Small Screen: Fox's Upcoming ‘Fantasy Island’ Reboot Acquired B&B Star, ‘Pose’ Season Three Trailer Has Dropped
Kiara Barnes - CBS
Broadcast: One of The Bold and the Beautiful’s lead characters has just announced she will be leaving the show. Kiara Barnes, who plays Zoe Buckingham on the soap, has been chosen as one of the three main characters for Fox’s upcoming reboot of the 1978-1984 drama Fantasy Island. According to sources, this new version set in modern times will also have a semi-anthological format similar to the original. The plot will focus on three main characters who inhabit and work on the island, meeting new guests every episode. Barnes will be portraying Ruby Okoro, a young woman with an old soul whose terminal illness is cured by the island. John Gabriel Rodrigues is also attached to the project as Javier, the ruggedly handsome jack of all trades who is the head of Fantasy Islands transport. Barnes will continue to air into July until her three-year contract with The Bold and the Beautiful comes to an end. Fantasy Island does not have an official release date yet but it should be sometime this summer.
Line In The Sand, Israel’s highest-rated TV drama since 2015, has been renewed for a second season. The police detective series produced by Koda Communications stars Tshai Halevias Alon who plays an idealistic and stable detective who returns to his hometown. The second season will be directed by Rotem Shamir, the co-creator of the show, with visual effects specialist Dan Sachar from The Grave and Ram Landes from Your Honor acting as executive producer. Shamir and co-creator/head writer Yuval Yefet said: “From inception, we dared to dream of the opportunity to let this rich story unfold over several seasons.” Keren Shahar, Keshet International’s COO and president of distribution, added that Line In The Sand “is pure, unbridled entertainment.
Cable: Marian Naoum of Between Two Seas will co-write the upcoming adaptation of serial killer sisters Raya and Sakina Hammam entitled The Alexandria Killings. Oscar award-winning writer/director Terry George from Hotel Rwanda and In The Name Of The Father is attached as showrunner, co-writer, director, and producer. The series will depict the true story of the Egyptian sisters and chronicle their rise from the slums of Alexandria to become successful owners of a luxurious brothel. The show will premier on the Arabic content joint-venture between Front Row Film Entertainment and Rocket Science, Yalla Yalla. Gianluca Chakra from Front Row, Rocket Science’s Thorsten Schumacher, and Hisham AlGhanim will create the first part of this true crime anthology series.
The official trailer for season three of FX Networks Pose has just been released. The show is described as a ‘trailblazing trans Television series’ created by Ryan Murphy (Glee, American Horror Story, and Hollywood), Brad Falchuk, and Steven Canals. The show is an unstoppable battering ram breaking through doors historically welded shut by the industry. This trailer proves that the Pose team shows no signs of slowing. For season three the show will jump ahead to 1994. This is what FX has revealed about the finale season: ‘Blanca struggles to balance being a mother, a present partner to her new love, and a nurse’s aide. Meanwhile, as AIDS becomes the leading cause of death for Americans ages 25 to 44, Pray Tell contends with unexpected health burdens. Pose features the largest cast of transgender actors in series regular roles.’ Pose seven-episode season three arc will air May 2nd.
Story of Yanxi Palace - iQiyi
Streaming: With a greenlit season two on the way, a new Israeli thriller has just been acquired by Netflix for most of the world. The project entitled Blackspace is an eight-part series set during a school shooting. It follows the police investigation into the murder of four students at the hand of unknown masked figures. The key element in their search is an app called Blackspace which is what the students use to communicate. The show was written by Anat Gafni and Sahar Shavit and directed by Ofir Lobel. The producers were Chaim Sharir and Mosh Danon of Israel's Drama Team and Pascal Breton and Lionel Uzan of Federation Entertainment for Israeli channel Reshet 13.
Tui T. Sutherlands Wings of Fire is being made into an animated event series that will be 10 40-minute episodes for Netflix. Helming this project as producer is Ava DuVernay known for her successes Selma, 13th, and When They See Us with the streaming company. The showrunners are Dan Milano (Glitch Techs), Christa Starr (Mystery Science Theater 3000), and Justin Ridge (Star Wars Resistance). DuVernay, Sutherland, Array president Sarah Bremner and Warner Bros. Animation president Sam Register will all executive produce the series. The project hails from Warner Bros. Animation, a division of Warner Bros. Television, where DuVernay's Array is based with a lucrative overall deal.
Two Chinese-language original series are coming to HBO. Revealed during Asia’s leading media and entertainment industry summit, APOS, the shows include the period drama Legacy and a contemporary noir drama Trinity of Shadows. The former is set during 1920’s China and follows the lives of the wealthy Yi Family and its three sisters who are fighting to inherit their father’s business empire. The period drama is created by Yu Zheng, the showrunner behind Story of Yanxi Palace. Legacy stars much of the same cast as Yanxi Palace, including Qin Lan, Wu Jinyan, Nie Yuan, as well as other Chinese stars including Han Geng (Ex-Files), Liu Jun (All is Well), Miao Pu (The Rise of the Tang Empire) and Zhang Nan (The Legend of Haolan). Trinity of Shadows explores a murder investigation with mysterious similarities to a cold case from the past. During the investigation, the lead detective (Taiwanese actress Sandrine Pinna), an up-and-coming public official (Kaiser Chuang), and a rookie policeman (Kuan-Ting Liu) are drawn together into a dark labyrinth of power plays. It is produced by David Tang (Dad’s Suit, The Long Goodbye) and directed by Bo-Hao Hong (Dad’s Suit, Wake Up). The screenwriter is Chien-Ming Huang (Scoundrels, Wake Up). Trinity of Shadows is set to begin airing on June 13, while Legacy is expected later in the year.
