple TV+ has For All Mankind and Foundation as ongoing space-based shows.

An intriguing possibility is Tubi, an ad-supported streaming service which began operation in 2014 and has over 74 million users in the United States. Tubi is predominantly available in the United States and Central America, but GDPR issues have seen it unable to launch in the UK and European Union. Tubi has been airing Babylon 5 itself for the past few months.

Tubi mostly airs content from other supplies, but has aired some original programming, including the animated comedy Freak Brothers, a cooking show, the second season of The Nevers (after it was dropped by HBO). Tubi has voiced an ambition to create more original content for its service, and Babylon 5 might be an attractive franchise, especially if Straczynski can work his magic like it's 1993 all over again to produce the show on a competitive budget.

More news as it comes in.

FURIOSA trailer arrives

Warner Brothers have unveiled the trailer for their upcoming Mad Max spin-off movie, Furiosa.

A prequel to the much-acclaimed 2015 movie Mad Max: Fury Road, Furiosa follows the adventures of the younger version of Charlize Theron's character from that film. Anya Taylor-Joy plays the young Furiosa who is swept up in the insanity of life in the post-apocalyptic landscape, becoming a warrior and, er, rally driver. Chris Hemsworth plays Warlord Dementus, the leader of two factions battling for control of the wasteland.

Development of the film began after Fury Road's release in 2015, with director George Miller considering both a Furiosa-focused prequel and a further Max-focused movie, Mad Max: The Wasteland, as his next project in the series. He ultimately settled on the Furiosa project. The COVID pandemic significantly delayed filming before shooting began in mid-2022.

The film is scheduled to debut on 23 May 2024.

Babylon 5: The Road Home

John Sheridan, the first President of the Interstellar Alliance, has relocated from Babylon 5 to Minbar, which will serve as the new base for the Alliance. A routine inspection of a new Minbari power plant inadvertently dislodges Sheridan in time, sending him through a series of alternate timelines where his life, and the fate of the galaxy, took a very different turn. Somehow, he has to find his way home.

The Road Home is the first animated film in the Babylon 5 franchise and the first new instalment of any kind since the release of DVD movie The Lost Tales in 2007. The animated medium allows the surviving actors to reprise their roles and also allows new actors to take over the roles of those actors who are sadly no longer with us (and, as oft-discussed, Babylon 5's attrition rate of actors has been extraordinarily high).

The main appeal of The Road Home is nostalgia: the animated film is so steeped in deep cut lore references to the original show that I'm not sure how much newcomers will get out of it, let alone the massive spoilers it contains for the events of the series. For a B5 veteran, it is tremendous fun to once again see Bruce Boxleitner, Claudia Christian, Patricia Tallman, Tracy Scoggins, Bill Mumy and Peter Jurasik reprise their roles as Sheridan, Ivanova, Lyta, Lochley, Lennier and Londo respectively. Peter Jurasik in particular slips back into his role as if zero time has passed, and his vocal delivery is spot-on (apart from Tallman, the other actors do have some of the sound of the intervening three decades in their voices). The newcomers are mostly decent, with Paul Guyet outstanding in replicating both Michael O'Hare and Tim Choate's vocal performances as Commander Sinclair and Zathras. Andrew Morgado has the hardest job in replicating the unique vocal stylings of Andreas Katsulas and wisely doesn't even try, instead choosing a similar haughty tone and making it his own.

The character animation is very nice, with a good amount of expression captured from the original actors, although the space CGI is sadly disappointing and lacking in detail: the White Star ships look like unfinished pieces of clay and the Starfuries look like their mid-1990s Micro Machine models. It's genuinely disappointing to see the spacecraft looking so lacking compared to their original incarnations, despite some good design ideas (the Shadow warships now having moving protuberances, for example).

In terms of story and character, The Road Home is a mixed bag. Sheridan flipping between time streams is a nice reuse of story elements from the Season 3 two-parter War Without End, but this promising idea is wasted slightly in revisiting scenes and ideas from the original show that we already saw decades ago. Newcomers will be lost without context and OG fans will find this material redundant. As the movie wears on and we get into newer ideas and start seeing alternate timelines where things unfolded differently, things pick up. It's also nice to get to see things we never saw in the original show, like a Vorlon planet-killer in full action and a Minbari jump gate in operation. But whilst that kind of trivia satisfies, there are also a bevy of continuity errors elsewhere that grate.

As a Babylon 5 project, the film has a lot of wince-inducing dialogue and awful humour, which was a hallmark of the original show, and to be frank would be missed if it wasn't present at least to some degree. However, the original show balanced that out with some beautiful speeches and occasional gags that worked well. The latter are mostly missing from this movie. This movie also mistakes long-worn-out memes as humour, so we get a ton of Zathras focusing on his "comic elements" and completely missing the pathos and tragedy that made the character so compelling on his original appearance in the episode Babylon Squared. Tone is something the movie struggles with a lot: the film feels too light and funny for the massive, grave stakes of the story, and any notion of subtlety from the original series has been lost. In the original, the Shadows were master manipulators who rarely emerged from the darkness and worked through disposable intermediaries and minions. Here, they are recklessly suicidal drones who directly attack enemies in swarms, not caring how many die in the process.

The movie (**½) leaves a Babylon 5 fan feeling conflicted: it is undeniably fun to see these characters again, and it's particularly gratifying to see an actual sequel project involving almost the entire cast of the show, for the first time since the end of the original series (the various spin-off media and DVD movies since then have involved just a few characters, or newcomers). The animation is solid, the voice acting mostly excellent, and at 80-ish minutes the film does not outstay its welcome. But the story feels a little pointless, the humour is often painful and the "alternate universe" set up in the movie as a possible future setting for new material is (at least at this prototypical stage) uninspiring.

The film is available on DVD, Blu-Ray and digital platforms now.

Thank you for reading The Wertzone. To help me provide better content, please consider contributing to my Patreon page and other funding methods.

BABYLON 5 to get long-requested Blu-Ray release

Seminal epic space opera show Babylon 5 is to finally get a release on Blu-Ray, after many, many years of campaigning by fans. The set will be released on 5 December this year in the USA, UK and some other territories.

Babylon 5 aired for five seasons and five TV movies, airing from 1993 to 1998. An additional TV movie and a direct-to-DVD film followed in 2002 and 2007, along with a 13-episode spin-off show, Crusade, in 1999. Babylon 5 was reasonably successful on its first airing, becoming the first non-Star Trek space opera to last for more than three seasons in American television history. It won two Hugo Awards for Best Dramatic Presentation (for the episodes The Coming of Shadows and Severed Dreams, in Seasons 2 and 3 respectively), along with an Emmy for visual effects. Babylon 5 helped pioneer the use of both CGI and long-term, serialised story arcs in a television series. The series was hugely influential on its contemporaries (such as Buffy the Vampire Slayer) and succeeding shows, including Lost, which borrowed ideas from its story arc structure.

The show had a somewhat complex technical issue which has made re-releases problematic. Babylon 5 was one of the first - if not the first - American TV shows to be protected for widescreen shooting, with the plan to release the entire show in 16:9 widescreen ratio at a later date, after its original 4:3 airing. However, due to technical issues and communications mixups, the show's then-cutting edge CGI was only produced in 4:3. For the original TV release this was not an issue, but for the DVD release in 2002, this created a technical headache, as fans and the studio wanted a widescreen release. Unable to afford the cost of recreating all the CGI and composite scenes in 16:9 from scratch, the decision was made to use the widescreen live-action footage but to crop and zoom in on the CGI shots. This created a widescreen presentation which lost detail and sometimes important CGI elements from those shots. For composite scenes, this also meant occasional but noticeable rapid zooming in and out of scenes as they alternated from pure live-action shots to CG composites.

In 2021, Babylon 5 was released in a new "remastered" format. To create the best compromise version, Warner Brothers remastered the live-action-only footage in HD and also carefully upscaled the CG shots via an algorithm. As these things go, this was not too terrible, and the improved live-action footage is impressive. However, to achieve a uniform presentation, they made the decision to crop the live-action shots back down to their original 4:3 presentation, and then keep the CG shots intact. As a compromise, this was reasonable, although frustrating for fans who wanted to see the show in HD and in widescreen.

The only alternative is to completely re-render all of the show's CG elements from scratch and in 16:9. This is likely prohibitively expensive, as Babylon 5 sometimes had 100 or more CG shots in a single episode, and also requires all of the original greenscreen footage to have been preserved perfectly. 

A stopgap idea has been pursued by B5 fan Tom Smith for several years, involving taking the original shots, ship models and scene files and re-rendering them in 16:9 and in HD (or even 4K) using modern PCs. This produces a visually identical image to the original, but with a lot more detail (the original models were very exactingly built for the standards of the time) and looks very nice today. However, this is only possible where all of that material has survived, either in the WB archive or in the archives of the various animators and teams that worked on the show. Smith tracked down a lot of that material for Seasons 2 and 3, but for Season 1 only the models have survived, and for Seasons 4 and 5 it appears that very little has survived, so this is not a viable solution for the entire show.

It also appears that the "complete series" title might be something of a misnomer. Based on the 2022 re-release and some of the initial release info, it looks like the set will include all five seasons of the original show, remastered, plus the pilot movie The Gathering, which was not remastered (due to issues with the original source film). The other TV movies - In the Beginning, Thirdspace, River of Souls and Call to Arms - plus the spin-off show Crusade and the later TV/DVD movies Legend of the Rangers, The Lost Tales and soon-to-be-released animated movie The Road Home, do not appear to be included at this time. If it is confirmed that some or all of them will be included, this news will be updated.

BABYLON 5 animated movie gets a trailer

The Babylon 5 animated movie, The Road Home, now has a trailer and release date.

The film will be released on DVD, Blu-Ray, 4K and on-demand streaming on 15 August this year.

Set more than a year after the end of the original Babylon 5 TV series, the movie sees John Sheridan, former commander of Babylon 5 and the newly-inaugurated President of the Interstellar Alliance, arrive on Minbar to take up his new role. However, an exposure to tachyon energy results in him moving uncontrollably through time and even across different timelines (fans with long memories will remember Sheridan was previously exposed to such energies in the two-part episode War Without End). Visiting timelines where some of his friends are dead, or they lost the Shadow War, Sheridan has to make his way back to his own timeline, with the help of some old friends.

The animated movie sees Bruce Boxleitner, Peter Jurasik, Claudia Christian, Bill Mumy and Tracy Scoggins reprise their original series roles as President Sheridan, Emperor Londo Mollari, Captain Susan Ivanova, Lennier and Captain Elizabeth Lochley respectively. Due to the sad attrition of the original cast in the years since it ended, other roles from the show will be played by new voice actors: Paul Guyet as Zathras and Jeffrey Sinclair, Anthony Hansen as Michael Garibaldi, Phil LaMarr as Dr. Stephen Franklin, Andrew Morgado as G'Kar and Rebecca Riedy as Delenn. Mara Junot plays a Reporter and a computer voice, whilst Piotr Michael plays David Sheridan.

J. Michael Straczynski wrote the script, with Matt Peters directing and Warner Brothers Animation handling the artwork.

Straczynski and Warner Brothers have also been developing a live-action reboot of the show. This project was previously in development at the CW, although it seemed unlikely to proceed further there. Work on the project is currently on hold as a result of the currently ongoing Writers' Guild of America strike.

BABYLON 5: THE ROAD HOME gets cast list and release window

The Babylon 5 animated film announced last week now has a name, synopsis and cast list.

The animated film will be called Babylon 5: The Road Home and its synopsis is as follows:

"Travel across the galaxy with John Sheridan as he unexpectedly finds himself transported through multiple timelines and alternate realities in a quest to find his way back home. Along the way he reunites with some familiar faces, while discovering cosmic new revelations about the history, purpose, and meaning of the Universe."

The film's cast consists of:

• Bruce Boxleitner as John Sheridan
• Claudia Christian as Susan Ivanova
• Peter Jurasik as Londo Mollari
• Bill Mumy as Lennier
• Tracy Scoggins as Elizabeth Lochley
• Patricia Tallman as Lyta Alexander
• Paul Guyet as Zathras and Jeffrey Sinclair
• Anthony Hansen as Michael Garibaldi
• Phil LaMarr as Dr. Stephen Franklin
• Andrew Morgado as G'Kar
• Rebecca Riedy as Delenn
• Piotr Michael as David Sheridan
• Mara Junot as Reporter/Computer Voice

Boxleitner, Christian, Jurasik, Mumy, Scoggins and Tallman reprise their roles from the original television series. The roles of Zathras, Sinclair, Garibaldi, Franklin, G'Kar and Delenn have been recast as, unfortunately, their original actors are no longer with us (Babylon 5's cast has been noted for an unusually high attrition rate since the show ended in 1998).

Original writer/creator J. Michael Straczynski writes and executive produces, with Matt Peters as director and Rick Morales as supervising producer and Sam Register as Executive Producer.

The film has been produced by Warner Bros. Animation and Warner Bros. Discovery Home Entertainment and will be released this summer. A precise date and release venue has not been announced yet.

The new animated film takes place in the same continuity as the original live-action series, which aired five TV movies and 110 episodes across five seasons, from 1993 to 1998. The show spawned a 13-episode spin-off series, Crusade, and two further TV movies in 2002 and 2007. The show has also generated a substantial amount of spin-off material, including two tabletop roleplaying games, a couple dozen novels, a wargame, spacecraft miniature kits and action figures. The series was noted for its pioneering use of CGI and pre-planned serialised story arcs at a time when most television shows still relied on an episodic model.

In addition to this animated project, Straczynski has written a pilot script for a possible reboot of the premise in live action, in a new continuity. This new script was in development at the CW for some time, but recent rumours have suggested that Warner Brothers are developing it directly for a different venue.

Surprise BABYLON 5 animated movie announced

Warner Brothers have confirmed that they have produced a Babylon 5 animated film, written and produced by original creator J. Michael Straczynski.

Straczynski had been hyping up a new B5 announcement for a few weeks, although cautioning this had nothing to do with the mooted live-action reboot of the show (previously in development at the CW but recently moved to Warner Brothers directly). Speculation had been rife over audio dramas, video games or comics, but an animated feature film is something of a surprise.

The setting, cast, release date and even the title of the film will remain under wraps for another week or so, with further information to follow. However, Straczynski indicated that the film is already complete and in the can, and the release date will be "very soon," presumably indicating this year.

Although the cast remains a matter of speculation, Straczynski had previously confirmed he had spoken to Bruce Boxleitner about the project, hinting at a return for Captain/President John Sheridan (or, possibly, Boxleitner voicing another character in a cameo).

More information will follow next week.

RUMOUR: BABYLON 5 reboot dead at CW, still in development with Warner Brothers

Rumours are swirling that the Babylon 5 reboot project may be getting a renewed lease of life.

As previously related, Warner Brothers put Babylon 5 into development with a whole new fresh lick of paint as a ground-up reboot, with original writer/creator/showrunner J. Michael Straczynski once again in charge. The CW picked up the project and spent two years developing a pilot script (an unusually long time) before the network was sold off to new owners, who promptly smoked almost its entire drama development schedule to focus on cheap reality programming. Although Babylon 5 2.0 wasn't quite dead, it had certainly been dealt a serious injury and did not look likely to survive.

However, Warner Brothers have taken the view that there's no reason to waste all that expensive development work and have been shopping the project to other venues. The most logical option, HBO Max, is seemingly out of the question because they have their own budget and development issues in the wake of the Discovery merger. HBO proper don't seem interested, despite the presence of self-confessed Babylon 5 uberfan George R.R. Martin in the development process over there.

That meant Warner Brothers having to team up with another streamer or network. WB have a good relationship with Netflix, where former Babylon 5 scriptwriter Neil Gaiman (he's also done some other work) is currently working on their adaptation of Sandman. It's also possible that Amazon might be looking for a space opera show to replace the recently-concluded The Expanse. Paramount+ have so much Star Trek on the go that it's improbable they'd want a competing space opera show, but they do also have Halo on the go, suggesting they might be interested if the script was good enough. However, having two space opera franchises in operation might instead just make that possibility even less likely.

Some rumours (cited here) have Apple TV+ circling the property. Apple TV+ also have two ongoing space opera franchises, with the original alt-history From All Mankind charting an alternate history of the 20th and 21st centuries where the Space Race between the USSR and USA never wound down in the 1970s but continued full tilt with missions to Mars. Meanwhile Foundation is a loose adaptation of the Isaac Asimov novel series of the same name. Apple TV+ has also enjoyed success with psychological SF thriller Severance and the partially SF-themed sitcom Mythic Quest (which featured an outstanding literary SF storyline in its second season featuring actors playing authors Isaac Asimov, Ray Bradbury and Ursula K. Le Guin).

However, Apple are possibly about to loose their biggest draw, with football comedy-drama Ted Lasso (itself a Warner Brothers co-production) set to conclude after three seasons. If Apple can't find a direct replacement, they might be looking to establish a broader portfolio of shows with broad appeal. Babylon 5 is often cited as being enormously ahead of its time, featuring serialised storytelling long before it was fashionable, cutting-edge vfx, epic space battles, rich political intrigue and complex characters, often acting in morally flexible ways.

There are all strong arguments, but it does not mean that Babylon 5 reboot will definitely go ahead, at Apple TV+ or elsewhere. It does suggest that the CW was not quite the last, best hope for the project, and there are other interests circling it.

Embracer Group strikes new deal with Warner Brothers to make new LORD OF THE RINGS movies

In a fairly neat solution to what was threatening to become a legally complex entanglement of rights, Lord of the Rings movie rights-holders Embracer Group have forged a new deal with Warner Brothers and New Line Cinema to create new feature films derived from the novel.

Not Amazon but you get the idea.

The Lord of the Rings film rights were acquired from the Saul Zaentz Company by New Line in 1997 to create a feature film trilogy based on the novel. Peter Jackson directed this trilogy to tremendous acclaim, which was released from 2001 to 2003 (New Line's parent company is Warner Brothers). Warner Brothers teamed up with MGM, who owned part of the film rights to The Hobbit, to produce a prequel trilogy based on that novel ten years later. Last year, the film rights were set to lapse, reverting back to the Saul Zaentz Company. Warner Brothers had put an animated motion picture, War of the Rohirrim, into production and claimed this was enough to satisfy their legal requirement to get a film into production before the rights were due to lapse. The Saul Zaentz Company disagreed.

Whilst legal arguments were being thrashed out, the Saul Zaentz Company suddenly sold their Lord of the Rings-related rights to the Embracer Group, the Swedish multimedia mega-corp which has been hoovering up various comic book, video game and board game companies for the past decade. Exactly why Embracer would step into such a legal minefield before it had been resolved seemed unclear.

Except, of course, it is now clear. Embracer simply created a new deal with Warner Brothers and New Line, immediately resolving all legal questions and allowing everyone to move forwards with new projects.

What those projects might be is unclear. Today's statement includes a note that the companies have no interesting in mounting a remake of Peter Jackson's seminal movie trilogy. There are also rights complications with The Hobbit (MGM, now owned by Amazon, retain some of the rights to the project) and also a question over TV rights, since Amazon struck a separate deal with the J.R.R. Tolkien Estate to launch their first TV show, The Rings of Power, which launched last year to a mixed reception. There has been some suggestion that Warner Brothers might be able to create a Lord of the Rings-derived TV series as long as it stayed within even stricter legal boundaries than Amazon, but it's not been clarified what those could be.

Any further projects will have to derive from The Lord of the Rings alone, and probably in the cinema. It's possible that film-makers will tap the Third Age for more ideas of a show, maybe focusing on ides like the settling of the Shire, the war with the Witch-King of Angmar, the adventures of the young Aragorn or possibly picking up a story with some of the surviving film characters several decades on from the movie trilogy. Such projects will have to survive the withering scorn and cynicism of fans watching out for a cash-grab exploitation of Tolkien's material.

In the meantime, The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim hits cinemas on 12 April 2024, whilst Amazon's Rings of Power is currently shooting its second season for a 2024 debut.

BABYLON 5 celebrates its 30th anniversary

Seminal space opera television series Babylon 5 has celebrated its 30th anniversary. The show's pilot movie, The Gathering, aired for the first time on 22 February 1993.

Babylon 5 ran for five seasons, notching up 110 episodes, seven TV movies and 13 episodes of a spin-off series, Crusade, between 1993 and 2007. It also generated a huge number of tie-in books, comics and roleplaying games, as well a video game that was - still bafflingly - cancelled when it was 95% complete.

The show was mainly set between the years 2257 and 2262 and depicted the misadventures of the crew and diplomats on board Babylon 5, a massive space station designed to serve as a sort-of United Nations in space, between the borders of five major powers and numerous smaller ones. Babylon 5 was purposefully designed by its creator, J. Michael Straczynski, as a "novel for television," with one pre-planned story unfolding over five years. This level of serialisation was unusual at the time, although not completely unprecedented. It was more unusual that the story arc was planned out in some detail ahead of time, though.

After a rough opening season, Babylon 5 hit its stride in its second and third seasons, with both years winning Hugo Awards for Best Dramatic Presentation. A near-cancellation in Season 4 saw Straczynski wrap up the main story arc last few episodes, but a late renewal allowed him to end the story as planned, albeit with a somewhat more spun-out fifth season than originally envisaged.

Babylon 5 broke the mould not just for serialisation, but also for its pioneering use of CGI to depict all of its visual effects. Most contemporary space shows still used very expensive models. As the show continued, its use of CG became more innovative, extending to the creation of virtual sets and all-CG aliens interacting with human actors; commonplace today but remarkable in the mid-1990s. B5 also used the Internet in a pioneering way, with Straczynski taking advantage of the Internet to discuss behind-the-scenes trivia and worldbuilding information with eager fans.

Despite its innovative structure, excellent pacing and outstanding cast, the show teetered on the edge of cancellation throughout its run, and has never had more than a dedicated, cult audience. The show also suffered appalling attrition among its main castmembers, making a continuation unfeasible. A Babylon 5 reboot project has instead been gestating at the CW for well over a year, although recent sweeping changes at the network and a retreat from drama commissions makes that project now unlikely to proceed (although the possibility remains of it finding a home elsewhere).

The CW will not develop any pilots for 2023-24, likely ending BABYLON 5 reboot development

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the American channel CW has effectively abandoned the development of new, original drama programming. It will not pick up any new pilots for the 2023-24 season and may only renew three of its existing shows for next year (only one, All American, has been announced). For genre fans, this likely means the end of any chances for the Babylon 5 reboot project to move ahead at the channel.

The CW has spent many years as a relatively scrappy underdog, putting out a number of successful mid-budget shows like Supernatural and The 100 and a whole slate of DC Comics-adjacent shows like The Flash, Arrow, Superman & Lois and Legends of Tomorrow. These shows failed to turn a profit in first run, but did form a highly attractive package that was re-sold to streamers like Netflix for huge sums of money. Ill-advisedly, the CW terminated this deal to try to use its shows to push out its own streaming options as part of HBO Max. However, it was nowhere near as successful as the Netflix deal, putting the CW on the back foot. In early 2022, the CW was sold to Nexstar Media Group who immediately pivoted hard towards cheap reality programming and overseas imports. Ten CW scripted originals were cancelled immediately, with more following since.

The CW had previously picked up development rights to classic space opera series Babylon 5. The original series had run from 1993 to 1998, in first-run syndication and then on the TNT channel. 110 episodes were produced across five seasons, also generating six TV movies and a spin-off show, Crusade, that was cancelled after half a season. The show had not garnered a massive audience, but it had done solidly and turned an immense profit given its very low production costs (achieved through pioneering the use of CGI). The show had also picked up significant critical acclaim and multiple awards, as well as an enthusiastic cult audience. The show had pioneered serialised storytelling in dramas in an age of stand-alones and reset buttons, with writers including Damon Lindelof, the Wachowskis and George R.R. Martin citing it as an influential work. A partial HD remaster of Babylon 5 generated positive press coverage in early 2021 and introduced a new audience to the series.

Babylon 5 creator J. Michael Straczynski confirmed that a Babylon 5 reboot was in development at the CW in September 2021. Due to the changes at the CW, the show's development was unusually put on hiatus for a year after it was not picked up in the previous renewal window in February 2022. However, the latest news seems to make the reboot an even more unlikely project then it already was.

The project may not be entirely dead. The new CW is looking for more adult shows to appeal to older viewers, especially if they can be delivered for under $5 million per episode. A legacy show with name value aimed at adult viewers with a reasonable overseas resale potential might still interest the new regime, but it would now appear to be a slim shot indeed, and almost certainly not happening this year.

Additionally, it's possible another streamer or channel takes on the project, although it is unclear which ones would be interested.

Henry Cavill to be replaced as Superman amidst major DC shakeup

The DC film universe is undergoing a major shakeup, with new creative lead James Gunn and actor Henry Cavill confirming that the latter will not return as Superman.

The current iteration of the DC film universe launched in 2013 with Zack Snyder's Man of Steel, featuring Cavill as Clark Kent/Superman. Cavill went on to reprise the role as a key player in Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016) and Justice League (2017), whilst also cameoing in Black Adam (2022).

However, the DC film universe has had a divisive critical reception and a highly variable box office take, generally trailing the rival Marvel Cinematic Universe. Several proposed total reboots of the series have apparently been proposed at Warner Brothers, but shot down each time due to the popularity of the actors involved, particularly Cavill, Jason Momoa as Aquaman, Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman and Ben Affleck as an older version of Batman.

The appointment of James Gunn seems to have finally turned the corner on that argument, with it now looking likely that a totally fresh approach will be taken to the DC movie universe with new actors hired for all of the major roles. Plans for further films in the Aquaman and Wonder Woman series have also been cancelled and those roles are likely to be recast as well.

However, some of the existing actors may continue in the new version of the franchise in new roles. According to Gunn and some reports from within Warner Brothers (although Gunn has suggested these are unreliable), their new take on Superman will look for a younger actor to take on the role of a fresher-faced Clark Kent just starting his career at The Daily Planet. The new film will not be a total reboot or origin story for Superman, since most people are now familiar with that.

The news is particularly surprising as DC had re-committed to Cavill returning in the role just a couple of months ago, after a years-long fan campaign. Fans today seemed united in their annoyance at the news, with many asking DC and Gunn to reconsider the decision. Reportedly, Gunn and his team are looking at retaining Cavill in a new role in their new continuity.

The existence of a continuity-heavy DC film universe will reportedly not impact ongoing character-centric film series that exist in isolation of a wider continuity, with both the recent Robert Pattinson version of Batman and Joaquin Phoenix's Joker set to return in new films continuing their stories.

What this also means for Peacemaker, the highly popular TV series spun off from Gunn's own film The Suicide Squad and is set to return for a second season, remains to be seen.

As for Cavill, his next move is unknown. He quit The Witcher in October, reportedly to focus on his return as Superman, but other rumours suggested creative differences with the production team, who have deviated from the source material (of which Cavill is a noted fan) significantly in their TV adaptation. Cavill has been linked to the role of James Bond for some years, although there has been no official announcement and some reports that the producers of that franchise are also looking to cast younger (although, at 39, Cavill, could likely play the role for a decade or more going forwards).

Cavill may reprise his role as Sherlock Holmes in the popular Enola Holmes series of films for Netflix, and maybe in a spinoff centered on his character. Cavill was also reportedly connected to the upcoming resurgence of the Mass Effect franchise, of which he is also a noted fan, although whether this was a voice role for the Mass Effect 5 video game or an acting role in Amazon's in-development Mass Effect television series remains unclear.

James Gunn appointed head of DC films, animation and television

In a surprise move but one that also kinda makes sense, Warner Brothers have appointed director James Gunn as the head of DC films, animation and television. Gunn will have complete control over the direction of the DC universe on screen, effectively becoming the counterpart of his boss at Marvel, Kevin Feige. Gunn will work alongside producer Peter Safran, with whom he previously collaborated on the Peacemaker TV series.

Gunn will handle creative development of the DC screen universe moving forwards, whilst Safran will handle business and production. Gunn will also complete his existing commitments for Marvel, including The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special (which launches on Disney+ next month) and post-production on Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (which will hit cinemas on 5 May 2023).

Gunn established himself as a superhero player by directing Guardians of the Galaxy (2014) and Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2 (2017) for Marvel. He also provided assistance and advice to the Russo Brothers on the use of the Guardians in Infinity War (2018) and Endgame (2019). He was then fired after Disney "discovered" seven-year-old inappropriate tweets, which Gunn had already discussed at length and apologised for in 2012. Marvel later reversed the decision after a public backlash. In the interim Gunn moved to DC to direct The Suicide Squad (2021), which was well-reviewed but a box office disappointment (due to opening during the COVID pandemic and being available on the same day on HBO Max). He then wrote all eight episodes of the first season of spin-off show Peacemaker and directed five of them, which were very well-received, before returning to Marvel to shoot Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 3.

Those expecting Gunn to completely blank slate the DC film universe and start afresh will likely be disappointed, with Henry Cavill confirming his return to the franchise as Superman just yesterday. It looks like Gunn will aim to "soft reboot" the franchise instead in the same manner as The Suicide Squad did to its predecessor, keeping those actors and characters who are popular and who worked but easing off on continuity references in favour of new stories.

J. Michael Straczynski calls on BABYLON 5 fans to help boost the show's reboot chances

Babylon 5 creator and showrunner J. Michael Straczynski has called on fans to join a social media franchise to boost the show's profile and help get a planned reboot of the show off the ground.

As reported previously, Straczynski is currently developing a Babylon 5 reboot project with Warner Brothers, potentially to air on the CW. A pilot script has been written and the CW took the highly unusual step of turning down the project for the 2022-23 season but keeping it in active development for the 2023-24 season. Apparently this delay was partially down to major seismic shifts both at the CW, which has been bought by the Nexstar Media Group, and Warner Brothers, which has been bought by and merged with Discovery.

Straczynski wants a show of support to show the interest in the show, using the hashtag #B5onCWin23 across social media platforms. The campaign began yesterday and appears to have been successful, briefly trending at #1 for the day and displacing even coverage of Queen Elizabeth II's funeral in London.

The effectiveness of the campaign remains to be seen, although companies do factor in social media presence and profile in making these decisions.

Babylon 5 is a science fiction, space opera franchise created by Straczynski. It originally ran for 5 seasons and 110 episodes airing between 1993 and 1998, along with 7 TV movies and a short-lived spin-off series, Crusade. The series which was mostly written by Straczynski (who penned 91 of the episodes) and won critical acclaim during its original run, including two Hugo Awards. The show was particularly noteworthy for its dedication to telling one continuous story across five seasons - common now but unheard of at the time - and its pioneering use of CGI for its visual effects, including some of the earliest TV uses of virtual sets and 100% CG creatures. The show was also recently given a HD makeover and re-release.

Since the conclusion of the original show, the cast has unfortunately suffered a high level of attrition, effectively blocking attempts to revive the show with a "next generation" approach. Straczynski has instead planned a reboot, telling a similar story in a similar universe but with substantial differences to the original.

DUNE: PART TWO starts production

Warner Brothers and Legendary Pictures have confirmed that production is now underway on Dune: Part Two. The continuation of Dune: Part One will shoot for the next few months and is scheduled to hit cinemas on 17 November 2023.

Denis Villeneuve is back to direct from a screenplay he co-wrote with Jon Spaihts. The film will see Timothée Chalamet (Paul Atreides), Zendaya (Chani), Rebecca Ferguson (Lady Jessica), Javier Bardem (Stilgar), Josh Brolin (Gurney Halleck), Stellan Skårsgard (Baron Vladimir Harkonnen), Dave Bautista (the Beast Rabban), Charlotte Rampling (Reverend Mother Gaius Helen Mohiam) and Stephen McKinley Henderson (Thufir Hawat) return to reprise their roles from the first film. They will be joined by new arrivals Austin Butler as Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen, Christopher Walken as Emperor Shaddam IV, Florence Pugh as Princess Irulan, Léa Seydoux as Lady Margot Fenring and Souheila Yacoub as Shishakli. More castmembers are expected to be announced.

Dune: Part One was released on 22 October 2021 and was a moderate box office success, scoring over $400 million worldwide and an undisclosed further amount in home streaming. The film was seen as a success given the difficult environment of the COVID-19 pandemic. The film was critically acclaimed, gaining ten Academy Award nominations and winning six.

Both films adapt Frank Herbert's seminal 1965 science fiction novel Dune. David Lynch previously directed a 1984 movie which had a mixed response, mainly due to the need to compress the entire novel into a single film. SyFy released a mini series based on the novel in 2000, along with a sequel mini-series based on the second and third books in the series in 2003.

Villeneuve has expressed interest in directing a film based on Dune Messiah, the second novel of six in the series. He is also attached to an adaptation of Arthur C. Clarke's classic SF novel, Rendezvous with Rama, which is expected to be his next project after Dune: Part Two.

BABYLON 5 reboot still in development amidst major changes at The CW

Mark Pedowitz, CEO of The CW, has confirmed that the channel's Babylon 5 reboot is currently still in development. This is despite The CW going up for sale and a whole slew of the channel's shows being cancelled.

Created by J. Michael Straczynski, Babylon 5 aired for a pilot, five seasons and four TV movies from 1993 to 1998, followed by a spin-off series, Crusade, that was cancelled after half a season in 1999. A subsequent additional TV movie aired in 2002, and another one was released direct to DVD in 2007. The show also incorporated spin-off novels and comic books. The show was noted for its pioneering use of both serialised storytelling and CGI. It had modest ratings during its original run but strong critical acclaim, winning back-to-back Hugo Awards in 1996 and 1997.

After the end of the original run, original creator-showrunner-writer J. Michael Straczynski (also noted for his work on He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, The Real Ghostbusters, Jeremiah and Sense8, as well as his comics book work and the Clint Eastwood/Angelina Jolie film Changeling) spent some years developing a feature film featuring the original cast. However, a large number of the original cast has sadly passed away, making a Next Generation-style continuation of the show impossible.

Renewed interest in Babylon 5 was generated by a middling HD remaster which was released in early 2021 (which updated the live-action footage but not the CGI). Word of reboot of the show followed in September. Unusually, it was confirmed in February that Babylon 5 would not proceed in development for 2022, but would instead be held back until 2023, apparently so it would not be impacted by the imminent sale of The CW network.

The CW was founded in 2006 as a merger of The WB and UPN, owned by Warner Brothers and Paramount respectively. The two channels had struggled for a decent market share and joined forces to ensure more resources. The channel initially saw a reasonable hit with Supernatural and then a number of shows based on the DC Universe, starting Arrow and continuing with The Flash, Legends of Tomorrow, Black Lightning, Supergirl and Batwoman. The network also established other hit properties with The 100, Riverdale and The Vampire Diaries, among others. The network became stereotyped for having shows aimed at younger audiences with variable special effects, low budgets and a cheesy, old-fashioned feel. However, the network also became immensely profitable through a 2011 deal with Netflix worth $1 billion, which subsidised shows that aired to low ratings on their original American airing but garnered a much larger international audience.

The Netflix deal was terminated in 2019, with CW shows instead finding an outlet through direct overseas sales and American streaming via HBO Max. However, this did not in any way approach the sheer income generated by the prior Netflix deal. As a result, the network starting cancelling shows at rate of knots, culminating in a massacre in May 2022 when ten shows were cancelled, including Legends of Tomorrow. The CW is now being sold to the Nexstar Media Group.

The news that the Babylon 5 reboot is not dead is good, but it should come with caveats. It is possible and likely, once the deal is completed, that Nexstar will install their own CEO to replace Mark Pedowitz, who notes that he is a huge fan of the original show and has been trying to bring it back for many years. It is unlikely that a new CEO will be as invested in the project as him. New channel CEOs in fact usually terminate any shows in development they were not involved in and bring in their own projects to develop. There are a few exceptions, but they are rare. If Nextstar retain Pedowitz in the role, it's much more likely that the B5 reboot will happen. More news as we get it.